By Sustainable Life Media

Oct. 16. 2008 - A new report from Spend Matters offers case studies and strategies for turning sustainable procurement and supply chain practices into a cost-cutting opportunity.

The main challenge for companies, according to the report, is to change the way they view procurement. Organizations must see sourcing not as an isolated function with a rigid procedure but rather as a flexible organizational opportunity where sustainability can provide gateways to strengthened stakeholder relations and lower costs and risks.

Based on the experiences of top sustainability leaders across a variety of industries, the report identifies five common trends to achieving a sound sustainable-sourcing strategy:

1. Getting out of a traditional strategic stage-gate sourcing mindset that creates rigid parameters on information dissemination, collection and analysis. Making the procurement process more flexible can allow for greater creativity throughout the cycle.

2. Making sustainability a supply management (and cost) issue as much as corporate responsibility effort. Sustainability is not just about qualitative measures, but can expand savings as well.

3. Allowing suppliers a role in defining specifications, options and alternatives. By giving suppliers more freedom to negotiate, they can provide key insights into regional differences on specs and savings.

4. Using technology platforms to communicate information, capture data, run scenarios and weigh decisions.

5. Committing to a culture of collaborative innovation that never stops with one-time efforts.

The report recommends that companies move swiftly to incorporate sustainability into their sourcing strategies, as initiatives are constantly evolving. However, it also urges organizations to encourage a cultural change within the sourcing function by putting sustainability at the core of all of their work.

"Organizations have expanded their definition of green and sustainable procurement initiatives to not only meet regulatory requirements and fuel their sales and marketing efforts, but also to maintain and enhance their competitive position in the market overall," according to the report.

The report concludes that companies can no longer afford to pass the buck on greener supply chain practices.

"Companies that fail to take a collaborative and sustainable approach to working with their suppliers and internal stakeholders throughout the sourcing process in today s climate face numerous risks, from being placed on allocation to lost sales," the report warns.

To download the report, Redefining Sustainability: Saving Money, Reducing Risk and Going Green, click here.