By JANSSEN DANGZALAN
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
 
At every step of the way in the supply chain, there is room for CSR or corporate social responsibility.  So it goes, according to Tristan Macapanpan, professor at the De la Salle University R.V. Del Rosario Graduate School of Business, who moderated the League of Corporate Foundation talk titled "CSR and Supply Chain Management."
 
During this break-out session in LCF's leaner and much more focused Corporate Social Responsibility Expo for 2008, speakers from San Miguel Foods Incorporated, Toyota Motors Philippines, and Binalot Fiesta Foods, Inc. shared both their stories of successes and frustrations in their attempts to infuse a bit of CSR at every step of their supply chain.
 
Macapanpan, in his opening salvo, elaborated that in the supply chain we have to think about key issues.  But this has been a problem since "supply chain practicioners have been slow to take on CSR," according to him.  He however clarified that they are trying to catch up as of late.
 
He also mentioned the need to look at both the forward and backward movement in the supply chain whenever one would consider infusing CSR into the their operations.  More often than not, a lot of companies are engaged in CSR activities that have to do with the backward movement – for instance, waste generation.
 
A good example of this is what James Niño of San Miguel Foods Inc (SMFI) explained in his presentation on SMFI's integrated agro-industrial production units in the provinces.  The whole complex is designed to monitor and manage resources and waste, from input to output.  In fact, their complex uses the effluent produced by hog-raising facilities in their bio-fuel plant that supplies most of their energy requirements.
 
Binalot and banana leaves

On the supply side, Binalot’s story is instructive. The restaurant uses banana leaf as its packaging materials for its products. By doing so, it promotes the usage of materials that do not contribute to a bigger carbon footprint since banana leaves easily re-grow in a few weeks time, not to mention that it is biodegradeable. .
 
But the most important part for Binalot, according to  Rommel Juan, is the added value of helping a community get back on its feet by directly and responsibly involving them in the supply chain.  Binalot sources its banana leaves directly from communities. By cutting-off the middlemen, a company is able to boost the efficiency of the company's supply chain while giving a more profitable share to the suppliers of raw materials.
 
In the case of their chosen community in Nagcarlan, Laguna, Juan elaborates that those who are now involved in the processing of their raw materials have begun earning incomes of their own, as opposed to the past setup when they would idly wait for their husbands who are the breadwinners.
 
Macapanpan also pointed out an important aspect of an effective supply chain – the supply chain managers whom he identified as the "boundary spanners" of the whole system because "they interact with other key functional areas of the organization as well as externally with suppliers and customers."  
 
This was seconded by Juan, who mentioned that they used to have a point person who did the CSR for his company and who doubled as their supply chain manager. This person  personally implemented their company's CSR strategy.  In that setup, Juan said that the entire program lacked focus and proper direction since the CEO's attention was divided all the time.
 
Companies must also consider CSR at an early point in the supply chain.  That person must suggest a "total responsibility approach," according to Macapanpan, where societal issues are added into the "traditional economic drivers of the supply chain."