Improving Social Sustainability in Supply Chains: Case Studies and Insights for Practitioners Based on Research of Initiatives in the Garment Sector of Bangladesh

This report is a product of the academic research project The Regulation of International Supply Chains (RISC).
RISC seeks to shed light on how social sustainability issues – like working conditions and occupational health and safety – are governed in the Bangladesh ready made garment (RMG) industry. By looking at the many initiatives set in place in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza incident, the researchers seek to understand the landscape and scope of organizations and governance initiatives for social sustainability and their interactions. Based on this understanding, the project aims to explore different forms of governance and their perceived effectiveness in the specific context and whether these are applicable for other supply chains. The research will be presented in several academic papers.
With this report, we aim to make a selection of the findings more easily accessible to practitioners working to improve social sustainability in the Bangladeshi RMG industry as well as practitioners working more broadly with sustainability of supply chains.