Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Contract Manufacturing: exploring the Management Structures and Processes of Ethical Sourcing Practices

摘要

The practice of focusing on core competences and outsourcing production to save costs, and the needto increasingly acknowledge social and environmental responsibilities along the value chain put brandowningfirms under opposing pressures that constitute a significant challenge. Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR) in supply chains is a well-studied subject, but the structures and processes brandowners use within the firm to manage ethical sourcing practices are not. The purpose of thisqualitative study is therefore to describe and explore the management of ethical sourcing practiceswithin organisations. Based on the investigations conducted on a number of cases chosen from thetextiles and footwear industries, two distinct systems of managing CSR in sourcing, being eithercontrol-based or based on shared responsibility, are identified. The way ethical sourcing is managedwithin firms is found to be influenced by the number of suppliers, their location and the nature of theproduct in question.