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A Search for Standards to Monitor Labor Conditions Worldwide - Monitoring International Labor Standards: Techniques and Sources of InformationNational Research Council Washington: National Academies Press, Paperback, 291 pages; ISBN: 0309091349, $43

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

S. Prakash Sethi
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Abstract

A strong argument can be made that globalization and the unrestricted flow of capital, goods, and services leads to the creation of wealth and prosperity among participating nations. Comparative advantage allows both the industrially advanced nations and developing countries to maximize their gains from trade and investments. The current wave of globalization is not the first, nor is it likely to be the last. There have been waves of globalization in the past: in the United States (1870–1890 and circa 1970), Western Europe (1890–1913 and 1950–1992), and Japan (1913–1938). They all eventually petered out because of their adverse impact on the social infrastructure of the countries involved.

Type
Review Article
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 271 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2006

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References

Notes

1 Sethi, S. P., “Corporate Codes of Conduct and the Success of Globalization,” Ethics and International Affairs 16(1) (2002): 86–106CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 See www.worldbank.org.

3 Sachs, J. and Warner, A., “Economic Reform and the Process of Global Integration,” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 1 (1995): 1–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 Sethi, , “Corporate Codes of Conduct,” 86–106Google Scholar; Sachs and Warner, “Economic Reform”; Fareed, Zakaria, “Globalization Grows Up and Gets Political,” The New York Times (December 31, 2000), 24Google Scholar; Sethi, S. P., “Human Rights and Corporate Sense,” Far Eastern Economic Review (October 19, 2001), 37Google Scholar; Sethi, , “Global Capitalism: Can It Be Made to Work Better?” Business Week (November 6, 2000), 72–90.Google Scholar

5 National Research Council of the National Academies, Monitoring International Labor Standards: Techniques and Sources of Information (Washington: The National Academy Press, 2004)Google Scholar. All references to this report will hereafter be referred to as the “NRC Report,” or “the Report.”

6 NRC Report, vii.

7 NRC Report, 3–6.

8 Members of the Committee on Monitoring International Standards included Dr. Theodore Moran, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University; Dr. Jarl Bengtsson, Consultant, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Thomas, Donaldson Dr., Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania (resigned October 2002)Google Scholar; Ms. Maria Eitel, VP and Senior Advisor for Corporate Responsibility, Nike; Ms. Kimberly Ann Elliott, Institute for International Economics and Center for Global Development; Dr. Gary Fields, Department of International and Comparative Labor, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University; Ms. Thea Lee, Public Policy Department, AFL-CIO; Dr. Lisa Lynch, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Dr. Dara O’Rourke, Environmental Justice, Globalization, Industrial Ecology Labor, University of California at Berkeley; Dr. Howard Pack, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania; Mr. Edward Potter, U.S. Council for International Business and McGuiness, Norris&Williams, LLP; Mr. S. M. (Mo) Rajan, Industry Consultant, former Director of Labor and Human Rights, Levi Strauss & Company; Mr. Gare Smith, Attorney at Law, Foley Hoag LLP; Dr. T. N. Srinivasan, Department of Economics, Yale University (resigned May 2003); Mr. Auret Van Heerden, Fair Labor Association; Ms. Heather White, Verite (resigned November 2002); Mr. Fahrettin Yaggi, Africa Region Office, The World Bank.

9 NRC Report, 12–13.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 Sethi, S. P., Multinational Corporations and the Impact of Public Advocacy on Corporate Strategy: Nestle and the Infant Formula Controversy (Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1994)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 Arnold, D. G. and Hartman, L. P., “Beyond Sweatshops: Positive Deviancy and Global Labor Practices,” Business Ethics: A European Review 14(3) (2005): 206–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Howard, J., Nash, J., and Ehrenfeld, J., “Industry Codes as Agents of Change: Responsible Care Adoption by US Chemical Companies,” Business Strategy and the Environment 8(5) (September/October 1999): 281–953.0.CO;2-#>CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kapelus, P., “Mining, Corporate Social Responsibility and the ‘Community’: The Case of Rio Tinto, Richard Bay Minerals and the Mbonambi,” Journal of Business Ethics 39(3) (September 2002): 275–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

17 NRC Report, 69–103.

18 Marc Kasky on behalf of the General Public of the State of California vs. Nike, Inc., San Francisco County Superior Cort, September 25, 1998; Marc Kasky vs. Nike, Inc. et al., Supreme Court of California, Ct. App. 1/1/A086142, S087859, May 2, 2002.

19 Nike Corporate Responsibility Report, 2004, available at www.nikebiz.com.

20 International Center for Corporate Accountability (ICCA) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) research organization with its own board of directors.

21 Please visit www.mattel.com or www.icca-corporateaccountability.org for detailed reports.

22 Social Accountability International (www.cepaa.org), Verite (www.verite.org), the Worker Rights Consortium (www.workersrights.org).

23 NRC Report, 104–223.

24 Ibid., 25.

25 Ibid., 120.

26 Frazier, M., “Wal-Mart Under Attack: But Should It Fight Back?” Advertising Age (April 18, 2005)Google Scholar; “Wal-Mart and Labour Unions in Canada,” The Economist (February 26, 2005); “Wal-Mart Strikes its Claim: The Consumer Will Be the Last to Complain,” The Guardian (London) (July 25, 2000); Dedman, B., “Wisconsin Wal-Mart Workers Say No to Union,” The New York Times (August 10, 1997)Google Scholar.

27 Sethi, S. P., Setting Global Standards: Guidelines for Creating Codes of Conduct for Multinational Corporations (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2003), 151–54Google Scholar; Burns, J. L., Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labor Practices, HBS Case 9-700-047 (Boston: Harvard Business School, 2000), 3Google Scholar; Rosenzweig, P. M. and Woo, P., “International Sourcing in Footwear: Nike and Reebok,” HBS Case 394–189 (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994), 2–5.Google Scholar

28 NRC Report, 120.

29 Ibid., 224–46.

30 For an example of extensive and systematic monitoring of acceptable conditions in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico, please see Mattel’s audit reports at www.mattel.com, or at www.ICCA-CorporateAccountability.org.

31 Lopez, L., “Malaysia Experiences a Labor Crunch,” The Wall Street Journal (April 6, 2005)Google Scholar.

32 Burns, J. L., “Hitting the Wall: Nike and International labor Practices,” HBS Case 9-700-047 (Boston: Harvard Business School, 2000), 3Google Scholar; Rosenzweig, and Woo, , “International Sourcing in Footwear,” 2–5Google Scholar.

33 NRC Report, 27

34 Ibid., 8–9.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 Ibid.

38 Ibid.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid.