The Supply Chain Operations Reference model (SCOR) was developed by the Supply-Chain Council as the standard tool for evaluating, measuring, and improving supply chain performance. The Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) includes SCOR as a cornerstone of its training programs, one that integrates the work of information technology (IT) professionals and supply chain managers.

SCOR (see the model below) is used in most introductory supply chain management courses to provide a common language and mental model around five functions:

1. 1. 1. Plan – demand and supply planning and management
      2. Source – procurement and supplier relationships
      3. Make – manufacturing and production
      4. Deliver – orders, warehousing and transportation
      5. Return – receiving and processing of returned products

Supply chain managers utilize the SCOR model as an analytical tool for analyzing and improving an company’s supply chain.

However, like similar traditional models in finance, marketing, and accounting that are inaccurate due to their disregard of key social and environmental risks, the SCOR model is in need of an upgrade. 

Below are the two main areas of benefit from adopting a GreenSCOR approach:

Improved social and environmental performance  

The ultimate objective of sustainable supply chain analysis is to identify often hidden social and environmental risk, impacts and opportunities and take appropriate steps to address them. By using GreenSCOR as an analysis tool, an organization can take a more complete view of the supply chain itself. For example, Unilever has over 50,000 suppliers and took the unusual step of asking Oxfam, a nonprofit focused on protecting human rights, to assess its supply chain. This resulted in a 2015 Human Rights Report and today in Unilever’s Responsible Sourcing Policy (RSP) and Responsible Business Partner Policy (RBPP) which provides Unilever with advanced risk analysis capabilities–besides being the right thing to do.

Improved supply chain management performance 

Supply chain management improvements evolve directly from the improved identification of material social and environmental impacts. Such awareness tends to spark innovation, resulting in dual benefits for society and the business.  For example, McDonalds famously invited Environmental Defense Fund into their operations in the 1990s. The unusual partnership between fast-good giant and environmental organization yielded many operational improvements the company wouldn’t have envisioned alone:  eliminating styrofoam clamshells, an enterprise wide waste reduction plan, a humane animal handling program and focus on preserving the Amazon rainforest amid many other initiatives. Is McDonald’s perfect? Absolutely not. But a GreenSCOR type approach to their supply chain has produced results.