Two sectors agree to pool their resources

Distribution Network
Content
Electronics companies are linking up with telecoms businesses to examine ways of working together on ethical supply chain management.

Signatories to the recently developed Electronics Industry Code of Conduct, who are mainly North American and include Cisco, Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM and Microsoft, are working with the Global Sustainability Initiative, most of whose participants are European companies - among them BT, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, O2, Telefonica and Vodafone.

The two bodies have written a 'supplier self-assessment questionnaire' so that companies can complete assessments in a common format and are developing a risk assessment tool to prioritize suppliers for audit. The work should finish next year.

Claudia Kruse, senior analyst in governance and SRI at F&C Asset Management, said the moves had the approval of many investors. 'Industry collaboration is the most effective way to raise standards in a way that avoids first-mover disadvantageā€š' she said.