Ethical Sourcing

The purpose of this paper is to explore the realm of the garment industry in Bangladesh while elaborating the topic with regards to dominant sustainability issues, and strategic initiatives implemented in a way to better harmonize with the values and principles of global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This study will navigate the key sustainability challenges in Bangladeshi’s apparel and clothing industry, in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, the “Reduced Inequality” and the “Responsible Consumption and Production” issues (United Nations, 2015), the effects of sustainability on supply chains, and it will expose the best practices in terms of ethical sourcing adopted by organizations operating in the aforementioned industry. Moreover, the study will be conducted with means to forge the best possible approach for engaging with progressive enhancements in regards to the overall industry’s working conditions, while reviewing sustainability management and development strategies implemented by organizations paving the way within the industry, appraising the role of both Human Resources and the CEO in propelling change and formulating potential pathways to meet their sustainability goals, while integrating more of a holistic CSR culture within the overall Bangladeshi’s garment community.

While blockchain was designed as a ledger for cryptocurrency transactions, it can record transactions of anything of value. Blockchain is increasingly used to prove the integrity of commodities, tracing their supply chain journey from the source to the end user. Yet, transferring this technology from a cryptocurrency context to a supply chain setting is not without difficulties. This article explores the implications for multinational and transnational companies in using blockchain as a means to address modern slavery. The research identifies five challenges: verification, inclusion, trust, privacy, and normativity.

In the recent decades, fashion brands and retailers in the West have introduced supplier’s Codes of Conduct (CoC) to strengthen international labour standards in their supply chain. Drawing from the concept of workers’ agency and the theory of reciprocity, this paper examines the implementation of CoC from the workers’ perspective and identifies the mechanism used by the workers to negotiate with their employer. Qualitative data was collected from forty semi-structured interviews with mangers, union representative and workers at a garment factory in Vietnam which manufactures clothes to a few well-known fashion brands in the US and Europe. The findings show that, externally, workers are united with the management in hiding non-compliance practices to pass labour audits while, internally, workers challenge the management about long working hours and low pay. This finding highlights the active roles workers play on the two fronts: towards their clients and towards the management. Thei...

In the recent decades, fashion brands and retailers in the West have introduced supplier's Codes of Conduct (CoC) to strengthen international labour standards in their supply chain. Drawing from the concept of workers' agency and the theory of reciprocity, this paper examines the implementation of CoC from the workers' perspective and identifies the mechanism used by the workers to negotiate with their employer. Qualitative data was collected from forty semi-structured interviews with mangers, union representative and workers at a garment factory in Vietnam which manufactures clothes to a few well-known fashion brands in the US and Europe. The findings show that, externally, workers are united with the management in hiding non-compliance practices to pass labour audits while, internally, workers challenge the management about long working hours and low pay. This finding highlights the active roles workers play on the two fronts: towards their clients and towards the management. Their collaboration is motivated by the expectation that the management will return the favour by addressing their demands through a reciprocal exchange principle. This paper sheds light on an alternative approach to understanding collective bargaining and labour activism at the bottom of the supply chain and provides recommendations for further research.