Impediments to the implementation of voluntary codes of conduct in production factories of the Global South: so much to do, so little done

Abstract

A common consequence of the fragmented supply practices of multinational corporations are unfair and exploitative working conditions in the global South. Many corporations face this, and the resulting reputational damage, by installing voluntary codes of conduct in their supplier factories, leading to a vast range of implementation practices by the factory managers. Despite this effort, the literature shows that the positive impact of these codes on labour conditions in such factories remains insufficient. This article argues that this insufficiency is rooted in the exclusiveness and eurocentrism of codes of conduct and elaborates on why corporations tend to prefer influencing certain labour conditions over others. It concludes by briefly discussing multi-stakeholder organisations as a possible solution to these predicaments, and points the way to further research on the topic.

Keywords:

• business ethics
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• code of conduct
• labour rights
• eurocentrism
• outcome standards
• process rights
• multi-stakeholder initiatives

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Prof Dr Thomas Beschorner as well as the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation for supporting my work, and Diane Bombart and the reviewers for the helpful comments.

Notes

1. Snell, “Beyond Workers’ Rights,” 196.

2. Merk, “Jumping Scale and Bridging Space,” 604.

3. Rodríguez-Garavito, “Global Governance and Labour Rights,” 204; and Sum and Ngai, “Globalization and Paradoxes,” 204.

4. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 445.

5. See Gereffi and Memedovic, The Global Apparel Value Chain, 7.

6. See Sum and Ngai, “Globalization and Paradoxes,” 182.

7. See Frenkel, “Globalization,” 532; and Wells, “Local Worker Struggles,” 567.

8. Harvey, Spaces of Neoliberalization, 53ff.

9. See Ong, “Spirits of Resistance.”

10. See Benson and Kirsch, “Capitalism and the Politics of Resignation,” 463.

11. Wells, “Local Worker Struggles,” 567f.

12. See, among others, Bercusson and Estlund, “Regulating Labour.”

13. Brecher et al., Globalization from Below, 34.

14. See Mosley, Labor Rights and Multinational Production, 57.

15. For a discussion of the term ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ see, among many others, Schölmerich, “On the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility,” 3.

16. See Winston, “ngo Strategies,” 72.

17. See Justice, “The International Trade Union Movement.”

18. See Kolk et al., “International Codes of Conduct,” 151.

19. Waddock et al., “Responsibility,” 138.

20. Kearny and Gearhart, “Workplace Codes as Tools for Workers,” 218.

21. See Erwin, “Corporate Codes of Conduct,” 535.

22. Arthurs, “Corporate Self-regulation,” 21.

23. See Arya and Salk, “Cross-sector Alliance Learning,” 212; and Sum and Ngai, “Globalization and Paradoxes,” 185.

24. Merk, “Jumping Scale and Bridging Space,” 604.

25. Arthurs, “Corporate Self-regulation,” 22.

26. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 448.

27. See Wolf and Schwindenhammer, “Vom Business Case zum Public Case?,” 11.

28. Rodríguez-Garavito, “Global Governance,” 205.

29. See Ngai, “Reorganized Moralism.”

30. Wolf and Schwindenhammer, “Vom Business Case zum Public Case?,” 13 (translation by the author.) See also Beschorner and Müller, “Social Standards.”

31. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 448.

32. Sum and Ngai, “Globalization and Paradoxes,” 186.

33. Kolk et al., “International Codes of Conduct,” 171.

34. Winston, “ngo Strategies,” 77. See also Wells, “Local Worker Struggles,” 569.

35. Arya and Salk, “Cross-sector Alliance Learning,” 217.

36. Arthurs, “Corporate Self-regulation,” 22.

37. Ibid.

38. See Snell, “Beyond Workers Rights,” 208.

39. See Barrientos and Smith, “Do Workers Benefit from Ethical Trade?”

40. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 451; and Nadvi and Thoburn, “Challenges to Vietnamese Firms,” 259.

41. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 451. See also Egels-Zandén, “Revisiting Supplier Compliance,” 67f.

42. Frenkel, “Globalization,” 555. Cf. similar results in Kwan and Frost, “Made in China,” 133.

43. Shaw and Hale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” 104.

44. Merk, “Jumping Scale and Bridging Space,” 604.

45. Cited in ibid., 605.

46. Mückenberger, “Alternative Mechanisms of Voice Representation,” 227.

47. See O’Rourke, “Monitoring the Monitors,” 207.

48. Cited in Noxolo et al., “Unsettling Responsibility,” 420 (emphasis original).

49. See Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 450.

50. Jaya, “Do We Really ‘Know’ and ‘Profess’?,” 228.

51. Sum and Ngai, “Globalization and Paradoxes,” 193.

52. See Kallio, “Taboos in Corporate Social Responsibility Discourse,” 165.

53. See Drebes, “Including the ‘Other’.”

54. Wells, “Local Worker Struggles,” 571.

55. Sin, cited in Noxolo et al., “Unsettling Responsibility,” 420.

56. Ibid.

57. See Wells, “Local Worker Struggles,” 568.

58. Noxolo et al., “Unsettling Responsibility,” 419f.

59. See Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 455.

60. Barrientos and Smith, “Do Workers Benefit from Ethical Trade?,” 716.

61. Barrientos and Smith, “Do Workers Benefit from Ethical Trade?”; Frenkel, “Globalization”; Merk, “Jumping Scale and Bridging Space”; Barenberg, “Toward a Democratic Model”; and O’Rourke, “Monitoring the Monitors,” 207.

62. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 456.

63. Barrientos and Smith, “Do Workers Benefit from Ethical Trade?,” 717.

64. Ibid., 714. See also Connor, We are not Machines; and Rodríguez-Garavito, “Global Governance and Labor Rights,” 205.

65. Barrientos and Smith, “Do Workers Benefit from Ethical Trade?,” 717.

66. Wells, “Local Worker Struggles,” 568.

67. Arthurs, “Corporate Self-regulation,” 23.

68. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 455.

69. Egels-Zandén, “Revisiting Supplier Compliance,” 61.

70. As well as private auditors. See Barenberg, “Toward a Democratic Model,” 60.

71. O’Rourke, “Monitoring the Monitors,” 207.

72. Winston, “ngo Strategies,” 86.

73. Ibid., 87.

74. Merk, “Jumping Scale and Bridging Space,” 605f.

75. Barrientos and Smith, “Do Workers Benefit from Ethical Trade?,” 717.

76. Taylor, “Race you to the Bottom,” 445.

77. Ibid., 447.

78. Musiolek, “Geschlechtergerechtigkeit,” 82.

79. Fransen, “Multi-stakeholder Governance,” 166; O’Rourke, “Multi-stakeholder Regulation”; and Jenkins, “The Political Economy of Codes of Conduct.”

80. Fransen, “Multi-stakeholder Governance,” 166.

81. Göbel, Decent Work and Transnational Governance, 19.

82. Ibid.

83. Fransen, “Multi-stakeholder Governance,” 163.

84. Göbel, Decent Work and Transnational Governance, 28.

85. Blowfield and Frynas, “Setting New Agendas,” 507.

86. See Musiolek, “Geschlechtergerechtigkeit.” See als de Colle et al., “The Paradox.”

87. Barenberg, “Toward a Democratic Model,” 38.

88. Rodríguez-Garavito, “Global Governance and Labor Rights,” 211.

89. Balzarova and Castka, “Stakeholders’ Influence and Contribution,” 277.

90. Rodríguez-Garavito, “Global Governance and Labor Rights,” 211.

91. Noxolo et al., “Unsettling Responsibility,” 420.