In reality, this practice is not only a duty to be fulfilled to avoid sanctions or seizure of products, but a winning card for all companies, including SMEs, who wish to improve their reputation and satisfy an increasingly demanding clientele.
Managing the supply chain consciously, monitoring the entire product journey and openly sharing information with customers, stakeholders and investors is an important step to take to make the company increasingly competitive. To further increase the advantages and adapt as much as possible to market demands and regulations, it is also useful to pay particular attention to the issue of sustainability through the measurement of the carbon footprint, the implementation of a green procurement strategy, the optimization of green logistics and so on.
Below we will discover how traceability and transparency of the supply chain can be transformed into strategic advantages for small and medium-sized businesses, and we will try to understand how to effectively map, monitor and enhance the sustainability of the green supply chain.
Transparency and traceability as strategic tools
For Italian companies, even medium and small ones, it becomes more important every day to embrace the principles of transparency and traceability of the supply chain, integrating them with the principles of sustainability, both environmental and beyond. Far from being simple obligations to comply with or methods to better differentiate oneself from the competition, these factors play a fundamental role at a strategic level and can contribute to improving reputation, opening up new economic opportunities, maintaining trusted customers, attracting investors, building trust and credibility.
Keeping the supply chain transparent and traceable helps to convey seriousness, to communicate one’s environmental commitment and to respond to the growing need to be able to count on documented and verifiable sustainability criteria at every stage of the chain.
In addition to all this, constant monitoring reduces the risks related to errors, delays, scams, and allows us to improve operational management, keeping costs under control and making the supply chain increasingly resilient.
How to make the green supply chain transparent and traceable
Mapping, monitoring and valorising are the three key words that SMEs must adopt to make the green supply chain transparent and traceable.
The very first step to take to achieve good results consists in mapping the subjects involved in the production process, starting with the suppliers, in order to evaluate the attention they show towards sustainability, the impact on the environment, compliance with current regulations and reputation. This phase involves the collection of information relating to production processes, raw materials, certifications and so on.
The following step consists in constant monitoring of the supply chain as a whole, aimed at quickly identifying critical issues and intervening promptly, so as to keep the supply chain always aligned with the established objectives.
Finally, small and medium-sized enterprises must work on valorising the chain and the results achieved, integrating ESG metrics and communicating the results in order to strengthen their reputation and increase the trust of all business partners.
