scholarly journals Sustainable CSR in Global Supply Chains

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Robert N. Mefford
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Environmental Practices ◽  
Improvement Programs ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sustainability Practices ◽  
Quality Improvement Programs

Multinational firms face many challenges in extending sustainability practices to their global supply chains. Establishing standards for environmental practices and working conditions for suppliers through codes of conduct, and then monitoring their performance with audits, is the common method used by MNEs. However, this approach has proven deficient in many cases as the suppliers are often not capable or unwilling to make the changes necessary to assure long-term sustainability of their operations. Audits often are insufficient in uncovering practices that do not meet the codes of conduct, and in any case, do not usually reveal if the firm is on a path to continue to improve their sustainability practices. Drawing upon the experiences of firms that have implemented productivity and quality improvement programs in their global supply chains, some implications for how to implement successful sustainability programs can be found. The challenges that MNEs and their suppliers must overcome to achieve this are discussed and suggestions made on how to achieve real sustainability in global supply chains.

scholarly journals From Suspicion to Sustainability in Global Supply Chains

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 383-418
Author(s):  
Robert C. Bird ◽  
Vivek Soundararajan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Trust Building ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
Economic Survival ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Sustainability Practices

Global supply chains power 80% of world trade, but also host widespread environmental, labor, and human rights abuses in developing countries. Most scholarship focuses on some form of sanction to motivate supply chain members, but we propose that the fundamental problem is not insufficient punishment, but a lack of trust. Fickle tastes, incessant demands for lower prices, and spot market indifference force suppliers into a constant struggle for economic survival. No trust can grow in such an environment, and few sustainability practices can take meaningful root. Responding to multiple calls for scholarship in the supply chain literature, we propose a trust-building process by which supply chains can evolve from indifference and hostility to a relational partnership that produces joint investments in sustainable practices. The result is a supply chain that is more efficient, more humane, and embeds sustainability in the supply chain for the long-term.

Addressing Communication Breakdowns during Emergency Care Transitions of Older Adults: Evaluation of a Standardized Inter-Facility Health Care Communication Form

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Patrick McLane ◽  
Kaitlyn Tate ◽  
R. Colin Reid ◽  
Brian H. Rowe ◽  
Carole Estabrooks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Persons ◽  
Chart Review ◽  
Care Transitions ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Usual Practice ◽  
Improvement Programs ◽  
Quality Improvement Programs ◽  
Communication Breakdowns

Abstract Transitions for older persons from long-term care (LTC) to the emergency department (ED) and back, can result in adverse events. Effective communication among care settings is required to ensure continuity of care. We implemented a standardized form for improving consistency of documentation during LTC to ED transitions of residents 65 years of age or older, via emergency medical services (EMS), and back. Data on form use and form completion were collected through chart review. Practitioners’ perspectives were collected using surveys. The form was used in 90/244 (37%) LTC to ED transitions, with large variation in data element completion. EMS and ED reported improved identification of resident information. LTC personnel preferred usual practice to the new form and twice reported prioritizing form completion before calling 911. To minimize risk of harmful unintended consequences, communication forms should be implemented as part of broader quality improvement programs, rather than as stand-alone interventions.

Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarosh Kuruvilla
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Regulatory System ◽  
Labor Standards ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
Labor Conditions ◽  
Voluntary Regulation ◽  
Corporate Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

This book examines the effectiveness of corporate social responsibility on improving labor standards in global supply chains. The book charts the development and effectiveness of corporate codes of conduct to ameliorate “sweatshop” conditions in global supply chains. This form of private voluntary regulation, spearheaded by Nike and Reebok, became necessary given the inability of third world countries to enforce their own laws and the absence of a global regulatory system for labor standards. Although private regulation programs have been adopted by other companies in many different industries, we know relatively little regarding the effectiveness of these programs because companies don't disclose information about their efforts and outcomes in regulating labor conditions in their supply chains. The book presents data from companies, multi-stakeholder institutions, and auditing firms in a comprehensive, investigative dive into the world of private voluntary regulation of labor conditions. The picture painted is wholistic and raw, but it considers several ways in which this private voluntary system can be improved to improve the lives of workers in global supply chains.

Foreign investment fall will continue in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Content Type

Significance The contraction is considerably greater than the expected reduction in FDI globally. The report also warns that a post-pandemic reorganisation of global supply chains may pose additional challenges for the region, as well as some potential opportunities. Impacts LAC countries are particularly dependent on FDI to create jobs and boost economic recovery in the wake of the pandemic. LAC’s limited insertion into global supply chains risks becoming a long-term impediment to FDI and economic development. As automation increases, cheaper labour will become less of an advantage in attracting FDI to LAC.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Rise Global Supply Chains on the New Tendencies in the Contemporary Foreign Trade Policy

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Zdzisław W. Puślecki
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
Multinational Firms ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Foreign Trade Policy ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
The Impact

The main aim of the article is indication of impact of the rise global supply chains on the new tendencies in contemporary foreign trade policy. The subject of the discussion and theoretical contribution in the undertaken research program is presents new tendencies in international trade—the rise of global supply chains, the impact of the rise global supply chains on the political economy of trade and countries motivations for cooperating on trade policies and the rise of global supply chains and increasing importance of bilateral agreements in the foreign trade policy. It is important to underline that a few multinational firms are responsible for a major share of world trade and for the rise of global supply chains. On the one hand, these firms should support regulatory harmonization across different Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) in order to lower trade costs. On the other hand, they might also resist harmonization—and encourage certain non-tariff measures—in order to prevent new competitors from entering markets. This may partly explain the persistence of regulatory divergence, and suggests that the political economy of regulatory convergence, especially in the conditions of the rise global supply chains, may be more important and more complex than is sometimes suggested. 

Causal Complexity

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-74
Author(s):  
Chunyun Li
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Private Regulation ◽  
Institutional Conditions ◽  
Incentive Effects ◽  
Regulation Model ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Causal Complexity

This chapter examines causal complexity. The determinants of improvement in working conditions in supplier factories in global supply chains are complex. The complexity arises from the interaction between heterogeneous actors (companies, auditing firms, suppliers) following a multiplicity of practices, combined with the effect of local institutional conditions and industry and workplace context. Along with the general lack of transparency in private regulation, this combination of causal factors leads to uncertainty with respect to cause–effect relationships. The central assumption of the private regulation model is that if standards are set by codes of conduct (whether based on international conventions or local laws), and if supplier factories comply with the codes, sweatshop conditions will be avoided and improvements will be made in the lives of workers in global supply chains. But this assumption may not be warranted; buyers and brands may not have the power to force suppliers to compel compliance. And within the businesses of most global buyers and retailers, sourcing may not be sufficiently well integrated with compliance, so the incentive effects of rewarding good factories that are making improvements in compliance are not realized in practice — even though such incentives are the very basis for the model of private regulation of first-tier supplier factories.

Implicit Taxes of U.S. Domestic and Multinational Firms During the Past Quarter-Century

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Chyz ◽  
LeAnn Luna ◽  
Hannah Smith
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Multinational Firms ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Product Concentration ◽  
Effective Tax Rates ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Unemployment Rates ◽  
Domestic Firms ◽  
The Past

Dyreng, et al (2017) find that the effective tax rates for both foreign and domestic firms have been steadily decreasing during recent decades and that multinational firms (MNEs) do not have a tax advantage relative to domestic firms. This paper extends this research and examines implicit taxes for MNEs relative to domestic firms. We find evidence that implicit taxes are approximately 32 percent lower for MNEs. We exploit differences in the exposure to various market frictions to help explain how MNEs could have lower implicit taxes than domestic firms. We find that MNEs face less competition, operate in countries with higher unemployment rates, use patents more frequently, tend to have more global supply chains, and are more vertically integrated when compared to domestic firms. We also find that firms with relatively higher product concentration and relatively lower product similarity exhibit approximately 35 percent lower implicit taxes.

Do Voluntary Labour Initiatives Make a Difference for the Conditions of Workers in Global Supply Chains?

2010 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 561-573 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela K. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Global Supply Chains ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Consumer Markets ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
Buyer Power ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Market Liberalism

Since the mid-1990s a plethora of voluntary labour initiatives has been introduced in global supply chains that serve northern-based consumer markets. The chief aim of these new systems of labour governance is to establish minimum standards and conditions for workers employed in the production of goods for export. This concern for labour follows a period of market liberalism, a major shift in the regulatory position of nation-states and the globalization of business. Voluntary initiatives, which largely draw on the International Labour Organization (ILO) core conventions, include codes of conduct, certifiable standards and International Framework Agreements (IFAs). The article explores the effectiveness of these initiatives in a highly concentrated industry: the banana trade. The banana trade is dominated on the production side by three North American agri-businesses: Chiquita Brands International, Dole Food Company and Fresh Del Monte Produce. Yet these businesses are increasingly being directed by international retailers, particularly in the UK, where the four major supermarket groups command access to the consumer, and comprise Tesco, ASDA (owned by Wal-Mart), J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison Supermarkets. The continuing increase of retail buyer power within global supply chains, coupled with supermarkets’ intent to respond to demands for social responsibility in the chains that serve them, raises the prospect of better conditions for workers. However, the article argues that although some improvements have been made, while supermarkets continue to drive down costs to benefit consumers, workers ultimately pay the price.

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