expand_less ChainReact - An Introduction
 
ChainReactAbstract
 
Supplier
is about collaboratively generating, mapping, interpreting, and activating information about corporatenetworks andtouch theirvirtually impactsevery oncorner societyof and the environment.globe. TheWhile networkeveryone approach is vitalfamiliar becausewith withoutsomeunderstanding theof complexthese relationshipscompanies, involved in global supply chains, stakeholders cannot hold the companiesnetworkthey knowitself accountable for the abuses – or the advances – of the many dependent companies they fuel.The greatest challenge to making corporate networks sustainable is that at present they are largely hidden.invisible.Even thePurchasing mosta concerneddevice companies and their stakeholders (investors, employees, customers) have limitedunderstanding of their network’s extended footprint in theMadrid world.can
The
fogindirectly ofperpetuate complexdebt networksslavery means small companies in remoteMultan. jurisdictionsUnless can pollute and dump and abuse andneglect with the implicitsupplier supportnetwork ofconnecting indirect funding from companies further up the chaintwo who may not even knowthey exist. This ugly pattern is clearlymade avisible, problemthe forpurchaser ourhas societyno andway environment,to butreact itto canthe alsosupply damagechain’scompanies’ bottomproblems.  lines.So Withoutlong clearas visibilitypublic ofdata whaton happenscorporate throughoutsupplier theirnetworks supplyremain chain,poor the companiesand theirscarce, stakeholders are atpowerless increasedto reputationalremedy and legal risk, as scandals such as Rana Plaza fire have shown.For the fognetworks’ tofaults.
 
ChainReact
clear, it is notan enougheffort to make corporatesupplier networks visible;transparent, theyunderstandable, mustand alsoresponsive, beso madethat understandable.companiesComprehensibility, too,and istheir challengingstakeholders becausecan corporatesee, networksreact areto, complex and canultimately weavetransform togethercorporate controlnetworknetworks (ownership,impacts.  governance,The etc),main brandobjectives networksof (franchises,the consortia,project etc.)are:
 
·      
andIdentify supplierirresponsible networkscorporate (materialproviders,activity
 
·      
serviceConnect providers,issues etc).at Untanglingcorporate thesenetworks’ blendsedges togetherto datanetwork challenges,drivers interface challenges, and, inplaces, philosophical challenges.
There 
·      
isIncentivize alsocompanies a chicken-and-egg quality to theaddress challenge of making corporate networks sustainable. On the onehand,issues
 
To
therethis isend, oftenwe littlewill incentivecreate toan gatherintegrated data aboutnetwork thesupported smallerby companiesthree atplatform supplierstruts:
 
1.    
networks’A edges,new becauseinformerthe dataplatform are(TalkFree) seenwill ashelp worthlessadvocacy unlessgroups connectedmanage tocampaigns brands familiar to westernsolicit markets,flexible andbottom-up thatreports requiresabout networkcorporatemaps. Butbehaviour.
 
2.    
thoseThe whoworld’s beginlargest toopen workrepository onof networkcorporate mapsinformation find(OpenCorporates) thatwill theybe areenhanced generallyto makingconnect connectionsthese betweenreportsmore andto moremajor companiescorporate aboutbrands whichthrough theremulti-level iscorporate verynetwork littlemapping. data.
Here 
3.    
isAn theopen deepanalysis valueplatform of(WikiRate.org) thewill ChainReactintegrate proposal:data byfrom bringingboth togethersources a(and savvyothers, consortiumincluding todirect focuscorporate ondisclosure) threeandplatforms atsupport once,their weinterpretation canvia muchcollaboratively-developed, moredynamic, efficientlynetwork-aware tackleCSR a multi-facetedmetrics.
 
challenge that would defy a more piecemealapproach.