| 1. |
- Fontana, Enrico, et al.
(author)
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Contesting corporate responsibility in the Bangladesh garment industry : The local factory owner perspective
- 2024
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In: Human Relations. - : SAGE Publications. - 1741-282X .- 0018-7267.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In the developing economy of Bangladesh, local factory owners in the garment industry have felt great pressure to improve factory safety, but the costs for those improvements are not shared by the global apparel firms that wield immense influence over them. Consequently, we examine whether multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs), as vehicles of corporate social responsibility (CSR), offer platforms for democratic oversight or merely serve as new arenas to exercise corporate power. Given their role in connecting global and local contexts and their history of safety incidents, local factory owners possess a unique perspective on the impact and contested nature of CSR in global supply chains. This article presents a qualitative study of MSIs in the Bangladesh garment industry, particularly after the Rana Plaza collapse. Through interviews with local factory owners and executive managers, we explore the reasons behind their opposition to CSR as exercised by global apparel firms, and the contestation of those practices by their local business association. Our findings lead us to conclude that garment industry MSIs are unlikely to be effective without labor procurement practices that harmonize global and local interests to mitigate the competitive pressures on local factory owners.
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| 2. |
- Fontana, Enrico, et al.
(author)
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Pressures for sub‐supplier sustainability compliance : The importance of target markets in textile and garment supply chains
- 2024
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In: Business Strategy and the Environment. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1099-0836 .- 0964-4733.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We propose that sub‐supplier sustainability compliance in developing economies' textile and garment supply chains can be more effectively realized by understanding sub‐suppliers' target markets. We introduce the concept of sub‐suppliers' customer share of production as the share of production that sub‐suppliers sell to “exporting” direct suppliers that cater to the international market vis‐à‐vis “local” direct suppliers that cater to the domestic market. Through this concept and qualitative evidence, we offer a model outlining that as sub‐suppliers sell more to exporting direct suppliers, they encounter increased coercive, competitive, and collaborative pressures for sustainability compliance. This article contributes to the multi‐tier sustainable supply chain management literature by illustrating how target markets exert pressures for sub‐supplier sustainability compliance, and why some sub‐suppliers are more inclined to invest in sustainability compliance, some decouple from it, and others invest beyond compliance. We conclude with business strategy guidelines for managers in textile and garment supply chains.
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