ECPAR | Espace québécois de concertation sur les pratiques d'approvisionnement responsable

Suppliers approach

In winter 2011, the ECPAR’s supplier committee determined practices pertaining to the supplier approach. Eight technical sheets were created. 

Technical sheets

The first sheet, entitled Supplier approach, presents the approach by providing a definition and context to highlight global issues and the need to make the approach operational. The Implementation section describes each phase that must be carried out in order to apply the approach within an organization. Finally, the Limitations and challenges section targets common issues in an effort to ensure that they are integrated early on in the process and provides possible solutions. 
The seven other sheets explore various practices to implement the supplier approach. To standardize the information and help organizations understand and compare the different practices, the sheets were divided into five sections: 
  1. Best practices and recommendations: Lists the key steps in the implementation process, focuses on the most important actions in each step and refers readers to the most relevant sources of information. 
  2. Practical cases: Details concrete examples of organizations around the world that have implemented the practice, enabling readers to consider different actions and follow leadership examples that best meet the needs of their sectors. 
  3. Performance indicators: Refers to the tool created by the performance committee and enumerates the indicators that may be used.  
  4. Maturity level: Helps determine whether the practice is common in organizations and whether information is accessible. 
  5. Resources: Provides an overview of the resources required to implement the supplier approach

Each sheet also includes a References section to encourage readers to learn more on each topic and find more targeted information pertaining to their organizations’ activity sectors.