This theme measures the extent to which a company adopts responsible purchasing practices, sources raw materials responsibly, and integrates its supplier code of conduct into its supplier selection and contracts.
Food & Beverage
Purchasing Practices is the second-lowest-scoring theme of the benchmark. While most companies report some efforts to source at least part of one commodity responsibly (typically using a certification that covers forced labor), far fewer disclose responsible purchasing practices adopted in the first tier of their supply chains, such as prompt payment for suppliers. Similarly, though it is more common for companies to integrate their supply chain standards addressing forced labor into contracts with suppliers, less than a third of benchmarked companies disclose a process for assessing potential suppliers for forced labor risks. Overall, improvements on the theme of Purchasing Practices since the 2018 benchmark are very limited.
Information & Communications Technology
Purchasing Practices is the second-lowest scoring theme of the benchmark, yet enabling indicators such as purchasing practices are fundamental to addressing forced labor in supply chains. While more than half of the companies integrate forced labor considerations into their supplier selection and supplier contracts, they do not typically disclose information on how they are adopting responsible purchasing practices or incentivizing suppliers to encourage or reward good labor practices in their supply chains (for example, through price premiums, increased orders, or longer-term contracts).