SAI Corporate Program members in 2011 represent a range of industries.

SAI is pleased to announce its newly enhanced Corporate Programs, which seek to enable more interaction and shared learning among all members.

Offered at no increased cost, this revised membership program provides companies with greater access to SAI's sophisticated supply chain management training – including Social Fingerprint® – multi-stakeholder input, and the ability to confidentially benchmark their programs against other members.

The changes are designed to benefit current members, which include companies from a range of industries, in addition to all incoming members. The three levels of Corporate Programs membership – Supporting, Explorer and Signatory – each will offer added services. Some of the new services for companies and their suppliers were developed in response to member input.

According to Craig Moss, Director of SAI's Corporate Programs & Training, the new membership program is a great opportunity for a company to help expand its professional development to tackle critical social issues in the supply chain.

"The enhancements in SAI's Corporate Programs aim to increase the cost-effectiveness of helping companies measure and improve the social performance of their supply chains," said Moss. "Several of the new services were created in response to input from our members, in particular those that will increase shared learning and allow companies to benchmark against each other."

All Corporate Program members will sign on to a Statement of Shared Mission, which states the philosophy of the program – to 'measure and improve' the management of social performance in a company's supply chain. Companies will express respect for SAI and its global SA8000® through placement of a public statement: "As a Corporate Member of SAI, we share the mission to improve working conditions in our supply chain, in accordance with performance criteria based on relevant ILO conventions and national law, utilizing management systems and multi-stakeholder dialogue."

All SAI Corporate members share the same commitment regardless of their Membership level. SAI recognizes that companies joining Corporate Programs vary in their existing performance levels. The goal of Corporate Programs is to promote improvement regardless of a company's level when it joins. There is no inherent performance difference by level of membership.

Specifically, SAI Corporate Members commit to:

1. Use a management systems approach to improve social performance in their supply chains.
2. Participate in the Social Fingerprint® Supply Chain Management program on an annual basis, consisting of:
   1. Conduct self-assessment in six categories:
      1. Scope and Risk
      2. Aggregate Rating of Suppliers
      3. Annual Improvement of Suppliers
      4. Integration of Compliance & Sourcing
      5. Supplier Communications & Purchasing Practices
      6. Complaint Management & Resolution
   2. Receive SAI independent evaluation of the 6 categories.
   3. Review their Supply Chain Management rating, benchmarked against the aggregated scores of other companies, and then engage in dialog with SAI about development and implementation of an improvement plan.

Learn more about SAI Corporate Programs membership levels, services and pricing at http://bit.ly/vUE08Q.

Social Accountability International (SAI) is a non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established to advance the human rights of workers and the social responsibility of companies by promoting decent work conditions and labor rights through voluntary standards. SAI is among the world's leading supply chain management and CSR training organizations, and has provided training to over 20,000 people since its establishment in 1997. SAI developed one of the world's preeminent social standards – SA8000® – a recognized benchmark among the voluntary codes and standards initiatives. Over 1.5 million workers are employed in over 2,600 SA8000® facilities in 61 countries, across 65 industrial sectors. www.sa-intl.org

SAI is headquartered in the United States with field representation in Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates and the United States. Subscribe to SAI’s e-Newsletter at www.sa-intl.org/news and follow SAI on Twitter @sa_intl.

Social Accountability International

Social Accountability International

Founded in 1997, Social Accountability International (SAI) is a global non-governmental organization with a mission to advance human rights at work. SAI’s vision is of decent work everywhere—sustained by an understanding that socially responsible workplaces benefit business while securing fundamental human rights. SAI empowers workers and managers at all levels of businesses and supply chains, using its multi-industry SA8000® Standard, as well as Social Fingerprint®, TenSquared, and other training and capacity-building programs. SAI is a leader in policy and implementation, working together with a diverse group of stakeholders, including brands, suppliers, governments, trade unions, non-profits, and academia.

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