Case study: How Roma Group promotes responsible business practices across its supply chain
Roma Group provides a wide range of valuation and technical advisory services that include business and intangible assets valuation, natural resources valuation, financial instruments valuation, property valuation, purchase price allocation. Roma Group highly values its relationship with suppliers and consultants, regards them as important business partners and seeks to recognise the environmental and social risks embedded in its supply chain.
This case study is based on the 2018/2019 Environmental, Social and Governance Report by Roma Group published on the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Disclosure Database that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Abstract
Roma Group adheres to the principles of “Socially Responsible Procurement” and “Local Procurement”, and has established sound business practices to promote sustainability during the procurement process. Tweet This! In order to promote responsible business practices across its supply chain Roma Group took action to:
- carry out supplier assessments
- implement Socially Responsible Procurement
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Roma Group has identified;
- How Roma Group proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Roma Group to promote responsible business practices across its supply chain
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2018/2019 Environmental, Social and Governance Report Roma Group identified a range of material issues, such as compliance with laws and regulations, service quality, talent attraction, customer satisfaction and company reputation, privacy protection. Among these, promoting responsible business practices across its supply chain stands out as a key material issue for Roma Group.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Roma Group engages with:
Stakeholder Group | Method of engagement |
Employees
| · Channels for employees’ feedback (form, suggestion box, intranet, etc.) · Regular performance evaluations · Trainings · Departmental meeting |
Customers | · Account-in-charge · Customer meetings and company visits · Social media platform |
Communities, NGOs and the media
| · Donations and charity work · Participation in charity events · Press conferences and interviews |
Government and regulatory bodies | · Announcements and circulars · ESG report |
Investors and shareholders
| · Annual general meeting · Financial reports · Announcements and circulars |
Suppliers and consultants
| · Communication channels with consultants (emails, meetings, etc.) · Announcements and circulars · Conferences for suppliers and consultants |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Roma Group invited stakeholders – including employees, management, investors, suppliers, consultants and customers – to participate in a materiality survey and rate potential material topics.
What actions were taken by Roma Group to promote responsible business practices across its supply chain?
In its 2018/2019 Environmental, Social and Governance Report Roma Group reports that it took the following actions for promoting responsible business practices across its supply chain:
- Carrying out supplier assessments
- To make sure its suppliers have met its requirements regarding quality as well as environmental and social standards, Roma Group has formulated standards and stringent procedures in selecting suppliers and consultants. Prior to making any procurement decisions, Roma Group will conduct due diligence and assessments on suppliers and consultants to avoid environmental and social risks. Roma Group has maintained a list of approved suppliers and consultants, and they may subject to suspension or removal from the approved list if they fail to fulfill Roma Group’s During the reporting period, there were no material changes on the locations of the Group’s primary suppliers, the supply chain structure and relationship with suppliers (including selection and termination).
- Implementing Socially Responsible Procurement
- Roma Group implements the policy of Socially Responsible Procurement. Accordingly, Roma Group assesses suppliers’ environmental and social performances in its procurement process and only purchases products that meet relevant standards. Roma Group also assesses suppliers’ compliance in environmental and social aspects, to protect the environment and prevent social risks in its supply chain. Additionally, Roma Group has adopted the policy of Local Procurement and seeks to select local suppliers for its business operations, so as to support local companies, create job opportunities for local communities, promote local economic development and fulfill its social responsibilities. In addition, Roma Group has formulated rules and procedures to make sure suppliers and consultants participate and compete in an open and fair way. To promote fair and open procurement, Roma Group stresses the integrity of its suppliers and consultants with good business track records and with no material violation of laws or business ethics in the past, and strictly monitors and prohibits any kind of business bribery and discrimination against any supplier or consultant.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standards addressed in this case are:
1) Disclosure 204-1 Proportion of spending on local suppliers
2) Disclosure 419-1 Non-compliance with laws and regulations in the social and economic area
Disclosure 204-1 Proportion of spending on local suppliers corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Business theme: Procurement practices
Disclosure 419-1 Non-compliance with laws and regulations in the social and economic area corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
- Business theme: Compliance with laws and regulations
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References:
1) This case study is based on published information by Roma Group, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original, please revert to the original on the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database at the link:
http://database.globalreporting.org/
2) https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/gri-standards-download-center/
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