Sustainability in the Global Automotive Parts Supply Chain : A Case Study of T Company’s EcoVadis

Founded in 1991, auto parts manufacturer T Company applied for an EcoVadis evaluation at the request of GM, a global automobile manufacturer. EcoVadis is a program that evaluates the social responsibility index of companies within the supply chain and provides comprehensive sustainability evaluation services through a global cloud-based SaaS platform. The evaluation items of EcoVadis consist of a total of 39 CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility),questions covering five topics: general, environment, labor practices, fair operations, and sustainable procurement. Consulting services initially assessed the ESG(Environmental, Social, and Governance) status of T Company, analyzed the EcoVadis questionnaire, and guided the preparation of documents to substantiate the questionnaire responses, including the creation of a CSR performance report to verify these claims. Based on the consulting, T Company obtained Silver certification from EcoVadis. As ESG issues intensify within the supply chain, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Korea must recognize the importance of sustainable procurement and establish management strategies that internalize sustainability.
Implementing such supply chain network management can create more opportunities in the future.