Fiji water

The environmental impact of extended supply chains is increasingly coming under scrutiny. Mark Johnson of Warwick Business School analysed the supply chain of the number one US importer of bottled water: Fiji water. Water in a bottle does not sound like the most complex of businesses however, by the time the bottle leaves the factory on Viti Levu on its 6,602 mile journey to the US it uses:

• Plastic blanks from Pennsylvania (7,895 miles)
• Bottle tops from Taiwan (4,815 miles)
• Labels from New Zealand (1,666 miles)

The trade provides revenue and employment for the 400 people in the Fijian factory but there are significant environmental consequences of the total 20,978 miles travelled by its parts before it arrives at its point of sale.