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Between Lead Firms and Institutional Ensembles: Labour and Safety Practices in Bangladeshi Garment Export Factories

The tragic 2013 Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh represented a focusing event (Birkland, 1998) that galvanized key transnational and national stakeholders into developing and implementing policies aimed at improving factory safety in Bangladesh while being cognizant of the need to uphold related international labour standards. Drawing mainly on a survey of 50 Bangladeshi garment factory managers part of a larger project that includes lead firms based in Australia, Germany, the UK and Sweden we investigate three aspects of contemporary supply chain governance. These are: 1) Relationships between lead firms, mainly based in the developed countries, and factory management regarding business in general and labour standards in particular; 2) Factory responses to a new institutional ensemble of organizations requiring improvements in building safety; and 3) relationships between factory management and employees, both in terms of formally (worker representation) and substantive (pay and working conditions) aspects. While progress had been made in improving building safety and leading firm-factory relations appear to be positive and durable, questions remain regarding treatment of employees.

Scope: 24 pages
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