Reprinted with permission from Training Industry—this article was originally published on July 29, 2025.
With today’s volatile global landscape bringing life to new laws and regulations, it’s fair to say that most businesses have felt more pressure to keep up. Geopolitical instability, climate disruption and higher expectations around ethical sourcing and corporate responsibility have impacted the supply chain industry more than most. It’s no longer sufficient (and rightly so) to treat compliance and resilience as tick-box exercises; instead, businesses must embed ethical principles throughout the entire supply chain.
This article outlines five practical steps you can take to help your organization build a more ethical and resilient supply chain — by embedding ethical practices, strengthening operational resilience, and preparing for future challenges through learning and development.
5 steps to make your supply chain stronger and smarter
Here are 5 steps L&D can take to strengthen their company’s supply chain:
1. Embed third-party due diligence into procurement
As global supply chains become increasingly complex, fleet operators must move beyond surface-level compliance. To fully prepare themselves, they must now also integrate third-party due diligence into their core procurement strategy.
In fact, many leading businesses are already incorporating human rights and modern slavery checks into supplier selection processes rather than treating them as afterthoughts. Embedding due diligence at the procurement stage can allow organizations to identify risks early, hold suppliers accountable, and ensure alignment with ethical standards before contracts are signed. With emerging regulations such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), Germany’s Supply Chain Act, and Norway’s Transparency Act, the pressure to proactively manage supply chain risks is growing.
Moving forward, companies that treat these frameworks as opportunities to build structured, values-driven systems, rather than merely complying with requirements, will be better positioned to operate ethically and resiliently in a changing global landscape. The companies that don’t risk being left behind.
2. Move beyond one-off risk checks
Managing third-party risk shouldn’t be a one-time effort. It needs to be ongoing and informed by real time data. In a fluid global environment, regular checks enable businesses to adapt to shifting conditions, whether they stem from evolving legislation, political instability, or economic disruption.
Companies that treat risk assessments as that one-time exercise miss deeper and emerging threats across their supply chain. To mitigate this, organizations should build structured systems that continuously monitor suppliers and assess ethical risks in real-time as this enables firms to identify and respond promptly to potential abuses, rather than reacting after harm has occurred. Moving beyond one-off checks and embedding dynamic, data-driven risk management into day-to-day operations transforms compliance from a symbolic gesture into a genuine tool for resilience and ethical leadership.
3. Roll out effective ongoing training
One of the most overlooked yet critical tools in building an ethical supply chain is effective, ongoing training. Many companies and their suppliers still lack awareness of the signs and risks of modern slavery, making them vulnerable to ethical lapses.
Many organizations still rely on outdated methods like PowerPoint decks attached to a DocuSign, allowing suppliers to simply check the box. To drive real impact, companies must move beyond generic training and implement interactive, up-to-date, and relevant programs for their third parties.
Training should include real-world examples, be refreshed regularly and be tailored to specific roles and regions. Forward-thinking businesses are already incorporating compliance training into their procurement processes, ensuring that ethical considerations are integrated into supplier onboarding and day-to-day operations.
Consistency is key though, as without frequent refresher courses and context-specific content, even the most well-intentioned training efforts can quickly become obsolete. Therefore, it’s important to make training a continuous, strategic function that fosters a culture of vigilance, accountability, and proactive risk prevention throughout the entire supply chain.
4. Stress-test operational resilience
Modern supply chains face mounting pressure from all directions. Whether it’s from labor shortages and geopolitical instability to climate-related disruptions and shifting trade regulations. In today’s volatile landscape, operational resilience isn’t just a strength, it’s a necessity.
Leading organizations are increasingly expected to have robust business continuity plans (BCPs) in place, with some countries now mandating them as part of their regulatory compliance requirements. But having a plan on paper is no longer enough. Companies must actively stress-test their supply chain processes, identify weak points, and simulate disruptions to evaluate how effectively their systems can respond.
By doing so, they can ensure that their risk management strategies are not only documented but also actionable and ready to be deployed when needed. Proactive testing enhances preparedness, minimizes downtime, and safeguards against the type of cascading failures that can expose workers to harm and companies to reputational or legal risk.
5. Navigate ethical grey areas through transparency and partnerships
Supply chain risk isn’t black and white. Many, such as child labor or informal labor practices, exist in complex economic and cultural “grey areas.” In these situations, outright bans may be ineffective or even counterproductive. Businesses must adopt a transparent, context-driven approach, working closely with local stakeholders to understand root causes and support long-term solutions. This may involve investing in education, local infrastructure or economic alternatives to exploitative labor.
So what’s the answer? Transparency and acknowledging challenges openly, rather than concealing or oversimplifying them. This can enable operators to establish trust with consumers, regulators and local communities. Additionally, collaborating with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), industry coalitions and government agencies allows companies to share knowledge, identify hidden risks, and pool resources for a greater impact.
Ethical sourcing can’t be achieved through isolation. It must be a shared, sustained effort embedded in both corporate values and global operations.
Conclusion
Legislation alone can’t eliminate unethical practices in global supply chains, so to drive meaningful change, companies must move beyond checkbox compliance and embrace a proactive, systemic approach rooted in transparency, due diligence, and accountability. This means embedding ethical sourcing into procurement strategies, integrating supply chain controls into ERP systems, and adopting scalable third-party risk tools for continuous monitoring.
Organizations should also invest in training and partner with specialist firms to strengthen compliance where internal capacity is limited. The opportunity and responsibility is clear: lead with integrity and make ethical supply chains the norm, not the exception.
