{"id":1814,"date":"2018-04-25T15:12:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T15:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2021-07-28T06:51:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T10:51:02","slug":"social-harmony-becoming-business-priority-international-procurement-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.certitrek.com\/nlpa\/blog\/social-harmony-becoming-business-priority-international-procurement-priority\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Harmony is Becoming More of a Business Priority. Should it be an International Procurement Priority?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest social-business stories in recent memory was\u00a0the April 12, 2018 trespassing arrest of two African-American men in a Starbucks\u00a0after they refused to make a purchase or leave. \u00a0The matter was widely regarded as an issue of racial discrimination. \u00a0Therefore, Starbucks made the decision to close all 8,000 of its stores on May 29 to\u00a0provide \u201cracial-bias education\u201d to its nearly 200,000 employees.<\/p>\n

Those are pretty big numbers.<\/p>\n

And other businesses surely don\u2019t want to be in Starbucks\u2019 shoes, reacting to a public relations nightmare. \u00a0They\u2019d prefer to never be involved in such a crisis. \u00a0So, you can bet that corporate executives are thinking about how they can proactively foster a culture of social harmony \u2013 even if it means spending money and sacrificing profit in the name of diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

It serves as a reminder that where money is spent reveals the\u00a0values that an organization supports.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s discuss that in the context of international procurement.<\/p>\n

In our course, Exemplary Supply Chain Social Responsibility, we talk about the issue of \u201cconflict minerals.\u201d \u00a0Specifically, we cover how some minerals that are used as raw materials in manufacturing originate in mines operated by militias who are notorious for atrocities such as kidnapping, rape and murder. \u00a0Responsible organizations and governments do not want to support those crimes and those militias, so they go to great lengths to ensure that they do not buy minerals whose supply chain involves these militias.<\/p>\n

As the business world becomes wiser, I believe that organizations will increasingly look to ensure that spending decisions avoid rewarding those with atrocious values at any link in the supply chain. \u00a0But this\u00a0is more complicated than it sounds when you look at international procurement hotspots.<\/p>\n

For example, ethnic discrimination is quite a problem in one certain\u00a0global sourcing nirvana for goods. \u00a0According to\u00a0The Economist, two specific ethnic groups there are experiencing intense ethnic discrimination that \u201cmakes it difficult to find work in cities. As ethnic discontent grows, so too does the discrimination, creating a vicious circle.\u201d \u00a0The government of that nation is criticized for enabling this discrimination, putting forth only \u201ctoken efforts\u201d to combat it. \u00a0The article goes on to describe how police treat one of those groups\u00a0in a way that would certainly raise the ire in America, given the powerful rise of \u201cintolerance of intolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, should a company like Starbucks that preaches against \u201cracial bias\u201d source in a country that seems to permit a similar type of ethnic discrimination being combatted in its home country?<\/p>\n

What about the nation many think of first when considering globally sourcing services? \u00a0There,\u00a0Fox News reports that Christians are systemically persecuted\u00a0and that the\u00a0government of their current Prime Minister\u00a0\u201cis often blamed for the growing religious violence?\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the amount of money spent via procurement contracts, large corporations and the governments in their countries have the potential to wield very strong influence over social harmony \u2013 not just domestically, but internationally. \u00a0World leaders such as U.S. President Donald Trump have shown that they are not afraid to stand up to their peers in other countries and essentially say \u201cWe\u2019re no longer going to do business the way we have been.\u201d \u00a0Collectively, business and government leaders could demand that systemic ethnic and religious persecution end, or else money for importing will be spent elsewhere.<\/p>\n

However, not all big businesses are willing to force their ideas of equality on other nations. \u00a0Another timely example comes in the form of World Wrestling Entertainment holding its first pay-per-view event in a middle eastern country this coming Sunday.<\/p>\n

In recent years, WWE has chosen to associate its brand with equality for women. \u00a0It changed the name of\u00a0its all-female division from \u201cDivas\u201d to the \u201cWomen\u2019s Division.\u201d \u00a0It has touted a \u201cwomen\u2019s revolution\u201d in its programming.<\/p>\n

However, this Sunday\u2019s \u201cGreatest Royal Rumble\u201d event is featuring male performers only. \u00a0The host country is notorious for providing fewer rights to women than men. \u00a0Yet, the WWE decided that international revenue growth was a higher priority than pushing its women\u2019s equality agenda and agreed to hold the event. \u00a0WWE has been challenged in this regard, but still seems to believe that having its first event be an all-male event in a new country is a step in the right direction. \u00a0Forbes quotes WWE vice president, Paul Levesque, as saying \u201cI understand that people are questioning it, but you have to understand that every culture is different and just because you don\u2019t agree with a certain aspect of it, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not a relevant culture. You can\u2019t dictate to a country or a religion about how they handle things, but having said that, WWE is at the forefront of a women\u2019s evolution in the world, and what you can\u2019t do is affect change anywhere by staying away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forbes opines that Levesque\u2019s quote makes him \u201csound\u00a0like a corporate wind-up doll\u201d and calls WWE\u2019s decision to hold the event sans female performers \u201chypocrisy.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, this last example illustrates that just because the idea of making social harmony a prerequisite for doing business could happen, doesn\u2019t mean it\u00a0will<\/em>\u00a0happen. \u00a0However, with a raging sentiment behind the pursuit of social harmony \u2013 especially among millennials, the leaders of tomorrow \u2013 using procurement dollars to effect positive change in the world could become a very powerful business strategy in the future.<\/p>\n

Recommended Reading<\/b><\/p>\n