Research Seminar with Greg Distelhorst

Order overload? Corporate purchasing practices and labor violations in global supply chains

A catered lunch will be available from 11:30 AM for in-person attendees.

Description:

Are managers creating labor violations overseas through their purchasing practices? Scholars and activists have advanced this argument, but hard evidence remains limited. This study investigates whether delivery schedules set by the buyer are linked to supplier violations of labor standards. Studying a large multinational firm who purchases from over 800 supplier factories around the world, we establish an association between delivery spikes and increased violations of work hours standards. Yet the magnitude of this effect is modest, implying that only a minority of violations could be addressed by a large buyer reducing volatility in its delivery schedule.

Biography:

Greg Distelhorst studies multinational business and corporate sustainability, with a focus on labor in global supply chains. HIs research appears in a range of social science journals including Management Science, Organization Science, Journal of Accounting Research, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Perspectives on Politics, Comparative Political Studies, and Quarterly Journal of Political Science. He is an associate professor at the University of Toronto, appointed at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources and at the Rotman School of Management, Strategic Management Area.