	Article Directory		Article Submission Service		Article Marketing Blog		Publishers		Member Log In

Article Directory :: Business - General Articles

10 Tips On How To Begin Trading Ethically

By Francis Murphy

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 03Dec2009
Word count: 645
Viewed: 228 time(s)

Get Free Content For Your Site

How does a company start the process of trading ethically? Here are 10 great tips to get you on the road.

1. Create an ethical trading policy. Within any corporate structure this is no simple matter especially in very large organisations that trade globally. It requires a commitment to change that must start in the boardroom and be driven through the entire supply chain right down to the point of sale.

2. Accept that this is not a label sticking exercise. A company who believes that all they need to do to trade ethically is pay a subscription for a logo that can be printed on their headed paper and product packaging is doomed to failure.

3. Accept that costs may be incurred. It is an undisputable fact that is that the process does incur extra costs especially in the initial stages. But this is no different to investing in staff training on new systems or machinery.

4. Expect the process to take some time to implement. Depending upon the size of an organisation the implementation can take anything from a few weeks to many months to complete and will almost certainly need to be driven by a senior member of the management team with full backing of the ultimate decision makers within the company.

5. Plan for some possible disruption in your supply chain. For example it may be the case that a company currently purchases certain products based entirely upon the lowest price offered in an on-line tender with no consideration given to the methods of manufacturing that the winning supplier employs. Once the new policy is in place tenderers would have to first demonstrate that their production plants comply with the new policy. It can take some weeks to organise the necessary audits so this lead-time needs to be taken into consideration.

6. Involve the key company decision makers. Ensure that the senior management is totally committed to a policy of ethical trading. A proper commitment cannot be taken lightly as it can mean changes in the way that a procurement department operates.

7.Select and empower the right member of staff to instigate the policy. The person who is going to take responsibility within the organisation for seeing the project all the way through to implementation must be someone who has access to and has the confidence and backing of the key decision makers.

8. Give the instigator time and budget to do the job properly. They will need to have the time to research the project, create an implementation plan and present the facts and figure to the senior management.They will then have to hold a series of presentations to the entire company explaining why the new policy is being adopted and how it will impact upon them.

9. Get the buy in from every person in the company. It is essential that everyone within the organisation buys into why the new policy is being incorporated into the supply chain. Any missing link can disrupt the new policy and result in its failure.

10. Get the right information to implement the new policy. At the outset is vital that the person heading up the project learns as much as possible about the subject and whilst there is not a massive number of sources available on the internet a good place to start would be at the website of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).

This is a relatively new subject and there are no set rules and regulations. However I hope this article will give you some help in instigating an Ethical Trading Policy within your company no matter what industry your in, whether you offer a service, or even sell Promotional Merchandise, it is important to trade ethically.

Francis Murphy is the Managing Director of BTC Group which was established in 1977 and are the only Promotional Merchandise company to be members of both the Ethical Trading Initiative and SEDEX the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange. To view a range of ethically sourced Promotional Clothing click here

EasyPublish™ this article - publishers click here