We’re pleased to share that B4SI contributed to the World Economic Forum’s State of Social Procurement 2025 report, which launched in Davos on Monday, January 20th.
The State of Social Procurement is a collaborative initiative by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, bringing together 18 leading organisations on social procurement. It highlights novel data on social issues in global value chains, provides insights into the business case for social procurement, highlights regulatory developments, and showcases how a maturing ecosystem for social procurement drives positive impact in over 10 countries and regions.
You can read the full collection of insights and case studies here, or skip straight to B4SI’s contribution.
B4SI’s Procurement for Social Impact Framework provides businesses with tools to integrate, track and deliver meaningful social impact through procurement practices. Based on the expertise of our team and member companies, B4SI’s contribution to the report centres on the importance of impact measurement and explores, with examples from their network, how companies are transforming procurement into a tool for reducing inequality, fostering inclusive growth, and creating sustainable value.
October 2024 marked a record high in social issues in global supply chains – in the form of protests or strikes linked to concerns around livelihoods, working conditions, etc. Indeed, between January 2023 and October 2024, social issues were the second most significant challenge in global supply chains (19% of all issues), just behind legal disputes.
In this challenging context, buying from social enterprises that prioritise benefits to local communities is increasingly critical for long-term supply chain resilience. The analysis further highlights regulatory developments that are likely to increase the need to invest in social impact along global supply chains. It reveals novel ways of financing these interventions and features over ten country and regional studies on social procurement – from the US to Malaysia, and Brazil to Europe.
Procurement for Social Impact: This B4SI route to impact allows businesses that are intentionally diverting some of their procurement spend towards suppliers who create clearly defined and demonstrable social impact to capture and report this within the B4SI Framework. For more information about B4SI’s Procurement for Social Impact Framework and to access the dedicated guidance, please contact us to enquire about joining the network.
State of Social Procurement 2025 Measuring Social Impact in Procurement