Miebach study: Sustainability has arrived in supply chain management

Frankfurt, November 5, 2020: Even though the corona pandemic has pushed many future topics and plans into the background, companies are working on initiatives for greater sustainability. The results of the study suggest that a successful turnaround towards sustainability can be achieved if consumers first rethink and transform this new way of thinking into action and demand.

Nevertheless, according to Thorsten Gensmer, Director, Miebach Consulting GmbH, companies should not sit back: "Those who think ahead now and lay the foundation for sustainable business activities can profit greatly from the newly developing market. Collective actions with a complete cradle-to-cradle approach are necessary for greater climate protection goals in the supply chain. The high level of planned initiatives shows that this can already be worthwhile now!

These are the results of the current sustainability study by Miebach Consulting. In mid-2020, the international supply chain consultancy examined which strategies and measures companies are taking to make supply chains sustainable - and to what extent sustainability and corporate goals can be combined.

277 companies took part in the global online study, including an unusually high proportion of managing directors (18%), which illustrates the importance and strategic significance of the topic.

The motivation for sustainability is tied to the idea of efficiency and cost reduction

With regard to the most recent and the next planned initiative, the majority of respondents cited an improvement in efficiency with an average of 14%, or a cost reduction with an average of 15% as motivation. This is followed by topics such as CO2 reduction (7%), green packaging or the reduction of plastics in general (7%). Sustainable measures based on ecological or social motivation, such as employee health and safety (1%) or environmental protection (1%), are rarely mentioned.

Sustainability in supply chain management is gaining in importance

The surveyed companies have implemented an average of 16 sustainability initiatives in their companies. For the future, however, the surveyed companies plan to almost double (+97%) the number of sustainable initiatives already implemented within the next few years. This suggests that sustainability in supply chain management will gain in importance.

High resource input and complexity discourage

In general, sustainable initiatives are considered less attractive if they require a high level of resource input, such as the development of reverse logistics, which is rated at just 4.2 out of 10 points. Even already complex topics, such as network planning, which is rated 4.6, are perceived as less important. Therefore, resource-saving and relatively simple measures are generally preferred.
The complete results report of the Miebach study "Sustainable Supply Chain Management" is available free of charge and can be requested under the following link: https://www.miebach.com/en/publications/?publication=947&country=DE

Miebach Consulting GmbH
Wiebke Tillmanns
Untermainanlage 6
60329 Frankfurt am Main
Tel: +49 69 273992-0
E-Mail: tillmanns@miebach.com

About Miebach Consulting

Miebach Consulting offers international supply chain consulting and engineering services in production and logistics in 24 offices worldwide. Our customers are medium-sized companies as well as corporate groups who want to improve and expand their competitive position with innovative logistics solutions. With over 380 employees and more than 10,000 successful international projects, we are one of the leading international consulting firms for logistics and supply chain management. For almost 50 years we have been supporting our customers with what we stand for: Supply Chain Excellence.
www.miebach.com

This release was published on openPR.