Scripted Performances? Local Readings of ‘Global’ Health and Safety Standards in the Apparel Sector in Sri Lanka

Ruwanpura, Kanchana N.

doi:10.1017/9781316217382.014

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Indeed, our research supports some findings of other studies (e.g. Ruwanpura, 2013) that suggest a continued tension between commercial imperatives and ethical outcomes for workers.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…CSR may thus be perceived as a form of privatised governance in the absence of necessarily tight national forms of regulation (Christopherson and Lillie, 2005;Tallontire, 2007;Mayer and Pickles, 2010), though its uneven implementation remains a concern (Ruwanpura, 2013). Despite this, retailers are keen to publicise their commitments to worker conditions and wider CSR in communications with stakeholders (Mann et al, 2013).…”

Section: Corporate Social Responsibility In Global Garment Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A rules-based approach to CSR governance does not necessarily lead to improvements on the factory floor or increased worker involvement in the governance process (Raj-Reichert, 2013;Ruwanpura, 2013). Indeed, active worker participation in corporate code implementation is seen as important in securing worker benefits (Yu, 2009).…”

Section: Corporate Social Responsibility In Global Garment Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While previous literature on CSR in apparel GPNs has focused on the worker perspective (Ruwanpura, 2012;Ruwanpura 2013Ruwanpura , 2014a) and despite growing attention to the issue as evidenced by the international research project 'Capturing the Gains' (Miller et al, 2011;Mayer and Pickles, 2010), there has been less focus on understanding production management's role in espousing CSR within the GPN. To the best of our knowledge, this is a clear gap in the research literature and is the contribution of this paper.…”

Section: Contextualising Our Focus: Management Csr Narratives At the mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite restrictions on workers' rights to organise and bargain collectively (Ruwanpura, 2012;Dent, 2002), Sri Lankan export garment manufacturers have won several international awards for social and environmental responsibility as well as being the focus of a number of best practice case studies in recent years (Goger, 2013). This illustrates the disjuncture between relative and absolute performance -Sri Lanka's accomplishments in ethical garment manufacturing are lauded in some aspects (MacCarthy and Jayarathne, 2012;Loker, 2011), yet challenged by others (Ruwanpura 2013;2014a;2014b;Hancock et al 2010). Ruwanpura (2012) reports how investments in improved factory working conditions were perceived to have been made primarily for the benefit of the business.…”

Section: Framing Csr As a Strategic Differentiatormentioning

confidence: 99%

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Corporate Social Responsibility in Garment Sourcing Networks: Factory Management Perspectives on Ethical Trade in Sri Lanka

2014

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With complex buyer-driven global production networks and a labour-intensive manufacturing process, the fashion industry has become a focal point for debates on the social responsibility of business. Utilising an interview methodology with influential actors from seven export garment manufacturers in Sri Lanka, we explore the situated knowledge at one nodal point of the production network. We conceptualise factory management perspectives on the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in terms of the strategic balancing of ethical considerations against the commercial pressures of cost and lead time. Factory managers framed CSR in terms of compliance, rather than going above and beyond regulatory requirements; seeing it as a strategic competitive imperative and less a developmental mechanism. Sri Lankan manufacturers maintain that they have benefitted from a unique combination of factors, including strict national labour laws, an educated workforce, the characteristics of the garments produced, industrial upgrading, and long-term non-adversarial buyer-supplier relationships, which they argue has supported the establishment and maintenance of CSR practices. The paper thus provides managerial implications that relate CSR activities to CSR outcomes which include both reputational and production benefits. Such insights will be of strategic relevance for lead retail buyers as well as apparel producers keen to invest in CSR to partly mitigate against increasing price-based competition.

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“…Indeed, our research supports some findings of other studies (e.g. Ruwanpura, 2013) that suggest a continued tension between commercial imperatives and ethical outcomes for workers.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Corporate Social Responsibility In Global Garment Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Corporate Social Responsibility In Global Garment Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Contextualising Our Focus: Management Csr Narratives At the mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Framing Csr As a Strategic Differentiatormentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Corporate Social Responsibility in Garment Sourcing Networks: Factory Management Perspectives on Ethical Trade in Sri Lanka

2014

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From Disposable to Empowered: Rearticulating Labor in Sri Lankan Apparel Factories

Goger

2013

Environ Plan A

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This paper engages the dis/articulations perspective to analyze everyday processes of upgrading in the Sri Lankan apparel industry. Using feminist ethnographic methods that see management discourses as tools of interpellation that partially configure systems of power, I examine how managers are rearticulating worker subjectivities, restructuring the labor process to organize consent, and selectively mobilizing 'Sri Lankan' culture to legitimate a shift to flexible production. I argue that value is not only produced through interfirm or firm-state relations, but is also determined by the labor process as it is shaped by legacies of colonialism, persisting hierarchies, and the everyday reproduction of social difference. This research suggests that upgrading cannot be reduced to an economic logic and that it does not guarantee sustained global competitiveness or more egalitarian development. These findings call for more attention to be paid to the ways in which upgrading is a complex process of disarticulation and rearticulation that is occurring through an embodied, global labor-management process.

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The portrayal of effectiveness of supplier codes of conduct in improving labor conditions in global supply chains: A systematic review of the literature

Vandenbroucke

2023

Regulation & Governance

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Even though workplace conditions worldwide are subject to local and international laws, labor conditions in global supply chains have continuously raised human rights concerns. In response to societal pressure, multinationals have taken on a certain degree of responsibility regarding workplace conditions in supplier factories, notably by adopting codes of conduct. Investigating the impact of this self‐regulatory policy, scholars have examined whether and how codes shape labor conditions at the production level, but the results of their empirical studies diverge and sometimes contradict. To bring clarity to the field and gain an overarching understanding of the impact of codes, this literature review analyzes the question of their effectiveness as examined in 33 scientific papers gathered via a systematic selection of empirical studies. The review shows that supplier codes are not deemed unanimously and evenly effective by scholars and often fail to improve labor conditions. However, a range of factors are identified that facilitate the implementation of codes and ensure its effectiveness. This article develops a taxonomy of these factors and intends to contribute to understanding codes' decoupling and recoupling processes by investigating the gap between codes provisions and their intended outcome: the improvement of labor practices in global supply chains.

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Scripted Performances? Local Readings of ‘Global’ Health and Safety Standards in the Apparel Sector in Sri Lanka

Cited by 6 publications

References 17 publications

Corporate Social Responsibility in Garment Sourcing Networks: Factory Management Perspectives on Ethical Trade in Sri Lanka

Corporate Social Responsibility in Garment Sourcing Networks: Factory Management Perspectives on Ethical Trade in Sri Lanka

From Disposable to Empowered: Rearticulating Labor in Sri Lankan Apparel Factories

The portrayal of effectiveness of supplier codes of conduct in improving labor conditions in global supply chains: A systematic review of the literature

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