Considering the intricacies of the IT industry’s supply chain, how should companies drill down it?
MJ: The first step is actually quite simple. Some of the companies we interacted with don’t know the official Chinese name of their suppliers, which means that they have been unable to use our database to check if any of their suppliers are polluters. The second step involves rethinking their supply chain management strategy. A good model to use is getting their first-tier suppliers to commit to addressing their environmental issues, and then reviewing their own supply chain. And the second-tier supplier does the same. So you start to go deeper into the supply chain. AWP: Which companies are moving forward? And which ones need more nudging? MJ: Both HP and Samsung, one of the first ones to respond, are moving fast – they are working to encourage their first-tier suppliers to review their own suppliers. Canon and IBM have also responded, saying that they have reviewed their supply chain and are addressing the issue. The next step for these companies is to publicly disclose the problems
