Transparency of second tier suppliers in textile industry
Qvist, Telma (2022)
2022
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022120526404
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022120526404
Tiivistelmä
This is a research-based thesis. The aim of the thesis is to investigate human rights issues with a focus on second tier suppliers to possibly achieve improved transparency and trace-ability in the context of textile industry supply chains. The focus is on giving recommenda-tions to the commissioning company about how to collect reliable information on human rights issues from second tier suppliers, what kind of guidelines and regulations there are to support the process and what are the main human rights issues related to the supply chains in question.
The theoretical framework consists of concepts and theories related to supply chain man-agement with a focus on human rights issues. Primary resources are studies from organi-zations and literature investigating human rights issues and transparency in the textile indus-try. Official sites of different regulations and guidelines are used for answering investigative questions. The research consists of qualitative phases by desktop studies, analysing data collected by commissioning company and close discussions with the professionals of S-Group.
Human rights problems that occur in the textile production chains are unfortunately com-mon. The main issue arising from data collection in textile industry supply chains, is the dif-ficulty to gather and to verify information from tier 2 suppliers and beyond. Information col-lected about tier 2 suppliers is often gathered by direct suppliers (tier 1). In an ideal world a company creates long-term relationships with the suppliers and creates a culture of open information sharing throughout the supply chain. Better communication could lead to the identification of human rights issues and help to address them. Companies are responsible to assess what kind of human rights risk their own operations cause directly or indirectly. For gathering information and identifying the risks, various organizations are offering audit-ing and other resources, such as training. Having connections with the local organizations in countries of production, can increase transparency. At minimum companies must follow UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines.
The theoretical framework consists of concepts and theories related to supply chain man-agement with a focus on human rights issues. Primary resources are studies from organi-zations and literature investigating human rights issues and transparency in the textile indus-try. Official sites of different regulations and guidelines are used for answering investigative questions. The research consists of qualitative phases by desktop studies, analysing data collected by commissioning company and close discussions with the professionals of S-Group.
Human rights problems that occur in the textile production chains are unfortunately com-mon. The main issue arising from data collection in textile industry supply chains, is the dif-ficulty to gather and to verify information from tier 2 suppliers and beyond. Information col-lected about tier 2 suppliers is often gathered by direct suppliers (tier 1). In an ideal world a company creates long-term relationships with the suppliers and creates a culture of open information sharing throughout the supply chain. Better communication could lead to the identification of human rights issues and help to address them. Companies are responsible to assess what kind of human rights risk their own operations cause directly or indirectly. For gathering information and identifying the risks, various organizations are offering audit-ing and other resources, such as training. Having connections with the local organizations in countries of production, can increase transparency. At minimum companies must follow UN Guiding Principles and OECD Guidelines.