Researchers

Jennifer Bair      
Department of Sociology
The University of Virginia | profile

Jennifer Bair is a sociologist who studies globalization, trade, and development. Her research examines export-led development and includes fieldwork in Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Mexico.

Stephanie Barrientos
Alliance Manchester Business School
University of Manchester | profile

Prof. Barrientos has researched and published widely on gender, global production, employment, decent work, trade and labor standards, corporate social responsibility, fair trade, and ethical trade. She has undertaken research in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the UK.

Tim Bartley        
Earth Commons and Department of Sociology
Georgetown University | profile 

Tim Bartley is a sociologist who studies sustainability standards, environmental/environmental justice movements, and the regulation of global industries, with interests in the political, organizational, and economic processes that shape environments, workplaces, and the expression of rights around the world.

Yanhua Bird
Questrom School of Business
Boston University | profile

Prof. Bird’s research examines corporate social and environmental sustainability, and the influence of digital technology such as platforms on workers and customers.

Drusilla Brown
Department of Economics and Tufts Labor Lab
Tufts University | profile

Drusilla Brown studies how working conditions in developing countries are affected by government, nongovernmental, and private-sector institutional efforts such as BetterWork and Better Factories programs. Her research focus includes trade policy concerning international labor standards and child labor. 

Salo Coslovsky            
Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
New York University | profile 

Salo Coslovsky’s research examines how governments in developing countries influence routine business practices through the building of legal authority. His research interests also include the enforcement of labor, environmental, food safety, and other regulations that protect vulnerable groups from exploitation and abuse. 

Greg Distelhorst
Rotman School of Management and Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources
University of Toronto | profile

Prof. Distelhorst’s research focuses on global trade and worker rights, as well as politics and policy in contemporary China.

Niklas Egels-Zandén       
Department of Business Administration
University of Gothenburg | profile

Niklas Egels-Zandén’s research is focused on the governance of global production networks and integration of sustainability into corporate strategy.

Gary Gereffi
Duke University
Global Value Chains Center | profile

Prof. Gereffi is a sociologist and founding director of Duke’s Global Value Chains Center. His research focuses on the governance of global value chains as well as international trade and industrial upgrading in sectors ranging from apparel to electronics.

Matthew Johnson
Stanford School of Public Policy
Duke University | profile 

Prof.  Johnson’s research seeks to understand how different regulations, policies and shifts in the labor market affect working conditions in the United States. Much of his work examines the effects of health and safety regulations on firms and workers, and identifies the factors influencing compliance with these regulations. 

Sarosh Kuruvilla
IRL School
Cornell University | profile 

Sarosh Kuruvilla studies the linkages between industrial relations policies and practices, national human resource policies and practices, and economic development policies.  The scope of his research includes sustainable labor practices in global supply chains, primarily in the apparel industry.

David Levine
Haas School of Business
University of California, Berkeley | profile 

Prof. Levine’s research focuses on understanding and overcoming barriers to improving health in poor nations. This research has examined both how to increase demand for health-promoting goods such as safer cookstoves and water filters, and how to change health-related behaviors such as handwashing with soap.

Matthew Amengual
Said Business School
University of Oxford
profile 

Prof. Amengual’s research examines global labor standards in global supply chains and the political aspects of economic development. His work on private regulatory standards through global supply chains explores the challenges that multinational firms face when integrating social compliance into their core business practices. 

Veronica Villena
W.P. Carey School of Business
Arizona State University | profile

Veronica Villena is a supply chain scholar whose research examines how companies diffuse environmental and social practices into their first-, second-, and third-tier suppliers in the automotive, consumer product, electronics, food, and pharmaceutical sectors.

Xiaojin Liu
VCU School of Business
Virginia Commonwealth University | profile 

Prof. Liu’s research is focused on developing and evaluating innovative and responsible operations around management practices related to human capital and technology. His work is motivated by real world challenges in global supply chains that require firms to align their operations with the needs of multiple stakeholders.

Richard Locke
MIT Sloan School of Management | profile

Prof. Locke studies international labor rights, comparative political economy, employment relations, and corporate responsibility, and has conducted research in collaboration with Nike, Coca Cola, Apple, and HP.

Dara O’Rourke
Rausser College of Natural Resources
University of California at Berkeley | profile 

Dara O’Rourke’s research analyzes the environmental and social impacts of industrial development, and how governments, firms, and local communities respond to adverse impacts of industrialization.

Chikako Oka      
Institut de Recherche en Gestion
Université de Paris-Est Créteil  | profile

Chikako Oka is an Associate Professor at the IAE Gustave Eiffel School of Management (University Paris-Est Créteil) and a researcher at the Institute of Management Research (IRG). Prof. Oka’s research interests include corporate social responsibility with a focus on labor conditions in global supply chains.

Kelly Pike
School of Human Resource Management
York University | profile

Prof. Pike’s research examines the role of worker voice and participation in the regulation of international labor standards, with a particular focus on the global garment industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the regulation of labor in global value chains. 

Raymond Robertson
Bush School of Government & Public Service
Texas A&M University | profile

Prof. Robertson’s research examines labor markets across borders and their effects on international economics, and working conditions in global supply chains, particularly in apparel and textile industries in developing countries.

Hiram Samel
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | profile

Prof. Samel’s research on labor standards in the global electronics industry examines the persistent problem of long working hours seen in the production networks of leading consumer electronics and computer makers.

Jodi Short
UC Hastings College of Law
University of California, San Francisco | profile

Prof. Short’s research is on the regulation of business and, in particular, the intersection of public and private regulatory regimes and the theory and practice of regulatory reform.

Kingshuk Sinha
Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota | profile

Prof. Sinha’s research interests and expertise include work-design and working conditions in global supply chains and managing supply chain risks related to medical devices and drugs.

Mark Anner       
School of Management and Labor Relations
Rutgers-New Brunswick | profile 

Mark Anner’s research focuses on workers’ rights in global supply chains, and he has conducted extensive field research in Latin America, India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.

Michael W. Toffel
Harvard Business School
Harvard University | profile

Prof. Toffel’s research examines companies’ management of environmental affairs and occupational safety, identifying which types of management programs and regulations improve environmental and safety performance. His work ranges from academic articles based on econometric analyses of large datasets to case studies of individual companies.