reporting/transparency
There is some scepticism about the value of much corporate social responsibility reporting, as it can be vague and principally concerned with generating positive PR for the company. Ideally a brand or retailers report should provide in-depth and detailed information about how they are ensuring that workers' rights are respected throughout their supply chain. This should include information about their code of conduct implementation activities: the procedures a company has adopted and the activities they have undertaken, including audits, to ensure their code of conduct is implemented. They should detail how this information is verified by an independent third party. They should provide details of non-compliance with the code of conduct amongst suppliers and of corrective action undertaken to try and improve conditions, as well as of complaints by workers, trade unions and NGOs and how these complaints were addressed. All companies should have a full understanding of how and where all of their clothes are made and in their CSR report they should disclose a full list of suppliers. It is important that workers receive this feedback as well as other stakeholders.
Further information:
- The Maquila Solidarity Network has produced a report that looks at the kinds of reporting that will be needed in the future to demonstrate whether companies are making progress on improving working conditions in their global supply chains: 'The Next Generation of CSR Reporting'.
- What does a Corporate Social Responsibility report look like? Take a look at Nike and Gap's reports: Nike's 05/06 CSR report and Gap's 2005- 2006 Social Responsibility Report
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