ABSTRACT
The companies that take corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the supply chain seriously are those that are on road to integrating CSR into their sourcing. The vast majority of companies send conflicting messages to their suppliers. It is one thing for a brand or retailer to have well-articulated, clearly communicated supplier codes and policies that address all of the elements of the core labor standards. Supply-chain management is increasingly driven by information technology. As the supply-chain management systems become more established it will become harder and harder to integrate the compliance data in a meaningful way. Leading CSR companies are now including some type of social and environmental compliance measurement in the key performance indicators they use to measure suppliers (external) and the job performance measurement of their purchasing department (internal). For companies ready to proceed, the first step is for the CSR department to look at the information tools and measurements being used by the sourcing and merchandising departments.
