Suppliers’ Compliance with MNCs’ Codes of Conduct: Behind the Scenes at Chinese Toy Suppliers

Despite increased academic and practitioner interest in codes of conduct, there has been little research into the actual compliance of suppliers in developing countries with the codes of conduct of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper addresses this lack by analysing Chinese suppliers’ level of compliance with Swedish toy retailers’ codes of conduct. Based on unannounced and unofficial interviews with employees of Chinese suppliers, the study shows that all of the nine studied suppliers breached some of the standards in the toy retailers’ codes, with over two-thirds of the suppliers not complying with the majority of the studied standards. While there are different explanations of this lack of compliance, the main explanation seems to be that Chinese suppliers successfully deceive toy retailers’ monitoring organisations by decoupling the formal monitored part of their organisation from the actual operational part of their organisation. The paper concludes with a discussion of how to increase compliance with MNCs’ codes of conduct. Niklas Egels-Zandén is a PhD student at the School of Business, Economics and Law, Goteborg University, Sweden. His areas of research are international business and corporate social responsibility, especially in relation to multinational corporations in developing countries. He has previously published in Journal of Business Ethics, Business Strategy and the Environment, and Journal of Corporate Citizenship.     

Implementing Supplier Codes of Conduct in Global Supply Chains: Process Explanations from Theoretic and Empirical Perspectives

Western buying companies impose Supplier Codes of Conduct (SCC) on their suppliers in developing countries; however, many suppliers cannot fully comply with SCC and some of them even cheat in SCC. In this research, we link contract characteristics – price pressure, production complexity, contract duration – to the likelihood of supplier’s commitment to SCC through a mediating process: how the buying companies govern their suppliers. Our structural equation model analysis shows that the hierarchy/relational norms governance is a perfect mediator of contract characteristics’ effects on the likelihood of supplier’s commitment; the market governance, an insignificant one. The managerial implications are provided for successfully implementing SCC in global supply chains.     

Ethical Codes of Conduct and Organizational Context: A Study of the Relationship Between Codes of Conduct, Employee Behavior and Organizational Values

Codes of ethics are being increasingly adopted in organizations worldwide, yet their effects on employee perceptions and behavior have not been thoroughly addressed. This study used a sample of 613 management accountants drawn from the United States to study the relationship between corporate and professional codes of ethics and employee attitudes and behaviors. The presence of corporate codes of ethics was associated with less perceived wrongdoing in organizations, but not with an increased propensity to report observed unethical behavior. Further, organizations that adopted formal codes of ethics exhibited value orientations that went beyond financial performance to include responsibility to the commonweal. In contrast to corporate codes of ethics, professional codes of ethical conduct had no influence on perceived wrongdoing in organization nor these codes affect the propensity to report observed unethical activities.     

跨国零售与我国供货商矛盾:政策角度的剖析

零售业是一个国家引导生产、促进消费的重要经济领域.零售业的采购行为会影响上游制造业产品的定价和交易量.我国零售业的过度开放为拥有巨大资本实力和丰富经营经验的跨国零售的进入与扩张提供了极大的便利.外资政策制定与跨国零售相对市场优势地位形成、流通政策缺陷与跨国零售不规范行为密切相关.认为政策重点应该从"数量"转移到"质量"、增加"选址"等方面的政策内容,并保障政策执行.     

The Challenge of Multinational Corporation (MNC)-Led Growth and Internationalization: The Case of Nokia-Dependent Suppliers

Purpose: This research is aimed at gaining a better understanding of supplier–customer relationships in the context of asymmetrical dependence. Of particular interest is to develop an enhanced understanding of the conditions under which such relationships can be mutually beneficial despite the problems traditionally associated with relationship asymmetry.

Methodology: The empirical context is provided by a case study of Nokia and three of its Finland-based suppliers that have grown and internationalized in a customer-led manner. Following a review of the literature, we introduce a conceptual model and then test it against findings from the case study.

Findings: We find that relationships characterized by asymmetrical dependence can be mutually beneficial as long as the boundary conditions governing the relationship remain favorable. In particular, relational variables such as trust and commitment can balance an otherwise asymmetrical relationship. However, such relationships are vulnerable to changes in the external environment, which may expose the more dependent party to power influences. Thus high customer dependence is best viewed as a temporary condition and the supplier should actively seek for strategies to reduce dependence.

Originality: Much of existing research on interorganizational relationships fails to provide an understanding of relationship development over time and, in particular, in relation to changing environmental conditions. This study provides such a perspective and does so in the context of a supplier–customer relationship characterized by asymmetrical dependence.     

Migration Intermediaries and Codes of Conduct: Temporary Migrant Workers in Australian Horticulture

Over recent decades, developments in network governance have seen governments around the world cede considerable authority and responsibility to commercial migration intermediaries for recruiting and managing temporary migrant labour. Correspondingly, a by-product of network governance has been the emergence of soft employment regulation in which voluntary codes of conduct supplement hard (enforceable) legal employment standards. This paper explores these developments in the context of temporary migrant workers employed in Australian horticulture. First the paper analyses the growing use of temporary migrant labour in this industry. It then describes how different types of intermediaries interact with this workforce. The paper then outlines both hard and soft employment regulations, and contrasts them with actual employment conditions, questioning how a network governance approach has affected this vulnerable workforce. The paper concludes that changes in network governance of migration and employment relations have emasculated formal legal regulation, leaving market forces to operate without effective or ethical constraints at the expense of the public good.     

Child Labor and Multinational Conduct: A Comparison of International Business andStakeholder Codes

Increasing attention to the issue of child labor has been reflected in codes of conduct that emerged in the past decade in particular. This paper examines the way in which multinationals, business associations, governmental and non-governmental organizations deal with child labor in their codes. With a standardized framework, it analyzes 55 codes drawn up by these different actors to influence firms external, societal behavior. The exploratory study helps to identify the main issues related to child labor and the use of voluntary instruments such as codes of conduct. Apart from a specific indication of the topics covered by the code, especially minimum-age requirements, this also includes monitoring systems and monitoring parties. Most important to company codes are the sanctions imposed on business partners in case of non-compliance. Severe measures may be counterproductive as they do not change the underlying causes of child labor and can worsen the situation of the child workers by driving them to more hazardous work in the informal sector. This underlines the importance of a broad rather than a restrictive approach to child labor in codes of conduct. The paper discusses the implications of this study, offering suggestions for future research.     

Codes,Ethics and Cross-Cultural Differences: Stories from the Implementation of a Corporate Code of Ethics in a MNC Subsidiary

In this article, we focus on the cross-cultural aspects of the implementation of an American company’s code of ethics into its Swedish subsidiary. We identify the cross-cultural stories that the receivers in the subsidiary use when trying to explain the parent’s code and conceptualize these stories as part of an emerging narrative of national belonging and differences. The receivers resisted the code by amplifying the importance of national identity. Rather than stimulating a discussion on ethics that might have strengthened the ties between the parent and the subsidiary, the outcome of the code implementation had the opposite effect. The article concludes by stressing the process of implementing codes across cultures rather than code content.     

The acculturative stress of host country managers working at MNC subsidiaries: Determinants and effects

This paper introduces the concept of acculturative stress to indicate a distinct psychological difficulty faced by host country managers working at multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries. Drawing on the social identity and self-verification theories, we suggest that host country managers are exposed to acculturative stress due to the challenges they face in verifying their national cultural identity. We identify the perceived cultural incongruence and the lower relative standing of host country managers as proximal determinants of acculturative stress and examine its negative impact on their work engagement. The analysis results of a sample of 643 Korean managers working at 60 MNC subsidiaries in Korea support our hypotheses on the determinants and effects of acculturative stress.     

开发性政策性金融的理论与实践探析

开发性金融按其性质应包括开发性政策性金融和开发性商业性金融.由于中长期开发性投融资业务的特点是风险高、额度大、周期长、收益不确定,商业性金融或私人资本通常既不愿也无力或肯于先导涉足其中,所以,开发性金融一般是由政府主责,主要是指开发性政策性金融或政府开发性金融,即专门为经济、社会和区域开发或发展(development)(特别是基础设施)提供具有创造性超前供给诱导功能的中长期批发投融资业务(wholesale financing)的政策性金融.开发性金融机构可分为国际性开发金融机构和国家性开发金融机构两种类型,前者又分为全球性开发金融机构和区域性开发金融机构,后者又分为全国性开发金融机构和地方性开发金融机构.     

The Effect of Country and Culture on Perceptions of Appropriate Ethical Actions Prescribed by Codes of Conduct: A Western European Perspective among Accountants

Recognizing the growing interdependence of the European Union and the importance of codes of conduct in companies’ operations, this research examines the effect of a country’s culture on the implementation of a code of conduct in a European context. We examine whether the perceptions of an activity’s ethicality relates to elements found in company codes of conduct vary by country or according to Hofstede’s (1980, Culture’s Consequences (Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA)) cultural constructs of: Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity/Femininity, Individualism, and Power Distance. The 294 individuals, who participated in our study, were from 8 Western European countries. Their responses to our 13 scenarios indicate that differences in the perceptions of ethicality associate primarily with the participants’ country as opposed to their employer (i.e., accounting firm), employment level, or gender. The evidence also indicates that these country differences associate with Hofstede constructs of Individualism and Masculinity.     

The Interaction Between Suppliers and Fraudulent Customer Firms: Evidence from Trade Credit Financing of Chinese Listed Firms

Journal of Business Ethics - This study investigates the interaction between suppliers and fraudulent customer firms from the perspective of reputation damage and reputation recovery. Specifically,...     

中国企业技术获取型海外直接投资理论与实践

传统的"贸易窗口型"或"制造基地型"海外直接投资已不适应于中国开放经济条件下内外均衡的要求,开展技术获取型海外直接投资将有助于提升我国企业在全球价值链的竞争优势,应成为我国对外资本输出的主流。文章提出了技术获取型海外直接投资"MAL优势论",并结合中国企业实践进行分析,从而提出对策建议。     

The Influence of Internal and External Codes on CSR Practice: The Case of Companies Operating in Serbia

In this article, our aim is to examine the difference between the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practice of the multinational companies (MNCs) and of the domestic companies operating in Serbia, as well as the influence of internal self-regulations such as statements of corporate values and codes of conduct, and external self-regulations such as the implementation of the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards on CSR practice. The CSR practice is observed in five CSR areas: employee relations, customer relations, environmental practice, community and social involvement, and transparency in business activity. The findings indicate that the CSR practice of the MNCs is significantly different in comparison to domestic companies only in the area of employee relations. Furthermore, the overall results suggest that internal self-regulations have more influence on CSR practice than the implementation of generic management system standards. However, the existence of transparent corporate values, codes of conduct and implemented management systems according to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards does not prove to be strong predictors of CSR performance.     

Corporate Values,Codes of Ethics,and Firm Performance: A Look at the Canadian Context

In this empirical study, we present two new models that are corporate ethics based. The first model numerically quantifies the corporate value index (CV-Index) based on a set of predefined parameters and the second model estimates the market-to-book values of equity in relation to the CV-Index as well as other parameters. These models were applied to Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Through our analysis, we found statistically significant evidence that corporate values (CV-Index) positively correlated with firm performance. The results are even more significant for firms with low market-to-book values. Our empirical findings suggest that corporate ethics is vital for management, employees, shareholders, stakeholders, and the community at large. In addition, we have tested and confirmed five hypotheses that are used to illustrate corporate ethics behavior and performance.     

SME Clusters, Acquisition of Technological Capabilities and Development: Concepts, Practice and Policy Lessons

The paper contributes to the current policy debate about promoting regional economic growth and competitiveness of small and medium industrial enterprises in development. An analytical framework is elaborated, which integrates complementary insights from existing approaches that have been used as a basis for policy design in this area. These are: the meso-level collective efficiency approach and the micro-level technological capability approach. The new framework gives insight into the different ways in which firm-level technological learning could be fostered through geographical clustering. It also provides new directions for policy. An empirical case study of farm equipment manufacturing in Pakistan's Punjab Province is used to illustrate the added value of the new approach.     

税收征管、纳税遵从与税收优惠——对金税三期工程的政策效应评估

金税三期工程(以下简称“金三”)是提高税收征管能力的重要举措。本文基于全国税收调查数据,采用双重差分和三重差分评估了“金三”的政策效果,结果表明:(1)“金三”显著提高了纳税遵从度,促进了“应收尽收”;(2)“金三”促进了税收优惠政策的落实,提高了企业税收优惠政策的享受比例,促进了“应享尽享”;(3)虽然提高纳税遵从会使一部分税收不遵从企业实际税负上升,但促进税收优惠政策落实能够使更多符合条件的企业减轻税负,在两者的作用下,“金三”没有对企业总体税负产生显著影响。本文的研究论证了“金三”的双重效应,一方面优化信息系统,提高纳税遵从度,另一方面提升纳税服务质量,促进税收优惠政策的落实。     

疾病负担、结构性挑战与政策抉择——全球化图景下中国农村妇女的健康问题

从社会性别视角考察全球化时代图景下我国农村妇女的主要疾病负担和未来政策选择.无论留守还是外出务工者,农村妇女面临着多重严峻的生理、心理和社会健康危机.从全球化的角度来审视,农村妇女健康的保护和促进,归根到底是政治化的过程而不只是个技术问题.只有消除区域、城乡、不同社会群体及农村两性之间的各种不平等,方有可能打破贫困、不公正和不健康的恶性循环.