scholarly journals The Effects of Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in Developing Countries

10.3386/w9669 ◽  
2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Drusilla Brown ◽  
Alan Deardorff ◽  
Robert Stern
Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Jonhatan Magno Norte da Silva ◽  
David Anderson Cardoso Dantas ◽  
Luiz Bueno da Silva ◽  
Igor Eduardo Santos de Melo ◽  
Lucas Miguel Alencar de Morais Correia

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have observed that psychosocial factors are associated with an increase in work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in European countries. However, the influence of psychosocial factors on the WMSD symptoms has not been studied in detail. Additionally, working conditions differ between developing and developed countries. OBJECTIVE: In this study, the influence of psychosocial factors on WMSD symptoms among men and women in the footwear industry in northeastern Brazil is investigated. METHODS: A questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate workers’ perceptions of psychosocial factors and WMSD symptoms. The influence of psychosocial factors on WMSD symptom trends was observed through ordinal logistic regression models. RESULTS: It was found that different psychosocial factors are related to WMSD symptom intensification. Factors such as “job insecurity” and “low social support,” which are not associated with the worsening of WMSD symptoms in developed countries, showed a noticeable influence in the sample analyzed. CONCLUSION: These findings may be associated with differences in working conditions and economic problems in developing countries, suggesting that some psychosocial factors have a different effect on workers’ perceptions in developing countries.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
K. S. Volkova

The issue of overexploitation in developing countries in the era of Global value chains (GVC ) is directly related to the question of the relationship between the economic and social upgrading of countries in GVC. The relevance of this topic is due to its  narrow representation in the scientific field, as well as the persistence of a low standard of labor force’s living in developing countries, despite the growth in labor productivity and the transition to the production of goods with higher added value. This article examines the problems faced by low-and medium-skilled workers in developing countries, including extremely low wages, social insecurity, and gender inequality. Often the reason for the preservation of this situation is the low price of goods, which is set by the purchasing  companies  that  govern  the  GVC.  International  organizations  and  the  media systematically  attract  public  attention  to  this  problem,  which  has  led  to  the  establishment  of control  over  working  conditions  by  the  parent  companies  of  the  GVC.  However,  in  many industries, the workers’ situation is still unsatisfactory, which indicates that the measures taken in this direction are insufficient. According to the author, significant improvement of working conditions  is difficult without the  participation of industry and  inter-industry trade unions  of employees.


1997 ◽  
Vol 27 (107) ◽  
pp. 263-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrid Koch-Baumgarten

The article analyses the attempts of trade unions organized in the International Transportworkers' Federation (ITF) to establish a system of multinational industrial relations and collective bargaining in the flags-ofconvenience shipping. Although based on egoistic national special interests and without formal restrictions on national souvereignity the co-operation leads to an international regime. lt regulates the rights to organize and represent crews in industrial relations, minimum standards for working conditions and incomes, and procedures for the multinational decisionmaking process and management of conflicts. The trade unions, regulating about 20% of flags-of-convenience shipping, suceeded in establishing a multinational control of national collective bargaining. This success is based on an imbalance of power between trade unions of industrialised and developing countries within the ITF and on specific conditions in transport industry, and therefore not transferable to other industries.


Author(s):  
Arianna Rossi

Industrial hubs and insertion in global value chains (GVCs) usually bring about new jobs for women in developing countries. Firms in industrial hubs employ a majority of women workers, providing them with a waged employment, often for the first time, and an opportunity for empowerment and self-reliance. However, these jobs are often characterized by low wages, poor working conditions, and labour-rights violations. This chapter provides an overview of opportunities and challenges for women’s empowerment, and gender equality in the context of jobs in industrial hubs, looking at empirical evidence from developing countries, and their linkages with existing cultural and gender norms. It also provides reflections on the governance of work and recommendations for gender-inclusive policies, showing that industrial hubs and GVCs can provide a path of economic upgrading for developing countries, but that only when that process is paired with social upgrading for women workers, will overall development gains be attained.


2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1301-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivek Soundararajan ◽  
Laura J. Spence ◽  
Chris Rees

Small businesses in developing countries, as part of global supply chains, are sometimes assumed to respond in a straightforward manner to institutional demands for improved working conditions. This article problematizes this perspective. Drawing upon extensive qualitative data from Tirupur’s knitwear export industry in India, we highlight owner-managers’ agency in avoiding or circumventing these demands. The small businesses here actively engage in irresponsible business practices and “evasion” institutional work to disrupt institutional demands in three ways: undermining assumptions and values, dissociating consequences, and accumulating autonomy and political strength. This “evasion” work is supported by three conditions: void (in labor welfare mechanisms), distance (from institutional monitors), and contradictions (between value systems). Through detailed empirical findings, the article contributes to research on both small business social responsibility and institutional work.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document