CSR has become a tool for global corporations to justify their outsourcing practices in other countries. Despite these CSR policies, reports reveal that labor rights violations are common in these supply chains, and not at least in the garment industry. The purpose of this study is therefore to explore how a global clothing company’s CSR policy on labor rights is working on the ground and which factors that influence its implementation. Interviews with factory workers and experts on the topic have taken place in one of India’s largest garment hubs. The findings are based on thematical analysis and the analysis suggests that the global brand (H&M) could improve the situation by taking certain actions though several external factors also have an affect. The responsibility for poor labor conditions needs to be divided between multiple actors who all have a duty to act within their spheres of influence. The study concludes that the underlying problem of economic exploitation must be brought to an end through increased cooperation between global companies.

Organisationer verkar i en värld med ständig övervakning och kontroll från omgivningens högt ställda normer och förväntningar. Företagens arbete med hållbar utveckling är inte längre en frivillighet om de ska överleva i den konkurrensinriktade och lätt utbytbara affärsmiljön. Det krävs att organisationer uppvisar sitt samhällsansvar där de fokuserar på frågor som berörhållbarhetsarbetets alla funktionsdelar för att bli accepterade av såväl interna som externa intressenter. Som ett resultat av arbetet med samhällsansvar och hållbar utveckling har frågor som berör legitimitet uppkommit. I nutidens allt mer öppna och transparenta samhälle blir det lättare för omvärlden att ta del av organisationernas hållbarhetsarbete. Frågor som berör mänskliga rättigheter haruppmärksammats och klädbranschens smutsiga baksida har fått stora rubriker i media. Sömmerskor och fabriksarbetare i utvecklingsländer är skaparna till många av de plagg vi köper i Sverige men vad får de egentligen utstå för att vi ska kunna köpa stilmedvetna och billiga klädesplagg? Vi har därmed valt att inrikta oss på den sociala hållbarheten för att lyfta frågor som berör mänskliga rättigheter inom klädbranschen med tre svenska modeföretag som utgångspunkt. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur klädjättarna H&M, KappAhl och MQ arbetar medbeprövade legitimitetsstrategier i sina hållbarhetsredovisningar för att kunna svara på om hållbarhetsredovisningen blivit till ett legitimitetsverktyg hos modeföretagen. Vidare kommer fokus även ligga på att diskutera hur företagen återspeglar arbetet med social hållbarhet i sinarapporter för att kunna sätta det i relation till den information media berör gällande socialhållbarhet hos respektive företag. Studiens resultat visar på att samtliga tre företag använder legitimitetsstrategier som är gynnsamma för att kunna vända negativa händelser till att förmedla en positiv bild av verksamheten. Den sociala hållbarheten är framtagen på liknande sätt men företagets storlek spelar en avgörande roll för i vilken utsträckning kategorierna prioriteras hos företagen. Det går dessutom att urskilja en tydlig skillnad mellan företagens hållbarhetsrapporter och den bild media förmedlar om företagens sociala hållbarhetsarbete. / Organizations operate in a world where they are constantly being monitored by the high standards and expectations from their surroundings. Their work with sustainable development is no longer a voluntary activity if they are to survive in the competitive business environment. Organizations are required to show their social responsibility where they focus on issues that affect all parts of sustainability work in order to be accepted by both internal and external stakeholders. Companies are expected not only to take responsibility for environmental, social and economic issues but also to explain how they work with these areas. Today's society is more open and transparent which makes it easier for the outside world to take part in the organizations sustainability work. Issues concerning human rights have received attention and the filthy backside of the garment industry has received major headlines in the media. The factory workers in developing countries are the creators of many of the garments we buy in Sweden but how much do they really have to suffer in order for us to be able to buy style conscious and cheap clothing? We have therefore chosen to focus on social sustainability to raise issues that concern human rights in the garment industry with three Swedish fashion companies as our starting point. The purpose of the study is to examine how the clothing giants H&M, KappAhl and MQ are working with proven legitimacy strategies in their sustainability reports in order to be able to find the answer if the sustainability report has become a tool for legitimacy. Furthermore the focus will also be on discussing how the companies reflect their work with social sustainability in their reports and put it in relation to the information the media publishes regarding social sustainability. The study's results show that all three companies use legitimacy strategies that are advantageous by being able to turn negative events into a positive picture of the business. Social sustainability has been developed in a similar way but the size of the company plays a crucial role in the extent to which the companies prioritize the categories. It is also possible to distinguish a clear difference between the companies sustainability reports and the image that media shows about the companies social sustainability work. This study is written in Swedish.

Esta pesquisa tem três objetivos centrais. O primeiro é compreender o fenômeno que foi denominado de migração da costura. Evidencia-se o funcionamento dos mecanismos de atração dessa força de trabalho transnacional, situados na dinâmica urbana da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo. Trata-se de perspectiva que retira os aspectos nacionais e étnicos para explicar o fluxo migratório que se insere na cidade através do trabalho na indústria de confecções. A hipótese defendida é que foi estabelecida uma afinidade eletiva entre as transformações ocorridas no setor, a partir da reestruturação produtiva, e o modo pelo qual se estrutura a migração transnacional circulante assentada no que se denominou de dispositivo oficina de costura. Esse dispositivo oferece as condições para a realização do projeto migratório: deslocamento, qualificação, trabalho, moradia e alimentação. O segundo objetivo repousa na compreensão das relações entre o dispositivo oficina de costura e a ideia de trabalho escravo. A proposta é rastrear o início do debate sobre o trabalho escravo da modalidade rural à urbana, tendo como referência os migrantes da costura e identificar tratados, marcos e leis nacionais e internacionais que incidem sobre essas populações. Em seguida, evidenciam-se algumas representações de migrantes sobre a temática. O último ponto propõe uma abordagem sobre o trabalho escravo a partir do caso da fiscalização da grife espanhola Zara. São examinadas as transformações da atuação dos agentes estatais no combate ao trabalho escravo: da repressão e criminalização à gestão do fluxo e da inserção dos migrantes na cidade, que ocorre a partir da mobilização de ONGs e de grandes empresas. Trata-se de compreender o trabalho escravo como aglutinador de uma série de políticas de inclusão, referidas no mercado, que buscam organizar esse mercado de trabalho, além de gerir o fluxo migratório. Abordam-se os limites e contradições dessas ações. A metodologia utilizada foi predominantemente qualitativa, baseada em pesquisa de campo, análise documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas. / This research has three main objectives. The first is to understand the garment workers migration. It analyzes the functioning of the sector that attracts this transnational workforce, located in the urban dynamic of Metropolitan Area of São Paulo. Our approach denies national and ethnic aspects to explain the migration flow that enters the city through the work in the garment industry. The hypothesis is that it was established an elective affinity between the changes in this industry, since the restructuring process, and the way in which is structured the transnational circulating migration, settled in what was called as the garment workshop dispositif. This dispositif provides the conditions for the realization of the migratory project: mobility, qualification, work, housing and nourishment. The second aim lies in understanding the relationship of the garment workshop dispositif with the idea of slave labour. The debate on slave labour is tracked from the rural to the urban mode, with reference to the garment workers migration. It is showed the treaties, national and international laws that concern these migrants. Then, some representations of these migrants about this subject are evidenced. The last aim shifts the understanding of slave labour. We put forward the Zara case, an inspection that identified slave labour in Zara´s chain production. We examine the transformations of the performance of state agents in the fight against slave labour: from repression and criminalization to the government of the flow and the incorporation of migrants with the mobilization of the large companies and NGOs. Slave labour is understood as agglutinating the various politics of inclusion, referred on the market, which seek to organize this labour market and govern the migration flow. This research seeks to highlight the limits and contradictions of these actions. The methodology used was largely qualitative, based on field research, documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews.

This text will take you on a journey to the Far East – Bangladesh to be more specific. Inspring 2008 I went there to find some answers to the question of wages. I wanted to know if achange in focus from minimum wages to living wages could be achievable. The question willunfortunately remain unsolved at the end of the essay. To predict the future would beimpossible. Instead three possible scenarios are presented. The likelihood of each and everyscenario is later discussed. The conclusions at the end of the essay are based on an analysis ofthe theories presented and the interviews proceeded.The starting point for the research is the relocation strategies of corporations, which areoutlined in the background chapter. This chapter also contains information about the garmentindustry in Bangladesh. The main research question is if there can be a shift from minimumwages to living wages in Bangladesh. In order to bring clarity to the question, three subquestions have been used. The first question looks into how wages are determined in theexport-oriented garment industry in Bangladesh. The second question concerns thecorporations’ responsibility for their workers. The third, and last, question addresses howcultural dimensions influence the corporations and how wages are set. To find the answers tothe sub questions I divided the research into four main topics: “Wages – Minimum and LivingWages”, “Morality, Ethics and Business Ethics”, “Employees as Stakeholders of theCompanies” and “The Cultural Dimension”. The topics are dealt with in separate chapters.The chapters contain a theoretical overview, as well as the information gathered from theinterviews.The chapters are followed by a further analysis of the empirical findings. The chapter onwages contains an in-depth explanation of the difference between minimum wages and livingwages. In the conducted study all workers were paid the minimum wage in coherence with thelaw. This wage was however much lower than what the definition of a living wage declares.Therefore many workers did over-time in order to reach a higher standard of living. Businessethics and the stakeholder theory will be used to discuss the opportunities and limitations ofthe responsibility of the corporations for their workers. The scholar Hofstede’s system ofmeasuring national cultural values will be used to look into specific cultural aspects.According to his system, Bangladesh has a high ranking in power distance, a low ranking inindividualism and a middle ranking in masculinity. These three dimensions will be discussed;both correlations and exceptions found in this study will be presented.The three possible scenarios for a change are presented in the conclusions. Firstly, theminimum wages could be changed into living wages, if the government decides on raising thewages of the garment workers. Secondly, the mentality amongst management could provide asolution to the change in focus. If managers could find advantages in paying their workersmore, it would open up for a brand new wage system. Thirdly, changes could come from theworkers themselves, through unification in the regard. This has however been valued as lesslikely to happen, because of the power distance prevailing in the country. / Program: Textilekonomutbildningen

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo tratar do problema de encaixe de moldes da indústria do vestuário. O problema consiste no encaixe bidimensional de itens pequenos (moldes), que possuem formas irregulares, dentro de um material que será cortado, que possui forma retangular com largura fixa e comprimento variável. O principal objetivo do encaixe é minimizar o desperdício do material que será cortado, neste caso, o tecido. Para tratar o problema do encaixe bidimensional de moldes propõe-se, a partir do desenvolvimento de uma técnica de encaixe, um protótipo funcional.A concepção da técnica foi realizada com as informações obtidas nas etapas de coleta de dados: dados indiretos (Fundamentação Teórica) e dados diretos (Observações Diretas e Entrevistas com especialistas no encaixe manual). Os dados obtidos nessas etapas e, principalmente, a triangulação dos mesmos, permitiram o desenvolvimento da técnica de encaixe de moldes, que consiste em três partes: representação gráfica do tecido e dos moldes, critérios de ordenamento e construção do layout. A técnica proposta está implementada no protótipo funcional Riscare através da linguagem Delphi. Para construir a interface do Riscare, realiza-se uma avaliação da usabilidade de um software comercial com a mesma função. Os conceitos avaliados auxiliaram no desenvolvimento da interface do Riscare. A criação do protótipo funcional possibilitou a comparação da técnica proposta para o encaixe de moldes com encaixes realizados manualmente, com um software comercial e com problemas considerados benchmarks da literatura. Na maioria dos testes comparativos realizados, o Riscare obteve resultados com rendimentos superiores. Os resultados alcançados mostram a qualidade da técnica proposta e, consequentemente, do protótipo funcional desenvolvido. / The objective of this work is to deal with pattern fitting problem in garment industry. The problem is two-dimensional fitting of small items (patterns) that have irregular shapes, within a material to be cut, which has a rectangular shape with fixed width and variable length. The main purpose of fitting is to minimize the material waste, in this case the fabric to be cut. To address the problem of two-dimensional pattern fitting, a functional prototype is proposed based on the fitting technique developed. The design technique is done with the information obtained in data collection: indirect data (theoretical basis) and direct data (observations and interviews with experts in manual fitting). Data obtained in data collection and its triangulation enabled the development of the pattern fitting technique, which consists of three parts: the graphical representation of the fabric and the pattern, the ranking criteria and layout construction. The proposed technique is implemented in Riscare functional prototype, developed using Delphi programming. An usability evaluation of a similar commercial software is performed to build the Riscare interface. The criteria evaluated helped the development of Riscare interface. The development of a functional prototype allows the comparison of the proposed technique for pattern fitting with fitting performed manually, with a commercial software and literature benchmark problems. In most comparative tests, the Riscare obtains results with higher yields. The results show the quality of the proposed technique and the functional prototype developed.

Esta pesquisa tem três objetivos centrais. O primeiro é compreender o fenômeno que foi denominado de migração da costura. Evidencia-se o funcionamento dos mecanismos de atração dessa força de trabalho transnacional, situados na dinâmica urbana da Região Metropolitana de São Paulo. Trata-se de perspectiva que retira os aspectos nacionais e étnicos para explicar o fluxo migratório que se insere na cidade através do trabalho na indústria de confecções. A hipótese defendida é que foi estabelecida uma afinidade eletiva entre as transformações ocorridas no setor, a partir da reestruturação produtiva, e o modo pelo qual se estrutura a migração transnacional circulante assentada no que se denominou de dispositivo oficina de costura. Esse dispositivo oferece as condições para a realização do projeto migratório: deslocamento, qualificação, trabalho, moradia e alimentação. O segundo objetivo repousa na compreensão das relações entre o dispositivo oficina de costura e a ideia de trabalho escravo. A proposta é rastrear o início do debate sobre o trabalho escravo da modalidade rural à urbana, tendo como referência os migrantes da costura e identificar tratados, marcos e leis nacionais e internacionais que incidem sobre essas populações. Em seguida, evidenciam-se algumas representações de migrantes sobre a temática. O último ponto propõe uma abordagem sobre o trabalho escravo a partir do caso da fiscalização da grife espanhola Zara. São examinadas as transformações da atuação dos agentes estatais no combate ao trabalho escravo: da repressão e criminalização à gestão do fluxo e da inserção dos migrantes na cidade, que ocorre a partir da mobilização de ONGs e de grandes empresas. Trata-se de compreender o trabalho escravo como aglutinador de uma série de políticas de inclusão, referidas no mercado, que buscam organizar esse mercado de trabalho, além de gerir o fluxo migratório. Abordam-se os limites e contradições dessas ações. A metodologia utilizada foi predominantemente qualitativa, baseada em pesquisa de campo, análise documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas. / This research has three main objectives. The first is to understand the garment workers migration. It analyzes the functioning of the sector that attracts this transnational workforce, located in the urban dynamic of Metropolitan Area of São Paulo. Our approach denies national and ethnic aspects to explain the migration flow that enters the city through the work in the garment industry. The hypothesis is that it was established an elective affinity between the changes in this industry, since the restructuring process, and the way in which is structured the transnational circulating migration, settled in what was called as the garment workshop dispositif. This dispositif provides the conditions for the realization of the migratory project: mobility, qualification, work, housing and nourishment. The second aim lies in understanding the relationship of the garment workshop dispositif with the idea of slave labour. The debate on slave labour is tracked from the rural to the urban mode, with reference to the garment workers migration. It is showed the treaties, national and international laws that concern these migrants. Then, some representations of these migrants about this subject are evidenced. The last aim shifts the understanding of slave labour. We put forward the Zara case, an inspection that identified slave labour in Zara´s chain production. We examine the transformations of the performance of state agents in the fight against slave labour: from repression and criminalization to the government of the flow and the incorporation of migrants with the mobilization of the large companies and NGOs. Slave labour is understood as agglutinating the various politics of inclusion, referred on the market, which seek to organize this labour market and govern the migration flow. This research seeks to highlight the limits and contradictions of these actions. The methodology used was largely qualitative, based on field research, documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews.

本研究主要目的是為探討台灣服飾產業，曾經在 60.70年代為台灣外銷出口創下佳績，同時也帶動上游紡織布業的發展，和設計新穎圖案的專業研發，以及印染業的技術突破，更甚至影響下游產生另一批輔料業者，大小廠家不下數萬家。 所謂輔料也就是成衣副料/零配件，但是隨著 80年代台灣經濟成長，薪資上漲，幣值的升值等因素，這些勞力密集的產業遂被中國大陸與東南亞、中亞、中南美、非洲等開發中國家逐漸取代，競爭力盡失。曾幾何時這些為台灣出口創匯立過汗馬功勞的尖兵們，如今多流落異地他鄉各自求生存。 台灣服裝輔料產業整個幾近空洞化，這個產業鏈可以從台北市的迪化街布市及永樂市場布匹批發市場現今的景氣窺知一二。從鼎盛時期到如今零星錯落，盛景不再令人唏噓。 本人身為服裝輔料行業其中一份子，深感此行業沒落。因此就以本公司PK實業為個案，營運三十多年來的心得想法，經歷過營運重心的遷徙轉換策略，尚得以殘存至今，同時經兩年來EMBA 課程的薰陶洗禮，遂有把數年來公司運作經驗與理論結合的念頭，從學術觀點探討下一步該有的經營策略與轉型升級。 / The main purpose of this study is to investigate Taiwan's fashion industry, once in the export of Taiwan's exports of 60.70 era a success, but also led the development of upstream textile fabrics industry, and design new patterns of professional development, and printing and dyeing industry, technological breakthroughs, more and even affect Downstream industry produces another batch of materials, size, no less than tens of thousands of manufacturers. The so－called clothing accessories that is material/spare parts, but with economic growth in Taiwan 80 era, wage inflation, currency appreciation, and other factors, these labor－intensive industries was considered by the Chinese mainland and Southeast Asia. Central Asia. Central America and South America. Africa ... and other developing countries, gradually replacing, competitiveness lost. Once upon a time they set off or Taiwan's export contribution of the pioneer who is now living on their native place more than their survival. Taiwan's garment industry, the near－emptying clothing accessories expected, the industry chain from Taipei City Tihua Street and Wing Lok fabric cloth wholesale market economy obvious visible in today. From its heyday to the present sporadic scattered, not spectacular Cause for regret. I expected as a garment industry in which Deputy member of deeply personal pain. therefore PK Industries of the Company as a case, thirty years of experience working the idea, the focus of migration experienced business transformation strategy, yet to be surviving so far, EMBA program by two years while the influence of baptism, then the company has put years of operating experience combined with the theoretical idea, the next step from the academic point of view of any business strategy and restructuring and upgrading.

<p>This study uses Actor – Network Theory as a lens to present a case study of the process by which Indiska Magasinet, a large Swedish retailer, has defined and developed its conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility. Actor – Network Theory offers a valuable tool to examine the inter-actor negotiations that precede a conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility. The study results are primarily based on interviews with two prominent Indiska personnel in decision-making positions. At the instigation of the writers, the Indiska personnel told stories about the company’s way of working with Corporate Social Responsibility. In doing so, they described four principle examples of how inter-actor negotiations resulted in significant developments in Indiska’s approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. Their stories also highlighted shared values and legitimacy as the main reasons that Indiska allows other actors to influence its conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility.</p>

This study uses Actor – Network Theory as a lens to present a case study of the process by which Indiska Magasinet, a large Swedish retailer, has defined and developed its conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility. Actor – Network Theory offers a valuable tool to examine the inter-actor negotiations that precede a conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility. The study results are primarily based on interviews with two prominent Indiska personnel in decision-making positions. At the instigation of the writers, the Indiska personnel told stories about the company’s way of working with Corporate Social Responsibility. In doing so, they described four principle examples of how inter-actor negotiations resulted in significant developments in Indiska’s approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. Their stories also highlighted shared values and legitimacy as the main reasons that Indiska allows other actors to influence its conceptualization of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Esta dissertação tem por objetivo tratar do problema de encaixe de moldes da indústria do vestuário. O problema consiste no encaixe bidimensional de itens pequenos (moldes), que possuem formas irregulares, dentro de um material que será cortado, que possui forma retangular com largura fixa e comprimento variável. O principal objetivo do encaixe é minimizar o desperdício do material que será cortado, neste caso, o tecido. Para tratar o problema do encaixe bidimensional de moldes propõe-se, a partir do desenvolvimento de uma técnica de encaixe, um protótipo funcional.A concepção da técnica foi realizada com as informações obtidas nas etapas de coleta de dados: dados indiretos (Fundamentação Teórica) e dados diretos (Observações Diretas e Entrevistas com especialistas no encaixe manual). Os dados obtidos nessas etapas e, principalmente, a triangulação dos mesmos, permitiram o desenvolvimento da técnica de encaixe de moldes, que consiste em três partes: representação gráfica do tecido e dos moldes, critérios de ordenamento e construção do layout. A técnica proposta está implementada no protótipo funcional Riscare através da linguagem Delphi. Para construir a interface do Riscare, realiza-se uma avaliação da usabilidade de um software comercial com a mesma função. Os conceitos avaliados auxiliaram no desenvolvimento da interface do Riscare. A criação do protótipo funcional possibilitou a comparação da técnica proposta para o encaixe de moldes com encaixes realizados manualmente, com um software comercial e com problemas considerados benchmarks da literatura. Na maioria dos testes comparativos realizados, o Riscare obteve resultados com rendimentos superiores. Os resultados alcançados mostram a qualidade da técnica proposta e, consequentemente, do protótipo funcional desenvolvido. / The objective of this work is to deal with pattern fitting problem in garment industry. The problem is two-dimensional fitting of small items (patterns) that have irregular shapes, within a material to be cut, which has a rectangular shape with fixed width and variable length. The main purpose of fitting is to minimize the material waste, in this case the fabric to be cut. To address the problem of two-dimensional pattern fitting, a functional prototype is proposed based on the fitting technique developed. The design technique is done with the information obtained in data collection: indirect data (theoretical basis) and direct data (observations and interviews with experts in manual fitting). Data obtained in data collection and its triangulation enabled the development of the pattern fitting technique, which consists of three parts: the graphical representation of the fabric and the pattern, the ranking criteria and layout construction. The proposed technique is implemented in Riscare functional prototype, developed using Delphi programming. An usability evaluation of a similar commercial software is performed to build the Riscare interface. The criteria evaluated helped the development of Riscare interface. The development of a functional prototype allows the comparison of the proposed technique for pattern fitting with fitting performed manually, with a commercial software and literature benchmark problems. In most comparative tests, the Riscare obtains results with higher yields. The results show the quality of the proposed technique and the functional prototype developed.