個案資料

In January 2021, the Japanese fashion company Uniqlo was accused of using forced labour in its supply chains. Various news reports had been claiming that Uyghur Muslims were being detained and forced to work on cotton farms, production factories, and processing facilities in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The United States Customs and Border Protection claimed that Uniqlo was not able to fully demonstrate that its products and inputs were manufactured without use of forced labour or modern slavery in Xinjiang, China and issued a Withhold Release Order to detain Uniqlo’s shipment of cotton garments. Uniqlo’s attempts to dispute the allegations and overturn the WRO were unsuccessful. The company had to find a way to ensure transparency and uphold traceability across all streams of its value chain activity. But how could Uniqlo ensure ethical sourcing for all aspects of its products, given limited oversight over suppliers and subcontractors? Was cotton traceability a viable and feasible option? How could Uniqlo ensure the compliance all key actors in its value chain streams, across tiers of suppliers and layers of subcontractors?

This case can be used in undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on global supply chain management and international business. The case outlines the challenges companies face in the oversight of their value chain activities and supply chains, which can lead to serious allegations of forced labour. Another dimension that the case presents is the legislative and legal aspects, which can have a significant impact in ensuring transparency and traceability in complex global value chains such as cotton. After working through the case and assignment questions sudents will be able to<ul><li>identify specific challenges surrounding compliance in the orchestration of global value chain activities;</li><li>compare and contrast a firm’s global value chain compliance options (e.g., cascading compliance versus full chain responsibility);</li><li>understand the concept of comprehensive traceability and transparency in the context of complex global value chains;</li><li>describe the interplay between global value chain legislations and regulations across various jurisdictions (which tackle issues such as forced labour), coordination and oversight of global value chain activities, and the role that technology might play in meeting these regulatory requirements; and</li><li>recommend a series of actions, or courses of action, in assessing the costs and benefits of stakeholder engagement in implementing traceability solutions within the framework of complex global value chains from the perspectives of a lead firm, suppliers, subcontractors, and ancillary global value chains, which may be fragmented across many geographical areas and contexts.</li></ul>

• china
• forced labor
• modern slavery
• Xinjiang
• fashion industry
• trade barriers