Key questions

To what extent are these standards to be required of the supply chain? Will the company provide support in any form to aid compliance?
If decisions are to be primarily based on price, what are the other variables available to suppliers to be competitive? Is it acceptable that, for example, a supplier's terms of employment are worsened where the cost of labour is the only significant variable? Should this be addressed by specifying and then policing minimum standards?
Where values are being imposed in a different cultural or economic environment are they still appropriate?
In cases of lengthy or complex supply chains, or where the deal is entirely electronic, is it possible to know what practices exist far from your own company? How much effort should be expended in trying to find out?
Should transactions be conducted under Terms of Business that are heavily weighted in favour of the purchaser - where suppliers have little leverage to insist on variations or lack appreciation of the potential liabilities? If so, what responsibility will the company accept when the supplier gets into serious difficulties?
Where services are contracted out should the company's own standards be transferred to the contractor or will lower standards be accepted as one important source of savings - for example lower standards of maintenance and safety checks on a transport fleet?