By Adam Turteltaub

While Ericsson is best known for its mobile phones, the company’s reach in wireless is far greater. It is the creator of Bluetooth technology, owns patents on much of the critical IP that wireless systems depend on, and is active in more than 180 countries providing much of the hardware, and even cellphone towers, that enables all of us to talk, text, and surf the web wherever we are in the world.

Jan Sprafke, Chief Compliance Officer at Ericsson, explains in this podcast that with that global reach – including operations in approximately 100 high risk countries – also comes a large network of suppliers. To manage the potential compliance challenges that go along with it, the company uses a risk-based approach to supplier management

They assess the country risk, go to market approach and whether the supplier will be using subcontractors. Then they work closely with sourcing and other assurance functions on an ongoing basis.

The company’s supplier code of conduct is shared with their vendors. But, it is just the start. There is also training provided, supplier days, meetings with them to discuss FCPA, AML, health and safety and other topics. All of these efforts and more help suppliers understand what Ericsson’s expectations are, not just in principle but also in practice.

They even work with many of their contractors as they select their subcontractors.

The goal is to create an end-to-end framework for managing third party compliance risk.

Download the podcast (maybe even on your mobile device) to learn more.