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Business Sustainability in Bangladesh: An Analysis of Economic Sustainability in Ready-made Garments Industries

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  • Rahima Akter

Abstract

Sustainable business practices are long cherished system that business organizations are expected to exercise to sustain their businesses. The Ready-made Garments industries (RMG) in Bangladesh are now facing this crucial question to adopt a sustainable system in operating their businesses. The more the industry experiences rapid growth, the higher the demand for the implementation of sustainability. Though the experienced and old garments are seen quite well in maintaining this sustainability, the newly established RMG factories are blamed for not having sustainable business procedure, especially economic sustainability which relates to labor standards and labor rights. Despite continuous tremendous pressure from government and international communities, these new establishments often emphasize on profit maximization rather good labor practices. This article examines the business sustainability issues on economy aspects in new generation RMG factories in Bangladesh. This economic sustainability includes the functional strategies regulating the human resources, labor rights and labor conditions of a factory. To study these issues, this research follows the mixed-method research approaches to get better findings of the sampled factories. The study is based on findings of factory level investigation and analysis of in-depth semi structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). The results of factory visits show that most of the investigated factories are lack of implementation of economic sustainability. The findings from interviews and FGD revealed underlying causes of this lack of implementation.

Suggested Citation

  • Rahima Akter, 2016. "Business Sustainability in Bangladesh: An Analysis of Economic Sustainability in Ready-made Garments Industries," Journal of Management and Sustainability, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(1), pages 149-162, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:jmsjnl:v:6:y:2016:i:1:p:149-162
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Farid Ahammad Sobhani & Azlan Amran & Yuserrie Zainuddin, 2009. "Revisiting the practices of corporate social and environmental disclosure in Bangladesh," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 167-183, May.
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    3. Baden, D.A. & Harwood, I.A. & Woodward, D.G., 2009. "The effect of buyer pressure on suppliers in SMEs to demonstrate CSR practices: An added incentive or counter productive?," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 429-441, December.
    4. Tom Fox, 2004. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Development: In quest of an agenda," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 47(3), pages 29-36, September.
    5. Don Clifton & Azlan Amran, 2011. "The Stakeholder Approach: A Sustainability Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(1), pages 121-136, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jayani Ishara Sudusinghe & Stefan Seuring, 2020. "Social Sustainability Empowering the Economic Sustainability in the Global Apparel Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    business sustainability; economic sustainability; ready-made garments; labor practices; compliance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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