Li Li: Responsibility of the Supply Chain

At the meeting, Doctor Li Li from the Institute for International Economics, University of International Business & Economics gave the keynote speech “Responsibility of the Supply Chain”. With her years’ research on corporate social responsibility, Ms. Li is especially concerned with the social responsibility arising from trade and supply chain.

After the financial crisis, people are increasingly concerned about topics including“how can multinational corporations push forward economic and social development. Therefore, Doctor Li mainly discussed the social responsibility arising from supply chain.

With vivid examples, Doctor Li made a profound elaboration on social responsibility arising from supply chain. Firstly, she took Apple as an example and said that not only suppliers, but also other parties involved in the supply chain must shoulder social responsibility so that the awareness can be strengthened. Then, she mentioned the difficulties encountered by corporations in the supply chain, such as suppliers’ high cost to satisfy purchasers’ changing requirements and regulations, citing a Vietnam slipper manufacturing factory as an example.

In recent years, both purchasers and suppliers are aware of the problem and endeavor to find solutions. Li mentioned a renowned foreign funded pharmaceutical company who has innovative solutions. The company kept developing a Chinese supplier through communication and trainings for three years to satisfy purchasers’ needs. Three years later, with improved capability, the supplier established long-term cooperation with the foreign funded pharmaceutical company. She also mentioned a French company who introduced the third party to solve the problem. When an inspection agency works for the company, they found out that the Chinese supplier cannot meet the needs of the French company. Therefore, as an intermediate, the inspection agency communicated with the supplier and identified the problem. Then, they presented a solution approved by the French company and solved the problem.

In the last part of the speech, Doctor Li said many problems still occur in establishing partnership with stakeholders in the supply chain. Therefore, enterprises must focus on exploring ways to solve these problems in business administration.

Doctor Li’s vivid speech received warm response. Professor Liu Baocheng regarded Li’s ideas as creative and said:“Firstly, how could we unify the purchasing demand. Since almost all enterprises want to be unique, we can hardly unify their technical or purchasing standards. For each product, 60% of the profits derive from its unique accessories rather than the whole product. In the case of mobile phones, although we can use the same accessories in different mobile phones, the profits come from their chargers and adapters which are different from other brands. Secondly, for pharmaceutical companies, their focus is how to weaken patients’ symptoms with temporary medical relief rather than fundamentally cure them. I have been engaged in the pharmaceutical field for 15 years and the common thing is that if you don’t buy their medicine, your illness will deteriorate, but if you take their medicine, you still won’t get better. Therefore, we need equality and ethics in the society. Social equality means the bargain of different stakeholders. Purchasers, with their leading role in the supply chain, must fulfill their social responsibility.”