Panjiva and Social Accountability International Provide Intelligence on Socially Responsible Factories
Unique Collaboration Between Non-Profit and For-Profit Organizations “Harnesses Market Incentives To Create an Upward Spiral of Improved Social Performance”
New York, June 29, 2009 – Earlier today, Panjiva, the leading source of objective information on global manufacturers, announced a new relationship with Social Accountability International (SAI), the non-profit organization behind the SA8000 “gold standard” for socially responsible manufacturing. The two organizations are launching a new platform that provides companies with access to data about factories that are socially responsible – and are enhancing the Panjiva platform to make it easy to search specifically for SA8000-compliant factories.
According to Alice Tepper Marlin, President of SAI, “Panjiva provides an extremely high degree of transparency to companies doing business internationally. We are thrilled to work with Panjiva to reward suppliers and factories that demonstrate compliance to labor and human rights in the workplace. Together, SAI and Panjiva will provide valuable business plus social certification information to retailers and brands that actively seek to purchase goods produced using socially responsible methods. This initiative promises to harness market incentives to create an upward spiral of improved social performance.”
The new platform, developed through a unique collaboration between a for-profit company and a non-profit organization, will give SAI corporate members easy access to detailed information about SA8000 certified factories.
The enhancements to the Panjiva platform will provide Panjiva clients with the ability to search specifically for factories that have the SA8000 certification. These enhancements provide a hint of what’s to come for Panjiva, a company that has set out to democratize the availability of information for those participating in global trade.
According to Panjiva CEO Josh Green, “Providing transparency about which factories are behaving in a socially responsible manner raises the bar for supplier behavior – a great outcome for all those who care about the effect of the manufacturing process on factory workers. SAI acted as a pioneer in creating the SA8000 standard; they have again acted as a pioneer in promoting transparency about which companies are SA8000 compliant.”
The jointly developed platform will also facilitate the continuous collection of detailed data from SA8000 compliant factories. This detailed data will be available exclusively through SAI and Panjiva.
About Panjiva
Panjiva is an online resource for sourcing executives to gain credible and valuable knowledge about suppliers and manufacturers around the world. By providing the most comprehensive data in an easy to use format, Panjiva informs the decisions that facilitate doing business globally. Supply chain and global production executives responsible for finding the right factories, negotiating costs and avoiding costly supply chain disruptions have been “flying blind.” Panjiva is the first and only online information source designed to provide complete transparency into overseas suppliers. Leveraging a variety of public and proprietary data sources, Panjiva is bringing new levels of visibility to the management of global supply chains. Panjiva was founded by CEO Josh Green and CTO James Psota. Panjiva received an equity investment from Battery Ventures and a contingent of angel investors. For additional information, visit: http://panjiva.com
About SAI
SAI is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving workplaces and communities by developing and implementing social responsibility standards and assisting brands, retailers and suppliers in meeting labor and human rights objectives. Focused on the human elements of the workplace and the supply chain, SAI developed the world’s preeminent social standard SA8000. SAI convenes stakeholders – companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions and governments – to conduct research, training and technical assistance programs focused on developing the management systems required to adequately address social compliance issues in a sustainable manner. Since its formation in 1997, SAI has worked cooperatively with stakeholders to improve the social performance of organizations and their supply chains around the world. The direct result is a better workplace for over one million people around the world and a way for consumers to trust the companies whose products they purchase. For additional information, visit: http://www.sa-intl.org.
