A weekly report prepared by the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). If you require further information, regarding this report, call the Elora Resource Centre at 519-846-0941. Office hours: 8:30am to 4:30pm.
For technical information, call the Agricultural Information Contact Centre at 1-877-424-1300 or visit the OMAFRA website: www.ontario.ca/omafra.
DIRECT MARKETING AND BRAND LOYALTY, PART 2
While not intended to be a two-part article, Earl’s response to the outcry from industry and government in Western Canada provides a perfect moment to reflect upon the most integral piece of implementing supply chain sustainability and CSR initiatives: collaboration.
One should appreciate the wicked problems that a retailer, such as Earl’s, faces when procurement and marketing misalign.
Marketing outlined that the clientele of the restaurant have ‘approved’ a preferred product for the menu: verified humane beef.
This specification was clearly not on the priority list for long-term strategic procurement much before the announcement, leading to no smooth transition or hybridization of sourcing practices, but a public outcry that was heard across the supply chain.
One must only look at successful and unsuccessful implementations of new market demands on a supply chain to understand why this was a problem.
Stakeholders of a company should be thrilled when the business looks outwardly, increasing transparency with customers in order to boost marketing potential, share good News stories and illustrate where value will be developed through improving practices, operational processes or strategy.
Stakeholders will be less thrilled when that transparency is clearly missing through the supply chain.
There are obvious benefits for undertaking approaches that increase social acceptability and marketing potential of a product.
However, the work behind such announcements is something often overlooked and typically more influential to the long-term strategy of the business: collaboration.
Collaboration has significant influence on the relevance and profitability of end products.
The speed of social evaluation of product and requirements for hyper-transparency is continuing to speed up, so too is the required rate of communication and collaboration across the supply chain.
To address this growing need for communication and agility across supply chain partners, the most progressive and forward-operating businesses have adopted some choice mechanisms that allow them to act as a conduit to tether consumer demands to members across the supply chain.
In the past, these partners have never had to know what consumer demands were, as they were “just the suppliers.”
Now, the nature and speed of business has progressed to the point where there is an increased need for agility and flexibility across the entire supply network.
This is a result of the growing nature and speed of transparency requirements for all aspects of the supply chain by consumers, leading to partners or suppliers turning into collaborators. While this may seem as semantic, the difference between partner and collaborating is important.
It is linked to the type of communication and the increase in mutual benefit associated with collaborations.
David Murphy speaks to three key partnering principles: equity, because it leads to respect; transparency, because it leads to trust; and mutual benefit, because it leads to sustainability.
Mechanisms, like roundtables, have growing acceptance across various industries and sectors.
These roundtables tend to have producers, processors, non-governmental bodies (i.e. activists), academics, and retailers, each providing equal voice and input to the decisions made.
Roundtables are only an example of a mechanism. Some Google research will find you many others.
These mechanisms will provide strong, socially responsible outcomes, but will slow the process significantly, as consensus is usually required.
An example situation of how a roundtable may work: Retailer A brings a customer demand to the roundtable. This constitutes an opportunity for the group.
The group, as a roundtable, can then work collaboratively to voice concerns and challenges to meeting such demand.
As a group, these issues are heard and solutions can be developed in a manner that is respectful of supply chain strategy and transparent to all involved.
Such communication can significantly aid the long-term sustainability of businesses across the supply chain, both in terms of agility, but also market relevance and access.
This mechanism can also aid the supply chain in times of crisis or risk management, as mitigation can be sought to reduce environmental, social, or economic tensions and risks, leading to greater stability and profitability long-term.
Roundtables are just one example of a mechanism of collaboration.
More company-specific examples are used successfully every day, particularly in the agriculture and food world.
Wayne Visser describes sustainability as a “values-laden umbrella, in which environment and society is managed to ensure that human needs are met without destroying the life supporting ecosystems on which we depend.”
If values are understood and built throughout a supply chain, how much easier would it be to understand market opportunities, maximize productivity and continue to meet the growing, mutual needs of farmers, restaurants, and society’s demands?
COMING EVENTS
July 14 to 17 – Listowel Fair – 5699 Perth Line 86. Visit www.listowelfair.com or call 519-291-2776 for more information.
