The governance of global supply chains: empirical insights from the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh a decade after Rana Plaza

Abstract

The regulation of activities in global supply chains presents significant challenges, particularly in establishing corporate accountability for human rights violations and addressing extraterritorial oversight. Due to the unwillingness or limited capacity of governments to regulate the social externalities of global business activities, the last decade has seen an increase in schemes that use non-state authority to govern corporate conduct beyond borders. Drawing on a qualitative study of the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh, this article examines the effectiveness of industry-led private governance regimes and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of multinational corporations in global supply chains, as well as the extent to which private governance can serve as an effective alternative to obligatory regulatory frameworks. The findings confirm that, while both voluntary and mandatory regulatory mechanisms are beneficial, various factors hinder their execution and limit their ability to adequately address corporate abuses of human rights.