Does Compliance Pay? Social Standards and Firm-Level Trade

What is the relationship between trade and social institutions in the developing world? The research literature is conflicted: Importing firms may demand that trading partners observe higher labor and environmental standards, or they may penalize higher standards that raise costs. This study uses new data on retailers and manufacturers to analyze how firm-level trade responds to information about social standards. Contrary to the “race to the bottom” hypothesis, it finds that retail importers reward exporters for complying with social standards. In difference-in-differences estimates from over 2,000 manufacturing establishments in 36 countries, achieving compliance is associated with a 4% [1%, 7%] average increase in annual purchasing. The effect is driven largely by the apparel industry—a long-term target of anti-sweatshop social movements—suggesting that activist campaigns can shape patterns of global trade

Beyond the Workplace: "Upstream" Business Practices and Labor Standards in the Global Electronics Industry

Despite decades of debate and efforts to improve global labor standards, multiple problems still persist. Whether arguing for a more active role for the state, persuading firms to adopt codes of conduct, improving monitoring and sanctioning processes or seeking a higher degree of commitment between supply chain actors, scholars still lack an adequate explanation for why labor problems do not show improvement. Existing theories, while they will help, are not sufficient to solve this issue because they are focused on the production side of markets—the result both of an intellectual and policy bias towards production and the tendency to look for solutions where problems occur. Using a case study of Hewlett-Packard’s (HP) supply chain, qualitative and quantitative data from field visits to plants in South East Asia and a unique dataset of HP’s code of conduct audits, we demonstrate that even under the most-likely conditions that favor previous theories of labor standards, code of conduct violations, in particular excess working hours, exhibit widespread persistence. Having explained this, we demonstrate that this persistence is the product of a set of policies and practices designed and implemented upstream by global buyers and their lead suppliers

Production Goes Global, Compliance Stays Local: Private Regulation in the Global Electronics Industry

Concerns about poor working conditions in global supply chains have led to private initiatives that seek to regulate labor practices in developing countries. But how effective are these regulatory programs? We investigate the effects of transnational private regulation by studying Hewlett Packard’s (HP) supplier responsibility program. Using analysis of factory audit records, interviews with buyer and supplier management, and field research at production facilities across seven countries, we find that national context — not repeated audits, capability building, or supply chain power — is the most important predictor of workplace compliance. We then use field research to identify two local institutions that complement transnational private regulation: domestic regulatory authorities and civil society organizations. Although these findings imply limits to private regulation in institutionally poor settings, they also highlight opportunities for productive linkages between transnational actors and local state and society

A VARIANT OF NIM PLAYED ON BOOLEAN MATRICES

We introduce a version of Nim played on a Boolean matrix. Each player, in turn, removes a nonzero row or column. The last player to remove a row or column wins. We investigate the Boolean matrices that represent the Ferrers diagram of an integer partition. An integer partition in which each summand is greater than the number of terms in the partition is said to be strong. The Grundy numbers of Boolean matrices that represent the Ferrers diagram of any integer partition consisting of three or fewer terms are determined. This allows us to classify the P-positions and N-positions of Boolean matrices that represent the Ferrers diagram of any strong integer partition

A codex of n-and p-positions in harary’s ‘caterpillar game’

Frank Harary proposed the following game: Given a caterpillar C, two players take turns removing edges of a path. The player who takes the last edge wins the game. In this paper, we completely characterize the N-and P-positions for all caterpillars with spine length zero, one, two and three. Furthermore, we analyze approximately 94% of the caterpillars with spine length greater than or equal to four. In those cases, they all turn out to be N-positions

Complements or substitutes? Private codes, state regulation and the improvement of labor standards in global supply chains

Abstract Recent research on regulation and governance suggests that a mixture of publi

The Promise and Perils of Private Voluntary Regulation: Labor Standards and Work Organization in Two Mexican Garment Factories

This paper is part of a larger project on globalization and labor standards organized by Professor Richard Locke of M.I.T.. In addition to the results presented in this paper (some of which appear as well in Monica Romis, "Beneath Corporate Codes of Conduct: What Drives Compliance in Two Mexican Garment Factories," (Masters Thesis, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, M.I.T., 2005)), the project entailed field research in China, Turkey, Europe and the United States as well as systematic analysis of Nike’s factory audits of working conditions in over 800 factories in 51 countries.What role can private voluntary regulation play in improving labor standards and working conditions in global supply chain factories? How does this system relate to and interact with other systems of labor regulation and work organization? This paper seeks to address these questions through a structured comparison of two factories supplying Nike, the world’s largest athletic footwear and apparel company. These two factories have many similarities - both are in Mexico, both are in the apparel industry, both produce more or less the same products for Nike (and other brands) and both are subject to the same code of conduct. On the surface, both factories appear to have similar employment (i.e., recruitment, training, remuneration) practices and they receive comparable scores when audited by Nike’s compliance staff. However, underlying (and somewhat obscured by) these apparent similarities, significant differences in actual labor conditions exist between these two factories. What drives these differences in working conditions? What does this imply for traditional systems of monitoring and codes of conduct? Field research conducted at these two factories reveals that beneath the code of conduct and various monitoring efforts aimed at enforcing it, workplace conditions and labor standards are shaped by very different patterns of work organization and human resource management policies

Impact of Zumba on Cognition and Quality of Life is Independent of APOE4 Carrier Status in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Women: A 6-Month Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Objective: To investigate the association of a 6-month Zumba intervention with cognition and quality of life among older cognitively unimpaired apolipoprotein SMALL ELEMENT OF4 (APOE4) carrier and noncarrier women. Methods: Fifty-three women were randomly assigned to either twice-weekly Zumba group classes or maintenance of habitual exercise (control group) for 6 months. At baseline, 3, and 6 months, all participants underwent neuropsychological, physical activity, and quality-of-life assessments. Results: Overall, neuropsychological test scores and level of physical activity did not differ between intervention and control groups at any time. However, compared to the control group, quality of life was higher at 3 months, and visuospatial working memory and response inhibition improved more in the intervention group by 6 months. Apolipoprotein SMALL ELEMENT OF4 status did not affect the results. Discussion: Zumba may strengthen performance on visuospatial working memory among cognitively unimpaired older women but this needs to be tested in a larger clinical trial