Modern Slavery in Business: The Sad and Sorry State of a Non-Field

Caruana, Robert; Crane, Andrew; Gold, Stefan; LeBaron, Genevieve

doi:10.1177/0007650320930417

Cited by 107 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 131 publications

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“…The relatively small field of researchers who have conducted research on the business of contemporary forced labor to date—which is largely comprised of political scientists, lawyers, development studies scholars, and other social scientists, but only rarely scholars located within business and management—have emphasized that supply chain dynamics and the effectiveness of buyer‐led governance initiatives are crucial in shaping whether or not businesses use forced labor (Allain et al, 2013; Crane, 2013; Phillips & Sakamoto, 2012). Owing at least in part to the paucity of SCM and management scholarship more generally focused on forced labor (Caruana et al, 2020; Soundararajan, Wilhelm & Crane, 2020), the supply chain dynamics surrounding forced labor have received little serious scholarly attention with slavery “typically viewed as an obsolete form of premodern labor practice that has been superseded by more legitimate and humane practices” (Crane, 2013: 49).…”

Section: Beyond Bad Apples: Why Supply Chains Are Key To Understandinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Business scholarship on forced labor and labor exploitation is at an early stage of development. Yet, there have been some notable contributions from SCM scholars to the literature thus far (Gold, Trautrims, & Trodd, 2015; New, 2015; Stevenson & Cole, 2018; see Caruana et al, 2020 for an overview). Future research could build on this nascent body of work as well as research on the global business of forced labor from across the social sciences.…”

Section: Agenda For Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the clear relevance of supply chains to the problem of forced labor, to date, very little research has been conducted on the business of forced labor (Caruana et al, 2020; LeBaron & Crane, 2018; Phung & Crane, 2018). By the business of forced labor, I refer to the rationales, cost and revenue structures, and employment relationships and dynamics that businesses use to perpetrate and make money from forced labor (see: Allain et al, 2013; Crane, 2013; LeBaron, 2018a; LeBaron & Crane, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Supply Chains in the Global Business of Forced Labour

LeBaron

2021

J Supply Chain Manag

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Supply chains are fundamental to whether decent work flourishes or not. Not only do supply chain dynamics shape employment practices and working conditions, but they also influence business models and capabilities which structure opportunities for decent work. As scholars and policymakers race to strengthen labor standards in supply chains and confront barriers to their effective implementation, management scholars can both benefit from and advance an understanding of the role of supply chains in giving rise to indecent work, especially the business practices commonly described as forced labor and modern slavery. To help realize this potential, this article draws from my research on the business of forced labor to emphasize three points. First, there are clear and discernible patterns with respect to the root causes of forced labor in supply chains. Second, forced labor in supply chains cannot be understood in isolation of broader dynamics of work and employment, since low‐waged workers tend to move in and out of conditions of forced labor in relatively short periods of time. Third, on‐the‐ground studies of the effectiveness of buyer‐centric governance programs reveal serious gaps between corporate social responsibility standards and business practices when it comes to indicators most relevant to forced labor. I conclude with a discussion of future directions in this research agenda and highlight the potential for business scholars to make a contribution.

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Section: Beyond Bad Apples: Why Supply Chains Are Key To Understandinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Agenda For Further Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Supply Chains in the Global Business of Forced Labour

LeBaron

2021

J Supply Chain Manag

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“…The market for forced labor is vast both in terms of supply and demand, and it dwarfs any market for virtue that may exist for “slave-free” products. However, as Caruana et al (2021) show in their introductory article, the topic remains relatively invisible in our canons of business and management scholarship—whether in Porter’s classic “five forces” model of competition or more recent descriptions of distinctive competencies, the gig economy, the sharing economy, or digital transformation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Modern Slavery Is an Enabling Condition of Global Neoliberal Capitalism: Commentary on Modern Slavery in Business

Banerjee¹

2020

Business & Society

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One hundred eighty seven years after slavery was abolished in the United Kingdom, there are now more slaves in the world than when slavery was legal: a 2016 International Labour Office (ILO, 2017) report estimates there are 40.3 million (a "very conservative" estimate according to the report) victims of modern slavery. The same report suggests that 71% of modern slaves are women and one in four victims of modern slavery are children. This special section on modern slavery in business is thus both timely and relevant given the paucity of research on the topic in our field, which is worrying given that it is business that exploits much of slave labor. For instance, the construction, manufacturing, agricultural, and fishing industries accounted for 44% of all forced labor, according to the ILO (2017). Slavery is also a very profitable business: Profits per slave can range from a few thousand dollars a year to a few hundred thousand dollars a year, with total annual slavery profits estimated to be as high as US$150 billion (ILO, 2014). Slavery is an abhorrent practice and while it is technically a crime under international law, it is important to realize that it remains a viable and profitable management practice for business. Modern slavery, far from being an aberration, is a logical outcome of the way our political economic system is organized and its historical origins in the colonial enterprise. For example, colonial expansionist practices of the British Empire in the 1800s involved both land and resource appropriation as well as permanent destruction of manufacturing capacities in the colonies. The "technological superiority" of the British textile industry was established as much by technological advances as by a systematic destruction of India's indigenous industry involving innovative competitive strategies such as the severing of the thumbs of master weavers in Bengal, forced cultivation of indigo by Bihar's peasants, and the slave trade from Africa that supplied cotton plantations in the United States with free labor (Banerjee, 2008). Just as historical slavery was an enabling Editorial 898478B ASXXX10.

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“…While modern slavery has received attention as a managerial practice and a governance problem (Caruana et al 2020;Crane 2013;Bales and Trodd 2013;Gold, Trautrims, and Trodd 2015;LeBaron and Crane 2019), its moral relevance remains relatively understudied by business ethicists. To be sure, the ethics of exploitative labor has been receiving attention in business ethics for some time, for example in work on sweatshop labor (Arnold and Bowie 2003), business and human rights (Wettstein 2009), and responsible international business (Donaldson 1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Promise of Pragmatism: Richard Rorty and Business Ethics

Pouryousefi¹,

Freeman²

2023

Preprint

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Pragmatists believe that philosophical inquiry must engage closely with practice in order to be useful, and that practice serves as a source of social norms. As a growing alternative to the analytic and continental philosophical traditions, pragmatism is well suited for research in business ethics, but its role remains underappreciated. This article focuses on Richard Rorty, a key figure in the pragmatist tradition. We read Rorty as a source of insight about the ethical and political nature of business practice in contemporary global markets, focusing specifically on his views about moral sentiments, agency, and democratic deliberation. Importantly for business ethicists, Rorty’s approach sets in stark relief our moral responsibility as useful, practical thinkers in addressing the societal challenges of our time. We use “modern slavery” as an empirical context to highlight the relevance of Rorty’s approach to business ethics. Keywords: Richard Rorty, pragmatism, moral sentiments, agency, democratic deliberation

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Modern Slavery in Business: The Sad and Sorry State of a Non-Field

Cited by 107 publications

References 131 publications

The Role of Supply Chains in the Global Business of Forced Labour

The Role of Supply Chains in the Global Business of Forced Labour

Modern Slavery Is an Enabling Condition of Global Neoliberal Capitalism: Commentary on Modern Slavery in Business

The Promise of Pragmatism: Richard Rorty and Business Ethics

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