Inject responsibility into supply chain management
Source: Internet
Author: User
KeywordsSupply Chain Management
The extension of corporate social responsibility to the whole enterprise network through supply chain management has become a new problem faced by Chinese labor-intensive manufacturing enterprises in the process of embedding global supply chain and enterprise upgrading. "Yesterday into the city, return tears full towel." Bruiser sophistication are not silkworms. The Song Dynasty poet Zhangyu, the first "silkworm woman", made him the first commentator to reveal the lack of social equity and the imbalance of responsibility in the textile supply chain relationship. No matter from the microcosmic angle of labor-capital relations in some textile and garment enterprises today, from the macroscopic point of view of the whole global textile and clothing supply chain, the expression of this poem is still intuitive and profound, which shows that the fair and balanced distribution of interests and responsibilities in the textile industry and its supply chain is still an old and fresh subject. Five years ago, when foreigners spoke about the social responsibility of Chinese companies in terms of labor and the environment, China's textile industry was always the first to be blamed by sweatshops. Today, however, the international condemnation of China's textile enterprises ' social responsibility has gradually disappeared. This transformation is due to the Chinese textile enterprise Social Responsibility Management System (CSC9000T) effective promotion, it established the Chinese textile industry in the international supply chain responsible image. Foreign buyers before the Chinese suppliers to order, the general demand for "social responsibility inspection plant." The same Chinese supplier may have to face a number of foreign institutions at the same time social responsibility inspection projects, although these projects are often the same, enterprises have to repeat the payment of expensive factory inspection costs and organize special response, resulting in product costs to improve profit margins. Even if Chinese enterprises have obtained the so-called Social responsibility Attestation certificate also difficult to avoid to be inspected next time factory, enterprise to this complain but also can not do anything. It is understood that the World Bank in its "Code of major corporate responsibility, principles and standards" list, the csc9000t as a model of the country standard system, the U.S. Trade Representative's office, which has always been "fastidious" about China's foreign trade, evaluates: " CSC9000T was designed as a capacity-building project to train members on best practices in complying with Chinese legal standards. International organizations such as the European Foreign Trade Association, which had criticized China's textile industry a few years ago, took the initiative to reach a strategic cooperation agreement with CSC9000T in 2008, making the implementation of csc9000t in China's textile and garment manufacturing extended to the international supply chain cooperation. With the prevalence of global production, supply chain management is widely used in the global competition of manufacturing industry, the dominant enterprises focus on the development of their core business, the Non-core business directly to the external enterprises to complete, the transfer of production part of more in labor-intensive industries, external procurement for the lower labor costs of developing countries, And the competition of the outsourcing business is often accompanied by the sacrifice to the workers ' interests and environment. The concept of corporate social responsibility is based on a philosophy or moral requirement, requiring enterprises to be responsible for consumers, employees, communities, government, environment and trade unions in the course of their business. Corporate social responsibility is a new target parameter in supply chain management, and the enterpriseSocial responsibility extends to the whole enterprise network, which is a new problem that our labor-intensive manufacturing enterprises are facing in the process of embedding global supply chain and enterprise upgrading. The situation of sustainable development strategy today is exactly the same as the experience of the supply chain concept when it landed in China. Seven or eight years ago, the concept of supply chain and logistics has been flourished, but Chinese enterprises in these concepts "from virtual to solid" process gradually realized that the supply chain is not a charitable cause. If the results of the reforms simply mean individual pay, then the impetus for change will be impossible to talk about, and the goal of improving the overall performance of the supply chain is no different from rhetoric. This is also true of the process of change in sustainable development strategies. Any economic reform involving the redistribution of corporate interests must strike a balance between social and economic interests. In many enterprises, sustainable development strategy is the concept related to the long-term brand strategy of enterprises, even the loss of enterprise profitability at the expense. This view is obviously contrary to the perspective of the ultimate unification of social interests and corporate interests under the principles of economics. Visionary entrepreneurs have to think about a problem before they can build a sustainable development strategy: why are ideas and practices such a paradox? How to find the balance between the long-term strategy and the short-term operation of the enterprise? Large and complex supply chains today, the complexity of production and the globalization of markets make the supply chain become increasingly large and complex. It is reported that the multinational giant Procter and Gamble's global suppliers as many as 80,000, Wal-Mart has 40,000. Nearly thousands of of all Chinese-run multinational companies have suppliers. For example, the sale of a car, a rough calculation, at least three links in the supply chain, that is, upstream auto parts procurement, the middle reaches of the assembly and processing plant production and downstream product distribution services. In detailed calculations, the supply chain of the automotive enterprise includes all processes of raw material procurement, inventory management, assembly, order Processing, sales, finished goods transportation and warehousing from raw materials to consumers. It even includes spare parts as well as loans, insurance, car repair and other ancillary services. This requires a large number of suppliers, including fewer than dozens of businesses, more than tens of thousands of homes. The supply chain of the IT enterprise also has the complicated characteristic. A classic story about buying a computer is enough to support this: When an American client enters a website of a well-known computer company and orders a laptop computer, the order is sent to another factory soon. The customer's notebook is produced by the factory, although they do not own the brand. But before they can produce, they need to buy the necessary parts from several factories around the world. For example, to produce an HP Pavilionzd8000 notebook, they need to buy Intel's microprocessors, Atitechnologiesinc. Designs, graphic wafers produced in Taiwan, LCD monitors produced by Korean or Chinese Taiwanese companies, and hard drives produced by a Japanese company. In addition, they need to purchase batteries, power supplies and even computer bags from different manufacturers.and other ancillary equipment. After the completion of the assembly, and then by the special logistics company to the required countries. If it is shop sales, also need to distribution companies and other links, in this supply chain, involved in the supplier enterprises up to dozens of or even hundreds. and similar to Wal-Mart, Carrefour and other large supermarkets suppliers are countless. These supermarkets sell a wide range of goods, such as food, clothing, home, washing, style, fresh aquatic products, is a variety of. and various types of goods are subdivided into a variety of different brands, each brand is corresponding to a procurement channel, plus logistics and other links, the number of suppliers involved is staggering. The complexity of the supply chain is not just a number. Almost every supplier is connected to a three-dimensional supply network. These suppliers will be divided into several levels, such as Level 1, 2, 3, and so on, one ring, layer of foundry, outsourcing and so on, complex degree unimaginable, these make the supply chain "greening" work is extremely difficult. Who's on the drive supply chain social responsibility supply chain each node enterprises in the process of dealing with stakeholders formed a chain-type or network management. The new demands of consumers and the public nowadays, the market transforms into the buyer's market, the oversupply makes the sellers compete fiercely, the enterprise managers must consider the relationship between the enterprise and the Society, the public interest is more and more embodied in the enterprise management way. In recent years, in the Western countries with perfect credit mechanism, consumers pay more and more attention to health and safety, society and Environment, the cognition of product quality is gradually deepened, and the trust of enterprises and products extends to the whole supply chain business process. -New requirements of the public sector the United Nations and intergovernmental organizations have developed a large number of legal and policy frameworks for business activities in recent decades, since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the framework has become increasingly comprehensive, with basic legal documents including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 8 core conventions of the International Labour Organization and so on. On the basis of these universally applicable international norms, Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations organize initiatives and provisions on CSR behaviour. On the basis of the above normative norms, the specific standards of corporate social responsibility are more and more comprehensive and meticulous, the main standards include: SA8000, "Workplace Production Code", "Code of Ethics Trade Action", "global apparel production Social Responsibility Code", "Garment Fair Trade Charter", "Icti business code of conduct", The "Ave Specification", "China business principles" and so on, more importantly, these standards have prompted more and more multinational companies to develop their own "Production Code" for the Supply chain social responsibility management. --The deepening of enterprise relationship network in the the early 1990s, the "Fourth Revolution" marked by "information technology" has greatly promoted the development of productive forces, industrial division and integration increasingly in the larger geographical space, economic globalization is increasingly significant, the dominant enterprises focus on the development of its core business, To the Non-core business directly to the external enterprises to complete, under the global supply chain pattern, enterprises are interdependentRelations have become more extensive and deepened, each enterprise to other social institutions for their own existence conditions, but also for the survival of each other to provide conditions, the formation and development of this relationship network, demand from the entire supply chain perspective of corporate social responsibility. In recent years, public companies have developed their own CSR reports, sustainable development reports or environmental reports, in which corporate social responsibility management of their suppliers has become an important part of such reports, and the increasingly transparent corporate social responsibility assessment and disclosure mechanism in the international marketplace, Direct impact on the global production network of the nodes of the enterprise management direction and focus. --The change of core enterprise values the values of Western multinationals are changing in the following directions: from laissez-faire market to self-regulatory market, from rationalism to corporate citizenship, from freedom and justice to fairness and justice, from minimum legal standards to caring for society, from defensive response to sustainable development. Under the guidance of such development, in the supply chain of multinational corporations as the core enterprises, corporate social responsibility management is bound to extend with the purchase-supply link, which affects other enterprises on the chain. One of the core issues of the supply chain responsibility: The three perspectives on supply chain responsibility is that labor is under the pressure of the supply chain under the layer of transmission, and the economic and power situation is worrying. The concern about the "supply chain responsibility" has gradually become an important part of international organizations. From the perspective of game theory, the angle of the game is that there is a certain antagonism between the enterprises and the laborers, and they play a fierce game on the salary, working conditions and other benefits. Enterprises in the market to win profits, if the factory owners "monopoly" too much, then the labor can only get very little surplus. In reality, if the market system is not normal and imperfect, it is very likely that such entrepreneurs get rich, and the situation of staff is very poor example. Typical cases such as coal mines, coal bosses because of the rise in coal prices and make pots full of pot, and the other end, coal miners in very bad circumstances under the coal mining, but also often face the risk of mine accidents. This strong contrast makes the logic of the game seem straightforward and of course. In the logic of game, how to improve the situation of workers? That is to strengthen the game force of workers. The power of individual workers is too weak to unite. This is why the International Labour Convention so emphasizes "free trade unions" and "collective bargaining rights". Many institutions engaged in CSR research also attach great importance to the strength of trade unions. Some organizations that help workers to safeguard their rights, provide legal training and assistance to their employees, and so on, can also be understood as strengthening the field of labour game forces. It is the most popular view at home and abroad, and the solution provided by game logic is the most widely known scheme. But this perspective has been criticized by some economists, such as Archin in his own textbooks, that enterprises and workers do not constitute a game, enterprises are competing with other enterprises, Labor is in competition with labor, "collective bargaining" and "trade union" to some extentFind the wrong enemy. A competitive perspective We imagine a worker talking to a business owner about salary. In a competitive perspective, workers are not thinking about how to get more power from the business owner, thus taking some of the benefits from the entrepreneur's mouth, considering what conditions other similar workers will offer, and if he is too overqualified, the entrepreneur will hire another person. Similarly, when the business owner considers the treatment of the worker, it also considers the conditions that other companies will give him, and he will have to pay at least the same price as anyone else. In the perspective of competition, how to improve the welfare status of workers. The most effective approach is to enhance competition among enterprises and reduce competition among workers. How to enhance the competition among enterprises? To encourage entrepreneurship is one way out, so that more entrepreneurial people with the conditions to facilitate the start-up of enterprises, so the number of enterprises increased, the competition between enterprises has been strengthened. However, people will say that the supply chain responsibility research under the labor conditions, mainly in the clothing, electronics and other processing enterprises, these markets have been fierce enough competition, is not enough competition? This does not refute the logic of competition, because each market is influenced by one another. In areas where competition is inadequate, labour entry barriers are also high. Poor labour conditions would be even worse in a fully competitive market due to the squeeze of an inadequately competitive market. Is it possible to reduce the competition among workers? China has a large population and the competition is bound to be fierce. Many questions about China's population, it is difficult to go on, there seems to be no solution. In fact, to give people more space, the pressure of a large population will also be greatly eased. This naturally introduces a third perspective on supply chain responsibility. The perspective of property rights directly benefits from the view of Amartya in his book Poverty and famine, which he believes can be understood from two key points, one is the resources of the poor and the second is the extent to which these resources can be used. The combination of these two aspects is the concept of "property rights". It is also instructive to study the labor situation in the supply chain by Amartya Research on the problem of poverty. Let's look at some of the choices that Chinese farmers have under property rights: First, he can choose to stay in rural farming, of course, this income is limited, in the area of tension between the situation is more so; second, he can go to the city to run small business, such as stall selling department stores, open small restaurants, delivery in the city, etc. third, he can work in the factory , of course, low-end processing enterprises are the most likely choice. In the case of agriculture not dominant, farmers flood into the city, of course, this is also the important way to solve the problem of three rural areas. But farmers are heavily constrained in their urban operations, and the second path is often very narrow and fraught with risk. Therefore, to the low-end processing enterprises to work has become a choice that we have to make. This undoubtedly aggravates the competition among the workers and worsens the status quo of the worker's survival. So giveSufficient property rights of labour, while giving more space to workers, is also a constraint on buyers. Social responsibility is a matter of supply chain. With the further development of globalization and the free flow of capital on a global scale, we can see that in the process of global economic integration, TNCs have more and more long and complex supply chains. Data show that Nike's global suppliers have 900, the supply chain of workers up to 660,000 people, Wal-Mart is a light supplier of 40,000. The complete supply chain of a multinational company, first and foremost, is the global search for the optimal allocation of production factors, including the optimal mix of production factors from labor, capital to land. The second is multi-level, that is, the supplier's relationship and location are hierarchically divided. A global and multi-level supply chain, involving workers, suppliers, manufacturers, storage and transportation centers, wholesalers and retailers, customer stakeholders, and procurement, transportation, manufacturing, storage, distribution and other aspects of economic activity. There is a problem of conflict of interest and asymmetric information in every stakeholder, so the supply chain has both internal and external risks. Generally speaking, the external risk of supply chain risk mainly refers to the environmental risk, including natural environment risk (such as natural disaster), social environment risk (such as terrorist event, crisis event) and economic environment risk (such as economic depression, economic landslide, etc.). Internal risk includes three main aspects: Supplier risk, risk in production process, and risk during distribution and delivery. Since the 90 's of the last century, from the clothing industry, the toy industry to the electronics industry, there have been several large multinational companies involved in the "sweatshops" scandal, leading to the Western consumer brand products to produce a huge strike and boycott activities, whether the brand company's reputation, or actual financial performance, all caused great losses. The "anti-sweatshop" movement finally succeeded in making the company realize that it is necessary to recognize the social responsibility risk of supply chain, to control it effectively, to bear the "corporate social responsibility" of supply chain suppliers, which is the essential step that the brand company can not omit to operate the global supply chain, The social responsibility risk control of the supply chain is the same as the important field of product quality control. The "anti-sweatshop" campaign was successful because consumers, as the most important stakeholders in brand companies, played an important role in supervision and solidarity. The joint survey of the World Economic Forum and Foley International for 132 leading multinational corporations has proved that competition between enterprises is no longer limited to the initial price competition, quality competition or service competition, but has turned into the competition of corporate reputation. To be successful, an enterprise's international market reputation is more important than its financial performance, and its market reputation is proportional to its financial performance. The market reputation of the enterprise is judged by the public, especially the consumers. Surveys show that 81% of consumers think that when prices and quality are the same, they tend to buy the products of socially responsible companies, and they are concerned about whether the product is in compliance with social responsibility standardsMade. Many foreign enterprises, especially many brands, retailers, themselves do not produce products, but through global procurement to complete their entire supply process, so its reputation is not limited to its own, but also involved in the entire supply chain. However, the greater the size of the enterprise, the more complex the supply chain, the more difficult to manage the supply chain. Since then, how to effectively manage the social responsibility in the supply chain is a problem that many enterprises need to solve. The enterprise fulfills the social responsibility, and obtains the economic benefit not to be contradictory. Society is the source of enterprise's interests, and as a "social citizen", enterprises must have a benign interaction with society. The enterprise undertakes the social responsibility, may win the prestige and the social each party to identify, also may better reflect own cultural orientation and the value idea, creates the better social atmosphere for the enterprise development, enables the enterprise to maintain the vitality, the long-term sustainable development. From the economic point of view, the basic goal of the enterprise is to maximize profits, but to maximize profits, the premise is to obtain long-term survival of enterprises. To this end, enterprises must assume social responsibility and the resulting social costs.
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