Date of the report
December 2010
Author of the report
Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN)
Purpose of the report
It aims to provide an improved understanding of successful businesses and their approaches to procurement and the relevance of these to current debates on sustainable public procurement.
Relevance to the region
The report concludes that there are three main lessons for policy-makers in the public sector:
- Strategic procurement has been shown in the private sector to be an approach that can contribute to successful delivery of a firm’s strategic objectives. As such government should consider adopting (or in some cases expanding) a strategic approach to its procurement activities.
- Government should use its significant procurement spend and power to stimulate the development of markets and supply chains for sustainable products and services.
- On the basis of the evidence reviewed in the literature, more needs to be done to create a regulatory environment that encourages, enables or requires the private sector to adopt sustainable procurement practices.
What SWM liked
We like that there is also a briefing of the report available which outlines the main points. As it explains, the review is a rapid and cost-effective way of improving the transfer of evidence, and facilitating links between researchers and policy-makers.
Links and Contact information
For more information visit the SDRN website. The SDRN review of successful business and procurement was undertaken by Dr. Helen Walker of the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick.
