Tools and Methods for Compiling the Business Case

One of the best ways to begin developing a business case for action is for the CERO and his or her team to use a self-assessment tool that can help them benchmark the company s current state against their stated goals and the performance indicators that they have selected and the stakeholder expectations they have developed. These self-assessment tools help the company understand the gap between stated policy and reality in areas such as:

• Levels of employee buy-in to high standards of ethical behavior

• Board and senior management perceptions and degrees of support

• Stakeholder expectations

• The information gathering capabilities and general risk awareness of the company

• Potential areas of concern throughout the extended supply chain, including supplier behavior

There are many good examples of these self-assessment tools, including those from CERES, the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI), the Sustainable Development Commission in the United Kingdom (see Appendix D), or from pioneering companies such as Sustainability Northwest (see Appendix E), which can be used to judge the quality of a company s sustainability or ethical supply chain strategy.

Following this type of self-assessment, a company will be in a better position to develop an implementation plan and to gauge the spending and resource requirements that make up the cost side of the business case.