IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v4y2012i9p1946-1965d19684.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying Social Impacts in Product Supply Chains:Overview and Application of the Social Hotspot Database

Author

Listed:
  • Catherine Benoit-Norris

    (New Earth, P.O. Box 507, York Beach, ME 03910, USA
    University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • Deana Aulisio Cavan

    (University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA)

  • Gregory Norris

    (New Earth, P.O. Box 507, York Beach, ME 03910, USA)

Abstract

One emerging tool to measure the social-related impacts in supply chains is Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), a derivative of the well-established environmental LCA technique. LCA has recently started to gain popularity among large corporations and initiatives, such as The Sustainability Consortium or the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. Both have made the technique a cornerstone of their applied-research program. The Social Hotspots Database (SHDB) is an overarching, global database that eases the data collection burden in S-LCA studies. Proposed “hotspots” are production activities or unit processes (also defined as country-specific sectors) in the supply chain that may be at risk for social issues to be present. The SHDB enables efficient application of S-LCA by allowing users to prioritize production activities for which site-specific data collection is most desirable. Data for three criteria are used to inform prioritization: (1) labor intensity in worker hours per unit process and (2) risk for, or opportunity to affect, relevant social themes or sub-categories related to Human Rights, Labor Rights and Decent Work, Governance and Access to Community Services (3) gravity of a social issue. The Worker Hours Model was developed using a global input/output economic model and wage rate data. Nearly 200 reputable sources of statistical data have been used to develop 20 Social Theme Tables by country and sector. This paper presents an overview of the SHDB development and features, as well as results from a pilot study conducted on strawberry yogurt. This study, one of seven Social Scoping Assessments mandated by The Sustainability Consortium, identifies the potential social hotspots existing in the supply chain of strawberry yogurt. With this knowledge, companies that manufacture or sell yogurt can refine their data collection efforts in order to put their social responsibility performance in perspective and effectively set up programs and initiatives to improve the social conditions of production along their product supply chain.

Suggested Citation

  • Catherine Benoit-Norris & Deana Aulisio Cavan & Gregory Norris, 2012. "Identifying Social Impacts in Product Supply Chains:Overview and Application of the Social Hotspot Database," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(9), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:4:y:2012:i:9:p:1946-1965:d:19684
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/4/9/1946/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/4/9/1946/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard Locke & Matthew Amengual & Akshay Mangla, 2009. "Virtue out of Necessity? Compliance, Commitment, and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains," Politics & Society, , vol. 37(3), pages 319-351, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fu Jia & Yan Jiang, 2018. "Sustainable Global Sourcing: A Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-26, February.
    2. Anthony Goerzen & Michael Sartor & Kristin Brandl & Stacey Fitzsimmons, 2023. "Widening the lens: Multilevel drivers of firm corporate social performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(1), pages 42-60, February.
    3. Albert V. Ramazanov* & Askar N. Mustafin & Margarita N. Maksimova, 2018. "Development of Youth Entrepreneurship in Russia in the Conditions of Digital Economy," The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Academic Research Publishing Group, pages 99-102:5.
    4. Kunz, Nathan & Chesney, Thomas & Trautrims, Alexander & Gold, Stefan, 2023. "Adoption and transferability of joint interventions to fight modern slavery in food supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    5. Philip James & Lilian Miles & Richard Croucher & Mark Houssart, 2019. "Regulating factory safety in the Bangladeshi garment industry," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(3), pages 431-444, September.
    6. Stefan Gold & Thomas Chesney & Tim Gruchmann & Alexander Trautrims, 2020. "Diffusion of labor standards through supplier–subcontractor networks: An agent‐based model," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 24(6), pages 1274-1286, December.
    7. Daniel Berliner & Aseem Prakash, 2012. "From norms to programs: The United Nations Global Compact and global governance," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 6(2), pages 149-166, June.
    8. Amengual, Matthew, 2010. "Complementary Labor Regulation: The Uncoordinated Combination of State and Private Regulators in the Dominican Republic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 405-414, March.
    9. Staelens, Lotte & Louche, Céline & D’Haese, Marijke, 2014. "Understanding job satisfaction in a labor intensive sector: Empirical evidence from the Ethiopian cut flower industry," 2014 International Congress, August 26-29, 2014, Ljubljana, Slovenia 182815, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Chunyun Li & Sarosh Kuruvilla, 2023. "Corporate codes of conduct and labour turnover in global apparel supply chains," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 481-505, September.
    11. Yi Han & Enying Zheng & Minya Xu, 2014. "The Influence from the Past: Organizational Imprinting and Firms’ Compliance with Social Insurance Policies in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 65-77, June.
    12. Salo Coslovsky, 2013. "Enforcing Food Quality and Safety Standards in Brazil," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 649(1), pages 122-138, September.
    13. Jette Knudsen, 2013. "The Growth of Private Regulation of Labor Standards in Global Supply Chains: Mission Impossible for Western Small- and Medium-Sized Firms?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 387-398, October.
    14. Kim, Jee Young, 2013. "The Politics of Code Enforcement and Implementation in Vietnam’s Apparel and Footwear Factories," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 286-295.
    15. Yanhua Bird & Jodi L. Short & Michael W. Toffel, 2019. "Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 847-867, July.
    16. Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Adnan Seric, 2018. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chains: Deeds Not Words," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, October.
    17. Hochachka, Gail, 2023. "Climate change and the transformative potential of value chains," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    18. Kapoor, Ishaan & Pratt-Rogers, William & Kahraman, Muhammet Mustafa, 2022. "The problem of conflict minerals: A review of current approaches and a web 3.0 inspired road ahead," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    19. Andrew Crane & Genevieve LeBaron & Jean Allain & Laya Behbahani, 2019. "Governance gaps in eradicating forced labor: From global to domestic supply chains," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 86-106, March.
    20. Vivek Soundararajan & Jill A. Brown, 2016. "Voluntary Governance Mechanisms in Global Supply Chains: Beyond CSR to a Stakeholder Utility Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 83-102, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:4:y:2012:i:9:p:1946-1965:d:19684. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.