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the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Bangladeshi supplier factory owners and managers
Trade associations (e.g., BGMEA, BKMEA)
NGOs in developed countries (e.g., Clean Clothes Campaign, SOMO, International Labor Rights
Forum)
International Labour Organization
TEACHING TIP: TIMING
The timing will need to be adjusted, depending on the number of students in the class. For
TEACHING TIP: HELPING WITH THE RESEARCH
The student exercises described here will require research above and beyond reading the case.
That is, the written case is intended to provide a conceptual overview of the issue, but contains
insufficient detail for student teams to do a satisfactory job of preparing their stakeholder and
TEACHING TIP: PRE-LOADING THE SLIDES
It is much more efficient if students send their slides to the instructor in advance, so they can be
loaded on to a master computer and accessed sequentially on the day of the presentations.
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Day 3: Company Reports
On Day 3, student teams are each be given 7 to 10 minutes to present 3 to 5 PowerPoint slides
responding to the following prompt:
questions:
1. What is our involvement in Bangladesh? To what extent do we source our products
there, and from what suppliers? Did we have any exposure at Rana Plaza?
2. What actions do you recommend that the company take now, to assure that our
products are not produced in facilities in Bangladesh where workers are at risk for
death or injury in factory fires or structural failures?
3. What are the constraints on putting these recommendations into effect?
In your presentation, please briefly introduce your company to the class and then respond to the
CEO’s three questions.
The companies assigned will depend on the number of students in the class. They may include
the following:
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TEACHING TIP: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT
As a follow-up written assignment or take-home final exam, students may be asked to write an
essay on labor conditions in the Bangladesh garment industry. They should be asked to draw on
everything they have learned, from their own research and the findings of other teams, to answer
the following questions:
Who bears responsibility for working conditions in Bangladesh’s garment industry? Please
consider the responsibility of the following groups: U.S. and European retailers and brands;
clothing buyers; the owners and managers of supplier factories; the governments of Bangladesh,
negotiated do you support, and why? If you recommend changes in the law, what changes do
you recommend?
Day 4: Theory-building Exercise
This segment is designed for more advanced students, e.g., honors upper-division undergraduates
or graduate students. Instructions: ask students to work in teams to answer the following
questions, and then to turn in a written response OR write their responses on the board or butcher
paper affixed to the classroom walls.
1. Develop a typology of strategies to respond to worker abuse by contractors in
complex supply chains.
2. Under what conditions are different strategies appropriate? Can we explain why
different companies responded in different ways?
3. What kinds of data would we need to test these hypotheses?
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the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Epilogue:
The collapse of Rana Plaza intensified scrutiny of the Bangladesh garment industry and
In the weeks after Rana Plaza, several distinct approaches emerged, including both
collective and unilateral action by companies and governments.
In July 2013, a group of international federations of trade unions, Bangladesh unions,
international NGOs, and international brands and retailers reached agreement on what became
Signatory companies agreed to hire an international team of fire and building safety
inspectors to carry out inspections of major suppliers. If factories were found to be unsafe,
to maintain safe workplaces and to comply with upgrade and remediation requirements instituted
by the safety inspector.” In other words, they would have to pay more for the product to cover
the cost of the mandated improvements. In a somewhat controversial provision, the pact allowed
Seventy retailers and apparel brands signed the accord, including Loblaw, H&M,
Carrefour, Inditex, Marks & Spencer, PVH, Abercrombie & Fitch, Esprit, El Corte Ingles,
Benetton, and Mango. Most participating companies were European (Loblaw, Abercrombie &
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the clause requiring third-party arbitration of prices and with possible litigation risk. Walmart,
Gap, Target and several other U.S. firms backed an alternative agreement, negotiated with the
so).
Walmart also took unilateral action, announcing it would hire an external auditor, Bureau
In other developments:
On April 28, 2013, Sohel Rana was arrested as he was trying to flee across the border to
production in Bangladesh.
In June 2013, the Obama administration suspended trade privileges with Bangladesh,
Union threatened to take similar action.
In July 2013, the Bangladeshi government amended its labor law, dropping the
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the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
Appendix A:
SPECIAL TOPIC:
LABOR CONDITIONS IN THE BANGLADESH GARMENT INDUSTRY
TEAM PROJECT ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
that have been proposed and seek to evaluate them and draw conclusions for action.
You will be assigned to a team of 4-5 people. Each team will be assigned to one
stakeholder/government and one company/trade association.
Calendar
(see further instructions below).
[Date]: Each team will have 6 minutes to present on your assigned company or trade association
(see further instructions below).
[Date]: In class, we will discuss possible solutions and theoretical implications.
Instructions for your Class Presentations
[Date]: Stakeholders/governments:
In a 6 minute presentation, using 3 to 6 slides, please answer the following questions:
garment industry?
3) What is this stakeholder/government’s position on what should be done (if anything) to
improve labor conditions in the Bangladeshi garment industry?
view of your stakeholder or government.
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[Date]: Companies/trade associations:
In your 6 minute presentation, using 3 to 6 slides, please answer the following questions:
improve labor conditions in the Bangladeshi garment industry? What are the constraints
on doing this?
view of your company or trade association.