After reviewing Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) website, I
have to admit, I was very impressed.
Besides doing day to day business, company attempts to make real effort
to better lives and working conditions of workers employed by MEC
suppliers. In addition is company also
strives to reduce environmental footprint.
It is very original that company’s customers are also its
owners or as MEC refers to them, “shareholders”. Each shareholder gest a vote on how company
is run, how it conducts its business and gets to vote in the board of
directors. By empowering customers to
become involved with company’s business operations, MEC creates unique
organizational environment.
“Ethical Sourcing”
section of MEC website, explains how company strives to ensure that its
suppliers follow internationally accepted labor standards. MEC take a lot of heat from its customers for
doing business with China. As its justification
for doing so MEC explains that while it disagrees with Chinese government
policies, doing business with Chinese companies nevertheless improves lives of
Chinese workers. In addition, MEC states
that cost of doing business is one of the primary reasons behind its choosing
Chinese over Canadian suppliers. Out of
seventy one factories that MEC has business relationship with, only seven are
Canadian. It is sad to see that company
that boasts so much about being Canadian, falls short in supporting Canadian
manufacturing sector.
Hi Igor,
ReplyDeleteGreat post, that points out the balancing act between meeting customer needs and striving to meet high ethical standards.
MEC openly admits that it has a challenging time getting suppliers to meet it's environmental and social targets. What I like about MEC, is that it has clear goals, measures its progress, and reports transparently on its performance in meeting those goals. MEC says the progress is slow, but they are slowly seeing improvements with suppliers. These improvements would not happen if companies like MEC did not promote ehtical behaviour through the entire supply chain.
Hi Igor,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the issue with suppliers. Sometimes it is a hassle to find a good one. But once you have found one - you have to make it work. And that's what MEC is doing.
Hi Igor,
ReplyDeleteI have to say I learned a lot of the same things that you did about MEC. I never knew before what exactly they did, read and researching more into this company makes me a fan of it. I think if more people knew what MEC was doing they to would start shopping there and supporting companies that do these things. Its all about educating the customers maybe MEC needs to advertise more what exactly they are doing.