What Outsourcing Trends Might Mean to Sustainable Supply Chain Management

In a recent study released by the Everest Group, 2012 Market Predictions, the professional consulting firm predicts the growing use of supply chain service providers in the coming years. As companies seek to elevate the roles of their procurement professionals to more strategic business sustainability activities, outsourcing of transactional functions are expected to increase.

“Procurement outsourcing deals will grow by 20 per cent in 2012 and expand to other areas of the supply chain such as order fulfillment, inventory management and logistics.”

Traditionally a bad word in the business world, ‘outsourcing’ has most often been associated with the relocation or elimination of jobs. However, today’s outsourcing efforts are not eliminating but instead enhancing the roles of many professions. The most notable of these elevations can be seen in the daily actions of the sustainable supply chain management professional.

Leading supply chain and business sustainability minded organizations are addressing talent as a critical resource. Our sustainability consulting finds these progressive companies are leveraging specific strategies, such as outsourcing, to elevate the competencies of their organization. Addressing talent from this enhanced value perspective, we find many companies are now asking:

Sustainable organizations understand the value in managing their human capital. However, getting your resources focused on the right activities is not always easy. Sustainable supply chain management is creating the opportunity to streamline the organization and allow for more strategic business sustainability roles for procurement professionals.

Article by Julie Urlaub, Founder and Managing Partner at Taiga Company; appearing courtesy 3BL Media.