Overview
Detailed, comprehensive evidence from Cornell University’s New Conversations Project shows that despite 25 years of sustainability efforts through codes of conduct, factory auditing, and remediation, there has been little improvement overall in labor conditions in global supply chains in multiple industries.
Cornell’s analysis of new data from leading firms and auditing companies shows the key conditions under which sustainable improvement is possible, including the integration of sourcing and compliance strategies. Covid-19 is to some extent could accelerate this integration as global firms re-examine and re-configure supply chain relationships.
In a new live online course, Cornell NCP researchers and industry experts share these new findings and address the following questions. What explains the limited progress in labor standards? How does progress differ across industries? What causes success? How best to align sourcing and compliance strategies? How is Covid changing buyer-supplier relations? How best to improve supply chain performance with regard to labor issues? What data needs to be collected and analyzed to develop evidence-based solutions?
In this four-session interactive course, you’ll explore how rigorous analysis of supply chain data and evidence-based decision making can be scaled up to produce better labor practices, sourcing decisions, and responsible business strategy.
Effort: 2.5 hours per week
Duration: 4 weeks
Format: Live virtual classroom
Cost: USD 2,100 (NCP partners receive 20 percent discount. Discount code is provided to NCP partners.)
Key Takeaways
• Discover barriers to the effectiveness of current labor policies and practices based on new industry research.
• Learn how best to develop evidence-based decision making and use predictive models to improve the effectiveness of your organization’s global labor supply chain.
• Get an idea of what the evidence says is working, learn how to apply best practices anticipate coming changes in public regulation of supply chains.
Program Schedule
Session 1: May 14, 2021, 11:00 am EDT - 1:30 pm EDT
25 Years of Codes of Conduct: Data on Failures and Successes
What have we learned from 25 years of codes of conduct and auditing? What does new Cornell research show and what are the key problems that limit effectiveness? This session explores the meaning for global brands of comprehensive new research on the effectiveness of corporate codes of conduct and monitoring systems. The research highlights both failures and successes.
Session 2: May 21, 2021, 11:00 am EDT - 1:30 pm EDT
Causes of Failure: Decoupling Organizational Policies and Practices From Worker Outcomes
What explains the general ineffectiveness of private regulation? How do we reorganize programs to address the root causes? This session delves into the dynamics — practice multiplicity, behavioral in¬visibility, and causal complexity — that prevent labor programs from seeing what works. The interactive aspect allows you to assess your program against this new perspective.
Session 3: May 28, 2021, 11:00 am EDT - 1:30 pm EDT
How Best to Align Sourcing and Compliance Strategies Inside Companies?
How should labor and sourcing be linked in practice? How can you measure and track their improve¬ments? This session will draw from a 2020 case study of a leading apparel brand’s major organizational change to improve labor results via integration and analysis of sourcing data.
Session 4: June 4, 2021, 11:00 am EDT - 1:30 pm EDT
What Next? Towards Systemic Change and Evidence-Based Decisions
What works to improve outcomes for workers in global supply chains? How can the evidence support systemic changes in labor and human rights programs? This session suggests a number of collabo¬rative as well as individual corporate actions to improve performance, highlighting the role of data analysis and predictive modeling. We will learn from data scientists at leading “best practice” firms and, in workshop mode, create predictive models.
Faculty
Sarosh Kuruvilla is currently Professor of Industrial Relations, Asian Studies and Public Affairs at Cornell University. He joined Cornell’s faculty in 1990 after obtaining a doctorate in business administration from the University of Iowa in 1989, and after a career as a labor relations manager in the industry in India. He currently directs the New Conversations Project: Sustainable Labor Standards In Global Supply Chains.
Jason Judd is Executive Director of the Cornell ILR New Conversations Project which focuses on improving global labor practices. He previously led the Ship to Shore Rights Project at the International Labor Organization in Bangkok and served as Vice President of the Fair Labor Association in Washington, DC, where he directed all accountability programs including the FLA’s Fair Compensation work. He has worked in senior roles for the ILO’s Better Work program, Demos (New York), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the AFL-CIO, the Solidarity Center, and the Industrial Areas Foundation. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Financial Times, and on PBS. He is a former Fulbright Fellow, and holds an A.B. in Economics from Duke University and an M.P.A. from l’École Nationale d’Administration (ENA/RULE).