Addressing Modern Slavery in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Business

2021 ◽  
pp. 101-119
Author(s):  
Jean Baderschneider ◽  
Alison Kiehl Friedman
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Modern Slavery

scholarly journals Global supply chains and social relations at work: Brokering across boundaries

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 459-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Reinecke ◽  
Jimmy Donaghey ◽  
Adrian Wilkinson ◽  
Geoffrey Wood
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Employment Relations ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
Economic Goods ◽  
Work And Employment

Global supply chains are not just instruments for the exchange of economic goods and flow of capital across borders. They also connect people in unprecedented ways across social and cultural boundaries and have created new, interrelated webs of social relationships that are socially embedded. However, most of the existing theories of work are mainly based at the level of the corporation, not on the network of relations that interlink them, and how this may impact on work and employment relations. We argue that this web of relations should not just be seen in economic, but also social terms, and that the former are embedded and enabled by the latter. This article argues for the value of focusing on the role of brokers and boundary workers in mediating social relations across global supply chains. It develops four approaches that lie on a spectrum from structural perspectives focused on brokers who link otherwise unconnected actors to more constructivist ones focused on boundary workers performing translation work between domains.

Ports’ criticality in international trade and global supply-chains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasper Verschuur ◽  
Elco Koks ◽  
Jim Hall
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Bilateral Trade ◽  
Single Port ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Final Demand ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Global Supply Chains

Abstract Ports form the backbone of the global economy. By combining a vast database of ship tracking data with bilateral trade data and input-output tables, we highlight the critical role of specific ports in global supply chains and economies. For some countries, we find that 43.5% of economic activity is dependent on trade going through a single port. The top ten global ports influence 9.3% of the global economy, of which the port of Shanghai alone embeds 1.7% of global output. Ports are even more critical in some sectors, such as the mining and quarrying sector, for which 82% of trade is transported by maritime transport. We estimate how changes in final demand will be routed through ports, revealing that for every US$1000 increase in final demand a country’s ports experience a US$18.3 increase in imports on average, and up to US$108 increase in low income countries and small islands.

Modern slavery footprints in global supply chains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah‐Jayne Shilling ◽  
Thomas Wiedmann ◽  
Arunima Malik
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Modern Slavery

scholarly journals The role of psychological distance in organizational responses to modern slavery risk in supply chains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dayna Simpson ◽  
Marie Segrave ◽  
Anne Quarshie ◽  
Andrew Kach ◽  
Robert Handfield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Psychological Distance ◽  
Organizational Responses ◽  
Modern Slavery

scholarly journals COVID-19 and global clothing retailers' responsibility to vulnerable workers: NGO counter-rhetoric

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nglaa Ahmad ◽  
Shamima Haque ◽  
Muhammad Azizul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Global South ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Hegemony ◽  
Vulnerable Workers ◽  
Insight Into

PurposeThis article aims to examine how non-governmental organisations (NGOs)' narratives portray the vulnerability of workers in global clothing supply chains during the COVID-19 crisis.Design/methodology/approachThe research analyses the rhetoric in global clothing retailers' and NGOs' counter-rhetoric during the first seven months of 2020.FindingsDuring this period, retailers employed rhetorical strategies to legitimise irresponsible actions (corporate hegemony prevailed), while NGOs embraced forms of counter-rhetoric trying to delegitimise the retailers' logic, stressing the role of neoliberalism in worsening the situation.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the literature by providing new insight into the consequences of COVID-19 for retailers' neoliberal practices and the livelihood of workers in global supply chains. Findings of this study extend authors’ knowledge about retailers' COVID-19 measures: These have contributed to the plights of workers working for their supply factories in the global South.

scholarly journals The domestic politics of corporate accountability legislation: struggles over the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 709-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve LeBaron ◽  
Andreas Rühmkorf
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Transnational Governance ◽  
Corporate Accountability ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
Domestic Legislation ◽  
Labour Standards

AbstractOver the last decade, the norm of corporate accountability for labour standards in global supply chains has become increasingly prominent within the transnational governance arena. As global governance initiatives to spur due diligence for labour standards and combat exploitation in global supply chains—especially its most severe forms frequently described as modern slavery—have proliferated, societal coalitions have pressured states to pass domestic legislation to the same effect. In this article, we examine the regulatory processes that spurred the passage of one piece of anti-slavery legislation, the UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act. Our findings corroborate a number of established expectations regarding business opposition towards new legislation to raise public labour standards, but also provide a clearer picture of the mechanisms through which industry actors impact policymaking processes. Paradoxically, such mechanisms include business actors’ championing of weak regulatory initiatives, CSR activity and partnering with civil society organizations. Understanding industry actors’ use of these strategies improves our understanding of how transnational norms of corporate accountability and anti-slavery are being contested and shaped at domestic scales.

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