Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T03:09:49.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Alternative Approaches to Capability Building

A Tale of Two Nike Suppliers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2013

Richard M. Locke
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Get access

Summary

What role can capability-building programs play in improving working conditions in global supply chains? Why do capability-building initiatives produce such mixed results among supply chain factories that implement them? How does this approach relate to other strategies and regulatory approaches aimed at promoting just working conditions in global supply chains? This chapter addresses these questions and explores both the potential and limitations of the capability-building model through a detailed matched pair case study of two factories supplying Nike, the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company. These two factories have many similarities – both are in Mexico, both are in the apparel industry, both produce more or less the same products for Nike (and other brands), and both are subject to the same Code of Conduct. On the surface, both factories appear to have similar employment (i.e., recruitment, training, remuneration) practices, and they received comparable scores when audited by Nike's compliance staff. However, underlying (and somewhat obscured by) these apparent similarities, significant differences in actual labor conditions exist between these two factories. What drives these differences in working conditions? How do they relate to the different approaches to capability building deployed in these two factories? Field research conducted at these two factories reveals that beyond the introduction of new management systems and production techniques, workplace conditions, and labor standards are shaped by very different patterns of work organization and human resource management policies. Consistent with alternative approaches to capability building, some of these policies seek to give voice to and empower shop floor workers, whereas other policies aim to reduce worker voice and discretion. The consequences of these different approaches to capability building for workers and labor standards is significant and explains the variation we observed in the previous chapter.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Promise and Limits of Private Power
Promoting Labor Standards in a Global Economy
, pp. 105 - 125
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Locke, Richard M. and Romis, Monica, “The promise and perils of private voluntary regulation: Labor standards and work organization in two Mexican garment factories,” Review of International Political Economy 17, no. 1 (February 2010): 45–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frenkel, Stephen J., “Globalization, athletic footwear commodity chains and employment relations in China,” Organization Studies 22, no. 4 (2001): 531–62, 542CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moran, Theodore H., Beyond Sweatshops: Foreign Direct Investment and Globalization in Developing Countries (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2002): 16Google Scholar
Kochan, Thomas A., Katz, Harry C., and McKersie, Robert B., The Transformation of American Industrial Relations (New York: Basic Books, 1986)Google Scholar
Piore, Michael J. and Sabel, Charles F., The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity (New York: Basic Books, 1984)Google Scholar
Krafcik, John F., “Triumph of the Lean Production System,” Sloan Management Review 30, no. 1 (Fall 1988): 41–51Google Scholar
Abernathy, Frederick H., Dunlop, John T., Hammond, Janice H., and Weil, David, A Stitch in Time: Lean Retailing and the Transformation of Manufacturing – Lessons from the Apparel and Textile Industries (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999)Google Scholar
Dunlop, John. T. and Weil, David, “Diffusion and Performance of Modular Production in the US Apparel Industry,” Industrial Relations 35, no. 3 (July 1996): 334–55Google Scholar
Ichniowski, Casey, Kochan, Thomas A., Levine, David, Olson, Craig and Strauss, George, “What Works at Work: Overview and Assessment,” Industrial Relations 35, no. 3 (Jul 1996): 299–333Google Scholar
Osterman, Paul, “How Common is Workplace Transformation and Who Adopts It,” Industrial & Labor Relations Review 47, no. 2 (January 1994): 173–88CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knauss, Jody, “Modular Mass Production: High Performance on the Low Road,” Politics & Society 26, no. 2 (June 1998): 273–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winslow Taylor, Frederick, The Principles of Scientific Management (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1967)Google Scholar
Paul MacDuffie, John and Krafcik, John F., “Integrating Technology and Human Resources for High Performance Manufacturing: Evidence from the International Auto Industry,” in Kochan, Thomas A. and Useem, Michael (Eds.), Transforming Organizations (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992)Google Scholar
Paul MacDuffie, John, “Human-Resource Bundles and Manufacturing Performance: Organizational Logic and Flexible Production Systems in the World Auto Industry,” Industrial & Labor Relations Review 48, no. 2 (January 1995): 197–221CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ichniowski, Kochan, Levine, Olson and Strauss, , “What Works at Work: Overview and Assessment,” Industrial Relations, 35, no. 3 (1996): 299–333Google Scholar
Murray McGregor, Douglas, The Human Side of Enterprise (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1960)Google Scholar
Granovetter, Mark S., “Strength of Weak Ties,” American Journal of Sociology 78, no. 6 (May 1973): 1360–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, Richard M., Remaking the Italian Economy, Katzenstein, Peter J. (Ed.), Cornell Studies in Political Economy (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995)Google Scholar
Frenkel, Stephen J. and Scott, Duncan, “Compliance, Collaboration, and Codes of Labor Practice: The Adidas Connection,” California Management Review 45, no. 1 (Fall 2002): 29–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, Richard M., “Building Trust,” paper presented at Annual Meetings of the American Political Science Association, San Francisco (September 1, 2001)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×