Globalization and Paradoxes of Ethical Transnational Production: Code of Conduct in a Chinese Workplace

Abstract

Neo-liberal economic globalization and acceleration in information and communication technologies have strengthened the competitiveness of transnational corporations by making it easier for them to stretch their global commodity chains to developing countries. Such control from a distance threatens national states' capacity to regulate TNCs and their impact upon environment, labour and human rights in developing countries. This has prompted anti-TNC sentiments and campaigns that challenge brand-named TNCs on labour exploitation in the south. These changes have triggered discussions on setting labour standards in the international arena. With the WTO distancing itself from the 'social clause', this has prompted the TNCs, NGOs and other stakeholders to self-regulate by introducing codes of conduct. Concentrating on the clothing industry, this paper examines the emergence of company and multi-stakeholder codes of conduct that require the involvement of subcontractors and NGOs in developing countries. The moving of ethical codes to developing countries condenses and reproduces, under the twin pressures of competitiveness and social auditing, the paradoxes of ethical transnational production in the internal organizations of local firms. These paradoxes are demonstrated from a case study of a workplace in China. The paper ends by outlining three paradoxes and commenting on the development of a managerialist 'audit culture' in workplace practices as commodification of ethical code.

Rising Power Clusters and the Challenges of Local and Global Standards

“…Chinese firms' engagement with corporate codes of conduct has been closely studied, illustrating that such private measures often fail to improve working conditions (Sum and Pun 2005;Yu 2008) More recently there is evidence that Chinese firms engaged in GVC ties can and do engage more positively with CSR concerns (EgelsZandén 2014). It is also clear that environmental considerations are increasingly becoming part of the Chinese industrial regulatory framework (Brandi 2014).…”

Towards a sustainable fashion retail supply chain in Europe: Organisation and performance

“…NTO's catalogues are of recycled paper and the company is aiming at a 100% organic cotton collection (Marshall and Brown, 2003 Hojensgard, 2005). Yet, sometimes those codes of conduct are of thin glass as implementation is not really checked in practice, and the code may be paradoxical in nature, given strategic decisions towards low-cost, which will likely dominate the daily practices in the shop-floor (Emmelhainz and Adams, 1999;Sum and Ngai, 2005). With trends in the fashion SC, such as price competition and the importance of responsiveness, the adoption of sustainable initiatives might be at risk.…”

Evolución de la reglamentación laboral y de las condiciones de trabajo en China. Visión retrospectiva y retos

“…Desde la década de 1990, los sindicatos y los grupos de consumidores occidentales han apelado a la responsabilidad social empresarial (RSE) para ejercer presión sobre las empresas transnacionales que invierten en China o que subcontratan allí su producción, a fin de que mejoren las condiciones de trabajo entre sus filiales y proveedores chinos. El creciente interés en la RSE también ha suscitado un debate sobre el grado en que las normas de RSE formuladas y aplicadas por el sector privado en el Norte pueden proteger efectivamente a los trabajadores o mejorar las condiciones de trabajo en países como China (Tiwari, Chang y Shepherd, 2004;Sum y Pun, 2005). Si bien la RSE representa una presión externa, últimamente también hay fuerzas dentro de China que han generado cambios de mayor envergadura en la reglamentación laboral y en las relaciones de trabajo.…”

“…Desde principios de los años noventa, la RSE se considera una forma de regulación no vinculante aplicada por las empresas transnacionales para controlar el comportamiento de sus proveedores mundiales (Jenkins, Pearson y Seyfang, 2002;Pearson y Seyfang, 2001;Sum y Pun, 2005). Esto indujo la apari-ción de nuevos agentes sociales -concretamente, redes sociales de movimientos de consumidores, organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG) y sindicatos-que presionan a los minoristas y a los fabricantes de marcas para que asuman la responsabilidad social de cara a los trabajadores en su red de producción utilizando la estrategia de la denuncia pública (Hale y Willis, 2007).…”

“…Chan, 2013). Por lo tanto, muchos expertos en cuestiones laborales han tachado la RSE de «pura fachada» (C. Chan, 2010;Lin, 2010;Pun, 2005;Sum y Pun, 2005). La prueba más conmovedora surgió en 2010, cuando 13 trabajadores migrantes se suicidaron en una fábrica situada en la ciudad de Shenzhen de la empresa de capital taiwanés Foxconn, principal proveedora de Appel.…”