APPROACH:
Commitment: In 2009, Wal-Mart committed to lead on the creation of the Sustainability Index and begin using it in our business by 2014. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club have met that challenge two years ahead of schedule with the initial plan to provide category scorecards in up to 100 major categories. Wal-Mart and Sam's Club will now double the category rollout of the Index from the planned 100 categories by then end of 2012 to 200, covering more than 30% of the products sold by Wal-Mart U.S. In addition, Wal-Mart will roll the Index scorecards out to an addition 200 categories in 2013.
Implementation: Wal-Mart and Sam's Club have developed a detailed action plan for merchant training and supplier education to ensure a successful rollout of the Sustainability Index into these key categories. The action plan includes:
- Using the science-driven data tools from The Sustainability Consortium to create category-specific scorecards for our buyers to use when making purchasing decisions
- Initiating two waves of multi-phased merchant training for the Wal-Mart and Sam's Club buyers in FY '13
- Expand merchant training program in FY '14 to include buyers from and addition 200 categories
- Develop incentives for buyers and suppliers to encourage behavior that supports sustainability innovation
- Share the lessons we have learned and best practices in order to inspire others
Track progress
ACTION PLAN:
1. Complete first wave of buyer training with 100 categories - Q3 FY'13
2. Complete second wave of buyer training with 100 categories - Q4 FY'13
3. Complete roll out of Index to categories that represent 30% of sales - FY '13
4. Launch year two first wave buyer training with 100 categories - Q1 FY'14
5. Launch year two second wave buyer training with 100 categories - Q2 FY'14
6. Complete rollout of Index to categories that represent 60% of sales - FY '14
7. Complete rollout of Index to categories that represent 80% of sales - FY '15
In 2009, Wal-Mart committed to leveraging our size and scale to help develop a global Sustainability Index. Our goal was to improve the sustainability of our products by creating a more transparent supply chain, accelerating adoption of best practices and driving product innovation, while providing customers with transparency into the products they buy.
To fully grasp the progress made to date on the index, it is important to first understand the evolution of The Sustainability Consortium. The consortium has secured the membership of more than 90 organizations, among them many of our largest competitors. In 2011, the consortium opened a European office in the Netherlands, while establishing affiliations with a number of additional universities in Asia, Europe and Latin America. This consortium is delivering research and measurement and reporting systems that are improving our understanding of sustainability in our products and suppliers and beginning to influence how we engage our suppliers around sustainability. The consortium continues to identify opportunities and develop key performance indicators to establish the 'common language' necessary to evaluate product and supplier sustainability performance, while driving innovation where it matters most.
Wal-Mart provided its more than 100,000 global suppliers with a brief survey to evaluate their own sustainability. The survey represented a key step toward enhancing transparency in our supply chain. Through the incorporation of the consortium's category key performance indicators, we are now able to ask more detailed questions on specific products than ever before.
By January 2011, we piloted these detailed assessments in six specific product categories. We used those results to create category scorecards, which allow our buyers to evaluate supplier performance against the biggest issues and opportunities across their products' life cycles. We committed to expand these six pilots to develop scorecards in up to 100 categories by the end of 2012. These scorecards are being integrated into some of our core merchandising business processes, and we are developing buyer and supplier incentives to ensure we recognize those buyers and suppliers who are performing well.
