WHEN ON THE RECEIVING END OF THIRD-PARTY RISK MANAGEMENT, BE AN OPPORTUNIST
The renowned chef Homaro Cantu is credited with saying, “The world is full of challenges, but with those come opportunity, and I’m an opportunist”. I would encourage all compliance professionals to be opportunists, but those responsible for compliance and ethics at companies that act as third parties, such as agents, distributors, joint venture partners and certain service providers, should be the greatest opportunists of all.
Third parties are faced with the need to meet the many and varied expectations of their business
partners. If their customers are other businesses, they will be familiar with the myriad questionnaires, certifications, contract clauses and audits focused on issues such as data privacy, information security, anti-corruption, child and forced labour, conflict minerals, export compliance, sanctions and more. These requirements can be burdensome and often are unrelated to the transaction or contract in question. By taking a few proactive, practical steps, companies can turn the ingredients of contracting partners’ requirements into a recipe for better relationships with internal and external stakeholders and a stronger company culture – a compliance and ethics programme aligned with business needs.
This article provides a roadmap for third parties to deal with the demands placed on them and leverage those demands into stronger company culture and competitive advantage.
Jan-Mar 2017 Issue
Rimon P.C.