The World Economic Forum and Nike: Emerging ‘Shared Responsibility’ and Institutional Control Models for Achieving a Socially Responsible Global Supply Chain?

Employee safety in the global supply chain received international media attention when Rana Plaza, an eight-story building containing an apparel manufacturer, collapsed in the Greater Dhaka Area of Bangladesh on 24 April 2013, resulting in 1,129 people killed and 2,515 injured. Just six months earlier in a less publicized fire at the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory in Dhaka at least 117 people were killed and over 200 injured (Ahmed, 2012). The Rana Plaza fire has galvanized international attention on factory conditions in the global supply chain. In October 2015, the G7 member countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) declared 'the joint responsibility of governments and business to foster sustainable supply chains and encourage best practices' and pledged to 'take action to promote better working conditions by increasing transparency, promoting identification and prevention of risks and strengthening compliant mechanisms [and] strengthen multistakeholder initiatives', to build on 'good practices learned from the Rana Plaza aftermath.'