Modern Slavery Responses Need International Business Scholarship

Trautrims, Alexander

Abstract

Modern slavery challenges our traditional approaches to business and business research. It questions a puristic focus on financial profits and some of the commonly used mechanisms in global supply chains such as outsourcing and the creation of long - and often unmonitored - global supply chains in which the undercutting of social standards and active ignorance of human rights violations form part of the business model. We can learn from the more ethically oriented businesses already leading against modern slavery in global supply chains, such as cosmetics firm Lush or building materials supplier Marshalls, and from the business responses that were triggered predominantly by recent legislation such as the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act that came into effect in 2012, the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015, and also by studying the mechanisms that have been established for longer such as the Brazilian Lista Suja (created in 2004). Through these legislative changes modern slavery turned from a niche interest into a widely recognized topic that affects business practice and research: CSR, sustainability reporting, collaboration with stakeholders, ethical investment, supplier development, the responsible recruitment of workers, business regulation, supply chain visibility are only some examples of the many aspects of international business that need new knowledge and approaches to address and challenge modern slavery.

Citation

Trautrims, A. (2020). Modern Slavery Responses Need International Business Scholarship. AIB Insights, 20(2), https://doi.org/10.46697/001c.13539

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 3, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jul 22, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Sep 9, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 10, 2020
• Journal: AIB Insights
• Print ISSN: 1938-9590
• Publisher: Academy of International Business
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.46697/001c.13539
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4892976
• Publisher URL: https://insights.aib.world/article/13539-modern-slavery-responses-need-international-business-scholarship