Supply chain disclosure and supplier sustainability: An analysis in the textile industry

This research project aims to examine the impact of supply chain disclosure on supplier sustainability, by focusing on the textile industry. Sustainability has become an important issue on corporate agendas and firms are increasingly being held responsible not only for their own actions, but also the actions of other firms in their supply chain. To be more transparent, firms started to voluntarily reveal their supplier lists to the public. For instance, Marks and Spencer shares the name, location, factory demographics of their suppliers world-wide on an interactive map. Similarly, H&M lists not only their first-tier, but also second-tier suppliers’ information such as the number of workers, address and sustainability grading (i.e. gold, silver). However, it is not clear if disclosing supplier information indeed improves suppliers’ sustainability efforts. This research aims to examine the supplier perspective by means of conducting detailed interviews with textile suppliers. The students are expected to review relevant literature, develop an interview protocol (i.e. key constructs, interview questions) and conduct 8-10 detailed interviews (possibly with multiple interviewees from each firm), and analyse the interview findings.