Supply chain control weak in Finnish retailer business

During the past weeks CSR got a great junk of publicity in Finland. The food retailer giant Kesko has apparently sourced textiles from a supplier in India that has been involved in child labor, human rights violations and serious environmental damage. The Finnish textile retailers were asked by Helsingin Sanomat about their supply chain control. They do as a rule not check their supplier's environmental or human rights performance at all - only Stockmann and Seppälä had hired an external auditor to keep track on social responsibility in supplier's facilities. Same problem applies to Clas Ohlson - according to SwedWatch Clas Ohlson does not have any idea in what conditions their products are produced - they say that they do often not even know where their articles are manufactured!

Talouselämä last Friday again points out customers' responsibility in ethical purchasing. We should make a statement by purchasing only ethically manufactured products. Now I am just wondering, that as long even the retailers themselves have no idea of the ethical standard of their products, how on the earth should a consumer know that this towel is manuractured by forced labor or kids in India, and the other towel is made in a responsible plant paying decent salaries somewhere else? If I had that information next to the price tag in each product, I would certainly consider it relevant for my purchase decision, and even pay a small pemium for a good consience.

CSR reports give too a nice picture of Finnish companies' responsibility

Both Helsingin Sanomat and Taloussanomat have published main articles about CSR reporting this week. The message in both is pretty similar: There is a serious lack of critisism in CSR reporting, and CSR reports are turning out to be more of a marketing tool than accounting for companies impact on sustainable development. Every company appears in their reports as incredibly responsible, attentive to any environmental or social concerns, and with full records on compliance with all kinds of laws and regulations. It is quite irritating when a report that should serve as an objective information source on a particular company's responsibility turns out to be pure greenwashing.