Reassembling social defragmented responsibilities: the indecent labour footprint of US multinationals overseas

García-Alaminos, Ángela; Ortiz, Mateo; Arce, Guadalupe; Zafrilla, Jorge

doi:10.1080/09535314.2020.1827224

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…Studies have shown social impact displacements, where countries can be responsible for human exploitation happening somewhere else in the world (Wiedmann & Lenzen, 2018), typically move from developed to developing nations (Alsamawi et al., 2014a; Alsamawi et al., 2014b; García‐Alaminos et al., 2020a; García‐Alaminos et al., 2020b; Simas et al., 2014; Xiao et al., 2017a). Alsamawi et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, typically, this is the reality of what happens in industry. Companies employing sustainable practices generally do so for their own operations, disregarding the negative indirect effects that tend to contribute far more to the unsustainability of their product (Benoit‐Norris et al., 2012; Hoekstra & Wiedmann, 2014; García‐Alaminos et al., 2020a; García‐Alaminos et al., 2020b). Industry effort to address supply chain human rights risks is increasing with greater guidance being published by official sources (see, e.g., OECD, 2016; OECD, 2018; Parliament of Australia, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modern slavery footprints in global supply chains

Shilling¹,

Wiedmann

Malik

2021

J of Industrial Ecology

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Slavery is more prevalent today than at any point in human history. Society's heightened scrutiny and new government policy is forcing businesses and nations to act in lieu of reputational, financial, and legal repercussions. However, slavery hides within complex supply chains, making it difficult to identify instances of human exploitation. This study takes a consumption perspective by investigating the potential of footprinting in exposing modern slavery impacts embodied in upstream supply chains. A multi‐regional input–output analysis extended with a slavery satellite account enables footprints of direct and indirect incidents of modern slavery to be quantified. The footprints reveal a displacement of slavery from developed to developing nations through the global supply chains of production. Accountability for enslavement significantly increases for countries and regions like North America, Western Europe, Australia, and Japan due to a high dependence on imports with embodied human exploitation. The results expose hotspot sectors, including construction, trade, and agriculture. These footprints go beyond current estimates of slavery in supply chains, revealing hidden impacts and the true risk, which may enable more effective action into improving global social sustainability and support companies to responsibly manage their supply chains.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modern slavery footprints in global supply chains

Shilling¹,

Wiedmann

Malik

2021

J of Industrial Ecology

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“…These countries also have larger populations and the presence and impact of MNEs among these populations provide a measure of the importance of MNEs’ actions globally. Regarding the effects of MNEs in developing countries, García-Alaminos et al (2020) provide an interesting observation: the MNE sustainability reports show analysts only the very small last part of the entire value chain. In fact, in addition to the direct impact on the SDGs by the finished product of an MNE, all processes and choices in the supply chain should be considered (Prashantham and Birkinshaw, 2020).…”

Section: The Importance Of Multinational Enterprises In Pursuing the ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this economic dominance gives MNEs a crucial responsibility in helping to pursue the SDGs. García-Alaminos et al (2020) point out the incoherence of hypocritical sustainability reports, reflected, for instance, by the situation of developed countries struggling to meet SDGs within their borders and hosting MNEs that perpetrate a large footprint of forced labour behind their production chains. This focusses on the issue that the problem of SDGs and MNEs has to be addressed not only in terms of the sustainability of the MNEs themselves but of the whole network directly or indirectly linked to them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From a first exploration of the topic of SDGs in the specific context of MNEs, different contributions emerge. Some works focus only on a specific issue related to sustainability, such as innovation (Cordova and Celone, 2019; Michelino et al , 2019; Nylund et al , 2021; Shan and Khan, 2016; van der Waal et al , 2021), energy (Ajwani-Ramchandani et al , 2021; Kaartemo and Gonzalez-Perez, 2020; Patchell and Hayter, 2021), social aspects (Bowie, 2019; Breinbauer et al , 2019; De Feis, 2018; García-Alaminos et al , 2020), migrant entrepreneurship (Sinkovics and Reuber, 2021), taxation (James, 2019) or health (Javadi et al , 2019). Some contributions discuss the relationship between small businesses and MNEs in the achievement of the SDGs (De Perea et al , 2019; Prashantham and Birkinshaw, 2020), while others focus on specific case studies in specific countries or sectors (Dery Tuokuu et al , 2019; Shan and Khan, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Is it possible to improve the international business action towards the sustainable development goals?

Celone

Cammarano

Caputo

et al. 2021

cpoib

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate possible improvements in the pursuit of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) through an analysis of the literature. Design/methodology/approach A critical framework based on Gleicher’s formula for change is provided after conducting a systematic literature review. Findings The best way to pursue the SDGs is through an integrated approach that recognises the importance of MNEs in terms of possibilities and power of action. Working towards the SDGs appears to be largely limited by three aspects of the problem: its complexity and wickedness, the genuine interest in reaching some SDGs, at the expense of profit and low foresight. Research limitations/implications A fundamental limitation of the study concerns, as in most of the literature on the matter, the impossibility of providing an optimal solution to the problem of meeting the SDGs, given their nature. However, formulating the best definition of the problem and its characteristics can contribute to making its management better. Social implications This study has social implications due to the extreme importance that many SDGs have with regard to democracy and social equity, beyond their environmental and economic aspects. Originality/value The claimed contribution is the value brought by the synthesis of several points of view, through the interdisciplinary analysis of the research question. The novelty consists in organising the literature according to the formula for change.

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