Study: Securing the supply chain and cost pressures are currently top priorities
Securing supply chains (83 percent) and the sharp rise in cost pressures (72 percent) are currently the top priorities for companies. Other key issues include digitalization and how companies are addressing the acute shortage of skilled workers. Due to two years of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the resulting energy crisis, the issue of sustainability (31 percent) has fallen somewhat out of focus. This is one of the findings of the “Sustainability in Procurement” survey, which the ERA Group conducted together with the German Association for Materials Management, Purchasing, and Logistics (BME) among 216 participants. Another finding of the survey is that pressure on costs and supply chains, as well as rising sustainability requirements, is driving the redesign of products.
Cost savings come at the expense of sustainability
“The study clearly shows that monetary aspects still take precedence over sustainability criteria,” says Matthias Droste, Country Manager DACH at ERA Group. One reason for this, he notes, is the current global hotspots of crisis. Droste: “At the moment, companies are prioritizing the urgent over the important. Nevertheless, sustainability and the reduction of CO2 emissions remain the issues of the decade.”
“According to the study results now available, many companies are re-prioritizing their focus due to the escalating geopolitical situation,” emphasizes BME Federal Executive Board Chair Gundula Ullah. At the same time, however, this also offers them the opportunity to incorporate sustainability into crisis management now, precisely because the strained supply situation is forcing everyone to rethink things.
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