Huq, Fahian and Stevenson, Mark and Bell, Marta (2014) Social sustainability implementation in global supply chains. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.
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Abstract
Managing change in suppliers is a challenging issue for firms. In particular, there is a lack of understanding of how to manage organisational change amongst distant suppliers based in developing countries. One such organisational change management process that has become an area of growing interest is the implementation of socially sustainable practices. The consequences of failure to effectively implement socially sustainable practices in the supply chain were highlighted by the recent collapse of the Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in April 2013, which killed 1,229 workers of factories supplying apparel to Western retailers like Primark and Benetton. The thesis contributes to this emerging research area by taking a significant step forward in understanding the implementation of socially sustainable practices in a complex, dynamic supply chain context. The overarching research question asked is: “How are socially sustainable practices implemented in complex global supply chains?” To answer this, three inter-related papers are presented: (i) a systematic literature review on upstream social sustainability issues; (ii) an exploratory study on the implementation of socially sustainable practices in developing country suppliers; and, (iii) a theory building, in-depth longitudinal case study, where the implementation of socially sustainable practices is examined over time in relation to critical industry events in the Bangladeshi apparel industry by incorporating the view-points of various institutional actors. The three studies complement each other and, together, provide a comprehensive understanding of the change management issues faced by multinational firms trying to implement socially sustainable practices in suppliers based in a developing country with a challenging institutional environment. By using the Transaction Cost Economics and Institutional Theory lenses, the thesis offers rich insights into the pressures, enablers and barriers to implementing social sustainability initiatives, including the reasons for the disconnect between formal adoption and actual implementation.