Supply Chain Management

A Case Study

Lee A. DeHihns, JD, Anita Househam, E. Christopher Johnson, JD, Tensie Whelan, OPM

The panel began with DeHihns invoking imagery of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl to remind the audience that sustainability issues are not as new a concern as they might seem. He then segued to questions of where the goods people use come from and go when they are discarded, using Apple, Microsoft, and Verizon Wireless as examples of companies that provide information in their reporting about their supply chains and how they attempt to conform those chains to ethical principles. DeHihns encouraged the audience as consumers to hold the companies to their promises. The supply chain, DeHihns said, is a particularly visible issue for those concerned with sustainability because it involves tangible goods rather than abstract numbers on a page.