As I was reviewing the financial
headlines of the day, I noticed Nike’s Q2 earning posting
and decided to peruse their corporate website for more information … on their
progress in sustainability. Nike has been a leader in tackling all
dimensions of sustainability, including those across their supply chain. I was
a little disappointed when I couldn’t find an updated version of
their Corporate Sustainability Report online and the first word that pop
in my head was: marathon.
Let’s use Nike’s environmental goal
for inbound logistics and transportation as an example. Their target: 30%
absolute reduction from a 2003 baseline by 2020. Pretty aggressive specially
with a growing business. A 17-year supply chain marathon has started. First,
they went through the effort of measuring all their transportation carbon
emissions from their factories across the world to their various markets. Since
the boats and airplanes that move their products are not owned by Nike, they
had to collaborate with several logistics service companies, which most likely
needed to gather data from hundreds of partners in order to map thousands of
shipments across the globe to reach a single number to track (check some of
their charts). With
this information, areas of improvement are selected and changes in their supply
chain are rolled out… and, the same process needs to happen year after year. So
for Nike to be able to track, report and ultimately reduce their inbound
logistics emissions, all their supply chain partners need to consistently provide
this information. In other words, for Nike to achieve its logistics
sustainability goals, EVERYONE in their supply chain should be willing to go
the distance in measuring and reporting, at the same time as they add
efficiencies along the way. And don’t forget, still need to publish it in their
website for stakeholders (or just curious observers like me) to check.
Going back to my disappointment,
their last update of their inbound logistics emissions was in 2009. Does this
mean they have quit the race? Probably not. I am aware that Nike
keeps working on logistics improvements not only because its good for the
environment, but also because, in the case of transportation, less emissions
usually translate to less cost (they even highlight this in their website,
pretty refreshing). The challenge is to maintain the pace of your supply chain
throughout 17-years (including tough years like the last couple ones). You set
targets and deploy initiatives, but most importantly, you need to embed all the
measurements in the normal business processes within your company AND with your
supply chain partners. That’s the only way to finish the race.
Nike (and others with similar supply
chain initiatives): stay hydrated and keep going. It’s tough but we’ll be
cheering along the way. See you at the finish line.
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