1: introduction

1.0

1.1 Introduction

The customs clearing industry is a hybrid of several uncoordinated stakeholder from both the

private and public sector according to the . The lacks of coherence, insufficient infrastructure

resultant delays coupled by corruption, illicit trade and issues of national security have

propelled the authorities to further its controls within the borders. The import and export

documentation resultantly is marred with a lot of physical documentation, customs control

procedures and statutes. .Customs Laws control the import of goods into the country and the

duties (or import taxes) paid on such goods. The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority is the

regulatory agency primarily tasked with overseeing Zimbabwean customs laws in tax

administration and remove political influence from tax departments.

Generally speaking, an intermediary is an individual or a business entity that facilitates

business transactions between two or more trading partners as a mediator and is put in contact

with those trading partners as a conduit for various supply chain activities. In general,

logistics intermediaries are responsible for arranging and coordinating logistics activities

throughout the supply chain for compensation.. Also, these intermediaries reduce direct

contact lines between the customers and the producers and subsequently help avoid

duplicated logistics efforts.

In international trade there are loud calls for simplifying trade regulation and ). the benefits of

trade facilitation and reduced transaction costs between business and government are self-

explanatory. Customs administrations are faced with everrising volumes of trade and, at the

same time, they are obliged to add yet new layers of controls, for example in the security

area(Grainger 2007a). Where businesses compete in terms of costs, any reduction in trade

related transaction costs will yield an advantage. Thus, transaction costs threaten business
competitiveness and inhibit Customs’ best use of limited control resources. Irrespective of

calls by renowned organisation such as WTO, the implementation of trade facilitation

concepts is often riddled with difficulties. Most oft hese can be associated with conflicting

interests, institutional limitations and lack of knowledge.

Globalization poses numerous business opportunities by expanding the multinational firm’s

customer and supplier bases.. Also, a company’s increasing presence in the worldwide

market will help it enhance its brand recognition and subsequently solidify its customer

bases. The rapid growth of international trade has been fuelled by increased opportunities for

cost reduction, risk sharing, economies of scale, market expansion, new talent recruitment,

global branding, and knowledge transfer intermediaries such as customs clearing

organisations. the customs clearing agents remains the key stakeholder on behalf of the

supply chain. They are the intermediaries in the supply chain chai n , their existence a proud

fashion of the developments in supply chain management. Foremost their vetting thrust much

weight on ethical practises and competence. The customs agents play a significant role in the

integral aim to reduce transaction costs and finally improve the efficiency of supply chain

network.

The changing global marketplace, a growing number of entities have sought for global

outsourcing opportunities. Outsourcing help organisations to use limited resources for what it

can do best rather than diverting its efforts toward business activities that others in foreign

countries can perform more efficiently. In addition cost reduction and focus on the

company’s core competency ,improvement of company focus, access to world-class

capabilities and resources, and the free-up of resources for other business activities .

Despite numerous merits, global outsourcing should be planned with some caution because

many global outsourcing efforts have failed. global outsourcing initiatives failed in the past.

One of the most common reasons for outsourcing failures is the firm’s unclear expectations
about its subcontractor’s performance and a lack of adaptation of outsourced tasks to

constantly changing business environments.

There is therefore need to build a firm business relationship with its potential outsourcing

partner (subcontractor) and then establish clear communication lines with the partner through

a single point of contact. Some large firms have the resources, skills, and expertise to handle

all kinds of supply chain activities, including logistics and purchasing, by themselves,

whereas others do not. If the firm does not have such resources, skills, and expertise, it should

no doubt outsource some of the supply chain activities by hiring intermediaries.

In choosing the intermediary the firm must consider the financial attractiveness—Measured

by compensation costs infrastructure costs and taxes and regulatory costs it needs to consider

also non financial People score—Measured by people’s availability (labor skills, educational

levels, language competency, expertise in information and communication technology, work

ethics, and attrition levels and Economic and political environments—

The ethical practise and competence prescription sets apart the customs clearing agents as

professional people who are key to existence of supply. Dr. Hokey Min 2012 defines ethics

is defined as a body of moral principles of value relating to human conduct with respect to

the rightness and wrongness of actions and the goodness and badness of the motives and ends

of such actions .Customs agents are professionals in the supply chain, supply chain ethics

refers to the well-founded rules and standards for right conduct and good practices that are

generally acceptable to supply chain professionals. Put simply, supply chain ethics prescribes

what supply chain professionals ought to do in acquiring, transforming, delivering, and

promoting goods and services. As professionals the customs and clearing agents are required

to exhibit the highest level of ethical practises.

unethical practise s expected from professionals such as bribery and fraud. Fraud defined

contract made to deceive, A false statement of a material fact, Knowledge on the part of the

perpetrator that the statement is untrue, Intent on the part of the perpetrator to deceive the

alleged victim,• Justifiable reliance by the alleged victim on the statement, Injury to the

alleged victim as a result Unethical practises such as Confidence trick,False advertising

Identity theft. Confidentiality and Conflicts of Interest , professional competence are key

principle in ethical principles

In an effort to tackle global warming issues, supply chain professionals should pay more

attention to “green” supply chain management the company-wide environmental

guidelines/policy, compliance with environmental ,supplier certification and selection based

on its commitment to sustainability, use of renewable energy, and environmental

performance monitoring and it is prerequisite that supply chain professionals to understand

the basic tenets of environmental regulations and keep up to date on changes

Creck buyonge and et (2007) supposed that for practically expending custom clearance the

customs clearing agents must Managerial and operational staff competence, Membership to

national freight forwarding, Reputations within the customs, Agreements with other third

providers, Reputation within the customs

 Period of operation gulations.

Globalization and increasing customer and government concerns about the environmental

impact of activities as well as the appearance of the issue of social responsibility have led

companies to employ sustainable supply chain management, supply chain strategic

management of information, financial and material flows, and transparent integration among

the supply chain organizations in order to cover objectives at economic, environmental, and

social aspects and consequently enhance the long- term performance of the whole supply
chain network The responsibility for sustainable development is shared between a multitude

of actors, such as international regulatory agencies, national governments, local authorities,

businesses, consumers, and research and education institutions. The actors play different,

supporting and interacting roles in the pursuit of sustainable development (Figure 5.2). In

most countries, authorities are elected by the society in a democratic process, and their

responsibility is to set rules and regulations the other actors must follow. Businesses

influence the environment and society while performing their day-to-day operations.

Consumers using products supplied by the businesses also impact the environment and

society. They can alter business behaviour by generating demand for particular types of

products and/or services. Also, the way they purchase, transport, store, use, and dispose of a

product can be an important determinant of the overall impact of that product). The academic

community plays an important role in the generation and dissemination of knowledge

regarding for instance the economic, social, and environmental impact from business

operations, sustainable management strategies, consumer behaviour, and the impact of laws

and regulations. Authorities, business, researchers and the wider public also share a

responsibility to ensure a sustainable distribution and transport system. In April 2001, at the

Council meeting in Luxembourg, the EU’s transport ministers agreed on the demands that

should be placed on a sustainable transport system. A sustainable clearing agent system

should: Allow the basic access and development needs of individuals, companies and

societies to be met safely, in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health, and

promote equity within and between successive generations. Be affordable, operate fairly and

efficiently, offer a choice of supply chain, and support a competitive economy, as well as

balanced regional development. Limit emissions and waste within the planet’s ability to

absorb them, use renewable resources at or below their rates of generation, and use non-

renewable resources at or below the rates of development of renewable substitutes, while

competitiveness and the ability to tackle pollution, climate change and other environmental

problems. The role of government in promoting green distribution systems is

The importance of sustainability in today’s new global business environment is recognized as

a core capability and means to competitiveness. Many organizations have realized that

sustainability requires an integrated approach involving various firms in the supply chain.

New business models have been developed, which require that firms should seek to optimize

value rather than attempt to maximize the value delivered to any one set of interests. These

business models factor in the dynamics of supply chains warranting forstrategic relationships

in enabling sustainability at the inter- organizational level. This involves firstly, long-term

relationships that re- duce opportunistic behaviors and that A growing area of concern is the

issue related to sustainability, where firms face constant pressure by various stakeholders to

pursue not only eco- nomic gains, but also to address social and environmental considerations

at both organizational and supply chain levels (Hofmann et al, 2014). It is important to note

that the actions and behavior of partners are important as their environmental and social

impacts affect the brand and reputation of the focal company ultimately (due to in- stances of

their supply chain members’ practices violating social or environmental issues. Today the

trading community uses just-in-time supply chains to maximize competitive advantage, and

it demands that customs and clearing organisations do not disrupt those chains. The

international trade stakeholders look to agencies to lower the cost of doing business and to

enable firms to compete globally. In an environment where lowering trader costs can make

the difference between success and failure, even the smallest process driven ICT

improvement can give traders a competitive edge over firms in other countries.

Sustainabilituy will enable to o fulfi ll their r roles and responsibilities in ways that are more

transparent and friendly to business as the concepts of sustainable development and CSR are
closely related, the key dimensions of both are the same. Socially responsible companies

need to include economic, social and environmental considerations in their corporate decision

making:

Economic responsibility concerns not only economic growth and shareholders’ profits. Other

important aspects include how the money is earned and divided between parties involved in a

deal. Examples of economical responsibilities are fair pricing and purchasing policies, actions

and policies against bribery and corruption, and contributions to the economic development

of local communities.

Social responsibility addresses the way people are treated both within and outside the

organization. Companies can demonstrate social responsibility by, for example, the use of

core labour standards set by the International Labour Organization. Other examples of social

responsibilities include: respecting human rights, ensuring decent working and living

conditions for employees (such as labour rights, freedom of association, right to collective

bargaining, no forced labour, maximum working hours, minimum age/child labour, fair

treatment, and the advancement of gender, racial, and religious diversity in the workplace),

health and safety policies, philanthropic contributions/donations and considerations, and

involvement with local communities.

Environmental responsibility focuses on how the business activities affect the planet.

Examples of environmentally responsible practices are: precautionary approaches to prevent

or minimize the adverse impact on the natural environment, or development and diffusion of

environmentally friendly technologies.

1.3Problem statement

The customs and clearing agents are intermediaries in the global supply chain objectives.

The challenges within the clearing agents are widespread while the area of research has never
been touched surprisingly at the height of the modern growth in sustainability. Most customs

and clearing agents are small to medium enterprise with little or no digital presence. The

prime function of professional customs agent is to help business navigate customs clearance

agent and contribute to the establishment of a seamless supply chain network lack of relevant

digital solutions and innovations such as cloud computing, block chain and the internet to

market. Within the customs and clearing the agent has remained anonymous. Trade between

nations is increasingly gaining momentum and movement of goods across country borders is

subject to customs clearance. But the current customs clearing business operating

environment is confronting immense pressures from a plethora of effects chief amongst

include technological advancements, unprecedented regulatory requirements and growing

customer needs. To that end, the call to sustainable operations is huge both to in the face of

both the industry and well as the academia due to the impact it poses to the people’s lives,

surrounding environments and prosperity and large. Now this research study aims to unpack

and analyse these issues

The application of sustainability in weak. Customs clearing companies in Zimbabwe are

struggling to incorporate sustainability practices into their strategies, corporate governance

and also management structures. This unfortunate sustainability trends is exhibited by the

statistics of new applications and those who fails to renew every year, growth and expansion

rate, and a considerable fraction of some that are dying while in their infancy.

Aims and objectives

1.4 Research Objectives

To identify the availability of sustainability practices in customs clearing organizations

To ascertain the available sustainable practices and the extend of the application
To identify the hindrances to the application of sustainability practices and the actions being

taken to improve the situations

To ascertain whether customs clearing organizations understand the importance of

sustainability practices in modern day

To measure the level of awareness of sustainability practices and the impact it poses to future

performances

1.4 Research Questions

What are the sustainability practices available in customs clearing organizations?

What is the extend of the application of sustainability practices available in customs clearing

organizations

What is hindering the application of sustainability practices in customs clearing organizations

and are there any actions being taken to improve the situation

What do customs clearing organizations understand is the importance of sustainability

practices in customs in modern day?

What is the impact of sustainability practices in customs clearing organizations and the

impact it is likely to pose to future performances?

1.5 Significance of the study

The research will help reduce the knowledge gap persisting customs clearing organizations

by optimizing operations and ensure a hassle-free supply chain. It is the researchers’

viewpoint that the study will unpack insights that will add value to the already existing

literature regarding sustainability issues. The researcher would be keen to see the research

being used as yardstick or starting point of further possible sustainability researches

importance of incorporating sustainability practices into their strategies, corporate

governance and management structures amid the increased trade flows driven by push factors

such as trade liberization, technological advancements, demographic shifts, to mention but a

few. At the centre of trade facilitation are customs clearing organizations whose expectation

is optimize customs clearance processes through customs administrations and ensure a

hassle-free supply chain. For that reason, periodic reviews are necessary to monitor

performance of customs clearing organizations and influence the necessary course of actions

– preventive or corrective actions.

The business world – the study can be an edition that will further place on record the

importance of sustainability practices. This will be an alert call to other enter

To help in the diagnosis of the real challenges concerning customs clearing organizations,

where are the lose bricks and where gaps exists, determine the nature of problems confronted

and their causes including underlying issues, help sweat out the solutions rather than sit out a

problem, heed to the sustainability calls and take initiatives towards sustainability

development.

Definition of key terms

Sustainability

Sustainability Practices

People sustainability

Planet sustainability

Prosperity Sustainability
Customs

Customs Clearing

Customs Clearing Organisations

Rationale of the study

Summary