Ethical supply chains: analysis, practices and performance measures

Ethics has been studied in numerous disciplines and its application to various practices has been investigated over the years such as in medicine and law. This has been relatively recently extended into the business arena, and has become a matter of growing interest for many companies. It has led to questions concerning what constitutes ethical behaviour, to what extent ethical practices should be adopted and what benefits a company may derive from its adoption. There are numerous processes involved in the transformation of a product from source to consumer, and these must be managed to produce an optimal balance of business requirements, specifically profitability, and a consideration of the wider impacts they may have or make. The supply chain has become vital to organisational success that companies now compete as supply chains rather than as individual entities. Therefore the ethical conduct of the supply chains has also begun to be scrutinised, both from an internal business performance perspective, and from the increasing concerns held by the numerous stakeholders of the organisation. In light of these developments, this paper explores the notion of ethics as it applies to supply chains. It also examines supply chain ethical practices and demonstrates that there is an empirical relationship between ethical practices and performance. The results show that ethical practices have positive impacts on the performance of the supply chain. Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Consumer Purchasing: When Does Corporate Social Responsibility Matter?

Almost all companies engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, and often times consumers are unaware of this. As societal pressures on companies and organizations to be more responsible increases, so have the practices companies have undertaken. My research will examine the potential impact a company’s CSR information and practices have on a consumer’s purchasing intentions. It will answer the following two questions: Does CSR information have the ability to change a person’s purchase intentions in high and low involvement purchasing scenarios? Will a person’s individual level of social responsibility cause differences in purchase intentions among different purchasing scenarios? Exposure to a variety of different purchasing scenarios will attempt to uncover connections between CSR efforts and purchase intentions. Results from the study show that CSR makes a big difference to consumers in high-involvement purchasing scenarios

Clean Clothes Newsletter No. 20

Details the Clean Clothes Campaign’s various European efforts and issues surrounding international fair labor standards

Special Libraries, February 1956

Volume 47, Issue 2https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1956/1001/thumbnail.jp

Consumer Perception of Local and Organic Products: Substitution or Complementary Goods?

Many consumers are interested in local products because of the perceived benefits of freshness, stronger taste and higher quality. To consumers the origin attribute represents a strong purchasing criterion. With respect to organic produce, local food products may be perceived either as substitutes or as complementary. A qualitative approach to data collection (focus groups) and to data processing (content analysis) has been used to analyse Italian consumers’ perception with respect to local and organic food products. In the framework of the EU project QLIF (FP6-506358) a discussion guide to focus group interview was used in order to identify important purchase criteria, the willingness to pay, as well as the role of organic food products in purchasing criteria. Two animal – yogurt and eggs – and two non animal products – bread and tomatoes – were taken into account. Focus groups interviews indicate that Italian consumers place much importance on the local origin of food products, especially if fresh consumed. The origin with its implication of seasonality, territoriality and localness are among the major motivating and trust factors, however not always linked to organic food products. The lack of availability of local and organic food products together with retailing issues are taken into consideration. Differentiation throughout animal and non-animal products and between processed food products and commodities is analysed. Organic seems to suffer in global markets, localness may suggest a solution. The research provides insights on substitution and complementary marketing strategies

Fair Trade-mark: Proposing an Affirmative Duty on Licensors to Enforce Their Corporate Social Responsibility Codes

Modern consumers are increasingly interested in seeing the brands they love commit to corporate social responsibility (CSR), including fair labor practices and environmental sustainability throughout their supply chains. Many corporations capitalize on this demand through branding strategies that highlight their commitment to CSR. Branding of CSR can include publishing codes of conduct on corporate websites, incorporating a value of doing good while doing well in print and video advertisements, or even publicly partnering with nonprofit organizations. The Lanham Act, the primary federal trademark statute in the United States, articulates federal laws pertaining to branding and advertising, and is rooted in a significant policy interest to keep consumers informed and to prevent consumer deception. Two doctrines of law that stem from the Lanham Act substantiate this policy consideration: the naked licensing doctrine, which imposes an affirmative duty on trademark licensors to supervise their licensees’ quality control standards, and false advertising law, which prevents corporations from espousing false or misleading advertising in connection with their trademarks or brands. An analysis of each of these bodies of law, along with the overall policy underpinnings of the Lanham Act, poses the concern that corporations who incorporate CSR into their branding strategies run the risk of deceiving consumers if in reality they do not supervise their supply chain sufficiently to ensure the truth of their public CSR statements. This Note analyzes the naked licensing doctrine and false advertising laws, and proposes an affirmative duty on corporations to monitor and enforce their CSR codes, in compliance with the Lanham Act

Australian software developers embrace quality Assurance Certification

[Abstract]: This paper details a research project undertaken to assess the extent of adoption of quality assurance (QA) certification by Australian software developers. A brief history of government QA policy, the catalyst in the sudden interest in certification, is included. Primary data for the study were gathered from a survey of 1,000 Australian software developers, and were used to determine the extent of adoption of QA certification by Australian developers, their organisational characteristics, capability maturity and perceptions regarding the value of QA certification. Secondary data from the JAS-ANZ register of certified organisations enabled validation of survey responses and extrapolation of QA certification adoption. Major findings of the study revealed that 11 percent of respondents are certified to ISO 9001 or AS 3563, seven percent are in progress and 21 percent plan to adopt QA certification. It also revealed that specialist developers are adopting QA certification at twice the rate of in-house developers. Other factors found to be associated with adoption of QA certification are large development groups, developers with government or overseas clients, organisations with whole- or part-foreign ownership, and organisations undertaking corporate TQM initiatives. From the findings, detailed implications are drawn for managers and policy analysts

"Regulating Healthcare Technologies and Medical Supplies: A Comparative Overview"

A complex relationship exists among EU regulations, current national practices and rules, institutional capacities to implement regulatory adjustments and the legacy of past health and regulatory policy and traditions. However, there is little empirical information on medical devices policy, the medical devices industry, and the assurance of medical device safety and usage. Drawing on a review of the secondary literature and on-going field work, the evidence suggests that the current mix of statecentric and self-regulatory traditions will be as important in determining the implementation and final outcomes of EU-rules as the new rules themselves. EU directives redesign rules, but they do not necessarily lead to institutional change, create institutional capacities, or alter old practices in the short term. Neither EU directives nor national regulatory adjustments determine the "man-machine/skill-experience" interface which is shaped and influenced by local medical traditions and the acceptance of these traditions by local publics