City Research Online

Abstract

The regulation of activities in global supply chains presents significant challenges, particularly in establishing corporate accountability for human rights violations and addressing extraterritorial oversight. Due to unwillingness or limited capacity of governments to regulate the social externalities of global business activities, the last decade has seen an increase in schemes that use non-state authority to govern corporate conduct beyond borders. Drawing on a qualitative study on the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh, this paper examines the effectiveness of industry-led private governance regimes and CSR practices of multinational corporations in global supply chains, as well as the extent to which private governance can serve as an effective alternative to obligatory regulatory frameworks. The findings confirm that, while both voluntary and mandatory regulatory mechanisms are beneficial, various factors hinder their execution and limit their ability to adequately address corporate abuses of human rights.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© The Author 2025. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version is to be published in Journal of Law and Society, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14676478. Research for this article was funded by the City University Pump Priming Fund.
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform K Law > K Law (General)
Departments:	The City Law School The City Law School > Academic Programmes
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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