Question: Can global brands make a just and fair supply chain system? Take a position and defend it. (You may take into account - recent political uphevals in the USA into account, by considering the question of of "fairness to whom"? That is to say, whom do the supply chains benefit the most?)

CASE STUDY:

Global supply chains focus on delivering the right product in the right quantity and in the right condition with the right documentation to the right place at the right time at the right price. Efficiencies in sourcing of materials, labour, warehousing, transportation is what its all about.

Ideally, supply chains should be assessed and redesigned on an on-going basis. This is necessary because of intense global competition and a rapidly changing environment. New product launches, global sourcing, new acquisitions, credit availability, the need to protect intellectual property, and the ability to maintain security of assets, shipments and employees are some of the critical concerns. Global brands try to identify and quantify supply chain risks.

All easier said than done.

"Consider Nike. A series of public relations nightmares in the 1990sinvolving underpaid workers in Indonesia, child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan, and poor working conditions in China and Vietnamtarnished Nike's image. At first, Nike managers took a defensive position, insisting that they were not the employers of the abused workers. But by 1992 Nike formulated its code of conduct, requiring its suppliers to observe some basic labor standards. After initial efforts fell short, Nike substantially expanded its compliance staff, invested heavily in the training of its own staff and that of its suppliers, developed more rigorous auditing protocols, internalized much of the auditing process, worked with third-party social auditing companies to double check its own internal audits, and spent millions of dollars to improve working conditions at its supplier factories. My research collaborators and I found Nike auditors and compliance staff to be serious, hardworking, and moved by genuine concern for workers and their rights.

Given all that Nike invested in staff, time, and resources, one might expect that conditions at their supplier factories improved significantly. But while some factories appear to have been substantially or fully compliant with Nike's code of conduct, others have suffered from persistent problems with wages, work hours, and employee health and safety.

Such disappointing results are common all over the world, in every industry." (Extracted from http://www.bostonreview.net/forum/can-global-brands-create-just-supply-chains-richardlocke)

Also consider the recent factory collapse at Rana Plaza, Dhaka, Bangladesh; it led to the tragic death of over 1127 workers. This industrial accident ranks as one of the worst in World history:" The workers who died were producing clothing for American and European consumers and earning only $38 a month according to the Associated Press. Now the clothing brands and retailers that profited from the cheap labor at Rana Plaza are struggling to wash the blood from their hands, while other brands rethink their role in Bangladesh as a whole. Earlier this week, officials from Walmart, Gap, and about two dozen other retailers and apparel companies met in Germany to begin developing a plan to increase safety across Bangladesh's garment factories, according to The New York Times. Today Disney, whose goods have been tied to accidents in Bangladesh in the past, announced that it will halt all production of branded merchandise in the country by March 31, 2014, according to the Times." (Extracted from : http://business.time.com/2013/05/02/bangladeshfactory-collapse-is-there-blood-on-your-shirt/#ixzz2bywp5Tz8)

Additional information on the Bangladesh tragedy can be found at the CBS news report at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57581673/bangladesh-factory-disaster-how-culpableare-western-companies/

The likes of Wal-Mart, Joe Fresh, JC Penny, Benetton and Walt Disney have been linked to the tragedy as buyers of clothes produced at the collapsed factories. All have promised to re-double their efforts to play a fair game and compensate the families of the victims.

The cheap clothes purchased by Canadians come at a very high price, after all.