The Hidden Impact in Corporate Supply Chains
How multinational businesses are using purchasing to drive social change in Europe
Analysing for the first time real spend data from global businesses on their engagement with the social economy in Europe, we found:
€71.42m
total identified spend
526
suppliers engaged
621
jobs created
€6.43m
profit reinvested
A unique opportunity
The European social economy contains 2.8 million enterprises, accounts for 8% of EU GDP, and employs 13.6 million people. Alongside longstanding policy support from the European Union, direct national legislation is increasingly driving corporate engagement with the sector.
However, the sector presents as extremely fragmented to corporate buyers. Varying legal forms, differing national policies and diverse terminology have made it challenging to get an accurate picture of engagement with the sector.
A new approach
Developed over the past three years, telos skopia software has collated over 3.6 million legal records of social economy organisations across Europe. This has been then used to create the Hidden Impact report.
The businesses involved in this analysis are all part of the Buy Social Europe programme which supports multinational procurement teams to identify, validate and grow their spend with the social economy.
At Bayer, social procurement is a key lever to deliver on our purpose, “Health for all, Hunger for none.”
By identifying social economy suppliers, we intentionally integrate partners that create not only economic value but also measurable social and environmental impact.
Florian Vollmer, Head of Procurement Sustainability and Risk Management
at Bayer
Buy Social Europe partners
For Businesses
The report shows that social economy suppliers are already operating at scale across corporate supply chains.
With social economy suppliers identified in 11 markets, this is more than a localised opportunity. Businesses need to think global.
Suppliers are delivering across the full ESG spectrum. The social economy can be catalytic to driving strategic value in supply chains.
Key findings
For the social economy
B2B markets present a sustainable growth opportunity for social economy suppliers: 94 relationships exceed €100,000 and 12 exceed €1m.
With clear data on the key categories for the social economy there is the opportunity to develop capability in underserviced areas.
With total EMEA partner spend of €35 billion, the social economy is just scratching the surface of what is possible in corporate supply chains.
Where next
This combined baseline demonstrates that there is already a serious opportunity in the European social economy space for both buyers and suppliers. Social economy suppliers are already operating at scale across the region, delivering commercial services and creating social and environmental value. The next task is to turn this evidence into a repeatable market-building programme.
telos are committed to driving that journey through building relationships across Europe and developing software and data capability that can bring more social economy suppliers and businesses together.
We would love you to join us on this journey. Please contact us for more information.