Introduction
Providing key managerial insights from research on assessing and improving working conditions in supply chains.
Most Recent Insights
![Worker assembling components in a factory. (iStock Photo)](http://www.library.hbs.edu/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/1/7/2/8/1288271-1-eng-US/untangling drivers.jpg)
Untangling Drivers for Supplier Environmental and Social Responsibility: An Investigation in Philips Lighting’s Chinese Supply Chain
June 2021By: Verónica Villena, Miriam Wilhelm, Cheng-Yong Xiao
Electronics suppliers in China have fewer environmental and labor violations when they face more regulatory scrutiny or are trained in lean management.
![Workers at a garment factory. (Shutterstock)](http://www.library.hbs.edu/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/4/1/5/8/1278514-2-eng-US/can_brands_claim_ignorance_v2.jpg)
Can Brands Claim Ignorance? Unauthorized Subcontracting in Apparel Supply Chains
April 2021By: Felipe Caro, Leonard Lane, Anna Saez de Tejada Cuenca
Unauthorized subcontracting in apparel factories occurs more frequently when previous orders were subcontracted, buyers exert pricing pressure, a brand is not well known, and lead times are longer.
![engineer inspector checking inventory (Shutterstock)](http://www.library.hbs.edu/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/4/5/0/3/1283054-1-eng-US/manage_the_suppliers_that_could_harm.jpg)
Manage the Suppliers That Could Harm Your Brand: Know When to Avoid, Engage, or Drop Them
March-April 2021By: Jodi Short, Michael W. Toffel
Six factors improve working conditions in global supply chain factories, and six design elements lead to more accurate and comprehensive audits of working conditions.
![Workers in garment factory. (Shutterstock)](http://www.library.hbs.edu/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/1/6/0/3/1283061-1-eng-US/political_crs_at_the_coalface.jpg)
Political CSR at the Coalface: The Roles and Contradictions of Multinational Corporations in Developing Workplace Dialogue
March 2021By: Juliane Reinecke, Jimmy Donaghey
Multinational corporations can act as guarantors, enforcers, and capacity-builders when it comes to the implementation of worker participation committees in their supplier factories.
![Labor worker producing clothes in garment factory. (Shutterstock)](http://www.library.hbs.edu/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/0/6/5/9/1279560-2-eng-US/working_conditions_and_factory_survival_v2.jpg)
Working Conditions and Factory Survival: Evidence from Better Factories Cambodia
February 2021By: Raymond Robertson, Drusilla Brown, Rajeev Dehejia
This study finds no evidence that improving compensation and health & safety heightens risk of plant closure – and that improving compensation may actually increase plant survival.
![Business suit with green leaf. (Shutterstock)](http://www.library.hbs.edu/var/ezdemo_site/storage/images/6/9/0/3/1283096-1-eng-US/how_transparency_into_internal2.jpg)
How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice
February 2021By: Ryan W. Buell, Basak Kalkanci
Providing transparency to reveal a company’s internal social/environmental responsibility practices can increase sales more so than providing transparency about its external responsibility initiatives.