Creating Social Handprints: Method and Case Study in the Electronic Computer Manufacturing Industry
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NewEarth B, Harvard Extension, 51 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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MIT Sustainability and Health Initiative for NetPositive (SHINE), 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Dell, One Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 78682, USA
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Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Resources 2019, 8(4), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/resources8040176
Received: 27 June 2019
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Revised: 23 October 2019
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Accepted: 9 November 2019
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Published: 20 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Life Cycle Assessment—The Implementation in Different Sectors)
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.
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Keywords:
social handprints; human rights due diligence; social footprint; S-LCA; electronics industry; SO-LCA; normalization; materiality assessment
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MDPI and ACS Style
Benoit Norris, C.; Norris, G.A.; Azuero, L.; Pflueger, J. Creating Social Handprints: Method and Case Study in the Electronic Computer Manufacturing Industry. Resources 2019, 8, 176. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources8040176
AMA Style
Benoit Norris C, Norris GA, Azuero L, Pflueger J. Creating Social Handprints: Method and Case Study in the Electronic Computer Manufacturing Industry. Resources. 2019; 8(4):176. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources8040176
Chicago/Turabian StyleBenoit Norris, Catherine, Gregory A. Norris, Lina Azuero, and John Pflueger. 2019. "Creating Social Handprints: Method and Case Study in the Electronic Computer Manufacturing Industry" Resources 8, no. 4: 176. https://doi.org/10.3390/resources8040176
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