Page 189 - Operations Strategy

164 CHAPTER 5 • PuRCHAsing And suPPly sTRATEgy

Figure 5.5 Wimbledon’s tennis balls travel over 80,000 kilometres in their supply
network

03
01
MATERIALS 04
01 14 05 06
USA 05 07
Clay South Korea
8,710 miles Sulphur 08 09
02 1,630 miles 09 11
New Zealand 06 Philippines 10
Wool Japan (Basilan) 12
11,815 miles Magnesium Glue 13
03 Carbonate 560 miles
UK (STROUD) 1,880 miles 10
07
Felt Weaving Malaysia
6,720 miles Greece Rubber
Silica 1,505 miles 02
04 5,960 miles 11 PRODUCTION PACKAGING DESTINATION
China 08 Philippines 12 13 14
Petroleum Thailand (Basilan) Philippines Indonesia Wimbledon
Naphthalene Zinc Oxide Rubber (Bataan) Tins 6,660 miles
2,085 miles 1,335 miles 560 miles 1,710 miles

Global sourcing and corporate social responsibility (CSR)
This last point, that global sourcing requires extra attention to be placed on social
responsibility, has significant risk implications. Although the responsibility of opera-
tions to ensure that they deal only with ethical suppliers has always been important,
the expansion of global sourcing has brought the issue into sharper focus. Local sup-
pliers can (to some extent) be monitored relatively easily. However, when suppliers
are located around the world, often in countries with different traditions and ethical
standards, monitoring becomes more difficult. Not only that, but there may be genu-
inely different views of what is regarded as ethical practice. Social, cultural and religious
differences can easily make for mutual incomprehension regarding each other’s ethical
perspective. This is why many companies are putting significant effort into articulating
and clarifying their supplier selection policies.

Example disaster at Rana Plaza 5

It was a disaster that grabbed the attention of the world: on 24 April 2013 the Rana Plaza
clothing factory near Dhaka in Bangladesh collapsed, killing at least 1,100 people. Many well-
known clothing brands were sourcing products, either directly or indirectly, from the factory.
It was claimed that local police and an industry association issued a warning that the build-
ing was unsafe, but the owners had responded by threatening to fire people who refused to
carry on working as usual. Understandably, there was an immediate call for tighter regulation

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