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• Article | ILR Review | August 2020

  Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Institutional Environments and Monitoring Program Design

  Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel and Andrea R. Hugill

  Activism seeking to improve labor conditions in global supply chains has led many transnational corporations to adopt codes of conduct and monitor suppliers for compliance. Drawing on thousands of audits conducted by a major social auditor, we identify structural contingencies in the institutional environment and program design under which codes and monitoring are more likely to be associated with improvements in conditions. At the institutional level, suppliers improve more when they face greater risk that NGOs and the press will expose harmful working conditions and when their buyers have experienced negative publicity for supply chain labor abuses. At the program design level, suppliers improve more on average when audits are pre-announced, when auditors are highly trained, and especially when both are true. However, extended analysis reveals nuances to these findings, demonstrating that improvement varies across violation types. For instance, we find that pre-announced audits were followed by greater improvement in OSH practices but not child labor practices. These findings can inform strategies for improving supply chain working conditions.

  Keywords: Monitoring; supplier relationship; sustainability; Sustainability Management; Sustainable Operations; sustainable supply chains; NGO; Operations; Supply Chain Management; Governance Compliance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Global Range; Working Conditions;

  Citation:

  Short, Jodi L., Michael W. Toffel, and Andrea R. Hugill. "Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Institutional Environments and Monitoring Program Design." ILR Review 73, no. 4 (August 2020): 873–912.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | November 2019 (Revised June 2020)

  Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature

  Marco Iansiti, Michael W. Toffel and James Barnett

  Indigo Agriculture used a digital-enabled research and development (R&D) process to launch its initial product, microbial coatings for agricultural seeds, which increase crop yields while reducing the need for fertilizers. In doing so, the company developed direct relationships with farmers, in contrast to typical agricultural supply chains that use intermediaries. The company then launched a marketplace platform to link growers directly to crop buyers, again disintermediating the market. Indigo Agriculture is now considering launching an initiative to incentivize farmers to engage in regenerative agricultural practices by setting up a carbon market that could pay them for sequestering carbon into their soils. If scaled globally, the idea could sequester as much as one trillion tons (a teraton) of carbon dioxide from the earth’s atmosphere into agricultural soils, but pursing the idea has many risks.

  Keywords: carbon sequestration;

  Citation:

  Iansiti, Marco, Michael W. Toffel, and James Barnett. "Indigo Agriculture: Harnessing Nature." Harvard Business School Case 620-024, November 2019. (Revised June 2020.)  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2020

  Fossil Fuel Divestment

  Michael W. Toffel and Sarah Gulick

  Teaching note to accompany HBS case 620-093, Fossil Fuel Divestment, by Michael W. Toffel and Sarah Gulick.

  Keywords: Higher Education; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Public Opinion; Education Industry; Cambridge;

  Citation:

  Toffel, Michael W., and Sarah Gulick. "Fossil Fuel Divestment." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 620-125, June 2020.  View Details

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