Companies are recognising that a substantial portion of their ESG impacts lie within their supply chains. As companies are setting more ambitious sustainability goals, they realise they won’t be able to meet these goals without effective engagement with their suppliers.
Simply asking suppliers to manage ESG impacts will not drive the scale of action needed to make meaningful progress on these issues – it will require systematic communications, data collection, and training and capacity building.
Developing an effective supplier engagement program will enable companies to have greater visibility into where their hotspots are, enhance relationships with key suppliers, reduce risks and build resilience within their supply chain, and amplify the scale of positive impact.
Our Approach
Anthesis helps companies design and deploy strategic supplier engagement programs that enable supplier action & capacity building on various ESG topics.
Program Design
- Anthesis starts by understanding client goals and existing Sourcing/Procurement systems and processes
- Analyzing, segmenting, and prioritizing the supplier list to understand the number and types of suppliers that need to be engaged
- Aligning on the program scope, goals & objectives, and management framework
- Evaluating and selecting supplier data collection and engagement tools/systems
- Defining an implementation strategy and roadmap
Program Build
With the program scope defined, Anthesis supports the build out of the program systems and materials, including:
- Supporting the set-up of the supplier data collection system
- Creation of bespoke applications and engagement tools that can be developed and even managed by Anthesis
- Conceptualising supplier dashboards that enable our clients to easily view supplier progress and evaluate overall performance
- Developing internal Sourcing/Procurement team training and resources
- Developing supplier-facing communications templates, training, and resources
- Defining supplier incentives and enforcement mechanisms
Program Implementation
Once the program materials are developed, Anthesis supports the deployment of the program. In some cases we play a back-end supporting role with our clients, in other cases we play an active, hands-on role in managing direct supplier engagement. This can include:
- Deploying supplier communications
- Running supplier data collection campaigns
- Running supplier trainings and capacity-building sessions
- Working directly with suppliers to improve their ESG performance and set KPIs
- Data analytics, progress tracking, and validation
- Engagement strategy refinement
Spectrum of Supplier Engagement Tools
Testimonials
Anthesis have been collaborating with Tesco for the last few years. Among a range of projects, Anthesis have supported and facilitated the Supplier Network Platform, which promotes communication and stimulates discussion and knowledge sharing between Tesco and our suppliers.
Senior Sustainability and Fabric Manager, Tesco
"A really well managed project, undertaken at pace and it really felt that my time was always used in a very focussed, relevant way only when needed." "The client interaction was excellent and well managed and I felt that I was appropriately engaged throughout the development programme." "I would certainly recommend Anthesis to others for this type of work."
Advisory Board Members, CIPS
Related Insights
Contact us
We'd love to hear from you
Anthesis has offices in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Finland, Colombia, Brazil, China, the Philippines and the Middle East.
