The use of contracting as a 'soft' tool for regulation by introducing financing mechanisms such as flat rates and financial ceilings was meant to overcome the prevalent practice of supplier-induced demand in the absence of legislation to allow control of supply.
The supermarkets told the Guardian they did not tolerate slavery or trafficking and said they had imposed audits and codes of practice on suppliers, and joined an industry-wide initiative to prevent it.
Yet behind the scenes, McDonald's, which buys some 2.5 billion pounds of meat a year, has made remarkable strides, influencing the practices of suppliers that provide it with beef, chicken and pork.
Lawlor (2001) warned that even if an organization is "as pure as the driven snow in its own operations, it should expect public scrutiny of the practices of suppliers and associates".
Wal-Mart is betting that, if it follows its usual practice of squeezing suppliers and cutting prices ruthlessly, the taste for organic foods will continue to spread across the social landscape.
Among the nation's biggest 500 companies, the practice of connecting to suppliers via the Web and automating purchases -- a process known as e-procurement -- is "rising substantially," said Andrew Bartels, an analyst with the technology consultancy Forrester Research.
Burger King has justified its behavior by claiming that it has no control over the labor practices of its suppliers.
"The biggest concern we saw was that most companies were relying on GreenPalm offsets rather than actually directing the practices of their suppliers and mitigating the physical deforestation of their supply chain," says von Reusner.
It was only a little over two years ago that the collapse of the Rana Plaza clothing factory in Bangladesh killed over 1,200 people and forced big fashion brands to confront the dirty secrets of the awful practices of their suppliers yet again.
Animal welfare groups have long called for McDonald 'sto require more humane practices of its suppliers.
The second component is related to the introduction of incentive-payment schemes and constitutes the main underlying reason of problems regarding the discriminatory patient-selection practices of FPs, "supplier-reduced" demand through the decline of consultation time, and underprovision of services not included in the list of target payments.
