Map Your Value Chain

Identify your direct value chain partners

Use your procurement data to identify your most relevant categories with high potential for sustainability improvement, keeping in mind factors like revenue and procurement spend, as well as strategic priorities and sustainability interests.³ Identify your direct suppliers for these top categories, key customers, and end users. This information, including site locations and activities, can be visualised with a map or diagram to help you understand your value chain.⁴ If there are known high-risk regions or suppliers, you will also want to prioritise them at this stage. While software can help⁵, combining tools and stakeholder engagement often provides a more comprehensive picture.

EXAMPLE: Campbell Soup Company commodity mapping

Campbell’s first mapping effort⁶ focused on identifying hotspots in their supply chain for sustainability risk related to 14 priority ingredients sourced from 5 countries. Campbell’s expanded their second mapping effort to 30 ingredients and added detail by including human rights, governance, and water metrics.

EXAMPLE: Patagonia's transparent supply chain mapping

Patagonia engaged in an effort to map its supply chain and provide transparency on product origins. Leveraging technology, data entry, and intensive collaboration, they have created an interactive online platform ⁷ that locates factories globally, providing customers with better insights into the manufacturing journey of each product.⁸

EXAMPLE: Mapping against the SDGs

Heineken's 'Barley to Bar' strategy⁹ maps its entire value chain against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of their Brew a Better World initiative. This method covers sustainable agriculture practices, human rights risks to smallholder farmers, the commitment to net-zero emissions by 2030, environmentally conscious packaging, optimised distribution, and customer-focused initiatives promoting responsible drinking and transparency.

EXAMPLE: Mapping sustainability: an innovative approach to transparent cocoa sourcing

Cargill Cocoa & Chocolate boosts supply chain sustainability via its Cargill Cocoa Promise Sourcing Partner Network¹⁰. This interactive map discloses the locations of direct sourcing partners across Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Cameroon. Leveraging GPS and satellite technology in partnership with organisations like the World Resources Institute, the initiative aims to increase transparency and tackle issues like deforestation and child labour in the cocoa industry.

Map lower-tier suppliers, distributors, and customers

Next, you will need to expand your mapping efforts by tracing materials back to their origins, especially for high-spend procurements or categories. This exercise might require suppliers to disclose details about their facilities, other suppliers, and intermediaries. The further down the supply chain, the more challenging this can be, but this is where supplier collaboration comes in.¹¹ You can involve industry groups, NGOs, or government agencies for additional data. Be aware that suppliers may hesitate to disclose information for fear of repercussions. Building trust, offering incentives, and assuring anonymity can help. You could also consider third-party mapping services or traceability tools. Once you've gathered this data, layer further information, such as local labour standards or environmental factors. Remember that this process will take time and might reveal previously unknown sub-suppliers. You must also plan how best to capture and store this data for future use.

EXAMPLE: VF Corporation supply chain mapping

VF Corporation has implemented extensive supply chain mapping¹², tracing raw materials to finished products across 40 countries and thousands of suppliers. The company achieved its goal of publishing 100 product traceability maps by December 2021 and aims to trace five critical materials through 100% of its supply chain by 2027.

EXAMPLE: GIS for real-time risk and sustainability management

General Motors (GM) uses Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to map its global supply chain for real-time risk monitoring¹³ . The system accelerates crisis responses and helps GM meet sustainability goals by identifying suppliers in politically or environmentally risky areas. This dual functionality ensures operational continuity while upholding GM's ESG commitments.

EXAMPLE: Collaboration with NGO for supply chain transparency

Procurers, suppliers and brands work with Electronics Watch (EW) in the IT sector to make electronics value chains more transparent and identify production sites and high-risk factories. EW monitors these factories for compliance with labour and environmental standards and engages in dialogue with workers and communities to understand their concerns and perspectives.