Can Brands Claim Ignorance? Unauthorized Subcontracting in Apparel Supply Chains

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2020.3679

References

  • Abernathy FH , Dunlop JT , Hammond JH , Weil D (1999) A Stitch in Time: Lean Retailing and the Transformation of Manufacturing: Lessons from the Apparel and Textile Industries (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK).Google Scholar
  • Agrawal V , Lee D (2019) The effect of sourcing policies on suppliers? Sustainable practices. Production Oper. Management 28(4):767–787.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Alan Y , Lapré MA (2018) Investigating operational predictors of future financial distress in the US airline industry. Production Oper. Management 27(4):734–755.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Anas A (2019) New Bangladesh guidelines on garment subcontracting. Just-Style Online (July 19), https://www.just-style.com/analysis/new-bangladesh-guidelines-on-garment-subcontracting_id136665.aspx/.Google Scholar
  • Anner M (2018) Binding power: The sourcing squeeze, workers rights, and building safety in Bangladesh since Rana Plaza. Research report, Penn State Center for Global Workers' Rights (CGWR), College Park, PA.Google Scholar
  • Anner M (2019) Squeezing workers’ rights in global supply chains: Purchasing practices in the Bangladesh garment export sector in comparative perspective. Rev. Internat. Political Econom. 27(2):320–347.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Anner M , Bair J , Blasi J (2013) Toward joint liability in global supply chains: Addressing the root causes of labor violations in international subcontracting networks. Comparative Labor Law Policy J. 35(1):1–43.Google Scholar
  • Ashida M , Plinke E (2004) Made in China: Is this a sustainable label? Risks and opportunities of the China boom from a socially responsible investment perspective. Technical report, Association for Sustainable and Responsible Investment in Asia, Hong Kong.Google Scholar
  • Babich V , Tang CS (2012) Managing opportunistic supplier product adulteration: Deferred payments, inspection, and combined mechanisms. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 14(2):301–314.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Barrientos S , Smith S (2007) Do workers benefit from ethical trade? Assessing codes of labour practice in global production systems. Third World Quart. 28(4):713–729.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bastani H , de Zegher JF (2019) Do policies with limited enforcement reduce harm? Evidence from transshipment bans. Working paper, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
  • Baum C , Schaffer M , Stillman S (2015) Ivreg29: Stata module for extended instrumental variables/2sls and gmm estimation (v9). Statistical software components S4254010, Department of Economics, Boston College, Boston.Google Scholar
  • Bloom N , Eifert B , Mahajan A , McKenzie D , Roberts J (2013) Does management matter? Evidence from India. Quart. J. Econom. 128(1):1–51.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Butler S (2014) Primark to pay £6m more to victims of Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh. The Guardian (March 16), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/16/primark-payout-victims-rana-plaza-bangladesh.Google Scholar
  • Buzacott JA , Shanthikumar JG (1993) Stochastic Models of Manufacturing Systems , vol. 4 (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).Google Scholar
  • Cameron AC , Trivedi PK (2005) Microeconometrics: Methods and Applications (Cambridge University Press, New York).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cameron AC , Trivedi PK (2010) Microeconometrics Using Stata (Stata Press, College Station, TX).Google Scholar
  • Caro F (2012) Zara: Staying fast and fresh. Technical Report No. 612-006-1, The Case Center.Google Scholar
  • Caro F , Martínez-de-Albéniz V (2015) Fast fashion: Business model overview and research opportunities. Agrawal N, Smith SA, eds. Retail Supply Chain Management (Springer), 237–264.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Caro F , Chintapalli P , Rajaram K , Tang CS (2018) Improving supplier compliance through joint and shared audits with collective penalty. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 20(2):363–380.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Chen L , Lee HL (2016) Sourcing under supplier responsibility risk: The effects of certification, audit, and contingency payment. Management Sci. 63(9):2795–2812.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Cheng TE , Gupta JN , Wang G (2000) A review of flowshop scheduling research with setup times. Production Oper. Management 9(3):262–282.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Clifford S , Greenhouse S (2013) Fast and flawed inspections of factories abroad. New York Times (September 1), https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/business/global/superficial-visits-and-trickery-undermine-foreign-factory-inspections.html.Google Scholar
  • Cushing BE , Ahlawat SS (1996) Mitigation of recency bias in audit judgment: The effect of documentation. Auditing 15(2):110–122.Google Scholar
  • Delmas M , Montiel I (2009) Greening the supply chain: When is customer pressure effective? J. Econom. Management Strategy 18(1):171–201.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Distelhorst G , Hainmueller J , Locke RM (2016) Does lean improve labor standards? Management and social performance in the Nike supply chain. Management Sci. 63(3):707–728.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Donaldson T (2015) Ethical sourcing forum: Subcontracting more prevalent than brands believe. The Sourcing Journal Online (March 27), https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/compliance/ethical-sourcing-forum-subcontracting-prevalent-brands-believe-td-26728/.Google Scholar
  • Donaldson T (2017) Cambodia faces alarming threat of garment sector subcontracting. The Sourcing Journal Online (May 30), https://sourcingjournal.com/topics/labor/cambodia-faces-alarming-threat-garment-sector-subcontracting-67269/.Google Scholar
  • Drennan J (2015) Laundering the global garment industry’s dirty business. Foreign Policy Online (April 24), https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/24/laundering-global-garment-industrys-dirty-business-rana-plaza-bangladesh-factories/.Google Scholar
  • Dyer JH (1996) Specialized supplier networks as a source of competitive advantage: Evidence from the auto industry. Strategic Management J. 17(4):271–291.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Erev I , Haruvy E (2013) Learning and the economics of small decisions. Kagel J, Roth A, eds. The Handbook of Experimental Economics, vol. 2 (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ), 638–700. 2:9781400883172–011.Google Scholar
  • Goodman P (2013) Bangladesh tragedy proves global garment trade too big to supervise. Huffington Post (May 9), https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bangladesh-tragedy-garment-trade_b_3246277.Google Scholar
  • Greene WH (2003) Econometric Analysis (Pearson Education, London).Google Scholar
  • Greenhouse S (2013) Europeans fault American safety effort in Bangladesh. New York Times (November 18), https://wwwnytimes.com/2013/11/19/business/international/europeans-fault-american-safety-effort-in-bangladesh.html.Google Scholar
  • Guo R , Lee H , Swinney R (2016) Responsible sourcing in supply chains. Management Sci. 62(9):2722–2744.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Heckman J (1981) Heterogeneity and state dependence. Rosen S, ed., Studies in Labor Markets (University of Chicago Press, Chicago).Google Scholar
  • H&M (2010) Annual report (Hennes & Mauritz AB, Stockholm, Sweden).Google Scholar
  • Huang L , Song J , Swinney R (2017) Managing social responsibility in multi-tier supply chains. Working paper, Google Inc., Mountain View, CA.Google Scholar
  • Hurst R , Murdoch H , Gould D (2005) Changing over time: Tackling supply chain labour issues through business practice. Technical report, The Impactt Overtime Project, London.Google Scholar
  • Jiang B (2009) The effects of interorganizational governance on supplier’s compliance with SCC: An empirical examination of compliant and non-compliant suppliers. J. Oper. Management 27(4):267–280.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kerppola M , Moody R , Zheng L , Liu A (2014) H&M’s global supply chain management sustainability: Factories and fast fashion. Technical report, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
  • Kim SH (2015) Time to come clean? Disclosure and inspection policies for green production. Oper. Res. 63(1):1–20.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Kraft T , Valdés L , Zheng Y (2020) Motivating supplier social responsibility under incomplete visibility. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management , ePub ahead of print February 11, https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2019.0809.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Labowitz S , Baumann-Pauly D (2014) Business as usual is not an option. Technical report, New York University Center for Business and Human Rights, New York.Google Scholar
  • Labowitz S , Baumann-Pauly D (2015) Beyond the tip of the iceberg: Bangladesh’s forgotten apparel workers. Technical report, New York University Center for Business and Human Rights, New York.Google Scholar
  • Lago A , Martínez-de Albéniz V , Moscoso P , Vall A (2016) The role of quick response in accelerating sales of fashion goods. Choi T-M, ed. Analytical Modeling Research in Fashion Business (Springer, Singapore), 51–78.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lee HL , Plambeck E (2009) Ma Jun and IPE: Using information to improve China’s environment. Technical report, Teaching Case No. SI-115, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
  • Locke R , Amengual M , Mangla A (2009) Virtue out of necessity? Compliance, commitment, and the improvement of labor conditions in global supply chains. Politics Soc. 37(3):319–351.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Locke R , Qin F , Brause A (2007) Does monitoring improve labor standards? Lessons from Nike. ILR Rev. 61(1):3–31.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • McKenzie N , Baker R (2016) Surf clothing label Rip Curl using “slave labour” to manufacture clothes in North Korea. Sydney Morning Herald Online (February 21), https://www.smh.com.au/business/surf-clothing-label-rip-curl-using-slave-labour-to-manufacture-clothes-in-north-korea-20160220-gmz375.html.Google Scholar
  • Meeker D , Linder JA , Fox CR , Friedberg MW , Persell SD , Goldstein NJ , Knight TK , Hay JW , Doctor JN (2016) Effect of behavioral interventions on inappropriate antibiotic prescribing among primary care practices: A randomized clinical trial. JAMA 315(6):562–570.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Moore B , Hunt T , Ditty S (2016) The fashion transparency index. Technical report, Ethical Consumer and Fashion Revolution, London.Google Scholar
  • Nuttall C (2012) Apple agrees to China pollution audit. Financial Times Online (April 2012), https://www.ft.com/content/0fa8897c-86ec-11e1-ad68-00144feab49a.Google Scholar
  • Orsdemir A , Hu B , Deshpande V (2019) Ensuring corporate social and environmental responsibility through vertical integration and horizontal sourcing. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 21(2):417–434.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Plambeck E , Taylor T (2016) Supplier evasion of a buyer’s audit: Implications for motivating compliance with labor and environmental standards. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 18(2):184–197.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Porteous A , Rammohan S , Lee H (2015) Carrots or sticks? Improving social and environmental compliance at suppliers through incentives and penalties. Production Oper. Management 24(9):1402–1413.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Robertson H , Heng S (2014) Brands dodge blame over substandard factory. Cambodian Daily Online (July 22), https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/brands-dodge-blame-over-substandard-factory-64606/.Google Scholar
  • Rosa-Hatko W , Gunn EA (1997) Queues with switchover: A review and critique. Ann. Oper. Res. 69:299–322.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Sarkar S , Sriram RS (2001) Bayesian models for early warning of bank failures. Management Sci. 47(11):1457–1475.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Smithers R (2015) Rana Plaza disaster: Benetton donates $1.1m to victims’ fund. The Guardian (April 17), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/17/rana-plaza-disaster-benetton-donates-victims-fund-bangladesh.Google Scholar
  • Taplin IM (2014) Who is to blame? A re-examination of fast fashion after the 2013 factory disaster in Bangladesh. Critical Perspect. Internat. Bus. 10(1–2):72–83.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Tang CS , Babich V (2014) Using social and economic incentives to discourage Chinese suppliers from product adulteration. Bus. Horizons 57(4):497–508.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Theuws M (2015) Hidden subcontracting in the garment industry. Technical report, Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
  • Thorlakson T , de Zegher JF , Lambin EF (2018) Companies contribution to sustainability through global supply chains. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115(9):2072–2077.Google Scholar
  • Toffel MW , Short J , Ouellet M (2015) Codes in context: How states, markets, and civil society shape adherence to global labor standards. Regulation Governance 9(3):205–223.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Vairaktarakis GL (2013) Noncooperative games for subcontracting operations. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 15(1):148–158.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Van Mieghem J (2008) Operations Strategy (Dynamic Ideas, Belmont, MA).Google Scholar
  • Vaughan-Whitehead D , Pinedo Caro L (2017) Purchasing practices and working conditions in global supply chains: Global survey results. Technical report, International Labour Organization, INWORK Issue Brief No. 10, Geneva.Google Scholar
  • Wooldridge JM (2010) Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).Google Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.