Sustainable procurement practice

TLDR

Procurement must extend beyond organisational boundaries to embed sustainability across entire supply chains, guided by Triple Bottom Line principles that integrate environmental, economic, and social considerations. The study aims to neutralise inertia in sustainable procurement by drawing on innovation‑management practices and developing targeted indicators that demonstrate socio‑economic benefits. Authors recommend leveraging inter‑organisational relationships, creating a concise set of sustainable development indicators, and focusing on behavioural triggers rather than merely pressures to drive procurement staff change. A survey of 44 UK housing associations revealed persistent inertia, with only environmental aspects of the Triple Bottom Line addressed, yet some organisations have begun adopting ethical pricing models. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Abstract

Abstract Procurement has a key role in sustainability as policies and practices need to extend beyond organisations' boundaries incorporating their whole supply chains. Guidelines on sustainability encourage procurement to make decisions that encompass the environmental, economic and social elements of the Triple Bottom Line (TBL). Taking a supply chain perspective, procurement also need to analyse how decisions impact on the TBL in respect of suppliers. The results of a survey of sustainable procurement practices in 44 English‐based UK Housing Associations (HAs), who are responsible for the provision of social housing, confirms prior research of other sectors that suggests 1) a failure to overcome inertia in relation to sustainable procurement; and 2) in the few examples where practices have been established, only the environmental element of the TBL is considered. The organisations surveyed have sustainability‐related issues in their missions and external and internal pressures to embed sustainability, yet this has not translated into widespread establishment of sustainable procurement. Recommendations to neutralise inertia are: firstly, take the experiences from other areas, e.g. innovation management, which stress the importance of inter‐organisational relationships; secondly, develop a small number of sustainable development indicators for procurement and, to take advantage of the relatively more‐advanced environmental practices to show how these elements have socio‐economic impacts; and finally, rather than focus on just the pressures and drivers of sustainability (as suggested in strategic models of sustainability), emphasise the triggers that overcome inertia and lead to changes in behaviour amongst procurement staff i.e. the establishment of ethical pricing models. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.