Tag Archives: Value Chain

Cotton Value Chain – Labour Risk Heat Maps

March 14, 2020UncategorizedAustralia, cotton, fashion, government, human rights, ILO, labour, labour rights, risk, supply chains, Value Chain, working conditionsmartijn

The Queensland University of Technology and the University of Technology Sydney have been funded by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation to research “Strategies for improving labour conditions within the Australian cotton value chain” (2019-2022).

Non-Government Organisations are active in pressuring fashion brands to be accountable for their social and environmental claims. Labour is currently in the spotlight. Over 20 million employees in garment manufacturing in Asia Pacific are paid below the minimum wage. ILO ratification in Australia’s export countries is low and non-compliance high (up to 90%). This project will provide information to enable the cotton industry to understand labour issues along its value chain and recommend strategies for the industry to explore.

Phase 1 produced a heat map, based on secondary data, which provides an overview of labour issues affecting the textile and apparel industry in primary export destinations in the Australian cotton value chain. Click on the image below to see the full interactive heat maps which were created using Tableau.

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Apple’s $1 trillion riches based on innovation and exploitation

August 6, 2018UncategorizedApple, corporate social responsibility, exploitation, Foxconn, human rights, innovation, iPhone, labour standards, Martijn Boersma, Profit Margin, social, Supply Chain, supply chains, The Conversation, transparency, Value Chain, working conditionsmartijn

Apple has become the first American company to reach US$1 trillion in market capitalisation – US$1,000,000,000,000 in stockmarket value. Behind this glittering success, however, lies ~~a series of unresolved ethical dilemmas~~ a history of staggering labour exploitation.

The approaches of Apple and the other giant US platform technology companies (Google, Facebook, Amazon) to corporate taxation, concentration and privacy have attracted widespread criticism.

But as a manufacturing company Apple faces a more deep-seated problem. This involves the millions of people employed in its supply chain, which is largely located in China with the major contractor Foxconn.

Our research shows human rights, environmental and ethical problems persist inside Apple’s vast global supply chains.

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Ethical Dilemmas in Modern Supply Chains

August 9, 2015UncategorizedCorporate Governance, corporate social responsibility, ethics, governance, labour, labour standards, Martijn Boersma, Supply Chain, supply chains, Sustainability, transparency, UTS, UTS Business School, Value Chainmartijn

Modern supply chains are long, complex and global, making it harder for businesses to know who they’re really dealing with, and for consumers to feel confident they’re buying ethically. The negative consequences of that complexity can be as devastating as the deadly Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh in 2013, which galvanised public opinion about the conditions under which our clothing is produced. Revelations about Australia’s food industry in a recent ABC Four Corners report show there are issues to be addressed at home too. So, the conversation has turned to the need to build responsible supply networks and the challenges in doing that. That’s the focus of the Sustainable Supply Network Initiative at UTS Business School and this #think public lecture.

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Apple Profits From Decade-Long Supply Chain Labour Exploitation

May 22, 2015UncategorizedApple, Cash Hoard, exploitation, Foxconn, iPhone, labour standards, Market Capitalisation, Profit Margin, Revenue, Supply Chain, Value Chainmartijn

Apple Cash Trend 2015 — Apple Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities
2006 to March 2015 (US$ billions) – Source: Apple Annual and Quarterly Reports

Apple Inc. is the richest and most iconic corporation in the world. In 2010 Apple became the most valuable brand, with an 84% jump in brand value to $153.3 billion. By March 2015 Apple’s revenue was up to $212.2 billion, while in February 2015 Apple attained a market capitalisation of $770 billion, nearly double that of ExxonMobil, Google and Microsoft. Apple’s large profit margins have contributed to a cash hoard of $193.5 billion, which means that the company has more cash on hand compared to cash balances of most industries in the United States combined. In a stark illustration of how extreme inequality disfigures operations in global value chains, Apple’s abundant wealth ultimately rests on the suffering of young workers in electronic sweatshops where human rights, labour standards, environmental safety, and business integrity are routinely ignored.

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