Small Business and Social Irresponsibility in Developing Countries: Working Conditions and “Evasion” Institutional Work

Soundararajan, Vivek; Spence, Laura J.; Rees, Chris

doi:10.1177/0007650316644261

Cited by 86 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…However, such benefits apply to a very limited number of global MSI participants, particularly MNCs (in terms of increased market shares and profits) and civil society organizations (in terms of increased legitimacy and international funds). The lack of benefits for other groups, and the perception of the unfairness of these outcomes, contributes to the decoupling we see in MSIs (Soundararajan, Spence, & Rees, 2018).…”

Section: Authenticity and Collective Stakeholder Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Improve Global Supply Chains? Improving Deliberative Capacity with a Stakeholder Orientation

Soundararajan¹,

Brown

Wicks

2019

Bus. Ethics Q.

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ABSTRACT:Global multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) are important instruments that have the potential to improve the social and environmental sustainability of global supply chains. However, they often fail to comprehensively address the needs and interests of various supply-chain participants. While voluntary in nature, MSIs have most often been implemented through coercive approaches, resulting in friction among their participants and in systemic problems with decoupling. Additionally, in those cases in which deliberation was constrained between and amongst participants, collaborative approaches have often failed to materialize. Our framework focuses on two key aspects of these breakdowns: assumptions about the orientation of MSI participants, and the deliberation processes that participants use to engage with each other to create these initiatives and sustain them over time. Drawing from stakeholder and deliberation theories, we revisit the concept of MSIs and show how their deliberative capacity may be enhanced in order to encourage participants to collaborate voluntarily.

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Section: Authenticity and Collective Stakeholder Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Improve Global Supply Chains? Improving Deliberative Capacity with a Stakeholder Orientation

Soundararajan¹,

Brown

Wicks

2019

Bus. Ethics Q.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…For example, many Tier 1 suppliers are no longer captive, dependent or subservient as they are now themselves large multinationals with multiple subsidiaries and capable of offering a full package of services (Azmeh and Nadvi, ; Merk, ). Second, factory managers facing contradictory and unrealistic buyer demands can engage in evasion, actively circumventing and disrupting institutional pressure through various means (Alexander, ; Soundararajan et al., ). Third, intermediaries such as sourcing agents can dilute and limit buyer power (Oka, ; Soundararajan and Brown, ).…”

Section: Buyer Responsibility Power and The Accordmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buyer Engagement and Labour Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Bangladesh Accord and Beyond

Oka¹,

Egels‐Zandén²,

Alexander³

2020

Development and Change

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The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh (‘the Accord’) has received both praise and criticism concerning its implications for corporate responsibility and power. This article contributes to the debate by situating the Accord within a broader set of activities that buyers are engaged in to promote better labour conditions in their supply chains. The authors identify three approaches of buyer engagement: auditing, capacity building and advocacy. Drawing on interviews conducted with European brands and retailers, the article shows how buyers perceive the merits and challenges of these approaches, and whether and how they discharge responsibility and power through these activities. The study shows that the Accord is seen primarily as part of the auditing approach with a key feature being its use of collective leverage as a means of enforcement. While greater buyer power has not necessarily been accompanied by greater responsibility, the article highlights heterogeneity among buyers in how they take up different approaches, painting a more nuanced picture of buyer responsibility and power.

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“…Consequently, to survive, they often feel compelled to violate labour regulations and push their workers to make the most of a given order (Awaysheh and Klassen, 2010). Some sub‐suppliers go to the extreme of simultaneously processing multiple production orders (Soundararajan et al, 2016).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing country sub‐supplier responses to social sustainability requirements of intermediaries: Exploring the influence of framing on fairness perceptions and reciprocity

Soundararajan

Brammer

2018

J of Ops Management

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101

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Research on social sustainability in multi‐tier supply chains is limited. Specifically, we know very little about a) the micro‐processes involved in the way in which sub‐suppliers (i.e., first‐tier suppliers or sourcing agents) respond to the sustainability requirements imposed by their intermediaries; and b) the micro‐level antecedents that condition their responses. To address these gaps, we used a longitudinal multiple case study method to explore multiple intermediary – sub‐supplier dyads in South India's knitwear garment industry and drew upon constructs of behavioural economics. We found that the way in which intermediaries frame social sustainability requirements and their associated procedures influence both the way in which sub‐suppliers perceive the procedural fairness of those requirements and the way in which they thus reciprocate. When intermediaries frame social sustainability requirements as ‘opportunity’ and engage in various procedures perceived to be procedurally fair by sub‐suppliers, the latter reciprocate positively. Contrastingly, when intermediaries frame social sustainability requirements as ‘insulation’ and engage in various procedures perceived to be procedurally unfair by sub‐suppliers, the latter reciprocate negatively. Under the production‐dominant framing, sub‐suppliers exhibit positive reciprocity only related to processing production orders. Our analysis inductively generated propositions that emphasize the important role played by framing in shaping the perceptions of fairness held by sub‐suppliers towards social sustainability requirements and the reciprocity of the latter's responses to them.

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Small Business and Social Irresponsibility in Developing Countries: Working Conditions and “Evasion” Institutional Work

Cited by 86 publications

References 86 publications

Can Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Improve Global Supply Chains? Improving Deliberative Capacity with a Stakeholder Orientation

Can Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives Improve Global Supply Chains? Improving Deliberative Capacity with a Stakeholder Orientation

Buyer Engagement and Labour Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Bangladesh Accord and Beyond

Developing country sub‐supplier responses to social sustainability requirements of intermediaries: Exploring the influence of framing on fairness perceptions and reciprocity

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