Supplier performance and the environment

Concerns about the environment have evolved from primarily being single country concerns such as polluted air, polluted water and threats of certain species extinction to international or global concerns (i.e. global warming). Solutions to environmental concerns that negatively impact any number of countries simultaneously i.e. acid rain and ozone layer depletion are being developed jointly by countries today. Environmental issues present companies that operate multinationally with many challenges, one of which is to manage a global enterprise in an environmentally responsible manner while simultaneously addressing numerous country specific issues. Suppliers are an integral part of most programs to the environment. Therefore, measures to understand and communicate differences in supplier performance toward improving the environment should be developed. This paper presents a set of selection criteria for developing a supplier performance measure on the environment that accounts for geographical differences. A methodology for integrating an environmental performance measure into existing traditional supplier performance measures is also presented