Zeeman sees all of their due diligence strategies beginning with their transparency efforts. Internal and external transparency allows them to pinpoint the highest risk areas and work together with all necessary stakeholders on solutions.
Zeeman came to Open Supply Hub as they were working to increase the amount of supply chain data they were publishing and wanted that data to be as accessible as possible to unions and workers, so that they could reach out and solve problems collaboratively. They have now published three tiers of supply chain data and embedded an interactive map on their website, with data points like unionization, length of relationship, and number of interviews during audits.
The platform has also allowed them to reach out to peer brands who overlap with their suppliers if they want to start a project or share resources on solving a problem.
Competitiveness as an excuse not to be transparent is behind us as an industry. It is far more valuable to share information and work on issues together. The path forward is for more brands and sectors to start working collaboratively and transparency is an enabler for that: building projects together and making continuous improvements. Open Supply Hub is a perfect illustration of how to make that possible.
- Bo Duijvestijn, Junior CSR Specialist
Zeeman is a Dutch chain store with 1,300 establishments in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Austria, Spain and Portugal.