Introduction
Supply chain management is an efficient tool that is used by the automobile manufacturers in order to increase the productivity of the company e.g. Hero Honda, Toyota. These automobile industries create and manage network for knowledge sharing processes.It has been regarded as the high performance resolution. The automobile manufacturer promotes the investments of the resources. In order to gain competitive advantage the firm has to put in join efforts to perform in best possible way. The possession of the resources is considered critical. To develop distinct types of collective efficiencies, coordination must exist in the firm. This was suggested by Thompson’s theoretical model of categorization of interdependencies. The activities of the firm are related to each other in a pooled way. They are interdependent on each other to derive the benefits from the available resources.
The activities of the firm may also be related in a sequential manner. It occurs where the input of any firm will be the output of another firm. The activities of the firm may also be related in a reciprocal way. This occurs when the input of any fir is dependent on the output of other firm and vice versa. (Lazzarini & Paulo, (n.d), p. 351). Another way to develop competitive advantage is by implementing global strategies. It helps the firm to enhance their performance much better. Most of the organization does not possess well developed global strategies, because of this opportunities for improvement goes unrealized. (Trent, & Monczka, (n.d)). The expectations of the firm are aligned In order to avoid the trade hazards and to develop competitive advantage. The firms should focus on safeguarding their mechanisms and should avoid opportunistic expropriation. In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the organization, there should be the presence of solid institutions. For example, Scholars have pointed out that the existence of strong courts helps curb opportunism; parties behave as contracted in these institutional settings, aware of the dire consequences of behaving otherwise (North, 1990; Stone, Levy, & Paredes, 1996)”.
Main Part
Sweatshop monitors have a useful role in every organization. They compel all the factories to improve the safety standards of labour. They can also take the attention of sweatshops one the environment. It was seen that the American pressure on sweatshops is complicated. The labor costs are raised across the world which would help in reducing the number of employees needed. Nike is an example for a company who had raised labor costs. This upshot is to help the employees who are working in Nike plants but to risk job for the others. Sweatshops offer a precious escape from the poverty which was a great problem in the developing countries. The managers would be very strict and brutal while dealing with their employees, sometimes they would force them to work for long hours and there are also strict measures for those who speak on behalf of the workers. The simplest way to help the poorest workers in Asian would be to buy more from sweatshops. (Kristof & WuDunn, 2000).
The high performance requirements demanded of global suppliers, and the extremely high cost of switching suppliers after selection, the use of site visits to evaluate supplier capabilities becomes an important part of the process. The cost to conduct worldwide site visits is often a barrier to involvement with global sourcing projects (Lazzarini & Paulo, (n.d), p. 351).The skill level and the demand and supply of the personnel may vary from country to country, especially in developing countries. Some developing countries face shortage of human resources, while others have them abundantly. Developing countries generally face the problem of unskilled labor. In the past it was labor intensive activities requiring unskilled and semiskilled labor which were mostly taking place in developing countries, but today even the most sophisticated activities are carried out in the developing countries.
The role of organizational cultural aspects in facilitating the behavioral routines of acquiring, analyzing, and disseminating alliance learning throughout the organization is important and the more successful firms have also created incentives for their employees to willingly and freely share their experiences. (Emdena, S Yaprakb & Cavusgil, (n.d), p.891). “Legitimacy problems are confronted with major issues related to compromising labor standards, human rights and environmental damage. The same factors that permitted sportswear companies to grow since the late 1970s, such as taking advantage of global sourcing opportunities to produce lower-cost products and investing these savings in innovative designs and marketing campaigns have also created serious problems for companies over the last 20 years.” (Nijhof, Forterre, & Jeurissen, (n.d), p.513).
In many organizations in America it is seen that the labor force is actively prevented from forming unions. At the same time the employers take care that the employees are not harassed and are not facing any threats of dismissal. However, in the1990s, politicians, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other pressure groups started to target global companies, mainly because in developing countries majority of the companies are globalizing and they became concerned about the standards relating to poor labor conditions, ecological degradation, the exploitation of developing countries, poor wages, poor industrial atmosphere and the fear of cultural domination. They were trying to address the joint responsibility for social issues and also the right of employees on a global scale.
Some of the factors taken into account by the organization includes, the codes of conduct give a clear picture about the expectations of buyers and suppliers. This can be planned with the direct connection between suppliers or through agreement with suppliers. To deal with the problem of labor exploitation they formed the Fair Labor Association. It monitors the human rights of employees in the organization. Some studies in the organization showed that monitoring alone will not produce any better results. In order to find the root cause of poor working conditions we should combine monitoring effort with some other interventions. This will help to improve the working condition. Investing heavily in the training programs will help the employees to be aware of their rights. (Nijhof, Forterre, & Jeurissen, (n.d), p.513) Keeping sufficient delivery time helps suppliers to deliver these orders in time according to norms.
Conclusion
Supply chain management is becoming increasingly more significant and it is important that the ethical and operational responsibility for the value chain as a whole is either explicitly denied, or not explicitly accepted. This lack of responsibility and clearly defined roles could eventually hamper the organization as a whole, as public perception seems to center around it The organization should have control over all the aspects of the global value chain and they should have the responsibility to provide ethical direction to the industry They should also see that all the labor standards in their organization are properly implemented and followed. In every organization employees are the back bone.. For a multinational company the major ethical problem is to set the moral limits in a pluralistic world in order to do business in the developing country. Good working atmosphere, good wages, good compensation should be given due importance to retain the employees in an organization. The firms that enjoys good profitability and well performing could coordinate those activities of the company that would lead to its success. Maintaining a competitive advantage means pursuing higher-level global sourcing perhaps one of the last untapped and uncoordinated areas capable of providing breakthrough performance improvements.
References
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