Explaining compliance: A multi-actor framework for understanding labour law compliance in China

Chung, Sunwook

doi:10.1177/0018726714530013

Cited by 23 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…Similarly, the waiving of the insistence for government permits does not imply that COSMOS accepts suppliers that are operating with inadequate safety standards because trusted third‐party certification must be presented instead. Unlike suppression, contextualization entails the sustainability managers’ active involvement in developing workable solutions for their suppliers, and this will decrease the likelihood of suppliers hiding actions and faking compliance (Chung, ; Jamali, Lund‐Thomsen, & Khara, ; Roberts, Engardio, Bernstein, Holmes, & Ji, ). Our data showed that sustainability managers were indeed committed to finding workable solutions for their suppliers and did not simply turn a blind eye when it became apparent that suppliers were struggling to comply with certain sustainability standards.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focused on COSMOS's supply chains in China as the main battleground for supplier sustainability management for most multinational companies in the consumer electronics industry (Chung, ; Roth, Tsay, Pullman, & Gray, ). COSMOS categorizes its suppliers based on their sustainability risk profile, which is related to the level of purchasing, the country of production, operational risks (such as use of hazardous chemicals in production processes), and the type of buyer–supplier relationship.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Attempting to achieve sustainability in supply chains involves multiple tensions (Hahn, Pinkse, Preuss, & Figge, ; Montabon, Pagell, & Wu, ). Tensions can surface between short‐term profitability and long‐term environmental integrity (Slawinski & Bansal, ; Wu & Pagell, ), between cost efficiency and sustainability (Busse, ; Ruwanpura & Wrigley, ; Yu, ), and between competing stakeholders’ interests (Chung, ; Thornton, Autry, Gligor, & Brik, ; Wu, Ellram, & Schuchard, ). Despite this, research in the fields of corporate sustainability and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has predominantly followed an instrumental perspective, which takes for granted the dominant role of economic concerns over social and environmental goals (Gao & Bansal, ) and continues to view the relationships among environmental, social, and economic goals in terms of either win–wins or trade‐offs (Van der Byl & Slawinski, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inside the Buying Firm: Exploring Responses to Paradoxical Tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Xiao

Wilhelm

Vaart

et al. 2018

J Supply Chain Manag

109

147

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An instrumental perspective still dominates research on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). As an alternative, this study presents a paradox perspective and argues that sustainability and other business aims are not always compatible, particularly in an emerging market context. Often, paradoxical tensions originate in conflicts between the socioeconomic environment of emerging market suppliers and their Western customers’ demands for both cost competitiveness and sustainability. We argue that Western buying firms can play a key role in moderating such tensions, as experienced by emerging market suppliers. Specifically, we explore how purchasing and sustainability managers within buying firms make sense of and respond to paradoxical tensions in SSCM. We conduct an in‐depth case study of a Western multinational company that sources substantially from Chinese suppliers. While we found strong evidence for a persisting instrumental perspective in the sensemaking and practices of purchasing and sustainability managers, we also observed an alternative response, primarily by sustainability managers that we labeled as “contextualizing.” Contextualizing can alleviate the tensions otherwise present in SSCM by making sustainability standards more workable in an emerging market context, and it can help individual managers to move toward paradoxical sensemaking. We outline the value of paradoxical sensemaking in bringing about changes toward “true sustainability” in SSCM.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Inside the Buying Firm: Exploring Responses to Paradoxical Tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Xiao

Wilhelm

Vaart

et al. 2018

J Supply Chain Manag

109

147

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Further, China was of particular interest for a number of reasons. While China is currently the world's manufacturing center, most Chinese factories are struggling with the implementation of labor and environmental standards imposed by WBFs (e.g., Chung, 2015). The WBF assured us that the majority of its risky suppliers are located in China, a fact which also pointed to high levels of potential barriers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supplier Development for Sustainability: Contextual Barriers in Global Supply Chains

Busse¹,

Niu²,

Schleper

et al. 2016

AMPROC

107

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Acknowledgments:An earlier version of this paper was the recipient of the 2015 Chris Voss Best Paper Award granted at the 22 nd European Operations Management Association conference. We are most grateful to the EurOMA Scientific Committee for choosing our paper and encouraging us to consider IJPDLM as a publication outlet for our research. We also acknowledge the helpful feedback received at the conference. Moreover, we would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers at IJPDLM who have provided extremely insightful and constructive suggestions which helped us to improve this paper substantially. Finally, we express our gratitude to the Editor, Alexander E. Ellinger, for facilitating a speedy review process. Design/methodology/approach -A dyadic case study design was adopted with a Western European buyer and six of its Chinese suppliers. The database consists of 41 interviews and 81 documents.Findings -Contextual barriers to SDS in global supply chains derive from complexities in the sustainability concept, socio-economic differences, spatial and linguistic distance, as well as cultural differences between buyers and suppliers. Partial remedies include effective joint communications, an open organizational culture, and the fostering of cross-contextual understanding.Research implications -The findings contribute to theory development at the intersection of sustainable and global supply chain management research. They help to explain why scarce sustainability-related progress in global supply chains has occurred in recent years.Practical implications -The identified barriers facilitate managerial decision making that will expedite SDS progress in global contexts.Social implications -By diffusing knowledge regarding available remedies, the study contributes to improving SDS effectiveness, thereby fostering sustainability capabilities and performance of suppliers.Originality/value -This research highlights the criticality of contextual barriers to SDS. The barrier effects that stem from differing real-world conceptions of sustainability may inform future sustainable supply chain management research within and beyond SDS.

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“…While China is currently the world's manufacturing center, most Chinese factories are struggling with the implementation of labor and environmental standards imposed by WBFs (e.g. Chung, 2015). The WBF assured us that the majority of its risky suppliers are located in China, a fact which also pointed to high levels of potential barriers.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supplier development for sustainability: contextual barriers in global supply chains

Busse¹,

Schleper²,

Niu³

et al. 2016

International Journal of Physical Distribution &Amp; Logistics Management

190

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore contextual barriers to supplier development for sustainability (SDS) in global supply chains and managerial remedies to mitigate such barriers. Design/methodology/approach -A dyadic case study design was adopted with a Western European buyer and six of its Chinese suppliers. The database consists of 41 interviews and 81 documents. Findings -Contextual barriers to SDS in global supply chains derive from complexities in the sustainability concept, socio-economic differences, spatial and linguistic distance, as well as cultural differences between buyers and suppliers. Partial remedies include effective joint communications, an open organizational culture, and the fostering of cross-contextual understanding.Research limitations/implications -The findings contribute to theory development at the intersection of sustainable and global supply chain management research. They help to explain why scarce sustainability-related progress in global supply chains has occurred in recent years. Practical implications -The identified barriers facilitate managerial decision making that will expedite SDS progress in global contexts. Social implications -By diffusing knowledge regarding available remedies, the study contributes to improving SDS effectiveness, thereby fostering sustainability capabilities and performance of suppliers. Originality/value -This research highlights the criticality of contextual barriers to SDS. The barrier effects that stem from differing real-world conceptions of sustainability may inform future sustainable supply chain management research within and beyond SDS.

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Explaining compliance: A multi-actor framework for understanding labour law compliance in China

Cited by 23 publications

References 63 publications

Inside the Buying Firm: Exploring Responses to Paradoxical Tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Inside the Buying Firm: Exploring Responses to Paradoxical Tensions in Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Supplier Development for Sustainability: Contextual Barriers in Global Supply Chains

Supplier development for sustainability: contextual barriers in global supply chains

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