Four European multinationals have agreed to act as corporate
responsibility mentors to smaller businesses in developing countries.
DaimlerChrysler, Otto Group and Puma, all based in Germany, and the
Spanish company Telefónica will advise various small- and medium-sized
enterprises on measuring and reporting their social and environmental
impacts.
Most of the companies will be supplying the multinationals from developing countries.
Transparency in the Supply Chain, as the project is known, has been set
up by the Amsterdam-based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and
Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, a German government-backed
body offering consultancy services. The project will provide
administrative support and specialists to train the companies, run
workshops and publish a handbook with tips for small companies.
The GRI said there was considerable demand for mentoring from
managers in smaller companies because they are ‘increasingly becoming
engaged in sustainability issues’ but have little experience of how to
deal with them. Such companies wanted to ‘take ownership of their
sustainability management’ rather than having it foisted on them by
buyers.
It said the multinationals should benefit too because they will be able
to show they are trying to improve the sustainability of their supply
chains while also getting ‘a richer insight’ into the way their
suppliers operate ‘without having to use a control mechanism’.
The first workshops were held last month, and others will take place
during the next 12 months. In 2008 the project is likely to be opened
up to other companies.
Participating companies at present include Durovalves and Victor
Gaskets, both in India, Jordan Footwear and Spring Romance Properties,
in South Africa, and Topkapi Iplik, in Turkey. Other institutions
advising on the project include the Centre of Excellence for
Sustainable Development (India), Forum Empresa (Chile), and Trialogue
Assurance Services (South Africa).
