BESPOKE solutions
for sustainable purchasing
Our practical solutions increase your global performance by mitigating your vendors risks and creating a positive impact on your supply chain.
SERVICES
Risk management, Business & Social strategy (Due Diligence)
Your vendors and partners activities directly impact your company's efficiency & reputation.
We offer solutions to redefine your vendors stakes and strategic partners, map out their related risks and build up a customised and adding-value risk management strategy, including social due diligence solutions. During the process, we engage your purchasing team so that they own the designed solutions and tools and ultimately apply it at the sourcing phase/ new vendor selection.
Vendors & Partners management
From global sourcing to consolidation, a qualitative vendor base positively impacts your performance on the long term.
We offer solutions to help you define realistic performance indicators for your vendors and simple and pragmatic assessment methods. More importantly we help improve the communication, collaboration and transparency between your vendors and your purchasing teams in order to reach common targets.
Social diagnostics & Strategic guidance
All your vendors may not have reached the same level of understanding and integration of social fundamentals.
We offer solutions to operationally deploy your social strategy in a meaningful way: while keeping the reality of the field and cultural challenges at heart, we work closely with your vendors to guide them and ensure that they meet the minimum social and environmental requirements of your business and/or international standards (i.e SA8000). We make realistic and bespoke recommendations by promoting an improvement-oriented mindset. We can also build upon your business's internal code of conducts to empower your employees to continue to independently form solid vendor relationships.
Traceability projects
Better knowing your entire value chain is essential to secure your supplies in accordance with your values.
We offer solutions to go up your supply-chain from the factory to the farm and identify the key business, social & environmental practices of the various actors. It helps you to better manage your risk but also identify promising partners. With pragmatism and care, we collaborate closely with your purchasing teams and first rank suppliers to define common objectives, so that they gradually open the doors of their lower tier partners with full transparency. We can then accompany each actor to set up better practices in terms of sustainable agriculture, animal welfare, environmental protection and human rights; While developing each actor accountability towards the rest of the chain.
Processes & Organisation optimisation
Purchasing is all about team work!
Vendor cooperation and a strong purchasing base (including process and people capabilities) will greatly improve efficiency, and the motivation of your employees and vendors.
We offer solutions to challenge and optimise your purchasing processes, practices and people capabilities to improve the overall performance.
business cases
Due diligence - Risk assessment and management
Location: France
Industry: Retail
Target
- Design solutions to efficiently mitigate risks on the short and long term.
- Develop opportunities: go beyond compliance with supportive guidance solutions for strategic vendors.
Key success factors
- Teams & management willingness to set up a differentiating & value added social strategy, adapted to the vendors base.
- Active participation of the supply chain & procurement teams
Outcomes
- A pragmatic method to design pertinent vendors risk mapping tool.
- A bespoke social diagnostic framework to assess vendors challenges and monitor progress.
- A 3-year road map for strategic vendors social diagnostic & guidance in line with company’s culture, resources and vendors profile.
Social audits & Vendors Strategic Guidance
Location: China - India - Morocco
Industry: Apparel Manufacturing & Retail
Target:
- Genuinely improve strategic vendors' social & environnemental practices and conditions.
- Support & animate vendors’ progress to own and make positive changes for the long run.
Key success factors:
- A realistic, people-oriented and pragmatic approach to compliance.
- Rewarding vendors' transparency with constructive dialogues and the production of tangible recommendations, within realistic timelines.
- The engagement of the purchasing team in supporting the changes.
Outcomes:
- Vendor recognition, acceptance and gradual alignment with basic compliance and business impact.
- Positive changes for workers in terms of safety & working environment.
- Increased cooperation and strengthened relationships.
Vendor performance assessment
Location: Hong Kong
Industry: Retail & Manufacturing
Target
- Assess and monitor performance of over 100 vendors throughout 3 product categories.
- Drive vendor strategy both short-term and long-term.
Key success factors
- Active participation of all teams involved in vendors selection to define realistic KPIs in line with their targets & values.
- Promoted a continuous improvement approach which suits to both vendors and procurement teams.
Outcomes
- Production of practical and visual scorecards & mapping tools.
- Enhanced communication & collaboration with vendors on newly developed KPI s and business requirements.
- Volumes consolidation on high-performing and strategic vendors.
Traceability projects
Location: China
Industry: Textile
Target:
- Secure raw material supply: its quality and availability in the mid-term.
- Identify and support the value chain actors in their challenges
- Ensure the respect of fundamentals in terms of social, environmental and animal welfare practices throughout the entire chain.
Key success factors:
- Strong collaboration with Rank-1 partner and definition of common objectives to address the chain.
- Integration of the complexity of the supply chain and its related cultural & human challenges,
Outcomes:
- Identification of key actors involved in the value chain and their challenges
- Creation of a bespoke charter and framework,.
- Partnership strengthening with rank 1 supplier and collaborative work to improve the quality of the whole value chain.
Partners
Thank you for trusting Mind Up
BIO
Marjorie Hobin
Founder
Her passion for China and Asia dates back to 20 years ago, when she embarked upon her journey of studying Mandarin. After graduating in 2006 from EM Lyon in France and the Sun Yat Sen University in Taiwan, she moved to Shanghai.
Whilst working with the Saint-Gobain Asia Sourcing Office for almost 8 years, Marjorie developed an in-depth and extensive knowledge of both operational sourcing and strategic purchasing, managed global purchasing and sourcing projects and oversaw the B2B marketing and operational functions of the business.
In 2013, turning a long-life dream of exploration and writing into reality, she travelled the world for a year.
Returning to China in September of 2014, Marjorie founded Mind Up Consulting and became a SA8000-certified social auditor. Since then, combining her expertise in procurement, sustainability and manufacturing with a deep passion for people and cultures, she devotes herself in developing more resilient, transparent and fairer supply chains.
