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Neither Global Nor Standard: Corporate Strategies in the New Era of Labor Standards

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  • Susan Christopherson

    (Department of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, NY 14853, USA)

  • Nathan Lillie

    (School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York NY, 14853, USA)

Abstract

Two multinational retail firms, IKEA and Wal-Mart, illuminate the implications of a new era of labor standards—focused on the transnational firm. Global labor standards are increasingly enforced through transnational corporation (TNC) adherence to voluntary codes rather than through national labor regulation. Nonetheless, privatized labor-standards regimes within TNCs continue to be influenced by the national market governance framework in the TNC country of origin. Although, in principle, labor standards are arrived at through global political processes, in practice they are applied in conjunction with TNC production and marketing strategies. The way in which corporate objectives intersect with labor practices is different from one TNC to another, depending in large part on political and regulatory influences in the country of origin of a particular TNC.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Christopherson & Nathan Lillie, 2005. "Neither Global Nor Standard: Corporate Strategies in the New Era of Labor Standards," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 37(11), pages 1919-1938, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:37:y:2005:i:11:p:1919-1938
    DOI: 10.1068/a3789
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Howard Gospel & Andrew Pendleton, 2003. "Finance, Corporate Governance and the Management of Labour: A Conceptual and Comparative Analysis," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 41(3), pages 557-582, September.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Katherine Leanne Christ & Roger Leonard Burritt, 2019. "Implementation of sustainable development goals: The role for business academics," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 44(4), pages 571-593, November.
    3. Veronica Scuotto & Tachia Chin & Alberto Pezzi & Marco Pironti, 2022. "CSR best practices for global multi‐tier sustainable supply chain integration of Chinese MNEs," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(6), pages 2038-2052, November.
    4. Islam, Muhammad Azizul & McPhail, Ken, 2011. "Regulating for corporate human rights abuses: The emergence of corporate reporting on the ILO's human rights standards within the global garment manufacturing and retail industry," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(8), pages 790-810.
    5. Patsy Perry & Steve Wood & John Fernie, 2015. "Corporate Social Responsibility in Garment Sourcing Networks: Factory Management Perspectives on Ethical Trade in Sri Lanka," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 737-752, September.
    6. Stevis, Dimitris., 2010. "International framework agreements and global social dialogue : parameters and prospects," ILO Working Papers 994539893402676, International Labour Organization.
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    8. Roger Leonard Burritt & Katherine Leanne Christ & Hussain Gulzar Rammal & Stefan Schaltegger, 2020. "Multinational Enterprise Strategies for Addressing Sustainability: the Need for Consolidation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(2), pages 389-410, June.
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    11. Luc Fransen, 2013. "The Embeddedness of Responsible Business Practice: Exploring the Interaction Between National-Institutional Environments and Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(2), pages 213-227, June.

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