The Effectiveness of Global Codes of Conduct: Role Models That Make Sense

Political Contestation in Global Production Networks

“…Working conditions in subcontractors of famous brand-name shoe and apparel firms such as Nike or The Gap, many of which are based in developing countries, provide one prominent example (Boje, 1998;Radin, 2004;Tulder & Kolk, 2001). More recently, a growing literature on 'ethical sourcing' has drawn attention to the low prices paid to coffee growers in relation to the premium prices charged by stores such as Starbucks (Blowfield, 2004;Kolk, 2005).…”

Suppliers’ Compliance with MNCs’ Codes of Conduct: Behind the Scenes at Chinese Toy Suppliers

“…Most previous research into codes of conduct either implicitly or explicitly assumed that firms without exception demand change upon detecting breaches in compliance with their codes' standards (e.g. Sethi, 1999Sethi, , 2002Graafland, 2002;Radin, 2004;Wang, 2005). However, the conducted interviews with managers in the Swedish toy and garment industry indicate otherwise.…”

“…The lack of compliance with codes found by this study would in that case only be temporary. There are some case-based indications of this time-lag explanation, suggesting that it takes time to change suppliers' operations (Graafland, 2002;Winstanley et al, 2002;Harris, 2004;Hemphill, 2004;Radin, 2004). For example, it might take time to rebuild factories, change salary levels, lower overtime levels, etc.…”

“…During the 1990s, multinational corporations (MNCs) started to acknowledge a responsibility for working conditions at their suppliers' factories in developing countries, and codes of conduct emerged as the dominant way for MNCs to operationalise this extended sense of responsibility (Emmelhainz and Adams, 1999;Kolk and van Tulder, 2002b;Sethi, 2002;Radin, 2004;Egels-Zandén and Hyllman, 2007). A growing number of MNCs are now adopting such codes (Sethi, 1999;Cowton and Thompson, 2000;Somers, 2001), and increased outsourcing and globalisation will likely further increase the corporate focus on codes of conduct (Frenkel and Kim, 2004).…”

Exploring the Effects of Union–NGO Relationships on Corporate Responsibility: The Case of the Swedish Clean Clothes Campaign

“…These challenges arose in the 1990s after TNCs experienced legitimacy crises due to extensive NGO and union campaigns and various media 'scandals' related to the working conditions at their suppliers' factories (Frenkel, 2001;van Tulder and Kolk, 2001;Roberts, 2003;Frenkel and Kim, 2004). In response to the criticism, TNCs started to extend their responsibility for workers' rights at their suppliers' factories in developing countries (Emmelhainz and Adams, 1999;Kolk and van Tulder, 2002;Sethi, 2002;Radin, 2004). The main actors involved in specifying and defining this extended sense of responsibility were TNCs, NGOs active in promoting workers' rights, and labour/trade unions (e.g., Christmann and Taylor, 2002;Frenkel and Scott, 2002;Sullivan, 2003;Frenkel and Kim, 2004;Prieto and Quinteros, 2004).…”