RESEARCH  |  JUST SUPPLY CHAINS

Regulatory Reform  | December 13 and 14, 2012

On December 13 and 14, 2012, we will be holding a Just Supply Chains conference at MIT in Cambridge, MA. The goal of these meetings, held periodically, is to bring together representatives of academia, NGOs, corporations, and other interested parties to engage in constructive conversations concerning best practices for achieving worker protection in global supply chains.

The focus of the Cambridge gathering will be regulatory reform.  We will address an array of both public and private initiatives intended to enhance implementation and compliance with government regulations. Public regulatory reform may include increasing the ability of the state to deliver services, enforce contracts, and protect rights of workers. Firms have also contributed to regulatory reform by improving monitoring mechanisms and creating new methods for detecting violations and for gaining compliance from sub-contractors.  Both states and firms have, at times, undertaken efforts to revise the regulations themselves.

December 13 — observations from academics and from those working in the field, concluding with a discussion about public-private partnerships.

December 14 — corporate case on efforts to create ethical supply chains: what works, what doesn’t, and what the future might look like for private regulatory schemes.

Program