E.ON UK, the UK's largest integrated power and gas company, is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company, headquartered in Germany. In 2007, E.ON UK recorded $25 billion in sales. The company, which has the second largest distribution network in the UK, employs 20,000 people, at 75 offi ces across the country. It features centralised procurement which makes purchases of some $2 billion a year. Approximately 80% of the spending goes to 250 suppliers.

One of the company's fi ve core values is corporate social responsibility (CSR). Yet it did not have a standardised approach to monitor whether its suppliers were behaving in a socially responsible way. The company was running the risk of negative publicity that could damage the brand. So in 2005, E.ON UK launched its Responsible Procurement Initiative. The goal was to structure a procurement policy which could ensure that social responsibility was embedded in the inbound section of the supply chain. Joanna Kinson, who had worked for a company known for its CSR processes, was recruited as the strategy & analysis manager for the procurement team, with responsibility to oversee the change process and ensure successful execution of the initiative. She now needed a place to incubate the initiative.