Labor Standard Compliance and the Role of Buyers: The Case of the Cambodian Garment Sector

Abstract

Globalization of production, combined with persistent lack of capacity and willingness on the part of developing country governments to regulate their economies, has left regulatory gaps in many parts of the world. As working conditions in global supply chains have come under increased public scrutiny, many multinational enterprises, particularly those that market labor-intensive consumer products, have come to implement codes of conduct and to monitor their suppliers. This rise of private regulation in the labor domain has provoked a heated debate about its effectiveness and desirability, and the debate remains inconclusive mainly due to lack of systematic and rigorous analysis. Using unique data from Cambodia’s garment sector and a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, this thesis fills the gap and shows that the effectiveness of private regulation depends on the buyers as well as the nature of buyer–supplier relationships.