IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i22p6526-d288682.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Resistance to Regulation: Failing Sustainability in Product Lifecycles

Author

Listed:
  • Mark B. Taylor

    (Department of Private Law, University of Oslo and Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research, 0650 Oslo, Norway)

  • Maja van der Velden

    (Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway)

Abstract

International policy and law have long sought to ensure that states regulate the negative impacts of production processes on people and the planet. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 targets sustainable production and consumption; international conventions, such as the Basel Convention, or the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and the International Labour Organisation Conventions, all seek to regulate toxic or labour-related impacts associated with industrial production. However, there is ample evidence that such impacts continue. At a time of increasing pressure to develop sustainable systems of production and consumption, we asked whether the existing legal frameworks are appropriate to the task of regulating for sustainability in consumer products. Drawing on research conducted into sustainability in the mobile phone lifecycle, this paper examines the regulatory ecology of hotspots of unsustainability in the product lifecycle of electronics. This paper finds that the interaction of regulatory disjunctures, business models, design of technology, and marginalisation combine to ensure that our systems of production and consumption are predisposed to resist regulation aimed at sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Mark B. Taylor & Maja van der Velden, 2019. "Resistance to Regulation: Failing Sustainability in Product Lifecycles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-14, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:22:p:6526-:d:288682
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6526/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6526/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nathan,Dev & Tewari,Meenu & Sarkar,Sandip (ed.), 2016. "Labour in Global Value Chains in Asia," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107103740, November.
    2. Jyrki Ali-Yrkkö & Petri Rouvinen & Timo Seppälä & Pekka Ylä-Anttila, 2011. "Who Captures Value in Global Supply Chains? Case Nokia N95 Smartphone," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 263-278, September.
    3. Lessig, Lawrence, 1998. "The New Chicago School," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 661-691, June.
    4. Benanav, Aaron, 2019. "The origins of informality: the ILO at the limit of the concept of unemployment," Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 107-125, March.
    5. Mark Hilton & Chris Sherrington & Andrew McCarthy & Peter Börkey, 2019. "Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and the Impact of Online Sales," OECD Environment Working Papers 142, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mark B. Taylor, 2021. "Counter Corporate Litigation: Remedy, Regulation, and Repression in the Struggle for a Just Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-24, September.
    2. Ines P. Junge, 2024. "Designerly Ways of Entrepreneuring for a Sustainable Circular Economy - Envisioning a Smartphone Firm of the Future," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 2823-2857, December.
    3. Noor Hamwy & Jennifer Bruder & Abdellatif Sellami & Michael H. Romanowski, 2023. "Challenges to Teachers Implementing Sustainable Development Goals Frameworks in Qatar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-19, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Florent Bédécarrats & Isabelle Guérin & François Roubaud, 2015. "The gold standard for randomized evaluations: from discussion of method to political economy," Working Papers DT/2015/01, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).
    2. Olaitan, Olawale Opeyemi. & Olaitan, Tawakalitu Mary, 2025. "Examining the Effects of International Migration of the Informal Motor Vehicle Mechanics from the Left behind Perspectives: Implications for Vocational Education and Social Work Practices," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(4), pages 4541-4558, April.
    3. Shyam Sunder & Michael Maier & Karim Jamal, 2004. "Enforced Standards Versus Evolution by General Acceptance: A Comparative Study of E-Commerce Privacy Disclosure and Practice in the U.S. and the U.K," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2630, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Nov 2004.
    4. Helmerich, Nicole & Raj-Reichert, Gale & Zajak, Sabrina, 2021. "Exercising associational and networked power through the use of digital technology by workers in global value chains," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 25(2), pages 142-166.
    5. Wipo, 2017. "World Intellectual Property Report 2017 - Intangible Capital in Global Value Chains," WIPO Economics & Statistics Series, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division, number 2017:944, January.
    6. Carlos Salas-Páez & Luis Quintana-Romero & Miguel A. Mendoza-González & José Álvarez-García, 2022. "Analysis of Job Transitions in Mexico with Markov Chains in Discrete Time," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-13, May.
    7. Satyaki Roy, 2017. "Rent and Surplus in the Global Production Network: Identifying ‘Value Capture’ from the South," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 6(1), pages 32-52, April.
    8. Pao‐Li Chang & Phuong T. B. Nguyen, 2022. "Global value chains and the CPTPP," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(12), pages 3780-3832, December.
    9. Mark ANNER, 2019. "Predatory purchasing practices in global apparel supply chains and the employment relations squeeze in the Indian garment export industry," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 158(4), pages 705-727, December.
    10. Elif Oral, 2024. "The environmental rule of law and the protection of human rights defenders: law, society, technology, and markets," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 393-421, September.
    11. Petra Dünhaupt & Hansjörg Herr, 2020. "Trade, Global Value Chains and Development: What Role for National Development Banks?," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 89(3), pages 9-33.
    12. Roland Benabou & Jean Tirole, 2011. "Laws and Norms," NBER Working Papers 17579, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2012_024 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Korkeamäki, Timo & Takalo, Tuomas, 2010. "Valuation of innovation: The case of iPhone," MPRA Paper 28042, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Nomaler, Ö. & Verspagen, B., 2014. "Analysing global value chains using input-output economics: Proceed with care," MERIT Working Papers 2014-070, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    16. Carol A. Heimer & Elsinore Kuo, 2021. "Subterranean successes: Durable regulation and regulatory endowments," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 63-82, November.
    17. Franck, Egon, 2013. "Zu den offenen Fragen des Board Primacy Konzeptes in der Theorie der Corporate Governance," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 67(1), pages 23-35.
    18. Ergen, Timur & Kohl, Sebastian & Braun, Benjamin, 2021. "Firm foundations: The statistical footprint of multinational corporations as a problem for political economy," MPIfG Discussion Paper 21/5, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    19. Paidipaty, Poornima & Ramos Pinto, Pedro, 2021. "Revisiting the “Great Levelling”: the limits of Piketty’s Capital and Ideology for understanding the rise of late 20th century inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110941, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Békés, Gábor & Muraközy, Balázs, 2016. "Beszállítói termékek a magyar feldolgozóiparban [Supplier products in Hungarian manufacturing]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1046-1073.
    21. Desruelle, Paul & Stančík, Juraj, 2014. "Characterizing and comparing the evolution of the major global economies in information and communication technologies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 812-826.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:22:p:6526-:d:288682. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.