Responsible procurement in a Finnish food company
Islam, Mohammad Minhazul (2025)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025051311359
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2025051311359
Tiivistelmä
The research aims to investigate how a Finnish company does international procurement, how they manage responsible procurement, what risks the company faces during procurement, and how they conduct risk management strategies. The study consisted of primary data from an email-based interview and data from a review of secondary literature (website contents, annual reports) of the company and scientific articles to fill gaps in the primary data.
The analysis of its procurement procedures reveals that Fazer followed the standard procurement process for its international procurement. It focused on long-term supplier management and responsible procurement for long-term business relationships. Both internal and external drivers may influence the decision for a company to adopt socially and environmentally responsible procurement. Responsible procurement can increase the profitability and productivity of the company as consumers increasingly favour sustainably sourced material. However, it can be safely assumed that maintaining all these good practices functionally is challenging. Fazer’s global sourcing is also exposed various risk factors.
For risk mitigation, the company could employ supplier diversification, backup sourcing, and adaptive partnership between buyer and supplier. Overall, this research has significantly enriched the author's understanding of Finnish company operations within the Finnish and European Commission business ecosystem. However, the study's limitations, primarily due to a shortage of primary data, underscore the need for further research. A more comprehensive study could focus on collecting primary data throughout the entire procurement cycle to observe the company's strategies for sustainable procurement and risk management in action and evaluate their effectiveness in terms of cost-benefit analysis.
The analysis of its procurement procedures reveals that Fazer followed the standard procurement process for its international procurement. It focused on long-term supplier management and responsible procurement for long-term business relationships. Both internal and external drivers may influence the decision for a company to adopt socially and environmentally responsible procurement. Responsible procurement can increase the profitability and productivity of the company as consumers increasingly favour sustainably sourced material. However, it can be safely assumed that maintaining all these good practices functionally is challenging. Fazer’s global sourcing is also exposed various risk factors.
For risk mitigation, the company could employ supplier diversification, backup sourcing, and adaptive partnership between buyer and supplier. Overall, this research has significantly enriched the author's understanding of Finnish company operations within the Finnish and European Commission business ecosystem. However, the study's limitations, primarily due to a shortage of primary data, underscore the need for further research. A more comprehensive study could focus on collecting primary data throughout the entire procurement cycle to observe the company's strategies for sustainable procurement and risk management in action and evaluate their effectiveness in terms of cost-benefit analysis.