Corporate Social Responsibility Policies and What They Mean for Life Sciences Supply Chains

The life sciences supply chains support life-saving business models. They supply medical institutions with quick turnaround deliveries while prioritizing consumers through each step of each company’s operations. Putting consumers first directly connects those supply chains with corporate social responsibility policies.

Read about how these policies work and what they mean for the life sciences supply chains. They’re leading the health sector into the future with person-focused initiatives.

What Is Corporate Social Responsibility?

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a modern business model that merges consumer and corporate interests. It includes four factors: the company’s environmental, social, philanthropic, and ethical self-regulation standards to consumers.

Government regulations and laws are the primary factors setting the groundwork for CSR.¹ Internal management strategies and company-wide goals are secondary factors.

What Is the Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Supply Chain Management?

Companies have a direct influence on their supply chain partners. The supply chain is the network of businesses making products a corporation needs.

When those companies with purchasing power enact CSR policies, they experience new benefits. Corporate leadership teams use sustainability to set goals of higher profits, more market share, and a better environment.²

As those benefits become daily advantages, corporations expect their supply chain partners to follow their set path. Without eco-friendly supply chain support, the corporation’s CSR policies wouldn’t produce the same effective results.

Supply chain companies depend on their corporate partners’ purchasing power to keep the lights on. If most of their partners go green, the supply chain management teams must find ways to provide eco-friendly support. They may change their purchasing methods or business models to continue their economically beneficial partnerships.

What Is the Role of Supply Chain Management in Sustainability?

Supply chain management companies play a direct role in CSR policies. Those policies continue to exist when they receive external support through supply chain partners.

Additionally, a sustainable supply chain makes its supplies more readily available to other companies. Suppose a brand hasn’t enacted CSR policies due to limited supply options. When new eco-friendly services from existing partners become available, they could encourage the brand to establish its own CSR guidelines.

Supply chain companies also have individual responsibility toward the environment. Producing goods and services requires using electricity and limited resources like water or fossil fuels. Those actions harm the environment, creating direct effects.

Going green and helping medical brands become more sustainable aligns supply chain companies with most consumers³:

Additional research supports this finding. A 2020 study found customers are more inclined to support brands if those companies demonstrate actionable care for the environment.⁴

Consumer demand informs product sourcing and production. In return, brands have more sustainable products on hand during supply chain management selections. It all starts with corporate social responsibility policies pushing corporations to stick with their eco-friendly values.

How Do You Implement Sustainability in Supply Chain Management?

Company leaders can implement sustainability in supply chain management by rethinking their existing business practices. They should evaluate current practices for environmental impacts and consider the following strategies.

Look for Outdated Practices

Well-meaning business practices may create wastefulness that goes unnoticed. Something as routine as laser cutting materials for implants could indicate serious waste.

Research shows laser cutting metal results in wasted airborne particles.5 It pollutes the air for workers and reaches the outdoor environment through open doors or windows. The waste harms people and the planet.

Corporate social responsibility policies would address this by seeking alternative options. 3D printing implants would remove the need for lasers, resulting in faster production and less waste.6 These advancements can also help patients, like how 3D-printed implants improve the restoration of bones and cartilage.7

Find Existing Waste Sources

The medical industry contributes 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions annually.8 Life sciences companies can minimize that waste by reflecting on their business models. The results could point to existing waste sources adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

An energy audit is an easy place to start. The findings will show when a company uses the most electricity and the machinery consuming it. Corporate teams may use the figures to inform their investment in solar panels so their business runs on green energy.

They may also upgrade their equipment. Medical experts or supply chain companies use equipment to provide daily goods or services. The machinery may not have Energy Start approval or modern technology that reduces its electricity consumption.

Medical supply shipments pose an industry-wide issue. Luka Yancopoulous, CEO of Grapevine Technologies, told Health, “The mind-boggling intricacy of our current supply chain model is something to behold. Picture this: 20-30% of hospital medical supply costs get swallowed up by warehousing expenses, while an additional 10-34% vanish into thin air through multiple ‘transportation waste’ events, with as many as 3-5 shipments occurring between importers and end-users.”

Companies could reflect on current procurement practices and the average number of their monthly deliveries. Making larger, less frequent orders would reduce supply costs and transportation waste events.

“Products go through a long journey from makers to sellers, and every stop adds cost and takes time,” said Yancopoulous. “It’s not just inefficient; it’s old-fashioned. It’s time for healthcare providers to team up directly with makers or main sellers. It’s better for everyone, and it’s the responsible way forward.”

Make Sustainability Simple

Upgrading machinery or switching to solar panels are just a few places to start. CSR policies also include green efforts like recycling, which makes a significant impact when enacted by larger businesses.

Supply chain management companies could partner with a local recycling plant. Weekly pickups could remove waste that gets turned into other products. It would keep waste out of landfills that would otherwise add gas emissions to the atmosphere.9

Hospitals could also start a recycling program for waste like cardboard and paper. They may also seek compostable alternatives for non-recyclable garbage. Instead of plastic to-go boxes, the hospital cafeteria could provide biodegradable boxes. They would still end up in landfills, but they’d decompose into environmentally friendly materials.

These changes would mean working with supply chain partners who provide green materials, like biodegradable to-go boxes. It would make green supply chain efforts more profitable, encouraging other companies to go green as well.

Prioritize Employee Well-Being

Corporate social responsibility includes employee well-being as a part of the social and ethical self-regulation pillars.¹⁰ The supply chain must support a company’s sustainability goals and its employees.

There are ways this happens, depending on the life sciences business. A supply chain manufacturing plant could install windows where employees spend the most time. Letting more natural light into the workplace boosts employee energy¹¹ while creating a better environment. Sunlight decreases stress,¹² which life sciences workers feel intensely.

Recent research shows that 49% healthcare workers experience burnout due to high stress, while 38% have anxiety or depression.¹³ Burnout is a condition where someone feels overwhelming stress due to work.¹⁴

Employees within supply chains living with these or other burnout symptoms need more support. CSR standards prioritize this through policies that put employee well-being on equal standing with sustainability goals.

Life sciences supply chains may update CSR policies as needed to support employees in an ever-changing industry. Prioritizing wellness alongside eco-friendly goals is part of establishing corporate social responsibility standards.

“CSR in the life sciences supply chain is not an expenditure, but an investment to better market access,” said Rahul Gotadki, Senior Research Analyst at Market Research Future (MRFR). “CSR in life sciences is a way to accelerate the healthcare revolution in emerging countries for a better future.”

Track Sustainability Metrics

Eco-friendly CSR policies are only effective when they rely on updated metrics. People need to understand a problem to find the best solution.

Modern software can assist with this step in making corporate social responsibility policies. Sustainability management platforms keep track of data such as CO2 calculations, emissions, and the green standing of suppliers.

When those metrics flag an issue with something like a supplier’s carbon footprint, corporate teams have two options. They can either change suppliers or work together to address the issue. Both methods make the supply chain more eco-friendly while supporting CSR standards.

Corporate teams should also review these metrics regularly. Comparing weekly or monthly findings creates progress charts. If one area of a life sciences business slips in its sustainability metrics, the metrics will show its decreasing performance. Immediate changes will realign a company with its CSR standards.

Metrics are another way to support the transparency of CSR policies. The data could become public knowledge. It would reaffirm the company’s self-regulation commitment to its consumers, which is a vital part of corporate social responsibility.15

Commit to Transparency and Traceability

Transparency is another foundational concept in corporate social responsibility. Companies must explain where they fall short in their sustainable, social, and ethical business models. Consumers and shareholders then get to see exactly how the companies plan to achieve their CSR goals.

It may be challenging to adapt to transparency, but it’s economically worthwhile. Research shows a greater volume of transparency leads to higher profits.14 Publishing data through recurring consumer updates via newsletters or social media could make transparency easier for life sciences supply chains.

Consider Implementing Corporate Social Responsibility Policies

Corporate social responsibility policies are increasingly important for life sciences supply chains. CSR standards make companies align with consumer demand, increase profitability, and support the environment more effectively. The strategies outlined above may assist corporate teams in making positive steps toward their CSR goals.

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