Horizontal collaboration in response to modern slavery legislation

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how horizontal collaboration aids organisations in responding to modern slavery legislation and in gaining a socially sustainable competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach Action research has been conducted in the textiles and fashion industry and a relational perspective adopted to interpret five collaborative initiatives taken to tackle modern slavery (e.g. joint training and supplier audits). The primary engagement has been with a multi-billion pound turnover company and its collaborations with 35 brands/retailers. A non-government organisation and a trade body have also participated. Findings Successful horizontal collaboration is dependent on both relational capital and effective (formal and informal) governance mechanisms. In collaborating, firms have generated relational rents and reduced costs creating a socially sustainable competitive advantage, as suggested by the relational perspective. Yet, limits to horizontal collaboration also exist. Research limitations/implications The focus is on one industry only, hence there is scope to extend the study to other industries or forms of collaboration taking place across industries. Practical implications Successful horizontal collaborative relationships rely on actors having a similar mindset and being able to decouple the commercial and sustainability agendas, especially when direct competitors are involved. Further, working with non-business actors can facilitate collaboration and provide knowledge and resources important for overcoming the uncertainty that is manifest when responding to new legislation. Social implications Social sustainability improvements aim to enhance ethical trade and benefit vulnerable workers. Originality/value Prior literature has focussed on vertical collaboration with few prior studies of horizontal collaboration, particularly in a socially sustainable supply chain context. Moreover, there has been limited research into modern slavery from a supply chain perspective. Both successful and unsuccessful initiatives are studied, providing insights into (in)effective collaboration.

Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature

“…In fact, Brancati et al (2017) show, based on a survey of about 25,000 Italian firms, that GVCs comprised of firms with strong relationships and active decisional roles in the value chain have a 4-6% higher probability of engaging in innovation and R&D, and display greater productivity and sales growth. Benstead, Hendry and Stevenson (2018) argue that relational capital facilitates successful horizontal collaboration among GVC members, which allows participating firms to respond more effectively to modern slavery legislation in the textiles and fashion industry, and consequently improve reputation and performance. In a case study of major American and Japanese automotive lead firms and their suppliers, Sturgeon et al (2008) find that relational governance is necessitated by rising product complexity, low process codifiability and a paucity of industry-level standards.…”

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

“…The suggestion that modern slavery is linked to the supply chain of workers as well as the supply chain of materials may go some way to explain why modern slavery may evade traditional supply chain mapping techniques (Crane et al, 2019; New, 2015). This kind of thinking has encouraged novel approaches to remediation, such that horizontal (rather than vertical), multitier (rather than singular), and bottom-up (vs. top-down) conceptions of supply chain relationships may reveal new opportunities for collaborating with supply chain partners against modern slavery (Benstead et al, 2018; Russell et al, 2018; Wilhelm et al, 2016).…”

Sustainable procurement: comparing in-house and outsourcing implementation modes

“…Social sustainability is defined to cover issues related to human rights, promotion of gender equality in the supply chain and health and safety, amongst others -see Zorzini et al (2015) for a comprehensive list. Some topics within this spectrum have recently gained more attention, such as emerging research on the topic of modern slavery and how to combat this within the supply chain (see for example Benstead, Hendry & Stevenson, 2018). Within this broad set of literature, prior studies that are focused on SP are the most relevant to the research presented in this paper.…”