As supply chains become increasingly multinational and complex, some of the most significant impacts occur deep in the supply chain – greenhouse gas emissions, child and slave labor, deforestation, and more. Consumers, investors, employees, and taxpayers are increasingly demanding that companies and governments be responsible for the environmental and social impacts of their supply chains. Reputational and financial risk, coupled with regulatory requirements and operational inefficiencies, has pushed the business imperative to ensure sustainable supply chains, and disclose information about them, to an all time high. As a result, supply chain transparency is becoming the focus of many sustainability programs – but what is it and how do companies achieve it? Drawing on research from MIT’s Sustainable Supply Chains program, this session will provide a view of the state-of-the-art on the current and emerging approaches companies are taking to get visibility on their supply chains, from new visibility technologies, progressive supplier management approaches, and next level disclosure practices. Participants will gain insights on where they should invest their research and investments – going beyond hype and buzzwords to provide knowledge and actionable advice for procurement professionals.

In this session, you will also see how new business processes and cloud-based software are empowering companies to perform sub-supplier mapping and risk data visualizations in a way that revolutionizes sustainable supply chain management. These emerging technologies go far beyond aligning with compliance guidelines. Brands now have the ability to fundamentally restructure how they track and trace their products, resulting in the continuous improvement of their supply chain’s performance. Currently, most brands still rely on traditional supply chain software that can’t scale up to the complexity of modern supply chains. As a result, too many companies lack visibility beyond their Tier 1 suppliers, leaving an enormous segment of their supply chains operating in the dark. Millions of transactions are occurring without oversight, increasing the potential for waste and inefficiency, and high-risk factors including adverse effects on the environments, forced labor, and contaminated and corrupted products. Dr. Leonardo Bonanni will walk participants through the process of mapping a supply chain from end-to-end. Then, using dynamic visualizations, demonstrate how cloud-based software enables brands to mitigate brand risk, ensure compliance, increase process efficiency, minimize reaction time after a disruption, and capitalize on opportunities ahead of competitors. Brands will recognize each of these capabilities comes with an ROI, and those suppliers who comply will also measure an increase in the value of their products and share of the market.

Presenter Slides

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