Green Supply Chain Programs Expected to Deliver Thought Leadership, Competitive Advantage and Cost Savings

BOSTON, MA, Apr 03 (MARKET WIRE) --
After an industry-wide survey of more than 320 companies, Aberdeen, a
Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), published the recent report "Building a
Green Supply Chain: Social Responsibility for Fun and Profit" which outlined
information revealed from supply chain executives about their green and
sustainability plans, priorities and initiatives across all areas of supply
chain management from planning to execution and management. Illustrating
the traction that green supply chain programs have gained, forty-one percent
(41%) of Best-in-Class companies that participated in the study have green
supply chain
initiatives in place for 1-2 years, and thirty-nine percent (39%) have
redesigned key parts of their supply chains to be green.

Against this backdrop, the top 4 pressures driving companies to focus on
green/sustainable supply chain programs today are the desire to be a
thought leader for green and sustainability initiatives in their industry and
markets (51% of companies), the need to control rising fuel and energy costs
(49% of companies), the demands to improve competitive advantage and market
differentiation (48% of companies), followed by the requirement to meet
current and expected government regulatory and compliance demands (31% of
companies).

Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance shared
several
common characteristics involving various aspects of process, reporting, data,
technology, etc. Results show that:

-- The Best-in-Class achieved a 2% decrease in their overall logistics
and transport costs, versus 1% increase for Industry Average, and a 4%
increase for Laggards.
-- Best-in-Class companies achieved a 6% decrease in energy costs, versus
no change for Industry Average and a 7% increase for Laggards.
-- Best-in-Class companies are 1.5 times more likely than all others to
have implemented cross-functional metrics across their enterprise.
-- Best-in-Class achieved a 2% decrease in the cost of operations and
facilities, versus no change for Industry Average and a 4% increase for
Laggards.

"Based on interviews with companies across geographies and industries, Green
Supply Chain initiatives have clearly moved beyond 'Green-washing' and into
delivering
significant business value," said Robert Shecterle, Vice President - Supply
Chain
Research, Aberdeen. "Thought-leading companies are driving top line revenue
growth
through improved competitive advantage, as well as bottom-line savings in
energy,
logistics, compliance, and improved supply management processes with their
green/sustainability programs."

A complimentary copy of this report is made available due in part by the
following underwriters: Infor and SAP. To obtain a complimentary copy of
the report, visit: http://www.aberdeen.com/link/sponsor.asp?cid=4836.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen is a leading provider of fact-based research and market
intelligence
that delivers demonstrable results. Having benchmarked more than 30,000
companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to educate
users
to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and
delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to
the global
technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen(TM) for insights that drive
decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in
context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's
analytical
and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks
(Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends
the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the
market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen http://www.aberdeen.com or
call (617) 723-7890, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748
or go to http://www.harte-hanks.com.

Copyright 2008 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
260 Franklin Street
Boston, Massachusetts 02110-3112
Telephone: (617) 723-7890
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com

Media Contact:
Robert Shecterle
Aberdeen Harte-Hanks
(925) 264-1832
Robert.shecterle@aberdeen.com

Copyright 2008, Market Wire, All rights reserved.

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