Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion Essay

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion - Essay Example Furthermore, there have been increasing concerns over the long-term effects of these processed foods such as diabetes and obesity and a myriad of other dangerous health conditions. According to research by Oxform, none of the top 10 big multinationals has registered a positive overall rating in their public health policies or commitments especially as pertains to their supply chain. This is probably why in recently millions of packaged food products containing horsemeat instead of beef were distributed in America and Europe; that a firm with such a wide scope could make a great error in their supply chain is evidence that they were not taking their corporate social responsibility very seriously. The aim of this paper is to discusscorporate social responsibilities concerning global supply chains and the development of shared values within the corporates. The Oxform report, â€Å"Title Behind the Brands† goes on to place the multination to task for their extreme secrecy in opera tions, which makes it difficult for sustain and verify their claims of social corporate responsibility (Cofino, 2013). According to this report, despite the fact that 80% of the global populace is perennially hungry; enormous tracts of land are used in the production of unhealthy foods and snacks which in no way address the problem. There is a direct connection, according to oxform, between the global poverty endemic and the food and beverage industry, this is because the sourcing strategy for the fast food industry. Poor nations have supplied the multinationals; most of which are located in the West with products such as tomatoes, soy, coffee, tea, corn and so on; the final products of their exports are fast foods retailed in the west and are of little use in dealing with the hunger issues. In this nations there are a myriad issues ranging from child labour, unfair wages and poor working conditions, as a result firms sourcing their supply from these countries often be highly critic ized for profiting from the problems therein (Schlegelmilch and Obersede 2007, p.14). The report is highly critical of the corporates actions since in their attempt to assist the farmers who produce these raw materials, they focus on superficial aspects such as training farmers on matters, such as irrigation. However, they fail to address the underlying problem of poverty and in a way of their help, they are actually just enhancing their supply base as opposed to actually, assisting people solve the underlying problems(Agbonifo, 2011). In case they were willing, the corporates can ensure workers earn decent pay, asses and eliminate the root cause of hunger and poverty from the areas where they get their supplies. Nevertheless, majority choose to do nothing significant in those respects and do not feel obligated since they lack proper polices for guiding their supply chain operations. The study involved some of the leading food producers in the world such as coca cola, Unilever assoc iated British foods and nestle; these firms were judged based on their standards in several areas such as transparency and their consideration for the rights of workers and food safety. Sadly, very few were able to give a substantiated account of how they deal with suppliers and how they ensure that ethical practices are maintained throughout the supply chain. Associated British foods were ranked last with 19%; its transparency was the lowest, among other things it was discovered that much of the sugar