Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR and Administration at SafeSourcing.

 It seems with nearly every holiday, there is usually a common chocolate treat associated with it. Whether it is chocolate hearts for Valentine’s Day, chocolate bunnies for Easter, or hot chocolate for Christmas, chocolate has become not just common, but a standard for many of our holidays. Not only that, but chocolate is something many of us eat often without the holiday celebration, from chocolate chip cookies and granola bars to a candy bar at your local gas station.

 So where does all this chocolate come from? While most of us can find chocolate in nearly every store you might visit, we first we need to find out who makes all this chocolate. Globally, the top chocolate companies are Mars Inc., Ferrero Group, Mondelez International, Meiji Co. Ltd., Hershey Co., and Nestle. These companies have remained the top in the industry for numerous years and account for approximately 60 billion dollars in sales. That’s a lot of chocolate!

 While chocolate is a sweet treat many of us enjoy, there has recently been some bitter discussion on where chocolate comes from. This has led to some investigative reports looking into the chocolate industry and the source of their cocoa. An estimated 70% of the world’s cocoa comes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast which are both West African countries and are known to not only have vast government corruption, but also known to use child labor as well as slavery in their cocoa farms. This claim is difficult to verify, however, because journalists and reporters are often barred from visiting these farms or highly supervised while there, being only allowed to show the area in a positive way.

 There has recently been a change in the chocolate industry, though. There are many chocolate companies that ethically source their cocoa. No matter where you live, there are likely a number of chocolatiers near you that use cocoa from farms that provide humane conditions for their workers and that is something extra sweet to think about.

 For more information on how you can ethically source chocolate, or on our Risk Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

References:

1.  http://safesourcing.com/ContactUs/tabid/60/language/en-US/Default.aspx
2. https://www.candyindustry.com/2020/global-top-100-candy-companies
3. https://foodispower.org/human-labor-slavery/slavery-chocolate/
4. Ethically sourced chocolate: http://www.slavefreechocolate.org/ethical-chocolate-companies

 Today’s blog is by Gayl Southard, Administrative Assistant at SafeSourcing.

“You learn something new everyday” is a phrase often used after a person learns a lesson by accident. You simply are learning by circumstance rather than acquiring a new skill set or learning new information or facts.

Harvey MacKay has always been an advocate of lifelong learning or intentional learning. Getting the right information and putting this into practice whether it be to improve his golf swing or learning a new language. Technology today makes things easier than ever before. There are online classes, TEDtalks, YouTube, and instructional videos to name a few. If you are hooked up to WiFi, knowledge is unlimited and is available to fit your schedule.

“Alvin Toffler, author of ‘Future Shock,’ who said, the illiterate of the 21^st century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn”. In today’s world you need to know how to navigate social relationships, keep up with new technology, be informed about politics, be aware of your finances, make intelligent career decisions, choose a healthy diet along with a million other skills in order to thrive in this world.

Learning something the wrong way can have permanent consequences. Some questions you may ask before taking on new learning are:

•     Why am I learning this information and how will I use it?
•     What level of understanding do I need?
•     How can this information be broken down?
•     What are the most important things to learn based on my personal goals?

Many times knowing a little on a topic can be a conversation starter or could even lead to a sale. You might not commit to learning something everyday , but once a week or month could be a good start. MacKay’s Moral is use it or lose it!

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help your procurement efforts, or on our Risk

Free trial program, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service Representative. We have an entire team ready to assist you today.

References:

Harvey MacKay, AZCentral, 1/13/2020

Today’s post is by Dave Wenig, Vice President of Sales and Services at SafeSourcing, Inc.

There is no shortage of news stories that are designed to induce fear in the reader. Surely, it’s up to the reader to decide whether the articles are correct or just more clickbait. While a lot of what we see today falls into the clickbait category, there are still real risks that need to be monitored and managed.

One such headline that affects us all is a question that has gotten plenty of attention in the media recently. Will we see a recession in 2020 or not? I’m not even going to speculate. It’s not my place to do so. Instead, I’ll do my part to make sure that my customers are prepared for a recession or any other potentially devastating situation.

Are you too comfortable?

One of the biggest mistakes I see our prospects and a few customers making is allowing themselves to become too comfortable with their situation. Perhaps a strong economy has been good to them for some amount of time and they have shifted their focus away from cost reductions. Whether they did this intentionally or through negligence, they’ve made a critical mistake. Focusing solely on revenue is an incomplete strategy. It’s like keeping your car perfectly clean and shiny and skipping the maintenance like oil changes. At some point, you’re going to be in trouble.

I’ll admit that this seems dramatic, but the fact is I have personally seen this play out within some of the organizations that SafeSourcing has worked with over the years. I’ve watched companies embrace strategic sourcing, regardless of how weak or strong their sales are at the time, which thrive when the market is strong and survive when it is not. On the other hand, I’ve watched former customers and prospects go through layoffs, having their stock values crash, and shut their doors. At some point, it’s too late to cut costs. The time to be a steward of your organization’s expenses is before it is too late.

Don’t let yourself get too comfortable and caught off guard. Split your focus in a way that still allows for strategic sourcing to be an initiative and make sure the organization understands that this has executive sponsorship. Or don’t. I’ll keep my eye on the news and hope I don’t see more familiar company names in these saddening headlines.

If you would like more information on how SafeSourcing can help you, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.  We have an entire team ready to assist you today.