Abstract

This article introduces a process that can be used by companies to obtain an increasingly precise picture of their supply chain social footprint (negative impacts) and identify potential social handprints (i.e., changes to business as usual that create positive impacts) using social organizational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA). The process was developed to apply to the electronics sector but can be used by companies in any industry. Our case study presents the social footprint of a typical US computer manufacturing company and identifies potential salient social risks and hotspots using generic information about the inputs that are related to a global trade model. The global trade model enables us to map the likely supply chain based on where inputs are usually sourced from by the US electronic computer manufacturing sector. In order to identify material impacts, normalization factors were created and used. Once the material impacts and salient risks are known, it becomes necessary to identify root causes in order to plan actions that will truly make a meaningful change, addressing the issues at stake. The article concludes by establishing a methodology that enables the use of the industry-level impacts and assessment in combination with the organization’s own data to calculate company-specific results.

Highlights

  • Until recently, the primary focus of sustainability assessments was to assess and reduce the harmful impacts or footprint of organizations and product’s life cycles

  • The objective of this research was to present a practical method and process for companies to assess the impact of the changes they make to improve their social impacts

  • We start by calculating a typical computer manufacturing company social footprint and identifying salient risks and social hotspots to highlight what could be potential handprint areas

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Summary

Introduction

The primary focus of sustainability assessments was to assess and reduce the harmful impacts or footprint of organizations and product’s life cycles. The concept of handprints was created and popularized [1]. It is an innovative and holistic approach to enable the measurement, evaluation, and communication of the environmental and social sustainability positive impacts of products and organizations. The objective of this research was to present a practical method and process for companies to assess the impact of the changes they make to improve their social impacts (reducing their social footprint and growing their social handprint). Handprints are the changes that we bring, compared to business as usual, which create positive impacts (reducing our footprint, namely, our own and that of others) [2]. The proposed and applied framework was developed taking in account the broader work of the Net Positive Project, chaired by Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), Forum for Resources 2019, 8, 176; doi:10.3390/resources8040176 www.mdpi.com/journal/resources

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