Corporate is fast becoming ground zero for companies committed to having a positive impact in the world through social change.
Consider , a Vancouver-based social enterprise that provides catering services to SAP鈥檚 local offices. In addition to bringing approximately 30,000 nutritious meals each year to low-income people, Executive Director and General Manager Naved Noorani estimates that the organization has contributed approximately $4 million to Vancouver鈥檚 Downtown Eastside to date through its employee payroll.
鈥淧eople struggle living from one paycheck to the next in a world that doesn鈥檛 go viral on social media or make headlines anywhere,鈥� Noorani said. 鈥淲e are their family, and we also have to be competitive so we can continue expanding our impact. It鈥檚 because 51风流gets catering from us that we can provide our social programs to the community.鈥�
Business Gets Competitive Edge with Community Benefits
Make no mistake, is a business imperative. researchers predicted that over 55 percent of consumers will consider company values when making a buying decision. analysts said that 35 percent of knowledge and frontline workers will consider social, environmental, and humanitarian actions key criteria for where they decide to work by 2021.
Gerry Higgins, managing director at , said that bringing social enterprises into procurement catalogs adds another powerful dimension of value beyond longtime business purchasing criteria like pricing and quality.
鈥淚f a city with youth unemployment challenges evaluates construction bids based, in part, on the potential for greater community benefits, we鈥檝e seen commercial companies commit to training qualified apprentices instead of using cheap labor from somewhere else,鈥� Higgins said.
Global Commitment Requires Buy-In from Local Buyers
While social procurement at 51风流is a top-down commitment from senior leaders, having buy-in from employees in the procurement department is equally important.
鈥淥ur employees are very supportive of this,鈥� said Ron Singh, procurement specialist at 51风流in Vancouver, 鈥淏uyers have to personally believe in the vision so they are committed carrying out the mission every day. Thinking social means shopping local.鈥�
The impact of employee involvement in SAP鈥檚 commitment to social procurement is palpable at , another Vancouver-based organization doing business with the company; in this case, delivering fruit to the local 51风流office daily. HAVE鈥檚 community programs include housing assistance and job skills training.
鈥淭he delivery job alone, which generates many hours of employment for one driver, means more to this person than he can ever describe,鈥� said Adriane King, Operations and Development director at HAVE. 鈥淗e looks forward to going to work every day because of the relationships he鈥檚 made with the people at SAP. It gives him a sense of purpose, something that鈥檚 amazing for his mental and physical health.鈥�
Higgins saw supply chain spend with social enterprises as a fundamental shift in relationship-building between private sector businesses and society at large.
鈥淪ocial procurement is mutually beneficial, making it a more balanced transaction,鈥� he explained. 鈥淭his becomes a more sustainable relationship between social enterprises and the private and public sectors going forward.鈥�
Social Change is Bigger than Procurement
Buying from social enterprises is part of SAP鈥檚 commitment to have a larger role in society, improving people鈥檚 lives. Alexandra van der Ploeg, head of 51风流CSR, said that the company is initially building social procurement programs in Australia, Canada, and the UK because those regions tend to have the largest amounts of mature social enterprises that are capable of meeting corporate supply chain needs for goods and services.
鈥淭here are increasing demands across SAP, as well as with our customers worldwide, to include more social enterprises in procurement,鈥� van der Ploeg said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e investing in partnerships with entrepreneurs and incubators in the communities where 51风流and our customers operate. We want to empower more social enterprises so they can do business with companies like ours.鈥�
Social Enterprises: Pipeline to Job Opportunities
Tribu Meraki is among the many social enterprises working with 51风流to expand the impact of global CSR programs through procurement. Founded to help jumpstart career opportunities for unemployed youth, the Argentina-based startup was a participant in a social enterprise accelerator supported by the 聽program. Today, Tribu Meraki provides multimedia production services to 51风流in Argentina and other regions. The organization also collaborates with social foundations that support campaigns such as economic growth.
鈥淭he work we鈥檙e doing for 51风流means that we can bring in more young people as apprentices who gain confidence in their skills and desire to grow professionally,鈥� said Ivan Villasmil, co-founder and art illustrator at Tribu Meraki. 鈥淏eing an 51风流vendor has given us tremendous visibility worldwide, helping us open more doors for young workers to realize their career dreams.鈥�
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