Creating Social Handprints: Method and Case Study in the Electronic Computer Manufacturing Industry

Catherine Benoit Norris, Gregory A. Norris, Lina Azuero and John Pflueger
Additional contact information
Catherine Benoit Norris: NewEarth B, Harvard Extension, 51 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Gregory A. Norris: MIT Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive (SHINE), 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
Lina Azuero: Dell, One Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682, USA
John Pflueger: Dell, One Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682, USA

Resources, 2019, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: This article introduces a process that can be used by companies to obtain an increasingly precise picture of their supply chain social footprint (negative impacts) and identify potential social handprints (i.e., changes to business as usual that create positive impacts) using social organizational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA). The process was developed to apply to the electronics sector but can be used by companies in any industry. Our case study presents the social footprint of a typical US computer manufacturing company and identifies potential salient social risks and hotspots using generic information about the inputs that are related to a global trade model. The global trade model enables us to map the likely supply chain based on where inputs are usually sourced from by the US electronic computer manufacturing sector. In order to identify material impacts, normalization factors were created and used. Once the material impacts and salient risks are known, it becomes necessary to identify root causes in order to plan actions that will truly make a meaningful change, addressing the issues at stake. The article concludes by establishing a methodology that enables the use of the industry-level impacts and assessment in combination with the organization’s own data to calculate company-specific results.

Keywords: social handprints; human rights due diligence; social footprint; S-LCA; electronics industry; SO-LCA; normalization; materiality assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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