| Summary: | South African supply chains have moved from basic survival mode to a focus on optimised supply chains. These focus mainly on a reduction of inventory, cost, and lead time. The further shift to end-to-end supply chain visibility might be required to improve customer service and the competitiveness of supply chains (KPMG n.d.). The World Resources Institute (WRI) reported that, since the Conference of Parties 21 (COP21) in December 2015, six climate change milestones have been met. These milestones are: 2015 being recorded as the warmest year on record; record levels of heat was experienced in each month in 2016; the Arctic Sea ice currently at record low levels; a clearer connection between extreme weather conditions and climate change induced by humans; the impact of carbon-intense behaviour being more serious than predicted; and the Western Artic ice sheet is melting at a faster rate than previously predicted (Gilder, Parker and Rumble 2016). South Africa's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions constitute the largest single contribution on the African continent. If carbon emissions (CO2e) are not reduced, this will continue to grow exponentially. South Africa's emissions are placed in the top twenty in the world when considering per capita emissions. The intensity of the emissions, calculated as the ratio of emission to gross domestic product (GDP), is also above the world average and is similar to that of other industrialised countries globally, such as Japan. The indication is that the South African Parliament will implement a carbon tax from January 2017 (as predicted in April 2016). It is not a question of whether a carbon tax will be implemented in South Africa, but when (Gilder et al. 2016). From the above statements it is clear that there is a need to understand and quantify the impact of implementing environmentally-friendly initiatives on business profitability and sustainability. This would be carried out through a multiple case study approach at a global, South African-based, fast-moving consumer goods ...
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