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Better Work: harnessing incentives and influencing policy to strengthen labour standards compliance in global production networks

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  • Arianna Rossi

Abstract

This article explores what types of incentives drive buyers and suppliers in global production networks to raise the floor of labour standards and deliver better outcomes for workers. It does so by analysing the Better Work Programme, a policy intervention targeting the global apparel production network at the global, national and factory levels. Better Work is taken as an example of how global production networks and their dynamics, both trade-related and buyer-driven, can be harnessed to simultaneously achieve social and economic upgrading, presenting factory-level evidence from Cambodia, Haiti and Vietnam.

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  • Arianna Rossi, 2015. "Better Work: harnessing incentives and influencing policy to strengthen labour standards compliance in global production networks," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(3), pages 505-520.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cjrecs:v:8:y:2015:i:3:p:505-520.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cjres/rsv021
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Günseli Berik & Yana Van Der Meulen Rodgers, 2010. "Options for enforcing labour standards: Lessons from Bangladesh And Cambodia," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 22(1), pages 56-85.
    2. Cornelia Staritz, 2011. "Making the Cut? Low-Income Countries and the Global Clothing Value Chain in a Post-Quota and Post-Crisis World," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2547, April.
    3. Kimberly Ann Elliott & Richard B. Freeman, 2003. "Can Labor Standards Improve under Globalization?," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 338.
    4. Günseli Berik & Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, 2008. "Options for Enforcing Labor Standards: Lessons from Bangladesh and Cambodia," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2008_14, University of Utah, Department of Economics.
    5. Gladys Lopez-Acevedo & Raymond Robertson, 2012. "Sewing Success? Employment, Wages, and Poverty following the End of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13137, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Valentina De Marchi & Matthew Alford, 2022. "State policies and upgrading in global value chains: A systematic literature review," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 88-111, March.
    2. Kelly Pike, 2020. "Voice in Supply Chains: Does the Better Work Program Lead to Improvements in Labor Standards Compliance?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 73(4), pages 913-938, August.
    3. Evans Appiah Kissi & Christian Herzig, 2024. "The implications of governance factors for economic and social upgrading in Ghana’s cocoa value chain," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Arianna Rossi, 2019. "Applying the GVC framework to policy: The ILO experience," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 2(3), pages 211-216, September.
    5. John Pickles & Leonhard Plank & Cornelia Staritz & Amy Glasmeier, 2015. "Trade policy and regionalisms in global clothing production networks," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(3), pages 381-402.
    6. Stefano Ponte & Valentina De Marchi & Marco Bettiol & Eleonora di Maria, 2023. "The horizontal governance of environmental upgrading: Lessons from the Prosecco and Valpolicella wine value chains in Italy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 1884-1905, November.
    7. Kevin Kolben, 2017. "A Supply Chain Approach to Trade and Labor Provisions," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 60-68.
    8. Kevin Kolben, 2017. "A Supply Chain Approach to Trade and Labor Provisions," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(4), pages 60-68.

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