Developing a sustainable procurement strategy for Fashion Buyers in the German retail sector

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: 1.1 Subject and background: The global economic situation by its ever-changing business dynamics, such as ambiguities about the market, fierce competition, consumer behaviour and their changing preferences significantly increases Business Management responsibilities. Today as never before people are concerned with the environment and social issues; rapidly rising oil prices, increasing transparency and consumer interest in how products are made and where they come from, pressures Business Managers to create a more transparent and sustainable industry. Especially Purchasing Managers play a key role in using their procurement function to foster sustainable development. Referring to an international study that was carried out by Capgemini Consulting, sustainability efforts constitute the second important business driver on multiple supply chain agendas for 2010 (Haarman et al., 2009). Companies are rapidly adopting the term into their business or corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports. However, a review of the literature will show that the tem sustainability has been inconsistently defined. More specifically, most of the recent sustainability research has examined issues such as environment, human rights and safety in a standalone fashion (Seuring et al., 2008). Especially Purchasing Managers fail to take the emerged challenge of sustainability into a more integrative perspective: They often limit their purchasing policies on environmental considerations only. More precisely, there does not appear to be a corporate strategy that integrates environmental and social issues together into one purchasing plan. Hence, the sustainability challenges pressures Purchasing Managers to take the effect of their purchasing actions on the triple bottom line (TBL) into account, which refers to people, planet and profit. 1.2 Reason for choice of subject: The clothing and textile industry is massive. It is worth over US$1trillion worldwide, and contributes to 7% of world exports and employs nearly 26 million people (Tokatli, 2007). Paying a greater attention to fashion retailers, the high street dynamic pushed the retail prices for clothing extremely down. Sadly, consumers are demanding more of low price clothing and consequently fashion becomes more and more disposable. In lieu thereof silent sounds approach mainstream retailers; sounds from degrading working conditions in manufacturing facilities and threatening environmental [...]