Sustainable Procurement: 5th Barometer HEC Paris – EcoVadis
Measure the importance of sustainable development at the heart of European businesses’ Procurement services
"It’s about a new way of doing business"
Olivier Bruel
The Barometer for Sustainable Procurement is conducted every two years since 2003 by HEC Paris and EcoVadis. It aims to formulate suggestions that will lead to change.
Sustainable Procurement: Back to Management
This 5th edition, entitled: "Sustainable Procurement: Back to Management" was led by three authors: Olivier Bruel, Associate Professor at HEC Paris in the department of Operations Management & Information Technology and scientific director of the Executive Masters in Global Sourcing and Supply Chain; Olivier Menuet, Director of Sustainable Procurement at SNCF and lecturer at HEC Paris; and Pierre-François Thaler, CEO at EcoVadis.
As Olivier Brunel explains in his video interview, the recognition of the social and environmental responsibilities businesses carry has led to the evolution of procurement missions. Referring to an extremely widespread investigation, looking at almost 80 of the largest businesses in Western Europe (with all sectors combined) the authors present the important advances that have been made in practices in this field. They notably confirm that sustainable development is compatible with the objective of minimizing costs, which still remains the main priority for procurement leaders.
Strategic role of procurement services
If we look at the bigger picture, the study equally puts into evidence the strategic role that procurement services play in the development of practices linked to sustainable development in the ensemble of businesses both internally and externally, through the reconfiguration of relations with suppliers. According to Olivier Bruel, “it’s about a new way of doing business.” Despite the progress that has been identified over the past few years, the obstacles remain the same.
The main suggestion that the authors offer in order to take these obstacles away lies in changing the management model, thus implicating the general management. Faced with these issues and these managerial failures, HEC Paris proposes an MSc in Sustainable Development amongst its range of courses which, amongst other things, includes teaching specifically dedicated to sustainable procurement.
In addition, the partnership it has established with EcoVadis, one of the global leaders in management and audit solutions in sustainable procurement, constitutes another clear mark of this commitment to lead the way for change.
