Sedex Global has partnered with anti-corruption NGO Transparency International UK, and training, consulting and research NGO, Verité, to publish a new briefing which explores the impact of corruption risks on global supply chains and highlights opportunities to address these.
The Sedex Business Ethics Briefing explores some of the most commonly-occurring corruption risks in global supply chains and makes the link between corruption and other supply chain challenges. The briefing identifies opportunities for businesses and their investors to improve performance on business ethics, and to tackle corruption risk in global supply chains. These include:
- Improve verification efforts by companies to better assess corruption in and across business operations
- Better systems to help more suppliers deter, detect and remediate corruption
- Better communication across the supply chain to increase awareness of ethical requirements
- Share more examples of Good Management Practices
Corruption is recognized by many as the single greatest obstacle to economic and social development around the world. New and tougher anti-corruption regulations, along with vigorous enforcement by regulators, continue to emerge worldwide.
“Corruption is a complex, risky business and we hope this guidance and support will help more companies tackle the issue,” said Marianne Voss, report author and stakeholder engagement lead for Sedex in North America. “Good practice examples and case studies do exist and we encourage more companies to follow these.”
Sedex’s Responsible Sourcing Briefings Series provide valuable insights into supply chain trends informed by data from Sedex and other partners. Each briefing focuses on a region, issue or business topic, published quarterly, relating to supply chain sustainability.
“Companies should conduct their operations legally, ethically and consistently with their values. Many businesses are part of or have supply chains where there is a risk of corruption. To manage these risks, companies need to have robust anti-corruption systems,” said Peter van Veen, director of Transparency International UK’s Business Integrity Programme.
In September, Sedex launched Data Monitor, a new set of data analysis tools designed to meet the varied sustainability reporting needs of companies across the world. Sedex Data Monitor was developed in response to companies’ demand for improved reporting tools designed to increase their understanding of supply chain risks and to track their progress in addressing responsible sourcing issues.
Earlier this year, Sedex partnered with the World Bank Institute to develop a new initiative to address global gaps in the availability and visibility of responsible supply chain data. The Open Supply Chain Platform helps companies better understand their performance, increase sustainability and diversity, and generate shared values along global supply chains.