“End, Engage, Endorse”: A Simple Model For Sustainable Supply Chain Assessment

Here at Switchfoot we have a simple way of assessing our suppliers.

It’s called “end, engage, endorse” – utilising responses from a simple questionnaire to categorise suppliers and decide how to treat them.

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How “End, Engage, Endorse” Works

Category	Profile	Action
End	Does not fit our values or ethicsWe feel we have little influence over them ▪ Ending our relationship would not cause significant disruption to our business ▪ There is a better alternative already available	End relationship and switch to new supplier
Engage	Business-critical suppliers ▪ No easy alternatives ▪ Not perfect but may be willing to change	Engage with supplier questionnaires and progress reports ▪ Innovate our business model so supplier is no longer business-critical
Endorse	Suppliers closely aligned to our values and ethics	Maintain relationship ▪ Share our positive experience ▪ Highlight to clients as relevant

Switchfoot Examples Of “End, Engage, Endorse”

Some examples of businesses we at Switchfoot have categorised in this way:

• Web Hosting (End) – Our incumbent supplier did not clearly fit our values and was too large for us to affect change. We switched to Krystal.
• Mobile Phone Provider (End) – We were using a network that didn’t suit our profile, and handsets that had a high carbon footprint. We changed suppliers and now source refurbished handsets.
• Professional Bodies (Engage) – We have insufficient agency to change our relationship here, but do have a voice that may make a positive impact.
• Insurers (Engage) – Choice is limited, but we can apply pressure regarding issues that are important to us.
• Ecologi (Endorse) – A fantastic company who help businesses to support climate action and demonstrate positive impact. We use them and we recommend them. See ecologi.com
• Naked Sprout (Endorse) – No detail too small; we use Naked Sprout for our office toilet paper because they offer 50% smaller climate footprint than other eco brands.

Why does supplier sustainability matter?

If you’re building a business that’s aspiring to do good in the world, you can’t just consider your own direct impact. It’s about the whole lifecycle of your business. And that includes your suppliers.

After all, if one of your incentives to change is winning business from your own customers, it makes sense to support your own supply chain in doing the same.

The first step is to create a questionnaire that assesses the criteria you feel are important – and this will be different for every business. Once you’ve obtained responses, you can use “end, engage, endorse” to decide how to act in each case.

What are your thoughts?

What do you think of “end, engage, endorse”? We’d love your input and would be especially keen to know if you’ve applied it to your own business.

Contact us here to let us know.