Foreign-owned or foreign-invested suppliers in remote areas of China tend to have fewer supplier code of conduct violations regarding wages, hours, overtime pay, and social security contributions.
International trade in low-income countries such as Myanmar can improve factory working conditions in the areas of fire safety, freedom of association, and health management.
Multinational corporations can better implement and manage sustainability practices in their supply network by incorporating first-tier and second-tier suppliers in their overall strategy.
Raising wages by paying workers more as their team achieve higher productivity goals led to increased profitability and worker productivity, satisfaction, and motivation.
Buyer procurement tactics—including pressuring suppliers to accept lower prices, shorter order lead times, greater uncertainty in order volumes, and later change orders—can adversely impact their suppliers’ working conditions and respect for workers’ rights.
Pricing pressure in the Indian apparel export industry has led to greater productivity demands on supplier factories, which has reduced wages and increased verbal abuse of workers.
Factories that are unionized, certified to management system standards, and avoid piece-rate pay exhibit greater improvement in working conditions.
Garment factories in Bangladesh with more violations of fire/electrical safety and building issues tend to work with fewer retailers, perhaps because they are viewed as less trustworthy.
Brands pressuring supplier country governments to improve labor standards are more successful when there are organizational structures to support activism, when labor issues are already part of political debates, and when a larger portion of the supplier country’s economy relies on brand business.
The shortened lifecycle of electronic goods has led electronic equipment supplier factories to violate working hour standards and to increase the use of contract workers, especially migrants.
