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Title

グローバル生産ネットワークにおける収益慣行の改善に向けた持続可能性プログラムの実施：バングラデシュの視点

Author(s)MD. SULTAN, MAHMOOD

CitationIssue Date2022-03

Type

Thesis or Dissertation

Text version

ETD

URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10119/17785

RightsDescription

Supervisor:永井

由佳里

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Implementing Sustainability Programs toward
improving bottom-line practices in the Global Garment
Sector: Bangladesh perspective

Md Sultan Mahmood

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

Doctoral Dissertation

Implementing Sustainability Programs toward
improving bottom-line practices in the Global Garment
Sector: Bangladesh perspective

Md Sultan Mahmood

Supervisor: Professor Yukari Nagai

Graduate School of Advanced Science and Technology,
Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Knowledge Science
March 2022

II

Abstract
Purpose of the study. Sustainability is a long-debated issue, and there is no universal
approach to implement sustainability programs for all organizations. The broad aim of thisstudy is to explore the implementation of sustainability programs (SP) by the lead suppliers
improving all bottom lines performances of the labor-intensive global garment sector. The
purpose is reached through three research queries. First, what does sustainability mean to
the garment suppliers, and how important is sustainability program to consider in thecurrent business practices? Second, what are the key performance indicators to implement
sustainability programs by garment suppliers? Furthermore third, how do the workplacecompliance pressures mediate to improve suppliers' sustainability programs?
Materials and Method. We designed an exploratory case study with multiple cases
from the Bangladesh garment sector. The study chose the Bangladeshi garment industry as
the study context due to the increased pressures for social and environmental compliances
after several workplace occurrences. We selected only three case companies after
considering the research aim, data collection protocols, and accessibility to the study
setting. The study employed multi-methods of interviews, observations, and document
reviews for data collection from the three Bangladeshi apparel manufacturers. We selected
the twenty-two respondents through non-probability sampling for interview data collection.
The researcher analyzed all interview data through the thematic content analysis technique.
Study Result. The study uncovered three key findings. First, the case companies
considered sustainability programs as standardized practices or corporate business policies
overcoming the internal and external challenges. These challenges appeared after the
stakeholders' pressures since the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse. The internal challenges
concerning organizational operational and external forces led case firms to adopt regulatory
safety compliance initiatives immediately after the 2013 factory collapse. Second, casefirms developed five bottom lines (FBL) capabilities by focusing on the workplace,environmental, social, economic, and governance dimensions. These capabilities help firms
tackle organizational and operational challenges facing day-to-day business activities. Theydeveloped almost twenty-three key performance indicators (KPIs) under the FBL
capabilities. Although there were many differences among the KPIs, they set them asvisible measures to scale their SPs. Third, workplace compliance was underpinned as theinitial effort that mediated the SPs through several phases. They addressed factories' safetyissues and set initiatives to remediate them. Second, they extended the programs that
contribute to societal and environmental practices, and finally, they combined SPs tocontinue the changes for creating new business scopes.
To firm A, workplace safety, occupational health, and cleaner production assessment
are the three key initiatives to embrace sustainability practices. These initiatives becamevery visible and measurable toward improving bottom-line performance. On the other hand,firm B emphasized transforming human capital through ensuring workers' human rights,
labor codes practices, empowerment, skilled training, and other volunteering activities
alongside workplace safety and occupational health. However, this firm also addressed theecological impacts, process wastes, and resources barriers to expedite environmental
assessment, offset the carbon emissions, and develop resource management. However, casefirm C is more structured in sustainability orientation than the other two firms. They
adopted legal compliance, ethical business practices, and environmental footprint
management toward their sustainability journey. The global business norms such as United
Nation Global Compact (UNGP) and Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) are two parameters
to set their standards in the bottom-line performances. The top management considers
employees' health, workplace safety, empowerment, social sponsorships, decarbonization,
green infrastructure, etc., as strategic initiatives to lead garment export business in thecompetitive edge.
All three firms differentiated among them, deeming their corporate strategies, policymaking, and KPIs practices. Their corporate statement showed how to embody
sustainability through their business activities. Each firm set a vision to be the mostregarded company by offering quality products and the best manufacturing services withless social and environmental costs. The study results revealed that the corporate leaders of
all three firms learned triple-bottom-line issues from many national regulations
international and global management standards. They combined their knowledge with theirinternal organizations and converted these into policies and action plans to implement
sustainability programs. The study argued that the garment suppliers' sustainability
programs should be considered five bottom lines instead of three bottom lines.
Theoretical implications. The study argued that the case firms of the global garment
sector integrated knowledge management alongside institutional, resource-based, andstakeholder approaches to create core values, corporate policies, and business practices
toward sustainability programs. The study found that the firms accepted global climateiiissues and societal impacts as core to rethink with the business activities. Therefore, they
combined those concerns with core business activities to set the sustainability programs inoperational and organizational practices. The corporate team of all three companies
socializes with different knowledge partners, auditors, and international organizations tounderstand business norms and standards toward sustainability practices. The management
employees became more scope to receive outside knowledge on implementing policies,
standards, and indices over safe, healthy, and green work environment toward sustainability
programs.
Practical Implication. The study results have a high impact considering practical
implications. The study identified a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) with hundredsof the above measures. These indicators help the small and medium garment suppliers
incorporate the SP in their operating model. The managers of direct garment exporters in
the GGS can use the specific measures to scale their facilities' performance concerning
bottom lines. Again, the manufacturers who fell in the indirect sourcing model also use the
KPIs of this study to promote sustainability practices within their facilities. To implement
SP, the Bangladesh garment sector needs to carefully align its economic contributions with
its long-term workplace safety, social security, environmental accountability, and corporate
governance. In this light, the study results provide the hundreds above practical measures
under twenty-third KPIs for enhancing the five bottom lines practices of the garment
suppliers.
The originality of this study. The study identified the garment suppliers' sustainability
program (SSP) through a case study research strategy to promote the bottom-line practices
in the GGS context. Many business frameworks have been illustrated in the prior literaturethat is overgeneralized, including macro views, and challenging to translate into practicegarment sector context. Therefore, the context-specific framework on SSP became craving
need to be explored. This study aimed to explore such framework from lead suppliers'
sustainability practice for the whole garment sector on implementing sustainability
practices in the complex production network. The study, thus, designed a framework thatthree factors: independent factors (barriers), motivating factors (drivers), and dependent
variables such as KPIs from three case firms toward sustainable business practices.

iii

Limitation and the future study. The main limitation of this study is to exclude theindirect garment exporters. Due to access limitations, reluctance to share information, andlack of business data, this study did not consider the subcontractor or informal garment
sector. However, these limitations invite future studies on greater context, including direct
and indirect suppliers in a global production network. Future investigations can also seek
the relationship between materiality issues and business performances, excluded here. How
much impact on productivity and worker efficiencies after implementing sustainability
issues may offer an exciting insight for future research?
Keywords: Sustainable development, readymade garment, Textile and Apparel Industry,
Workplace Safety, Social Compliance, Ethical Trading, Environmental, Social andGovernance, Ecological Footprint.

iv

Acknowledgment
I pay my sincere gratitude and heartfelt thanks to Professor Yukari Nagai, my dearsupervisor, for constant suggestions and encouragement during this research. She supports
preparing a research plan, design, data collection, and analysis and report writing phases. I
became fortunate to receive her cooperation and insights to improve my research skills.
I am also indebted to the second supervisor of Associate Professor Riehyei Kang forher valuable cooperation and suggestions across the research processes. I am grateful to Dr.
Jader Zelaya, assistant professor of Nagai Lab, for his fruitful comments and feedback inthe seminar presentation that helped rearrange the research processes.
I am also indebted to all Ph.D. committee members, including Professor Youji Kohda,
Professor Shungo Kawanishi, Associate Professor Kim Eunyoung of Japan Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology, and the external examiner, Associate Professor
Norani Nordin of University Utara Malaysia, for their thoughtful guidance, suggestions,comments, and constant supports in preparing the final dissertation.
My special appreciation and thanks are conveyed to Mr. Shahin, Mr. Shibly, and Mr.
Azad, whose great cooperation helped in accessing the case companies’ production sites.
Besides, I showed my sincere gratitude to the Directors, Chief Operating Officers, andSenior Managers of the case firms who gave their valuable time to share their opinions andexperiences during data collection.
Moreover, I thank two assistances, Sudipta Das Gupta and Maliha Samiha Zaman,
graduate students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet, Bangladesh,for their abundant supports during data collection in the second phase. I also owe to thethree anonymous reviewers whose detailed comments in research articles provide me withconcrete guidelines to improve the research quality and internal and external validity of theresearch results.
I want to convey my appreciation to JAIST for offering me the fellowship in the
doctoral study that enhanced motivation to pursue the empirical investigation in the minor
research project as a substantial part of the doctoral degree requirement.
Lastly, I am very much thankful to my parents, whose everyday prayers guide me to
the right path. I would like to express gratitude to my wife Nilima Haque Ruma, whose
love, cooperation, and encouragement have always been with me throughout my doctoral
degree. My thankfulness also goes to my beloved daughter, Yousra Mahmood, who has
sacrificed lots of times without me in her infant age.

v

Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................... i
Acknowledgment.................................................................................................................... v
Table of Contents .................................................................................................................. vi
List of Tables and Figures ...................................................................................................... x
Acronyms ............................................................................................................................. xii
CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND ...................................................................................... 1
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Problem Statement ........................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Research Aim, Objectives, and Questions ....................................................................... 3
1.2.1 Research Aim ........................................................................................................................... 3
1.2.2 Research Objectives ................................................................................................................. 3
1.2.3 Research Questions (RQs) ....................................................................................................... 4

1.3 Significance of the study .................................................................................................. 4
1.4 Research Originality ......................................................................................................... 4
1.5 Structure of the study ....................................................................................................... 6
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................ 8
2. Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 8
2.1 Operational Definitions .................................................................................................... 8
2.1.1. Sustainability: Definition, Origin, and Dimension .................................................................. 8
2.1.1.1 Definition of the Sustainable Development or Sustainability ........................................... 8
2.1.1.2 The origin of the Sustainability concept ........................................................................... 9
2.1.1.3 Dimensions or pillars of Sustainability........................................................................... 10
2.1.2. Global Garment Sector (GGS): A brief introduction ............................................................ 14
2.1.2.1 Introduction to GGS. ...................................................................................................... 14
2.1.2.2 Sources of Social and environmental impacts of the GGVC .......................................... 16

2.2 The multi-disciplinary literature on sustainability programs ......................................... 16
2.2.1 Business barriers toward sustainability practices in the GGS ................................................ 17
2.2.1.1 Internal barriers............................................................................................................... 17
2.2.1.2 External issues and pressures.......................................................................................... 18
2.2.2 Capabilities toward achieving bottom-line practices ............................................................. 19
2.2.2.1 Environmental bottom-line capabilities .......................................................................... 20
2.2.2.2 Social bottom-line capabilities ....................................................................................... 22
2.2.2.3 Corporate governance and management capabilities ...................................................... 24vi

2.2.3 Sustainability practices in the Bangladesh RMG sector......................................................... 25

2.3 Theories in the ‘Sustainability’ research ........................................................................ 27
2.3.1 Knowledge-based view .......................................................................................................... 28
2.3.2 Resource-based view of firm.................................................................................................. 29
2.3.3 New-institutional theory of firm ............................................................................................ 30
2.3.4 Stakeholder theory ................................................................................................................. 30

2.4 Summaries of the reviewed literature ............................................................................. 32
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................... 35
3. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 35
3.1. Research Setting: A brief introduction to Bangladesh RMG Sector ............................. 35
3.1.1 The early phase (1978 – 1994) ............................................................................................... 35
3.1.2 The MFA-quota phase (1995 – 2004) .................................................................................... 36
3.1.3 The MFA quota phase-out (2004 -2012)................................................................................ 36
3.1.4 The darkest phase (2012-2013) .............................................................................................. 36
3.1.5 The workplace safety program phase (2014-2018) ................................................................ 37
3.1.6 The Sustainability Phase (since 2019) ................................................................................... 37

3.2. Research design ............................................................................................................. 38
3.2.1. Case study: the main instrument of QRD.............................................................................. 38
3.2.1.1. Case selection ................................................................................................................ 39
3.2.1.2. Research Respondents ................................................................................................... 41
3.3.3 Phases of data collection ........................................................................................................ 43
3.3.4 Measurement of Data collection ............................................................................................ 44
3.3.4.1. Interview Instrument...................................................................................................... 44
3.3.4.2. Onsite Observation ........................................................................................................ 46
3.3.4.3. Document Review ......................................................................................................... 47
3.3.5 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 47
3.3.5.1 The internal documents and observation analysis .......................................................... 48
3.3.5.2 Interview data analysis ................................................................................................... 48

3.3. Challenges during data collection and analyses stages ................................................. 52
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS FROM DATA ANALYSIS ............................................... 53
4. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 53
4.1 Case Introduction ........................................................................................................... 53
4.1.1 Firm A .................................................................................................................................... 53
4.1.2 Firm B .................................................................................................................................... 54
4.1.3 Firm C .................................................................................................................................... 55

4.2 Cross-case summaries .................................................................................................... 56
4.2.1 The overview of case firms’ economic activities and business impacts ................................ 56
vii

4.2.2. Case firm’s corporate policies and programs ........................................................................ 61
4.2.2.1 Workplace safety compliance (WSC) programs ............................................................ 62
4.2.2.2 Social and ethical programs (SEPs) ................................................................................ 63
4.2.2.3 Environmental footprint management (EFM) program .................................................. 64
4.2.2.4 Corporate governance program ...................................................................................... 66

4.3 Respondent analyses....................................................................................................... 67
4.3.1 Respondents’ perception of Sustainability and its necessities ............................................... 67
4.3.2 Governance dimension ........................................................................................................... 69
4.3.3 Social dimension .................................................................................................................... 74
4.3.4 Environment dimension ......................................................................................................... 77
4.3.5 Economic dimension .............................................................................................................. 80

CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS DISCUSSIONS .................................................................... 83
5. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 83
5.1. The definition and necessities of ‘Sustainability’ from garment supply firm’s context 83
5.2 Case Organizations’ initiatives toward bottom lines practices ...................................... 85
5.2.1 Workplace health safety compliance (WHSC) ...................................................................... 86
5.2.2 Environmental Performance Management (EPM) ................................................................. 89
5.2.3 Social and Ethical Compliance Standards (SECS)................................................................. 92
5.2.4 Economic Growth and Prosperity .......................................................................................... 97
5.2.5 Corporate Governance and Leadership (CGL) ...................................................................... 99

5.3 Workplace Safety Compliance (WSC) program toward Sustainability ....................... 104
5.3.1 Address workplace safety issues and set initiatives to remediate them ............................... 104
5.3.2 Extend the initiatives that contribute to societal and environmental practices..................... 106
5.3.3 Combine SPs to continue the changes for creating new business scope .............................. 107

5.4 Case firms’ Sustainability Programs toward bottom lines performance ...................... 110
CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION ...................................................................................... 115
6. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 115
6.1 Answer to the Research Questions ............................................................................... 115
6.2 Research implication .................................................................................................... 118
6.2.1 Theoretical Contributions..................................................................................................... 118
6.2.1.1 Findings contribute to existing literature ...................................................................... 118
6.2.1.2 Findings contirbute to existing theories of firms .......................................................... 120
6.2.2 Practical Implication ............................................................................................................ 122

6.3 Limitation and Future Study......................................................................................... 123
6.3.1 Research Limitation ............................................................................................................. 123
6.3.2 Future study.......................................................................................................................... 124
viii

6.4 Concluding Remarks .................................................................................................... 125
Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 126
Appendix A: Questionnaire ................................................................................................ 139
Appendix B: Interview Summaries .................................................................................... 140
Appendix C: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) .............................................................. 146
Appendix C1: Workplace Health Safety Compliance ........................................................ 146
Appendix C2: Environmental Performance Management ................................................. 147
Appendix C3: Social and Ethical Compliance Standards .................................................. 147
Appendix C4: Economic Growth and Prosperity ............................................................... 148
Appendix C5: Corporate Governance and Leadership (CGL) ........................................... 149

ix

List of Tables and Figures
List of Tables
Table 2.1: The RMG sector from a legal, ethical, and social compliance perspective ... 25-26
Table 3.1: Case Selection Criteria ........................................................................................ 40
Table 3.2: The details of Research Respondents .................................................................. 41
Table 3.3 Demographic Profile of Research Respondents ................................................... 42
Table 4.1 Case Firm’s Corporate Profiles ............................................................................ 56
Table 4.2: The resource and waste intensity of three firms in 2018-2019 ........................... 59
Table 4.3 Case firms’ Corporate Governance policies......................................................... 60
Table 4.4: Factories’ safety corrections .......................................................................... 61-62
Table 4.5 Ethical compliance and social needs meeting by case firms ................................ 63
Table 4.6 EFM practices developed by case firms .......................................................... 63-64
Table 4.7: Organizational knowledge management through training & development
programs. ......................................................................................................................... 70-71
Table 5.1 Key Materiality or Sustainability Issues by case firms ................................... 84-85
Table 5.2: Changes and impacts after combining sustainability program. ................. 107-108
Appendix Table A1: Content Questionnaire for Management Employees ........................ 122
Appendix Table A2: Content Questionnaire for Non-management Employees ................ 123
Appendix Table B1: Respondents’ comments over social dimension ........................ 123-125
Appendix Table B2 the respondents’ comments on the environmental dimension .... 125-126
Appendix Table B3: the respondents’ comments on the economic dimension .......... 127-128
Appendix Table C1: Firms’ Initiatives toward WHSC ...................................................... 129
Appendix Table C2 Suppliers' strategies for Environmental Performance Management .. 130
Appendix Table C3: Suppliers core strategies for Social and Ethical Compliance Standards............................................................................................................................................ 131
Appendix Table C4: Companies initiatives toward Economic Prosperity .................. 131-132
Appendix Table C5: Firms’ initiatives of Corporate Governance and Leadership (CGL)132133
xTables of Figure
Figure 2.1: (a) Weak Sustainability (interconnecting pillars); and (b) Strong Sustainability(overleaping pillars). ............................................................................................................ 11
Figure 2.2 Environmental and social bottom-lines impacts of the T&C fashion industry. .. 15
Figure 2.3: Firm’s multi-layered stakeholders within ST theory context . .......................... 31
Figure 2.4 A conceptual framework on ‘Implementing Sustainability Programs’. ............. 34
Figure 3.1: Data triangulation method to gather data from the research setting. ................ 43
Figure 3.2: The steps of data analysis. ................................................................................. 49
Figure 3.3: SCAC process using spreadsheet ....................................................................... 51
Figure: 4.1 (a) The annual turnovers in sales volume and values; (b) The annual growth
rates in sales value ……………………………………………………………………….. 57
Figure 4.2 Firms water and energy performance after implementing CPA&T Figure…… 65
Figure 5.1: Organizational learning and knowledge management matrix ........................ 101
Figure 5.2: Case firms’ sustainability program in the long-term practices. ....................... 104
Figure 5.3: Garment Suppliers’ Sustainability Programs. .................................................. 109

xiAcronyms
BAU – Business as usual
BGMEA – Bangladesh Garment Manufacturing and Exporter Associations
BKMEA - Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturing and Exporter Associations
BODs – Board of Directors
BLP - Bottom-line practices
BLA – Bangladesh Labor Act
BSCI - Business Social Compliance Initiative
CBP -Conventional Business Practices
CBMs – Corporate Board Members
CE - Circular Economy
CEP - Corporate Environmental Performance
CEO – Chief Executive Officer
COCs – Code of conducts
COO- Chief Operating Officer
COPs – Code of practices
CSP - Corporate Social Performance
CSR - Corporate Social Responsibility
DMD – Deputy Managing Director
ECOS - Economic Sustainability
EDP – Employee Development program
EIA - Environmental Impact Assessment
EMS - Environmental Management System
ENVS – Environmental Sustainability
ETI – Ethical Trading Initiative
ETP – Effluent Treatment Plant
FTA – Foreign Trade Association
GGS -Global garment sector
GGVC – Global Garment Value Chain
GOB -Gobernment of Bangladesh
GRI -Global Reporting Initiative
GSC- Global supply chain
GVC - Global Value Chain
ILO – International Labor Organizationxii

ISO – International Standardized Organization
ISMS -International Standardized Management Systems
KPIs - Key Performance Indicators
KBV - Knowledge-based View
LCA - Life-cycle assessment
MD – Managing Director
MNCs - Multi-national Companies
MSC – Manufacturing Supply Chain
MTO - Management Trainee Officer
NGOs – Non-government Organizations
NIT - Neo Institutional Theory
NMOs - Negative Manufacturing Outputs
OECD – Organization of Economic Co-operation Development
OM - Operation Management
PC – Participatory Committee
R&D - Research and Development
RBV - Resource-based View
RMG - Readymade Garment
SOCS - Social Sustainability
SCM - Supply Chain Management
SC – Safety Committee
SPs - Sustainability Programs
ST - Stakeholder Theory
SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats
TBL- Triple Bottom Line
T&C - Textile and Clothing
IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
UNEP – United Nation Environmental Program
UNGC - United Nation Global Compact
VOC - Volatile Organic Compounds
WFCs – Western Fashion Companies
WHS - workplace health and safety
WWF – World Wild Fundxiii

CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND
1. Introduction
The sustainability concept has become influential agenda for corporate firms regardlessof their size, location, and economic functions during the 1990s. The ‘Sustainable
Development’ announcement by the Brundtland Commission, United Nations in 1987 has
focused on the long-term policies and practices concerning socio-economic prosperity andenvironmental outcomes instead of short-term profitability in any context [1]. Nowadays,
this term has become a popular ‘catchphrase’ for every action and policy change.
The curiosity of sustainability in the global supply chain (GSC) literature has been
growing interest over the decades. However, its implementation knowledge in the global
garment sector (GGS) and its GSC has been minimal since the 1990s because of theinfancy of SDGs literature [2] in the context of the clothing industry. The rise of ethicaltrading, labor codes, and stakeholders’ pressure appeared as normative guidelines toward
addressing legal and social accountability issues [3], [4]. Over the years, the multi-national
companies (MNCs) emphasized ethical trading as a starter of the corporate sustainability
agenda.
The GGS is very complex concerning its functions, actors, and dynamism. The
sustainability program in the GGS is the most challenging one because of the constantmarket flux that features with short product lifecycle, fragmented supply chain, andmultiple actors [2], [4]–[6]. It is often a true challenge for corporations what sustainability
initiatives are to be considered. Most MNCs perceived the sustainability concept as an
assessment tool to reduce the supply chain risks and the vulnerability in downstream supply
chain partners such as garment and footwear producers. Companies like Nike, Adidas,
H&M, and Inditex have been held accountable for the actions of their producers concerning
environmental or social impact [2].
1.1 Problem Statement
Bangladesh's Readymade Garment (RMG) sector has held a critical role as asignificant contributor to national economic growth. Concurrently, it was seen as a potential
hindrance to the nation's future development [7]. The sector has become the engine of thecountry's economic growth since the 1990s contributing to employment generation, exportrevenues, and improving living standards. Again, the production facilities of the RMG
sector also exploit a significant number of natural resources and emit industrial wastes [8].
Additionally, several unexpected occupational accidents, like workplace fires and building
collapses, have caused massive fatalities and occupational injuries.
The RMG sector often grips the media attention because of industrial mishaps. The
workplace events like the Tazreen fire accident and the Rana Plaza collapse have occurredin the two consecutive years, 2012 and 2013, respectively [9]. These accidents haveuncovered the hidden scenarios of the working conditions of the world’s reputed apparelbrands’ productions network. Simultaneously, they have been accused of aggressive supply
chain activities, unethical buying strategies, and suppliers’ contracting policies [6], [10].
These scandals have stressed fashion brands and their license producers to raise awarenessof workplace regulations related to worker safety, health, and work conditions [11]. The
2013 factory collapse depicted the governance gaps over social, ethical, workplace safety
dimensions. Therefore, the continuous pressures over legal and social compliance havemotivated the Western Fashion Companies (WFCs) to introduce their code of conduct(COCs) to protect workplace hazards, health safety, and workers’ rights [12], [13].
These regulatory and voluntary COCs have diffused throughout the garment supply
chain activities and transmitted the additional pressures to the production locations of thedeveloping countries' suppliers like Bangladesh. The global brands have been progressively
imposed their COCs and standardized audit requirements on the Bangladeshi suppliers overworkplace safety compliance [3]. Moreover, the stakeholders' environmental and social
governance pressures have emerged to enhance corporate transparency and accountability[7]. Therefore, the Bangladesh RMG sector has been fallen into two challenges after the2013 Rana Plaza collapse. First, the industry must provide regulatory safety inspections
over factories’ constructions and third-party audits over social and environmental
regulations. Secondly, they need to compromise the external pressures of third-party
interventions.
Numerous empirical investigations have taken place after the 2013 Rana Plaza accident
that has disclosed several internal and external challenges and motivating factors of the
Bangladesh RMG sector. Many of those studies have depicted worker’s safety issues,
inadequate workplace compliance, inhumane work conditions, and human rights violations
[2],

[6],

[10],

[13]–[15].

Severalothershavehighlighted

resource

crisis,2|P a g epollution/emissions, corporate social responsibility and accountability, and other legal
issues [4], [8], [16]–[18]. However, those studies are isolated concerning a holistic
sustainability perspective. But the literature has focused on several issues related toworkplace, social and environmental dimensions.
Nevertheless, the implementation of sustainability programs from the garment
suppliers’ perspective is little acknowledged in the prior studies. In this study, we haveendeavored to find a pathway to overcome the challenges. Therefore, this study fills theacademic lacuna of the sustainability literature in the labor-intensive garment sector.
1.2 Research Aim, Objectives, and Questions
The inhumane work condition, resource constraints, environmental risks, and societal
impacts stimulate garment suppliers to rethink the sustainable business case beyond thebusiness-as-usual (BAU) 1 over the years. Many frameworks and models are found on
implementing sustainability agenda from developed countries' contexts. This study explores
the implementation of sustainability programs by the developing country’s garment
suppliers. The novel point of this research is to develop the key performance indicators
toward improving bottom lines performance.
1.2.1 Research Aim
The broad aim of this study is to explore the implementation of sustainability programs
toward improving all bottom-line performances by the garment suppliers of the laborintensive global garment sector.
1.2.2 Research Objectives
The study also focuses on a few specific objectives to be achieved. These are as
follows.
 To explore the meaning of sustainability from the garment supplier’s perspective.
 To identify the key performance indicators developed by garment manufacturers
toward sustainability.
 To explore the importance of workplace safety compliance pressures mediating
sustainability programs.

1

BAU –refers as the conventional business practices that are high consumption-led and waste-driven.
3|P a g e

1.2.3 Research Questions (RQs)
Major Research Question (MRQ): How do the lead suppliers implement the
Sustainability Program (SP) toward bottom-line practices (BLP) in the labor-intensive
global garment sector?
And, the SRQs are,
 SRQ1: How do garment suppliers define sustainability, and why is it important toconsider improving business practices?
 SRQ2: What are the key performance indicators set by garment suppliers towardsustainability programs?
 SRQ3: How do workplace safety compliance pressures mediate sustainability
programs suppliers’ sustainability programs?
1.3 Significance of the study
In response to the research's main aim and objectives, the study put several
contributions in multidisciplinary fields on sustainability literature. First, the study focuseson lead garment suppliers’ viewpoints in implementing workplace safety programs in the
production facilities of the labor-intensive industry in developing countries, which is yet
less investigated. Second, it also emphasizes exploring and interpreting the lead suppliers’
strategies on environmental, social, and governance initiatives in production sites which israrely covered in the prior works. Third, it engages managers’ perceptions of the garment
suppliers who are an indispensable part of the company’s policymaking and sustainability
program, which has been often overlooked in the literature. Fourth, it builds the sectorspecific indicators using the qualitative case study research on the manufacturing setting.
Finally, the study outlines several theoretical perspectives to examine sustainability
programs for increasing knowledge science roles in sustainability literature.
Besides, the study findings leave many hints for future investigations that will be
untouched due to the limitation of the research subject, methodology, and analyticaltechnique. This case study research represents the critical perspectives of the sustainability
agendas from the three leading suppliers of the Bangladesh RMG sector, which can validate
and reproduce the originality of its finding. Therefore, the study can be utilized as a
guideline or a set of examples for effectively improving sustainability practices.
1.4 Research Originality
4|P a g e

The study advocates the sustainability program for promoting BLP in the global
garment supplier context. There have been seen many frameworks such as Triple Bottom
Line (TBL) by Elkington (1997), Sustainable Manufacturing by the Organization of
Economic Co-operation Development (OECD), and Circular Economy (CE) by McAurther
Foundation discussed in the previous literature. These frameworks have suggested thegeneralizations organization’s performance either a single dimension or all three
dimensions of sustainable development. But they have not scaled specific guidelines for the
garment sector to address sustainability issues in the complex production network. The
study, thus, has identified three critical issues that motivated garment suppliers to
implement sustainability programs. First the necessity of sustainability programs (SPs) for
overcoming the barriers of the CBP. Second, to maintain their financial growth and otherbottom-line practices by setting key performance indicators of SPs. Finally, to develop asafe workplace and workers' health safety to overcome the internal and external pressures.
The study extends sustainability literature in multi-disciplinary fields, including theknowledge science discipline. The results differ from the previous literature that broadens
the perspectives in the different academic angles and practical applications. In line withprior studies, the study highlights efficient resource management, waste/emission reduction,social equity, human rights practices, social responsibility, productivity improvement,
automation, and cleaner technology integration as key performance indicators toward
improving bottom line practices. However, the human capital, knowledge resource,
workplace regulations and norms, and stakeholders’ partnership projects are the main driverto implement sustainability programs across the supplier’s BLP. They are hardly revealedin the literature. These drivers are supported by the resource-based view (RBV),
knowledge-based view (KBV), neo-institutional theory (NIT), and stakeholder theory (ST).
This study finds that the corporate board members of the case firms are pursuing todevelop their knowledge and experiences for corporate governance and leadership practice.
They have emphasized organizational learning and vocational education, stakeholders'involvement, standardized systems, and management training as corporate governanceagendas. Here, the study results argue that the employees’ knowledge capital andcollaboration are the creative assets of firms. All firms should continuously upgrade these
intangible assets through training and knowledge sharing with all stakeholders.

5|P a g ePrevious literature's major drawbacks are excluding workplace compliance andcorporate governance issues to implement sustainability. The study has focused on these
two aspects as significant dimension toward implementing sustainability programs for the
garment suppliers’ context. The Bangladesh RMG sectors often criticize inhumane work
conditions due to weak factory constructions and inadequate safety preferences. Besides,
the external stakeholders have charged the garment suppliers and manufacturers for poor
corporate governance concerning workplace safety compliance. Therefore, we consideredthese two significant factors with the three other BLP as the holistic sustainability
perspective.
1.5 Structure of the study
The dissertation paper consists of six chapters: ‘Research Background,’ ‘Literature
Review,’ ‘Research Methodology,’ ‘Research results and discussion,’ ‘Answer to researchquestions,’ ‘and ‘Conclusion, Implication, and Limitations.’
Chapter 1 draws the motivation of this study on the sustainability concept. Besides, thechapter contains the problem statement that discusses why the sustainability issue has
become a business plan in the GGS. The study also illustrates its contributions and novel
points that guide practitioners and multidisciplinary literature toward future studies.
Chapter 2 provides extensive analyses and a critical review of prior literature on thesustainability paradigm and its insertion into the fashion supply chain and garment
production network. Moreover, the study also explains the theoretical connections ofsustainability research and extends the position of the knowledge-based management
approach for this research.
Chapter 3 reminds us of the overall research procedures, including research approach,design, strategies, sampling procedures, methods of the data collection, and data analysis
protocols. Moreover, the chapter highlights the research setting at the beginning tounderstand why this is crucial to select for investigating sustainability issues in the GGS
context.
Chapter 4 demonstrates the data analyses to reveal research findings. The data analysis
comprises three subsections: the case firm’s introduction, cross-case analysis using
observation and document summaries; finally, the respondents’ perception of sustainability
program from interview analyses. This chapter mainly contains the data analysis presented
6|P a g e

in the three subsections. The data analysis has outlined the case organization’s economic
activities, corporate governance, and social and environmental bottom-line practice.
Chapter 5 discusses the results derived from case study investigations. The first
subsection includes the respondents’ perceptions of the sustainability agenda to describe
case firms’ sustainability approach. The second subsection describes their key performanceindicators (KPIs) to improve SPs, and the third subsection outlines the factors that mediate
implementing sustainability programs. The final subsection highlights the case firms’
strategies toward improving sustainability programs
Chapter 6 answers all three subsidiary research questions and the central researchquestion to model the SPs in the garment export business. Moreover, the research examines
prior studies and four dominant theories to support the results. And we also describe how
this study helps practitioners transform sustainability knowledge into practice. Third, thestudy has depicted the research limitation from various perspectives and discussed how
these gaps promote future study scopes. In the concluding remark section, we briefly
discuss the claims of the study findings.

7|P a g e

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2. Introduction
Sustainability orientation is not new, and it has gained profound attention acrossdisciplines and business practices since the 1990s. To date, many literatures have beenyielded on sustainability issues and practice concerning environmental risks, social justice,economic prosperity, health safety, corporate governance, and so on. The remainders of thischapter shed light on several multi-disciplinary literature on the barriers, motivating forces
and importance of sustainability implementation in the global garment production network.
Moreover, the broad objective of this chapter is to address the gaps in the prior literaturesand develop a framework in the context of the global garment sector from a theoreticalperspective.
2.1 Operational Definitions
2.1.1. Sustainability: Definition, Origin, and Dimension
2.1.1.1 Definition of the Sustainable Development or Sustainability
The term ‘sustainability is robust and contains diversified meaning that varies
depending on disciplines and business practices. Broadly, it refers to a fundamental
paradigmatic shift around the concept of human progress [19]. The Oxford Language
Dictionary defines sustainability “as an ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.”
The Brundtland commission of the United Nations provided a widely accepted definition in
their assembly report, ‘Our Common Future’ in 1987. They defined, the SD is “thedevelopment that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs [20].”
Many scholars have criticized Brundtland's definition because of its incomprehensible
and elusiveness to achieve sustainable development [21]. Since 1987, Brundtland’s call forsustainability has resulted in two opposite perceptions among scholars, such as the ‘growth
as usual’ and ‘development without growth’ in a system or process beyond environmental
capacity [22]. The typical definition of sustainability has failed to guide practitioners towhat it is or is not at a functional level [23], [24]. The IUCN, UNEP, and WWF in 1991
defined sustainable development as a development of human life that addressed within
ecosystem carrying capacities [21]. Mihelcic et al. have defined sustainability as a system
8|P a g ethat ensures human and industrial system design without adverse impacts on social
conditions, human health, and the environment [25, p. 5315]. On the other hand, Gladwin etal. [19] has argued that sustainability could be conceptualized as an eco-efficiency problem,
mostly involving pollution prevention and resource conservation
John Elkington’s [26] coined the ‘triple bottom line (TBL) to model corporate
sustainability. He suggested that corporations should focus on economic prosperity withenvironmental quality and social justice to measure the organization’s “triple bottom line
(TBL)” performance [26]. Dyllick and Dyllick [23] specified corporate sustainability as
meeting the needs of a firm’s direct and indirect stakeholders (such as shareholders,
employees, clients, pressure groups, communities, etc.) without compromising the needs offuture stakeholders as well [23, p. 131]. Mark Parker, CEO of NIKE Inc. in 2011,
considered sustainability as the nexus of transformation in business, economics, andmarkets. The corporation must address economic, social, and environmental requirements
considering the interest groups at ‘stake.’ However, the corporations and their leaders havepromoted a limited view of sustainability since its inception [24].
The above definitions suggest that corporations revisit economic growth by protecting
human, social, and natural capital. Almost all literature defines sustainability as a balanced
human, social, and natural capital growth. By nature, it is a complicated issue because ofnumerous meanings and conflicts among experts and academic research. Therefore,
organizations become confused about comprehending its application in a practical context.
Again, the overgeneralized definitions often fail to render guidelines for sustainability
implementation.
In this study, sustainability is considered to maintain and improve the organization’sbottom lines’ performance by creating a workplace, social, environmental, and governancecapabilities. A firm can balance the three critical resources: human, nature, and social
through corporate governance, collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. Again, the study
has interpreted the sustainability program to refer to the long-term policies and actions
toward managing business activities without impacting employees’ health, social
livelihood, and environmental loss.
2.1.1.2 The origin of the Sustainability concept

9|P a g eMany scholars have agreed that it is primarily linked to environmental movements
such as ‘limit to growth and climate change issues during the twentieth century [27]. The
numerous literatures mentioned Hans Carl von Carlowitz, a German forester, as the pioneerof the ‘Sustainability’ concept. The German forester introduced the term in 1712 in his
book ‘Sylviculture Oeconomica’ to refer to the “sustainable use” of the forest [27], [28].
The IUCN officially adopted the sustainability concept in 1969 [29], but the idea wasconceived in 1972 as a central theme of the United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment in Stockholm [21].
Nevertheless, the Brundtland Commission coined ‘Sustainable Development' explicitly
in 1987 to address the global warming and climate change issues. The Rio Summit in 1992
and Johannesburg Summit in 2002 designed SD policies, plans of action, and partnershipprojects to attain the sustainable use of water, sanitation, and energy. Finally, the UN
adopted the long-term plan under the “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development” program in the 2015 Paris Agreement. This agenda had becomea universal SDGs framework integrating the 17 goals with 169 targets to eradicate poverty,
protect the planet, and prosperity by 2030 [30].
2.1.1.3 Dimensions or pillars of Sustainability
The SD is characterized by three interlinked dimensions: environment, social, andeconomical. None can be achieved independently without considering others. Many priorpieces of literatures argue that the sustainability concept is re-interpreted as three
dimensions [31] or three pillars: economic, environmental, and social [21]. Elkington [26]has coined the term ‘TBL’ instead of three-pillar sustainability to evaluate corporate
performance. The TBL refers to the firm's commitment to measuring societal andenvironmental impacts and financial growth. More specifically, it motivates corporations todesign the business practices by balancing three P’s: product (economic), people (social),and planet (environment).
The SD concept has portrayed a variety of conceptual models [32], and the mostcommon one that characterized the SD concept was the three-pillar model [33]. The bodyof literature has considered Brundtland’s sustainability concept as a conventional economic
view of sustainability shown in figure 2.1-a. The proponents of Brundtland’s SD concept
often misinterpret the relationships among the three independent pillars of sustainability as
mutually exclusive. However, these three pillars are not mutually exclusive; this concept is
10 | P a g e

identified as week sustainability [21], [32]. Many critics of the Brundtland’s definition
argue that the three pillars are often overlapped with each other. These pillars have a strong
relationship among them that could be drawn in the concentric circle shown in figure 2.1-b.

Figure 2.1: (a) Weak Sustainability (interconnecting pillars); and (b) Strong Sustainability(overleaping pillars)

In prior literatures, we see that the sustainability practices have been divided into two
diverse perspectives: strong sustainability and weak sustainability based on the costs
incurred in achieving them [34]. Moreover, these three dimensions serve as the basis ofmany sustainability indicators, standards, and certification systems. Strong sustainability
has little consideration of financial costs to attain system quality. It mainly focuses on theenvironmental case. In contrast, weak sustainability is normally based on a cost-benefit
analysis that involves the trade-offs2 between socio-environmental and economic benefits[34, p. 14]. Nevertheless, the trade-offs are not always possible among the three pillars [21].
Environmental Sustainability (ENVS). The conventional production systems usually
exploits a massive volume of renewable and non-renewable resources to manufactureindustrial goods. However, the systems cannot return the regeneration capacities at thesame rates to natural systems [35] except promoting industrialization. The rise ofindustrialization has been promoting numeric economic growth, and simultaneously, it hascreated negative environmental pressures. Therefore, environmental sustainability has
become inevitable to corporations since the 21st century [36]. Nowadays, it refers to themaintenance of the natural capital that can regenerate and restore itself. The term ‘ENVS’ is
one essential pillar of Sustainable Development [26].
2

In economics, the term trade-off refers an opportunity cost. To increase continuous financial growth, weare compromising societal and environmental impacts.
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The environmental issue has been recognized as a global problem since the lastcentury. International organizations and states have addressed climate changes and global
warming as nation-wide problems beyond economic growth [27]. Several literatures showthat sustainability programs have focused on improving external environmental pressuressince the 1992 Rio summit in the manufacturing sector [22], [37]. The rise ofenvironmental conservation by international organizations and transnational states has
pushed business communities to develop measures to improve environmental performanceacross the firm’s operating model.
The manufacturing sector heavily relies on energies, freshwater, raw materials, andother artificial resources. The literatures have revealed that the global garment productions
have regularly encountered significant issues: resources exploitation, carbon emission,
air/water/sound pollution, and habitat destructions as environmental impacts [28], [37],[38]. The greenhouse gases, wastewater, excessive heats, and solid wastes are the negative
manufacturing outputs (NMOs) from textile and garment production that are constantly
sinking to the surrounding environment. These NMOs affect biodiversity, regeneration
capacity, and societal processes [39]. Industrial pollutions contain many harmful pollutants
that are adverse to human health and microbes.
Many sustainability literatures put emphasis on environmental conservation laws andstate regulations to reduce the environmental impacts. The MNCs have adopted
environmental cost/benefit (CB) analyses, environmental accounting, and environmental
impact assessment (EIA) to reduce NMOs from manufacturing operations [39], [40]. The
global production network has been quickly embracing environmental regulations andstandardized management practices to minimize the negative impacts across the product life
cycle’s stages [37]. Many expertise and standardized organizations have developed
numerous science-based measures to cooperate with manufacturing industries to minimize
NMOs.
Social Sustainability (SOCS). Social issues have become a vital part of the three-pillar
SD. The SOCS often refers to managing human and social capital [23] or societal resources[2]. However, it has emerged to settle many unsustainability issues that have firmly rooted
in traditional world views, ideologies, and socio-economic institutions [19]. The SOCS
considers that the human being is a central force of the societal issue, and their economic
activities are strongly tied with natural capital. Dyllick et al. [23] specified that human
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capital consists of skills, experiences, motivation, and loyalty that are considered thedriving force for an organization to create policies for sustainable development.
Again, it also combines quality services such as a culture, manners, sound education
system, solidarity, institution, or cooperative entrepreneurship [23]. These qualities shapeemployees’ behavior and value system. Literature shows that a manufacturing firm's SOCS
relates to meeting labor codes' needs, workers' human rights, employees’ social well-being,
stakeholders’ expectations, and contributions to societies. The SOCS has combined theinternal and external factors including human resources (skills, experiences, andknowledge), financial resources, corporate contracts (relationship between actors), tools,
and technologies of a firm. However, several prior studies have described these factors as
the social capabilities of a firm to implement sustainability [41], [42].
On the other hand, a few authors suggest that the SOCS policies consider ethicalbusiness practices and socially accountable behavior of an organization toward its
stakeholders throughout the supply chain [2], [41], [43]. The rise of corporate social
responsibility (CSR) initiatives by MNCs also admit a few facets of SOCS [44], [45].
Before adopting the SDGs, many MNCs started to embrace CSR issues as philanthropic
intents to meet societal and environmental needs across their business practices. However,
the CSR initiatives turned into corporate sustainability practices [23], [46] over the decades
because of the ‘dark side’ of globalization [47], environmental externalities, societal
expectations [48], and emergent ethical trading [49].
Economic Sustainability (ECOS). The ECOS refers to the ‘maintenance of capital’ or
keeping capital undamaged [28], and accountants and economists have possessed theseperceptions since Middle age. Economic growth was considered the numeric success of
rapid goods and services, dictated by ad hoc globalization since the 20th century.
Schumpeter [50] argued for ‘development’ instead of growth by combining quality andquantity improvements. In the subsequent decades, many influential management experts[51]–[53] emphasized external environmental elements toward a firm’s economic
performance. The experts evaluated the firm’s internal and external strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats (SWOT) linked with competitive strategy, resources dependence,and resource-based diversifying capabilities to sustain business competitiveness.
The ECOS is more desirable in business research due to financial reasons [54] andtracked more attention than social and natural capital because of direct short-term benefits
13 | P a g e

[55]. Their risks and brand management underpin almost all companies’ sustainability
initiatives [54], [55]. Nowadays, companies rethink the environmental protection andsocietal impacts of external pressures or self-defense strategies. Therefore, the firm’s
strategic initiatives tackling bottom-line issues promote the conventional economic
mainstay. Goodland [28] criticized the traditional resource-based economic system, whichis rarely concerned with protecting natural capital (such as intact forests, quality air, etc.)
and environmental sink capacities. Economics needs to apply preventative principles andmeasure the actions to tackle uncertainties and risks [40].
Dyllick et al. [23, p. 133] mentioned that economic sustainability requires the company
to cope with several categories of economic capital: financial capital (equity, debt), tangible
capital (machinery, land, stocks), and intangible capital (brand image, innovations,
technical know-how, organizational routines). Economic capital management helps firms toachieve bottom-line performance, which is the goal of TLB. Harik et al. [55] focused onsome internal issues with implementing ECOS. He suggested that firm should address
research and development costs, money waste, brand-related expenses, measuring brandsuccess, branding strategy, innovation and price level management, loyalty, brand officials,
foreign labor, customer satisfaction, expectations, and bribery to minimize financial losses[55, p. 4125].
Although we discussed three pillars of sustainable development, the sustainability
program's dimension is not limited to the three-pillar context. Several literature emphasized
time-perspective [26], manufacturing dimensions [55], technology dimension [37], safety
dimensions [56], [57].
2.1.2. Global Garment Sector (GGS): A brief introduction
2.1.2.1 Introduction to GGS.
The GGS has been recognized as the ‘textile and clothing (T&C) industry or textile andapparel industry (ATI) in the multi-disciplinary literature. It is a diverse and heterogeneous
industry, including many independent operations such as upstream, focal manufacturing,and downstream suppliers [58]. The global supply chain (GSC) or the global value chain(GVC) of the T&C industry is very complex because of multiple actors. This study
recognizes the GSC or GVC of the T&C sector as the global garment value chain (GGVC).
Because the sector includes several other independent industries such as backward linkage,
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textile mills, garment makers, fashion branding and retailing sector, and recycle industries.
Besides, the credit sectors and service providers are intensely connected with the GGS.
In recent decades, many large garment makers have developed a vertical linkage
between textile processing units (washing, dyeing, finishing, printing) with garmentmaking facilities (such as cutting, sewing, finishing). The textile industry and clothing
sector are largely integrated through vertical supply networks, including distribution andsales [58]. The WFCs in the GGS increasingly manage the value chain activities such as
design, outsourcing, distribution, and sales. Above all, the GGS generally is labor-intensive
and creates great basic jobs for unskilled or semi-skilled people. Almost all jobs created in
the production facilities employ the vast majority of marginalized women in Bangladesh
and other developing economies [59].

Figure 2.2 Environmental and social bottom-lines impacts of the T&C fashion industry{Source: adapted from Gardetti & Torres [58] but modified by the author.

The sector uses old technologies, insufficient research and development (R&D)
spending, and conventional management practices with low investment costs [58]. Many
authors find the sector as a first rung of the developing countries' industrialization processthat shares the high economic contributions [60], [61]. Simultaneously, the GGVC industry
has been rapidly expanding with high-value-added segments such as fashion, luxury, andiconic products. These become possible because of increasing consumers, market
competitiveness, disrupting innovation, automation, digital technologies, and increased
R&D spending by Western fashion and luxury brands.
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2.1.2.2 Sources of Social and environmental impacts of the GGVC
According to sustainability literature and the global media coverage, the GGVC put
huge impacts that adverse to the internal work condition and surrounding ecosystem. All
steps of the GGVC: from fiber production to yarn and fabric manufacturing, garment
assembling, retailing, final usage, and post-consumption phases, create the significant
economic outcomes. Simultanously, these steps are the major sources of substantial
negative impacts shown in figure 2.2. Each phase of the T&C generates emissions,pollution, hazardous wastes over the natural resources (energy, water, air, landfill) that are
detrimental to employees’ health and communities' livelihoods.
Although the sector is increasing the economic revenues by an average of 8 to 10
percent [62], the economic impacts on environmental and social dimensions are countless.
The prior literatures have identified carbon emissions as the most common negative impactthat discharges from all steps of the T&C sector. Again, the high volume of wastewater hasdischarged from the T&C sector included volatile organic compounds (VOC) such as toxic
chemicals, solid suspended particles, and other hazardous metals. The VOC affects thenatural water bodies and landfills that endanger the microbes. So the necessity ofharmonizing the economic growths with environmental protection and social wellbeing isessential to address as corporate responsibility of the manufacturing firm.
2.2 The multi-disciplinary literature on sustainability programs
During 1990s, several influential business terms: ethical trading, green economy,
resource efficiency, eco-efficiency, sustainable manufacturing, social manufacturing, andcircular economy emerged in the scientific literature. These concepts had been changed
rapidly over the decades and transformed to sustainability movement to tackle waste-driven
production and climate changes. The GSC, GVC, operation management, and othermanagement and social sciences literatures have depicted several unplanned challenges anduncertainties to implement sustainability practices in the GGS. These businesses challenges
have pushed corporations to reconsider a holistic approach to mitigate organizationalbottom-lines risks. The modern firms had been constantly addressing those businesschallenges and improving capabilities toward improving bottom-lines practices. Here themulti-disciplinary literature review sheds light on the ‘sustainability’ construct from two

16 | P a g eviewpoints: first, the business barriers that motivated sustainability programs, andsecond, the capabilities toward achieving sustainability practices.
2.2.1 Business barriers toward sustainability practices in the GGS
The multi-disciplinary literatures have identified that the GGVC one of the mostpolluting industries and unsafe working environment across production network [6], [63].
The global media, academicians and NGOs have condemned the WFCs like Nike, Disney,
Levi Strauss, Adidas, C&A, and Benetton in the recent decades for unethical businesspractices in their southern production locations [64]. The experts have found that the lack oftighter regulations, legal aspects and standardized management systems in the production
locations of the WFCs [39], [65]. The rise of sustainability programs in the GGVC havegained attention over the last few decades [66] to overcome several unintended challenges.
The prior literatures have revealed numerous challenges in terms of sustainability
thinking that can broadly categorize as internal and external challenges. The priorresearches including Hussain et al. [67], Barrientos et al.[3], Labowitz et al.[6], Hasan
Ashraf [68], Akbar & Ahsan [69], Prentice et al.[70], Dey and Islam [17], Laila Hossain[8], Huq et al. [2], [43] have argued that the internal barriers influence firms to set longterm goals toward improving bottom-lines practices. Again, many other literatures [4], [6],[18], [43], [65], [69], [71] have provided evidence on the behalf of external pressures orinterventions that are continuously pushing suppliers to integrate sustainability standards.
2.2.1.1 Internal barriers
The workplace health and safety (WHS) compliance drew much consideration as aninternal obstacle to achieve social sustainability across the GGS supply network. Many
previous researches emphasized unsafe work conditions (concerning weak factory
structures and fire safety risk) [6], [15], [72], routinely work pressures [13], [70], andinadequate health safety [68], [70], [73], lack of participatory management [4], [6], [74],absence of social compliance [3], [43], [75], and corporate governance practices as key
internal organizational challenges. These internal organizations issues have resulted infrequent occupational accidents, fatalities, and injuries at the production locations.
Labowitz et al. [6] identified governance gaps, lack of inspections, monitoringmechanism, and noncompliant behaviors that promoted the ad hoc growths of the garment
manufacturing. Taplin [76] addressed management ignorance, poor management policies
17 | P a g eand lack of monitoring as organizational issues that led poor work conditions. Huq et al. [2]identified the misalignment between COCs and local culture, mock compliance, and hostile
relationships (between suppliers and third-party auditors) as barriers that affectedorganization’s internal culture. Prentice et al. [70] Siddiqui [10] and Wadud et al. [72]criticized garment suppliers for poor hygiene system, routinely work stress, lack personal
protective equipment and ignoring worker’s human rights practices that led poor social
performance.
De Neve et al. [13] and Siddiqui et al.[10] highlighted management inexperience andinadequate learning of implementing labor codes and human rights practices. The garment
suppliers are often condemned for labor codes and human rights issues related to underpaid
wages, inadequate workers’ participation in the collective bargaining, inadequate worker’s
associations, lacks of awareness training [42], [77], [78]. For instance, the workers' unrestfor health safety, living wages, and social needs in the global production network havebecome frequent occurrences.
Several other literatures have highlighted lack of knowledge in managing hazardous
chemical and wastes [8], [17], [79], energy performance [16], [80], resource and waste
management [81]–[83] as the main operational challenges/barriers to developing
countries’ suppliers. The shortage of skill and inefficient labors, higher resource
consumptions, inadequate wastes recovery process, backdated technology and lack ofprocess innovation lead higher operational costs across the garment manufacturing chain[43], [75], [84]. A few literatures have depicted that almost garment suppliers have very
limited scopes in terms of technical training, vocational education, knowledge sharing
culture and research and development (R&D) resources. The inadequacy of theseknowledge resources creates lags between organizational and operational performances.
The textile and fabric (T&F) mills and the garment manufacturers in the global south
use large volume of energy, water, and materials resources to manufacture textile fabric.
Simultaneously, the T&F generate many NMOs including carbon dioxide (CO2), hazardous
chemicals, solid wastes, wastewater that contain toxic chemicals, colorants, and volatileorganic compounds (VOC) [62], [85]. These operational issues have put production
workers in danger in terms of the physical, biological, and ergonomic hazards.
2.2.1.2 External issues and pressures
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The GGVC was pressured to address priority issues toward TBL practices concerning
climate-based risks, quick market flux, and other challenges [49]. The numerous literatures
have focused on climate changes [86], [87], market competitions [76], compliance costs[4], [69], stakeholders’ pressures [88]–[91], and resource scarcity [92], [93] as external
challenges. Besides, the WFCs’ noncompliant behavior, poor pricing policy and indirectsourcing model effect suppliers social and environmental compliance practices [4], [6].
Some literatures have pointed out that weak industrial regulations regarding labor codes,
health safety policy, and conservations laws motivated manufacturers to ignore the legal
aspects [4], [6], [43], [94]. For instance, the garment manufactures of the developing
countries have hardly received state supports to manage industrial wastes/emissions.
The WFCs’ unethical business practices [6], [69], [76] were promoted the poor work
conditions in the production factories. Several literatures criticized the WFCs’ fast-fashion3
business model that put lowest price pressures and strict lead-time to garment suppliers for
gaining work-orders [63], [76], [95]. These unethical practices often encouraged suppliers
to bypass the minimal social and environmental regulations. Again, the absence of statemonitoring and inspection mechanism facilitated suppliers overlooking regulatory safety
provisions and social compliance practices in their production factories. It is a significant
contemplation for that promote social sustainability [2], [69].
In terms of environmental risks management, workplace safety, and societal issues, theextant literatures suggested workplace regulations, environmental, social, and ethicalcompliance initiatives, science-based targets, and metrics, to mitigate internalorganizaitonal and operational challenges. On the other hand, the state monitoring, selfinspection mchanism, third-party audits, and standardized systems were proposed by manyscholars and experts to overcome external barriers.
2.2.2 Capabilities toward achieving bottom-line practices
The supply chain management (SCM) literature have emphasized firm’s management
capabilities in terms of economic, societal, and environmental bottom-lines [42], [96], [97]which often have referred as TBL of three dimensions of sustianability. Capabilities areneeded regarding the regulatory inspections, self-monitoring, and measuring of societal
3

Fast-fashion – refers a quick response model of production which was designed to reduce inventory andtimes spent between initial garment design to outlet arrival (Taplin, Ian M. 2014).
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costs, environmental impacts, process efficiencies, resource and waste management [42].
The social and environmental issues of a firm’s supply chain have drawn increased
inquiries and discussions in the multi-disciplinary lituratures [46].
Elkington’s [26] have proposed the TBL model as a holistic sustainability program thatemphasizes the financial/economic aspect over environmental and social bottom lines. He
portrayed the seven dimensions (7-D), or “seven great revolutions,” those guide corporate
managers for improving TBL performance. These seven TBL dimensions are market,
values, transparency, life-cycle technology, partnership, time, and corporate governancewhich is affected by several driving forces and leads to the rapid transformation insustaining capitalism.
Although there have been substantial arguments concerning the appropriate TBL
measures and metrics, the firm’s abilities to specify those metrics and measures havebecome the key behavior [67] since the begaining of the 21th century. The operation
management (OM) literatures have revealed several environmental and social programs by
the global garment suppliers to mitigate the operational challenges.
2.2.2.1 Environmental bottom-line capabilities
The manufacturing firm has become more responsible to protect natural capital(nonrenewable

andrenewable

resource)

andenvironmental

damages(emissions/pollution/waste, biodiversity loss, ‘landfill erosion) from their corporate
commitment on environmental issues. Many SCM and OM literatures have suggested
environmental regulations and environmental metrics that have developed by transnationalorganizations and international standardized communities over the decades to make firms
responsible for environmental issues. These metrics include scheduled EIAs [39], [98],environmental management system (EMS) [66], [99], carbon emission management [38],[100], cleaner production [39], [101], eco-efficiency and resources management [102],[103], the reducing, recycling, recovering and reusing (4R) paradigm [104], [105] help toachieve environmental capabilities.
Backburn [106, Ch. 2] suggested the corporate environmental performance (CEP) toachieve environmental capabilities by a firms. He addressed five key indicators to developa CEP that include resource conservation, waste prevention and management,
environmental risk control and restorations, reduction of supply chain impacts, and
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collaboration with communities to improve the environmental dimension of thesustainability program.
Cleaner production assessment (CPA), life-cycle assessment (LCA), and EMS are
industrywide measures and metrics to implement sustainable environmental practices over
the years [39]. The EMS are developed by international standardized organization (ISO)under the series of ISO14000 to measures, document and report the negative impacts ofproduction processes including industrial wastes (solid, liquid, and gaseous). A few
research have claimed that the adoption of the EMS have improved cost efficiency infashion and textile industry [99], [107], [108]. The main goal of this EMS measure is toincrease the financial performance over the return-on-assets (ROA) and return-on-sales(ROS).
The LCA is a holistic method for thoroughly examining the ecological impacts of a
production process to make the right decisions [109]. This tool became globally recognized
for conducting the environmental impact assessment (EIA) by the ISO through theISO14040 series of standards [110]. The LCA is necessary to quantify the EIs employing
the energy, emissions, and waste data of each phase of the production process [39], [109].
Many empirical investigations [109], [111]–[113] applied LCA-perspective in the garment
manufacturing sector to investigate technical improvements and behavioral change ofenvironmental and social aspects across the garment value chain. The proposed increased
service life of garments [111], improving the product lifetime [112], eco-friendly materials[113], and energy efficiency in manufacturing [109] to achieve sustainability benefits.
Many production factories in China and Turkey have implemented the cleaner
production assessment (CPA) measures to achieve resources efficiency and waste
management in collaboration with Partnership of Cleaner Textile (PaCT) projects, fundedby International Finance Corporation (IFC) [38]. The CPA suggests the best available
technologies (BAT) to alternate with existing old-fashioned and wasteful processes. In recent
studies, many T&C manufacturers integrated the BATs to increase good management practices
over water, energy, steam, and chemical optimization-minimization and substitution techniques[101].

Organization of Economic Co-operation Development (OECD) has launched a toolkitof the ‘Sustainable Manufacturing (SM)’ to enable manufacturers in improving the energy
and process efficiency across the production processes. The SM is safe for employees,
21 | P a g e

communities, and consumers and product safety [114], [115, p. 4]. Therefore, themanufacturers are reducing ecological impacts, rapid exploitation of sparse natural capital,and energy consumption by integrating SM strategies. Several literatures have recommend
a closed-loop system or circular economy system [39], [116], material efficiency [117],
alternative resource [118], renewable energies, and the 7R’s techniques [39] to mitigate theenvironmental impacts, process wastes and financial risks. The efficient use of materials
reduces industrial waste generation, resource extraction and energy consumption, andenergy demands and carbon emissions [119], [120].
2.2.2.2 Social bottom-line capabilities
The social bottom-line or SOCS agenda is not a new to corporate firm. It is rooted tothe promise of social responsibilities, and corporate social performances (CSP) that drawn
by early research [45], [121]–[123]. Bowen [121] has imported ‘social responsibility’concept since 1953 concerning firm’s duties toward its values and objectives of a society.
Bowen’s idea of ‘social responsibility’ has rested on two basic grounds. First, businessexist to satisfy societal pleasures and its operation methods are set by social guidelines.
Second, business acts as moral institution within society [123]. These premises havecreated academic debated whether the firm’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) shouldbe the productions of goods or revenues or a range of broader social goals to achieve byfirms [124]. The debate laid foundation the CSR issues in the multi-disciplinary literatureand business practitioners toward the nature of firm’s social performance.
The influential research by Carroll [45] who introduced a concept of ‘CSP’ model in1970 to measure firm’s responsibilities on societal issues. This CSP model further was
extended in the academic discussion by Wartick and Cochran [123], and Wood [122]. andThe ‘CSP’ concept had been gained popularity across disciplines during 1990s that covered
CSR, business responsiveness, and other business activities oriented toward social
capabilities [45]. The CSP model have consisted of three facets explicitly the specificationof the nature of social responsibilities, social issues, and corporate social responsiveness[45], [123], [124].
Carroll [45] argued that social responsibilities integrated economic activities (produce
goods and services that society demands and sell these at a profit); legal (as an entity must
follow state laws and regulations), ethical (meet the societal expectation beyond its
economic and legal duties), and discretionary (pursue more corporate volunteering and
22 | P a g e

philanthropic activities). The CSP included several operational issues as social issues:
consumerism,

environment,

discrimination,

product

safety,occupationalsafety,shareholders values. Finally, Carroll [45] suggested social responsiveness as corporate
firm’s responses that ranging from reactive to proactive actions during emergent situation.
The prior study on manufacturing sustainability has focused on the three key areas:society-related, direct employee, and company’s employee-related policies toward SOCS ofa firm [55]. There are several metrics to implement SOSC; however, they vary based on thefirm’s management structure, corporate commitment, leadership, and accountability. The
GVC literature have suggested that managers should be upgrading corporate volunteering
activities, social welfares, and value-creating needs in advance to improve employees’social needs [3], [49]. Moreover, several other literatures have also considered the social
upgrading with fewer business impacts on surrounding communities [43], [46], [49]. They
have emphasized on mitigating societal and environmental impacts as a requirement ofcorporate sustainability.
The rise of corporate codes-of-conduct (COC) has formed the basis of ethical standards
and business social compliance provisions during 1990s to make firm more responsible andaccountable on TBL issues across supply chain activities [3]. Some large companies(including clothing retailers, brands and producers) have created enforceable COCs throughtheir extended efforts over monitoring and auditing to enhance supply chain transparency[70], [125]. This corporate COCs replicates labor conventions, health and safety standards,
minimum wage requirements, and a prohibition of child and forced labor [125]. Moreover,
the WFCs have consider integrating many ethical and social standards as voluntarily acrosstheir value chain activities [43], [75]. Many suppliers of the WFCs voluntarily haveembraced international standardized norms and ethical initiatives under the Business Social
Compliance Initiative (BSCI) to increase their management capabilities in improving social
issues [42], [46].
Concerning CSP, the suppliers of the WFCs have been receiving pressures on
workplace regulations, social, ethical, and environmental issues to improve responsive
behavior. The public and private governance plans have emerged in 2013 after several
industrial

disasterstodevelopsupplier’ssocialaccountabilitybyreinforcing

regulatory/legislative requirements [75], [126]. The WFCs have collaborated andcooperated their suppliers’ factory safety, labor practices, social compliance, and other23 | P a g e

corporate volunteering activities. Moreover, they have also begun to exert independent
factory inspections, monitoring, and third-party audit mechanism to improve supplier’ssocial performance and management capabilities [42], [75].
Finally, the social capabilities of a firm create the socially responsible and responsive
companies to eliminating all forms of social issues. The firm’s social issues must consider
the several dimensional issues: internal workplace issues (discrimination, violence, andharassment, worker’s complaint, health safety), social upgrading issues (employee’s social
needs, skills development, and empowerment), CSR issues (corporate sponsorship andcommunities volunteering), and social responsiveness (quick response and proactive
attitudes). The firm should recognize the social capabilities to implement social dimensionof sustainability. by implementing management, welfare standards, and the social upgradation process. They have been increasingly imposed the corporate COC andmechanisms to increase garment suppliers’ legal, ethical, social, and environmental
compliance practices.
2.2.2.3 Corporate governance and management capabilities
As abovementioned, the weak governance structure exists in the supplier’s factories
that often lead many unethical behaviors concerning social and environmental
accountability issues [10], [42], [46], [127]. Although many garment firms have gone
through environmental and social scrutiny, the inadequate corporate governance measures[6] often distorts transparency over resource withdrawal, waste generation, and societal
issues such as workers' healthcare and empowerment.
The prior investigations found the corporate members’ absence in the board meeting,ad hoc growth, lack of internal coordination, and insufficient stakeholders dialogue result
from these governance gaps [6], [65]. These are considered unsustainable behaviors ofgarment suppliers. Even suppliers maintain the third-party monitoring and evaluation but
often manipulation the external auditors to bring inspection results to favor the factory. For
instance, Prentice et al. [70] also talked about the suppliers’ technique to convince thirdparty auditors for sensitive issues such as forced labor, child labor, or excessive overtime.
The GVC literature show, the MNCs have started to participate in multi-stakeholder
programs such as Ethical Trading Initiatives (ETI) and Social Accountability International(SAI), collaborating with trade unions and NGOs to improve suppliers’ social and
24 | P a g e

environmental practices [3], [49]. Several prior studies show that many conglomerates haveconsidered corporate governance by integrating supply chain transparency, stakeholder
engagement, participatory programs, and reporting practices across their production
network [67], [128]. Many garment suppliers have initiated to publish three-pillar
sustainability performance through GRI, UNGC, OEKO-TEX, and ISO [67], [129]. The
disclosure practices over social and environmental aspects by the firm have increased thetraceability to their stakeholders.
2.2.3 Sustainability practices in the Bangladesh RMG sector
The research on sustainability issues or the TBL issues in the Bangladesh RMG sector
are very initial stage [2]. The number of studies is insufficient relate to sustainability
themes. However, the prior studies have focused on a range of issues that categorize in four
major themes, shown in table 2.1. These issues threaten the sector’s constant growth toremain competition in export business with its rivals. These issues are required to resolve
immediate basis by implementing appropriate measures.
Table 2.1: The RMG sector from a legal, ethical, and social compliance perspective
ThemesWorkplacesafety andworker’s
health issues

Social andethical issues

Environmental
impacts

Findings
Unsafe work conditions, routinely work pressures, inadequate breaktime, and flawed health hygiene systemconstruction safety gaps such as structural, electrical, and fire safety
risks,
governance gaps and inadequate inspections/audits mechanisms to
improve the safe environment, workers’ health safety rights, safetycommittee,
substandard labor practices and poor wages
the marriage, childbearing, school enrollment, and employment
decisions of women who gain greater access to garment sector jobs
discriminations and ethical obligations toward workers’ rights,
social compliance,
CSR practices in the RMG sector, the importance of sociallygrounded needs, and responsible practices to improve workers'
lives.
Social welfare, safety, living wages, toward social sustainability
acceptability of compliance provisions to the employed workers
Globalization and the global production system promote cheap
labor, poor labor codes and unethical practices, worker unrest, etc.
western retailer's fast fashion model incentivizes inhuman work
conditions, workers’ rights violations, unethical trading
RMG sector-led high emissions/pollution to air, water, and noise,
resources depletion, and soil erosion
Assessment of energy intensity in the RMG sector and consumption
lead-carbon emissions,

Authors[68], [70]
[69],
[130]
[6]

[70], [75]
[59]
[75],
[131]
[4], [132,
Ch. One][2], [4],[43], [69][133][60], [61][6], [10],[76][8] [79][16], [71]25 | P a g e

Corporate
reportingthe impact of volume toxic chemicals in wet processing mil,wastewater, and toxicity in local waterbodies
environmental quality and it is related to human health*
corporate social reporting practices to examine the perceptions of adiverse set of non-managerial stakeholders. *corporate responsibilities and accountabilities to redress thenegative consequences of environmental pollution and degradation[17], [79]
[18]
[134]
[48], [89]Note:’*’ these studies focused on the Bangladesh RMG sector along with another private sector.

After the post-MFA era, many Bangladeshi lead garment suppliers have increased
COCs implementation over workplace safety, occupational healthcare, environmental andsocial issues. However, the poor governance [6], lack of monitoring and inspection
mechanism [14], power asymmetry between employers and employees [127], lack ofpolitical wills [10], and inadequate knowledge-based management [135] remained the work
condition at stake.
Numerous research advocates that workplace safety programs (WSP) has become
enforceable since the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse as a direction toward the social
sustainability movement [2], [6], [69]. The corporate norms and values toward improving
H&S at the workplace meet social sustainability requirements [2]. The body of literaturesheds light on the ILO labor conventions, universal human rights practices, andoccupational health safety rights toward improving social obligations (often identified associal contracts) by the RMG sectors. The garments supplier’s inadequate labor practices
such as prolonged work hours, unhygienic sanitation, poor workroom temperature,
inadequate visibility, low air quality, routinely work pressures, underpaid, child labor,
forced labor, etc. have identified as governance lags between compliance policy andimplementation since the inception [60], [70].
Again, many production factories in Bangladesh had embraced corporate social
responsibility (CSR) practices in response to stakeholder relations and corporate
accountability. Nasrullah and Rahim [132] revealed that many large RMG enterprises
developed the CSR practices from their corporate charitable intents and volunteeringcommitment to their stakeholders [132]. Therefore, the Bangladeshi RMG sector started
implementing the regulatory and voluntary labor codes, human rights conventions, andCSR initiatives improving the social capabilities.
The sustainability issues are practically delicate in implementing to the Bangladesh
RMG sector environmental bottom line. Because the sector is always excepted to increase
26 | P a g e

double growth at one hand, and again the garment-production processes want to control theuse of natural resources and industrial wastes on the other [16]–[18], [136]. The natural
resources,

includingenergyandwatersexploitation

andincreasedindustrial

wastes/emissions severely affect the local environment, workplace health, communities’
livelihood, and wellbeing. However, there are a few state laws act as binding regulations
concerning environmental conservation and facilities’ environmental clearance. However,the lack of enforceable implementation and regulatory monitoring often fail to restrict
resource exploitations, wastes/emissions, air, water, and the landfill pollution. Therefore,
several early studies have suggested that suppliers’ environmental governance andcorporate accountability [89], [137] are key to reduce the resource consumption andwaste/emission streams.
Meanwhile, the governance practice over social and workplace safety of the
Bangladesh RMG sector was questioned after the deadly workplace accidents [4], [6]. The
poor governance and inadequate standardized management systems often influence thecorporate accountability and ‘transparency’ issues [7]. However, very few lead suppliers
have published the governance information in the annual reports to secure acceptability andmeet the stakeholder’s expectations[7], [134]. Expect few, almost garment suppliers do notdisclose their social and environmental reporting practices. Therefore, the social, ethical,
environmental issues, stakeholders’ engagement, and workers’ participation have remained
invisible throughout garment manufacturing chain.
Drawing conclusion from above summaries, we find that almost empiricalinvestigations have emphasized the most important factors including factories’ construction
safety (including structural, electrical, and fire), workers’ health safety, environmental
regulation, labor codes and human rights issues as responsible business practice. Besides,
several other studies concentrate on supplier’s social responsibilities (worker’s social
needs, and corporate volunteering), worker’s empowerment (training, forms of associations,and worker’s participation), and environmental performance (EMS, EIAs and LCA),
stakeholder engagement (increasing accountability), corporate reporting practices(information transparency), etc.
2.3 Theories in the ‘Sustainability’ research

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The study finds a few empirical studies that have employed theory on sustainability
research. Lozano et al. [138] highlighted proposed a new theory of ‘Sustainability-oriented
theory of firm’ combining some popular theories of the firm. Almost research in the supply
chain sustainability (SCS) have employed stakeholder theory [23], [45], [65], [88], [134],[139], [140]. Moreover, the few more theories including resource-based view [97], [141],[142], transection cost economic [2], institutional theory [43], [88], [143], [144],
contingency theory [143] have found in SCS research. However, the dominant management
theory like knowledge-based view (KBV) [135], [145] has employed only in a few supply
chain research but no direct implication in sustainability from the GGVC perspective.
The study examines the study findings through the KBV lens for understanding theinfluence knowledge management of a firm to make strategic decisions. In addition, threeother theories including Resource-Based View (RBV) [53], new institution theory [146],
and the Stakeholder approach [147] also employ to interpret the findings because of
intensely linked to the phenomena of sustainability implementation in the RMG sector. In
the following, the brief discussions of all four theories are depicted from sustainability
programs perspectives.
2.3.1 Knowledge-based viewFirst, we discuss the KBV view of a firm and why it is a matter for implementing asustainability program. The KBV highlights the intellectual capital of a firm to implement
its strategy. It considers the employee’s knowledge and experiences that can be input as anintellectual resource to make a competitive strategy. The knowledge resource stands on its
human’ interactions, dynamism (continuous changing), and social process (societal issues).
The managers (human) continuously interact with internal and external actors to implement
strategies by creating and sharing experiences. Nonaka and Takeuchi [148] emphasized theemployees’ individual abilities to improve intellectual capital and convert these to the firm's
assets. The firm managers interact among them continuously and create and shareknowledge in the dynamic environment and changing social processes. Therefore, theirroles are crucial in addressing the TBL risks of a firm and taking mitigation strategies toimplement sustainability programs.
The employees gain skills and experiences in an organization setting over times, that
embodied as ‘tacit knowledge' mentioned by Nonaka and Takeuchi [148] and can convert
these into valuable assets or products. They drew the knowledge creation and sharing
28 | P a g e

(KCS) process of an organization called SECI (Socialization, Externalization, Combination,and Integration) spiral based on employees’ constant interactions between tacit and explicit
knowledge. The verbalized or expressed, or formalized knowledge is referred to as explicit
that derived from tacit knowing. Again, the tacit knowledge is difficult to express becauseof highly personal (such as experience). The organization usually faces barrier to seize andtransfer employee’s experiences (tacit knowledge) because of its highly personal andcomplicated to express in the formal pattern [149].
2.3.2 Resource-based view of firm
Second, the RBV of a firm to create resource position and its efficient utilization as thedriver to develop sustainability program. Wernerfelt [53] coined the RBV idea to analyze afirm’s performance based on the resource position barriers and growth-share matrices. A
firm’s resources are broadly classified as tangible and intangible assets that should bevaluable and costly to copy the resources and capabilities of competitors. The firm heavily
relies on capital, skilled workers, machinery as tangible resources to operate economic
activities on the one hand. Again, its brand names, in-house technology, trade contracts are
the intangible resources to continue the quality growth on the other. Barney [150] pointed
out four elements: valuable, rareness, inimitability, and replaceability of the resources that
help drive competitive strategy. Firms can achieve a competitive position over rivals by
increasing valuable and alternative resources that competitors cannot easily reachable andreproducibly.
The resource is the basic unit of analysis that could be physical assets and financial
capital, and employee’s skills and social processes [151]. The RBV of a firm is further
extended by several management experts interlinked with TBL practices. Hart [151]extended RBV as the natural-resource-based view (NRBV) concerning the firm’s keen
relationship to the natural environment. The NRBV argued the three strategies: pollution
prevention, product stewardship, and sustainable development to implement environmental
protection by a firm. Again, the social-resource-based view (SRBV) is proposed by Tateand Bals [141], focusing on the social capabilities of social entrepreneurship to solve social
issues. The firm’s capabilities result from bundles of resources converted to value-added
processes such as production design, quality, just-in-time delivery, and so on [141]. Again,
the bundle of resources triggers some specific capabilities of the R&D and technologies toincrease further the resource efficiency at production processes. However, all forms of the
29 | P a g e

RBV of a firm suggest that firms employ and develop capabilities and resources (tangible
and intangible) to achieve a sustained competitive advantage. Finally, the fact is that firms
envision achieving the resource position as the ultimate economic goal; therefore, theenvironmental and social concerns over resource management might be the means to attainit.
2.3.3 New-institutional theory of firm
Third, the NIT influences to regulate firm operations in implementing social
compliance and environmental regulation. The firm exists as an independent unit, and its
legal foundation relies on the binding laws and regulations concerning its formation andboundaries. The state regulations and international standardized practices constantly reinforce
the institutional pressures over the economic activities, which are significant concerns of the
NIT suggested by Powell and DiMaggio [152]. The NIT stands on three institutional factors:
regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive that defines a firm’s behavior as a responsible andaccountable institution. The literature [2], [69], [88] has shown that the sustainability programof a firm requires to adopt the state regulations, industry-wide business norms, and othervoluntary COP. Because it is a member of society responsible for implementing the regulatory,
normative, and cultural values as COP over environmental and social dimensions to continue
economic activities.
The study supports NIT because the execution processes the workplace safety, social
compliance, and environmental conservation are influenced by many state laws, international
norms, and other universal beliefs systems. Several other studies on workplace safety and social
sustainability implementation of the RMG sector have examined the external regulations andcultural issues through the lens of NIT [69], [88]. Akbar & Ahsan [69] found the NIT toinfluence apparel firm’s behavior toward its regulation, environmental, social, and cultural
aspects. Carlson and Bitsch [88] proposed the institutional analysis and development
framework suitable to promote social sustainability in the global garment sector.

2.3.4 Stakeholder theory
Lastly, the ‘Stakeholder Perspective’ is suitable for defining the ‘relationship’ of thecorporate interest groups that provide feedback and suggestions toward sustainability
programs. The corporate governance of modern firms always concerns the interest groupsat ‘stake’ by the firm’s economic operations. That groups play critical roles toward firm’s
sustainability performances, was covered in the many literature [23], [65]. Freeman [147]30 | P a g e

titled these interest groups as ‘Stakeholders’ who helped managers take the ‘shared value
creation’ to attain TBL practices. The ‘stakeholders’ are a range of interest
groups/individuals such as the employees, customers, suppliers, stockholders, financial
institutions, activists, government, and other pressure groups as ‘stakeholders’ of a modern
firm [147]. Dyllick [23] viewed that a sustainability program could be implementable bymeeting the firm’s direct and indirect stakeholders’ needs without compromising the ability
to meet the needs of future stakeholders.
The prior literature revealed numerous stakeholders divided mainly into primary andsecondary, and social and non-social categories shown in figure 2.5 [138], [153], [154]. The
primary-social groups have a more direct influence on the firm or are more influenced by
the firm than the secondary ones. However, a firm need not leave out any individual orinterest group who can influence or influence organizational purpose. If it does, a firm’s
success might affect by any group or individual [155].

Figure 2.3: Firm’s multi-layered stakeholders within ST theory context. source: Adaptedfrom [65], [138], [154], [156]The stakeholders of the GGS play the chief role to make WFCs and their suppliers
accountable for environmental and social legitimacy. De Brito et al. [65] identified
suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, post-consumer actors, service providers, andindependent experts as stakeholders who played critical roles in the T&C industry value
chain. Lozano et al. [138] focus on stakeholder intervention for controlling and
31 | P a g e

harmonizing the firm’s contracts with social and non-social partners. The external
stakeholders’ intervention and continuous pressures affect a firm’s social andenvironmental legitimacy toward sustainability performance [42], [91], [134]. Again, theexternal stakeholders corporate and collaborate with firms to develop cleaner assessment,
life-cycle technologies, technical and soft-skills training to lessen environmental and social
risks. Therefore, the modern firm welcomes stakeholder relationships by building morecomprehensive partnerships- so that their stakeholders obtain a sense of ownership in thesustainability program [26, pp. 219–241]. The partnership between companies and otherknowledge partners has been increasing based on co-petition and collaboration to work forthe same environmental risk management or social justice objectives.
Concluding the above theories, the study argued that the sustainability program isdriven by four factors: ‘human knowledge, resources, system (rules/standards), andrelationship. These factors are correlated with environmental, social, and economic pillars
to implement sustainability. The corporate board members should address sustainability
programs as board activities [26]. They can emphasize achieving capabilities (protecting
human capital, resources efficiency, emission management, and social up-gradation) andmanaging the organizational drivers to implement sustainability programs.
2.4 Summaries of the reviewed literature
The above literatures shed light on several barriers, drivers, and capabilities toward
stepping to a sustainability program for the garment sector. However, the global garment
production network has encountered internal organizational and operational challenges andexternal pressures from direct and indirect stakeholders. Literature shows that internalorganizational issues: inadequate corporate commitment, governance gaps, weak
management policies and lack of participatory management result in unsafe work
conditions. Moreover, the skill shortage, worker’s inefficiency, higher consumptions,
inadequate wastes recovery process lead higher operational costs across the garment
manufacturing chain.
Again, the external challenges such as the global warming, pollution, resources andmaterials crises, technological disruptions, market shifts, and quick changes in regulatory
and ethical issues put producers' continuous pressures on manufacturing activities. Bothinternal and external factors have facilitated the garment suppliers to search for new
32 | P a g e

business policies, methods, and models to develop capabilities to remain competitive atworld export markets. Many WFCs like Walmart, H&M, Nike, M&S, and Inditex and theirleading garment producers have recognized those challenges to overcome. They have set
the goal of sustainability to secure their brand value and reduce the reputational risks in the
global market.
The study finds the sustainability programs of a firm encompass to develop the triple
bottom lines’ capabilities. The specifications of TBL capabilities include many measuresand metrics to improve safe and healthy workplace, social and ethical standards,
environmental impacts assessment, and footprint management, resource efficiency, waste
recovery, product innovation, productivity, stakeholder’s engagement, partnership, etc.
These capabilities drive a firm to create key performance indicators and corporate reportson the TBL practice.
Organizing framework to implement Sustainability Programs (SPs). Drawing thesummaries of the previous studies, we have organized a conceptual framework of thesustainability program shown in figure 2.5. The framework includes the three elements:
addressing the barriers, achieving the capabilities, and improving and disclosing bottomlines initiatives toward sustainability practices. The framework is developed by combining
sustainability literature, supply chian, and theories of firm to verify its constructs andmediating factors. The theories of firm suggest that a firm's success is strongly tied tobalancing

threebottom-lines:

products(economy),

people(social)andplanet(environmental).
The firm's primary concerns are to identify the internal and external barriers before
taking the correct measures of all bottom-line practices. Therefore, almost all priorliteratures have stressed double ends (internal and external) challenges over environmental,social, and economic dimensions toward achieving sustainability programs. Many
management theories and frameworks have shown that the integration between internal
coordination and external collaboration motivates firms to achieve organizational
capabilities toward competitive advantage. These motivating factors are identifed as thedrivers of firm’s sustainability strategy.

33 | P a g e

Figure 2.4 A conceptual framework on ‘Implementing Sustainability Programs’

The literature have identified several metrics and standardized practices such as theenvironmental impact assessment, life-cycle assessment, footprint management, and cleaner
production assessment and technologies. These metrics are required to monitor and scale
environmental impacts generating from the manufacturing processes. The firm can achieveenvironmental capabilities (ENV-CAP) by reducing the negative impacts including
wastewaters intensity, carbon emissions, pollutions, and solid wastes. The Env-Caps are
required to protecting the surrounding ecosystem. The social capabilities (SOC-CAP)
integrate health safety, workplace compliance, equity, skills, and economic development(structure, consumptions, and production patterns). However, the bottom lines’ capabilitiesof the firm must practice and publish to direct and indirect stakeholders for evaluating andimproving the cycle of practices.

34 | P a g e

CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3. Introduction
Social research follows a step-by-step process to obtain reliable study findings thatanswer the research questions. A systematic process in research is crucial to blueprinting
the internal and external validity of the findings from the obtained data. This section shows
how the research progressed from problem identification to data collection and analyzed tointerpret the results.
3.1. Research Setting: A brief introduction to Bangladesh RMG Sector
The study found that the sector recognized sustainability in recent years. Therefore, it
is interesting to examine the background of sectors from legal compliance to sustainability
implementation perspective. We chose the Bangladeshi RMG sector as the research setting
for this empirical study due to its importance as a catalyst of economic success and theincreased pressures for workplace compliances and other social and environmental bottomline practices. The brief story of the RMG sector is summarized below including its journey
to sustainability program through the five critical phases.
Background. The apparel or garment has become the primary export product during
the 1980s. The clothing manufacturing industry is widely recognized as the readymade
garments (RMG) industry which is a catalyst of the Bangladesh economic development.
For nearly four decades, the industry has served significant growth in the world export
market. The industry has experienced many ups and downs at the different phases. The
sustainability concept has rooted to the RMG sector legitimately since the workplace safety
program in 2013 by the public and private regulators. But the sector has been experiencing
the full wave of sustainability movements following the inauguration of the RMG
Sustainability Council in 2019.
3.1.1 The early phase (1978 – 1994)
The history says that a visionary businessman, late Nurool Quader Khan, started thegarment export business by founding the ‘Desh Garment’ in Bangladesh in 1978. During
the 1990s, a few financiers without any knowledge in the export business stepped into
investment in the Bangladesh garment sector, following NQ Khan [60], [157]. To BGMEA(2019), the Bond Garments, Reaz Garments, Paris Garments, and Azim Group were35 | P a g e

established as the first garment factories in Bangladesh. Since then, the Bangladeshi RMG
sector has earned a niche in the world market and continued to show robust performance.
3.1.2 The MFA-quota phase (1995 – 2004)
The predecessors of the RMG enterprises propelled the flagship of garment export
based on hardworking mindsets. Their efforts motivated other entrepreneurs to join thegarment manufacturing business. However, the Bangladeshi RMG exports rapidly
increased due to the privilege the country obtained in the Multi-fiber Agreement (MFA)
Quota Phase in 1995. The quota system expanded the wings of new market entry. The US
and European clothing industries relocated their production network to developing
countries like Bangladesh because of the low assembling costs and large production base[157]. The numerous literature indicated that the MFA quota phase stimulated theadvancement of the RMG sector [60], [61], [158]. The prior literatures suggested that the
production capacities, cheap labor, product quality, massive workforces, flexible importtax, and duty facility (especially GSP -Generalized Standard Preferential) helped to propel
the sector’s numeric growth [60], [61].
3.1.3 The MFA quota phase-out (2004 -2012)
Although the export quota system expired and ended in 2004, the new era brought
another story of success to the RMG sector. The sector size and export growth had been
constantly increasing even after the MFA quota phase-out. The sector started with 380
factories in the 1980s and grew to 5400 factories in 2011-12 according to the BGMEA
member list [159]. Labowitz & Baumann-Pauly [6] identified the number of factories of the
RMG sector as around 7000 in 2015 , in which 3500 suppliers delivered garment products
direct to the Western fashion brands. The rapid growth of this sector resulted in holding an
80 percent share of the country’s total exports after 2010. While the export revenue wasonly USD 1 million in 1978, it soared to more than USD 21 billion in 2011-12 [160].
However, the sector’s exports predominantly relied on the five basic garment items to thefive major markets in the world, namely, Europe, America, Canada, Australia, and Japan.
3.1.4 The darkest phase (2012-2013)
The global stakeholders and media have blamed the Bangladesh RMG sector for many
inhumane practices. For instance, the child labor, poor labor practices, poor work
conditions, and poor health hygiene practices became common issues in the RMG sector
36 | P a g eduring the 1990s [6], [70]. The two deadliest accidents, the Tazreen factory fire and theRana Plaza collapse, occurred in the consecutive years of 2012 and 2013. These accidents
caused massive fatalities estimated above 1200, and nearly 3200 more people were injured[9]. The 2013 factory collapse has strongly stimulated the industry stakeholders including
global buyers, retailers, trade unions, NGOs, and state authorities to reconsider the
workplace health safety regulations for the Bangladeshi RMG sector [161].
3.1.5 The workplace safety program phase (2014-2018)
After the accidents, the three governance programs, including Accord on fire andbuilding safety (Accord) by European clothing retailers, Alliance for Bangladesh Worker
Safety (Alliance) by the North American fashion companies, and the National Tripartite
Plan of Action (NTPA) by the GOB, emerged as the independent regulatory bodies in theend of 2013 [6]. These public and private governance programs led structural, electrical,
and fire (SEF) safety inspections around 3900 factories. Furthermore, they provided
corrective action plans (CAPs) to remedy SEF safety defects and confirmed the repair workby the follow-up inspections. [162]. The BGMEA, industry association, created the Fair
Factory Clearinghouse (FFC) database for monitoring transparent and credible safety
progresses of the member factories. Till May 2019, less than 900 factories had completed
above 80 percent of SEF corrections and fewer than 2% of factories had been closed
because of failed to meet acceptable work condition [162]. At present, the number ofgarment factories is approximately 4621 after terminating disqualified factories [163].
3.1.6 The Sustainability Phase (since 2019)
After Accord/Alliance binding contracts, the BGMEA has formed the RMG
Sustainability Council (RSC), a tripartite agreement with GOB and Accord/Alliance. The
RSC has acted as regulator to force garment suppliers completing the mandatory factory
remediations based on CAPs [163]. Besides these governance programs, the GOB has
amended the national health and hygiene provisions and minimum wages following
Bangladesh Labor Acts 2006 and the National Wage Board (NGB) respectively. Moreover,the BGMEA has collaborated with the ILO, International Finance Corporation (IFC), andseveral other international non-government organizations (INGOs) to empower workers’
technical and soft skills.
The partnership projects with INGOs and IFC have enabled BGMEA to expand
several sustainability programs across the member factories. The projects include the37 | P a g e

cleaner production assessment (CPA), life-cycle assessment (LCA), green factory
development (GFD), environmental footprint management, and the GHGs protocol of thelife-cycle accounting to improve energy, water, and emission management performance[163]. Many RMG factories have joined various sustainability programs in collaboration
with the Partnership of Cleaner Production (PaCT) and the US Green Building Council(USGBC) projects to reduce negative impacts throughout production processes. The
numbers of manufacturers have developed the efficient technologies and skills to improveenergy, water, and carbon emission reduction performance under the PaCT and USGBC
projects. Almost 500 lead suppliers have accredited for Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental-led Design (LEED) standards for their achievement in industry-wide
environmental footprint performance under USGBC [164]. According to BGMEA, morethan 300 factories have already initiated the GFD project under the LEED standards.
3.2. Research design
The focal point of this research, ‘Sustainability’, seldom appears in the context of
RMG. Therefore, we have emphasized the exploratory case study (ECS) design under
qualitative method to find logical evidences [165], [166]. The qualitative data from caseorganizations help researchers provide thick descriptions of the contexts [166], [167].
Moreover, the thick descriptions offer the real scenarios of research purposes in the natural
setting. This ECS explores the respondents' perceptions, deep meanings, and experiences in
implementing sustainability initiatives in the garment manufacturing setting [166]. We
applied a multi-case study approach to discover the facts and differences among the threecase companies of the Bangladesh RMG sector in terms of their sustainability programs.
The research produced the qualitative data based on interpretivism approaches to uncover
the social meanings and multiple realities in apparel manufacturing contexts.
3.2.1. Case study: the main instrument of QRD
The early stages of sustainability research called for an exploratory case study withqualitative data [2], [166]. The case study design is suitable for discovering unknown facts[165]. Here, we attempted to explore and interpret the garment suppliers’ approaches
toward organization’s bottom-line practices in the competitive edges. The case study
provided the detailed exploration of the case firms [166, pp. 45–78], the in-depth inquiry
into sustainability program [165], the dynamics of the sustainability practice [168], and the
38 | P a g e

understanding of the context [169]. The exploratory case study has also been chosen as a
primary method in many previous studies of workplace compliance, workers’ health, socialand environmental issues in developing country’s perspectives [2], [4], [75].
As mentioned above, we employed a multi-case strategy [165] to identify the three
garment suppliers as cases of this study. This strategy offered greater visibility, andreplicability among the cases due to the novelty of its study content. It could increase theexternal validity and defend against partiality [165], [167]. We endeavored to provide a
broader exploration of the research questions and theoretical explanations by using themulti-case strategy [168]. In addition, the multi-case study ensured the external validity andgenerality on sustainability practices by selecting similar case organizations.
3.2.1.1. Case selection
The study carefully selected three case companies from the Bangladeshi RMG sector
considering elaboration and replication. We took several precautionary measures to ensureminor differences that allowed us to reach the depth of reality.
 First, as a lead supplier of the Western clothing brands, all three firms must be listedby Accord 4 , the private regulator, workplace safety program (WSP). The list
contained more than 1863 garment suppliers and manufacturers those export
garments directly and indirectly. In selecting our cases from this list, we employed
three conditions: remediation status (on track), remediation progress (above 90
percent), and safety training program (training completion). Finally, we found that
only 47 factories out of 1863 met all requirements.
 Second, they must be composite knitwear suppliers possessing similar products andprocesses. They must have inhouse textile mills, garment assembling facilities andother supporting manufacturing units such as printing, embroidery, and laundry.
Concerning these all facilities, we found only 18 out 47 factories.
 Third, all case manufacturers must be accredited by either social compliance or
ethical compliance standards and should embrace at least one Sustainability
Management Standard. Following these conditions, we found only 12 out of 18
factories to communicate.
Initially, we contacted those 12 suppliers by emails by attaching an official invitation
letter prepared on the research institution’s letterhead. The researchers requested all4

https://bangladeshaccord.org/factories The website shows the RMG factories inspected by the Accord.
39 | P a g emanufacturers to join as a ‘voluntary case’ for the academic research. The letter explained
the research purposes, strategy, and data collection and analysis protocols throughout the
research projects. In this regard, all email communications and invitation letters were sent
to the persons representing the human resource section of each case garment manufacturers
in Bangladesh. Only 5 manufacturers accepted the researcher’s request. They cooperated toaccess the sites with several restrictions based on case firms’ corporate policy.
First. An official agreement between the researcher and case organizations.
Second, the researchers must contact responsible person before entering facilities.
Third, all respondents would be contacted via the responsible persons.
Fourth, all interviews of the non-management employees must take in front of the
responsible person.
 Fifth, the person always accompanies the researchers during the visit to all facilities.
 Sixth, the interview schedules must be informed in advance by email or phone to
avoid hampering respondent's assigned jobs.
 Finally, the interviews could be recorded with participants' consent, and the research
results must protect company’s privacy.
However, we had to removed two more case firms because of the fourth and fifth
conditions. Therefore, three manufacturers were selected as case organizations based on all
criteria shown in table 3.1.
Table 3.1: Case Selection Criteria
Case
Organizations
Firm A
Firm B
Firm CType of process
vertically integrated
Do
Do

AccordMembership
Approved
Approved
Approved

ComplianceStandards
Ranked B
Ranked ‘A’
Ranked ‘A’

Sustainability
Management Standards
OEKO-TEX STeP
Higgs’s FEM
LEED

Note: Composite Knitwear Manufacturing possess all in-house facilities, which are also calledvertically integrated production facilities.

The researchers further communicated with three case firms’ human resource (HR)managers to schedule facility visits. The contact persons of firms guided the researcher toaccess production facilities, conducting observations, meeting with the management andnon-management employees. We then developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
between the principal researcher and case firms. Some specific duties of the principal
investigator (PI), research assistants (RAs), and case companies were described during the
research process in the MoU. The study clearly stated the tentative data collection
40 | P a g e

timeframe. Therefore, the PI and RAs could easily access manufacturing facilities until theend of the research project.
3.2.1.2. Research Respondents
The researchers determined the purposive sampling technique, one type of nonprobability sampling [166], using subjective judgment as it is the most practical in the
exploratory stages. We endeavored to answer the research queries undertaking an in-depth
study that relied on a small number of respondents of the case organizations. Management
employees at the similar level were selected in terms of holding sufficient knowledge
shown in table 3.2 and interest in the key sustainability concept. As we know, thesimilarities among research respondents helped us explore greater depth on the research key
contents and themes of the subject matter [169].
Table 3.2: The details of Research Respondents
Categories of Respondents
Res. Code

Designation and Job Category

RS.1_A
RS.2_A
RS.3_A
RS.4_A
RS.5_A
RS.6_A
RS.7_A
RS.8_A

Director, Technical & Maintenance
Senior Manager, Compliance
Senior Manager, Marketing & Merchandising
Deputy General Manager, Production (Fabric)
Director, Production (Garment)
Chief Operating Officer, Factory Operation
Supervisor, Production (Fabric)
Cutting Operator (Garment)
Executive Director, Marketing (Fabric &Garment)
Chief Operating Officer, Factory Operation
Senior Manager, Marketing & Merchandising
General Manager, HR, Compliance, andSustainability
Senior Manager, Production (Printing)Senior Operator, Production (Fabric)
Line Chief, Production (Garment)
Director (Fabric)
Manager, Marketing & Merchandising
Sr. Manager, Sustainability
Doctor, Medical Center
Senior Manager, Compliance and Welfare
Operator, Production (Garment)Line Chief, Production (Garment)

RS.9_B
RS.10_B
RS.11_B
RS.12_B
RS.13_B
RS.14_B
RS.15_B
RS.16_C
RS.17_C
RS.18_C
RS.19_C
RS.20_C
RS.21_C
RS.22_CYear
of Exp.
20
12
15
20
11
16
7
5

Highest Education
Dip. in Eng.
M.Com.
M.Com.
BSc. In Eng.
BSc. In Eng.
BSc. In Eng.
Dip. Prod. Tech.
Primary School

26

BSc. In Eng.

20
13

M.Com.
MBA

11

MBA

12
8
11
24
16
12
10
15
4
11

Dip. Prod. Tech.
Primary School
Secondary SchoolBA
M.Com.
M.Com.
MBBS
MBA
Primary School
Secondary School

Note: Dip. in Eng. – Diploma in Engineering, BA. - Bachelor of Arts BSc. in Eng. –Bachelor of Science in Engineering, M.Com. - Master is in Commerce, MBA- Master ofBusiness Administration,
41 | P a g e

Before contacting respondents, we identified the key resources persons such as
divisional heads or senior managers who engaged in making sustainability-related
decisions. Therefore, before fixing the respondents’ list, we requested targeted respondents’details and contact numbers (including mail and cell phone number) from the caseorganizations' HR managers and Compliance managers. Only two case companies (Case A
and Case C) provided the researcher the respondents’ details for making interview
schedules. Although the other case (Case B) did not share the employee’s personal contact
details with the researchers, they cooperated with researchers to access the relevant
departments for respondents’ interviews based on their availability.
The researchers made a few changes to the primary respondents’ list after cross-checking
with respondents. Although we managed 30 research respondents, we did not consider all
for several unavoidable reasons. Finally, we have considered a total of 22 respondents
shown in table 3.2. As the homogenous purposive sampling, the qualitative interview
research on sample size 4-12 is acceptable for internal validity [169, p. 297]. Therefore, thestudy sample size 22 is entirely appropriate to ensure validity and reliability concerningcase study research.
Table 3.3 Demographic Profile of Research Participants%
1. Experiences in Years<5 or 5
6-10
11 - 15
16 - 20>20

2. Job status
Management
Non-management
3. Work Category
Factory Operation / Prod.
Admin./ Compliance/Sustainability
Marketing and Merchandising
Fabric Mil
Maintenance

Medical Center
Prod. Dev. & Sample

9.1
13.6
50
18.2

9.1
72.8
27.2
31.8
22.7
18.2
13.6
4.5

4.5
4.5

%
4. Designation
Owner / Managing Director / Director
CEO / COO
GM / AGMManager / Senior Managers
Line Chief/Supervisor

13.6
9.1
13.6
36.4
18.2

Operator

9.1

5. Education
Bachelor
Master
Diploma
MBBS

22.7
36.4
13.6

Secondary School
Primary School
6. Specialization
Engineering & Technical
Health expert
General Education

4.5
9.1
13.6
31.8
4.5
63.6

Note: A total of 22 participants from three case organizations (Source: Fieldwork 2018-2019)42 | P a g e

However, the respondents represent the diversity in education background,experiences, positions, job duties, and specialization, as shown in the demographic profile
table 3.3. The interviewees from diverse backgrounds helped the researcher maintain data
quality. Almost 50 percent of participants held over 11 to 15 years of work experiences in
the garment sector, and more than 25 percent above 16+ years of experience. The study
considered the management and non-management employees as respondents that
represented 72.8 percent and 27.2 percent respectively. Concerning work category, almost
one-third, 31.8 percent belong to factory operation and production division. On the other
hand, participants from general affairs department (sustainability, Compliance, andAdministration) represents 22.7 percent and 18.2 percent participant from marketing andmerchandising categories.
In this study, we emphasized middle management and top management respondents
who possess initiatives and take part in company’s policymaking. In both categories, weinterviewed almost 50 percent and 22.7 percent, respectively. In the educational
background, most of the participants are above bachelor’s degree (63.6 percent). However,they completed bachelor's or master’s degrees in the fields of general education.
3.3.3 Phases of data collection
The study employed triangulation [170, pp. 777–781] method to gather dataconsidering different times, places, and persons, shown in figure 3.2. In the first phase, theprincipal investigator (PI) conducted interviews with 6 respondents of the top managementof all three case firms. The first stage of data collection was carried out during SeptOctober in 2018 by the PI. The first phase of data collection helped PI determine theboundary of the research content questionnaires and analysis procedures throughout the
research process.

43 | P a g e

Figure 3.1: Data triangulation method to gather data from research setting.

In the second phase, the data were collected during May – June 2019 by two research
assistances. Both RAs were graduate students from of local university. They were selected
through the formal recruitment procedure. The RAs interviewed almost 22 research
respondents using the interview guidelines. We considered the 16 interviews suitable basedon consistency and completeness. Besides the interview, they gathered data throughinternal documents and a series of direct observations.
3.3.4 Measurement of Data collection
The researchers gathered data from three sources: observation, documents, andinterviews (see figure 3.2), which is called the ‘triangulation’ method considering
theoretical stance. The ‘triangulation method’ can increase the credibility of the internal
quality research and external validity [170, p. 779]. We focused on methodologicaltriangulation to accumulate qualitative data from the interview, direct observation, anddocument review [170, p. 780]. The case study research becomes rich and high quality once
its results are revealed in all dimensions. Therefore, we employed great caution in selecting
target respondents, observing rights activities, and reviewing correct documents of all threecase firms throughout the research process.
As mentioned, the subjective stances from various respondents are very crucial for thecase study. Therefore, we preferred in-depth discussions through semi-structured interview
measurements. The interviews covered diverse respondents' backgrounds (see table 3.2),
which helped us reach the diverse information in various dimensions. Following interview
measurement, we also concentrated on onsite observation and internal document review toverify our perceptions.
3.3.4.1. Interview Instrument
We prepared the interview contents following a semi-structured design to maintaintheir coherence with the research aim and questions. The interview questions were simple
enough for all the respondents to comprehend. Bryman [166] suggests using a list ofcontent questions that somewhat covers the specific research topics. It is often referred to as
an interview guide. However, in this research, before the fieldwork, the contents ofquestionnaire had been checked by the supervisor and peers during weekly seminars.

44 | P a g e

Moreover, the study followed a three-step in-depth or semi-structured interview to improvedata quality issues.
First, we have developed communication for the interview schedule. The researchers
contacted respondents through mail or voice calls before interviews. We sent study
purpose, content questions, and research protocol to the case firms before interviewing
respondents. After the management confirmation, the HR manager provided theinterviewees’ details of the respective departments. The principal investigators (PI) and theresearcher assistants visited all case companies and met all respondents to introduce
themselves and shared the purpose and importance of the research.
Second, we have prepared interview arrangements. The researchers sent an interview
guide to respondents that included three parts: interview manners, protocol, and someresearch contents based on respondents’ categories. Following the interviewee's manners
and protocol, we described several relevant queries to let interviewees know about theduties of researchers and respondents during the data collection and analysis process.
Third, we have cross-checked the interview's correctness. During the face-to-faceinterviews, the researchers also provided the printed copies of the interview guide and aconsent form to the respondents. The interview guide and consent form helped participants
to decide their voluntary participation. Again, the consent form also clarified risks anddiscomfort, the advantage of the research, personal information, and data privacy issues. In
the end, we put the researchers’ contact details with the affiliated institute address in theconsent form as if the respondents could contact if any doubt.
The researchers gathered interviews from respondents using a content questionnaire(see Appendix A: table A1). Through semi-structured technique, we have gathered 30
interviews. With consent, we audiotaped almost 20 interviews in front of the respondents.
The complete interview of each management respondent took an average of 60-75 minutes
and each interview of non-management employees lasted almost 40-50 minutes. Theinterview clips of each interviewee were played randomly to reconfirm the voice quality
and clarity to avoid any doubt regarding some concepts.
However, we finally considered only 22 interviews (Table 3.2) because of thecompleteness and consistency related to the content questionnaire. Except one, all 21
participants are from local with similar cultural origin. Almost in-depth interviews are
45 | P a g e

made one-to-one in the factories’ premises. However, we were flexible to take interviews
during the available time requested by respondents, such as the early morning or lateevening or even on weekends via voice calls or face-to-face meetings at restaurants.
In the study, we encountered several hurdles concerning data collection frommanagement and non-management employees. First, although the case companies agreed toallow researchers for random access to their factories during data collection phases, the top
management would often restrict frequent access to facilities. Second, management
respondents were in a rush almost times, so it was challenging to cover the whole interview
without interruption. Third, the respondents from non-management were not always
accessible, and they also often felt shy and afraid of sharing information freely. However,to cope with these challenges, the researchers prepared flexible interview schedules
considering time and location.
3.3.4.2. Onsite Observation
The study also emphasized direct observation alongside the interview method.
Observing the research setting often helps to be familiarized with participants in the studied
locations. The study considered a structured observation [166], [167] to gather data throughthe step-by-steps viewing of the suppliers activities concerning sustainability practices.
First, we observed the people actions of what they were practicing and their interaction
among co-workers. In this regard, we endeavored to address on how the managers would
cooperate and collaborate with their subordinates to make the jobs done. Second, weparticipated as an observer as weekly meetings, Safety committees, and Participatorycommittees’ meetings. The work floor visits helped researcher to observe workers’
response systems during hazards assessment.
During filed work on September - October 2018, the observation was conducted
mainly by principal investigator while visiting case firms’ production facilities: the officebuildings, garment production floors, inventories, fabric processing units, water treatment
facilities, and power generation areas. However, the RA also visited the same facilities tocross-check the previous observation records and gathered some new filed notes. The
researchers also emphasized informal conversations with the witnesses (especially workers,
supervisors, and floor managers) about the events that were studied. The direct viewing
allowed researchers to get insights about management functions, the relationship between
46 | P a g e

inter and intra-departments activities, and organizational practices concerning the firm’s
bottom-line issues.
We took field notes (observation memos) while visiting suppliers’ manufacturing
facilities. A research notebook (sometime digital notebook or paper notepad) used to record
the observation events concerning employees’ activities at the. The observation notes werearranged through general heading and specific events. The general heading contains threelabels factory name, date, and observer’s name. On the other hand, the specific events
include the process names, description of facilities, the detailed of activities that have been
observed, and employee’s positions and roles to whom we clarified our understanding.
3.3.4.3. Document Review
In the triangulation methods, the document review is another supportive method toverify the researchers’ understanding on the qualitative data obtained from interview andobservation methods. In this regard, we focused to gather several internal documents
regarding firms’ corporate profiles, factory safety inspection reports, social andenvironmental compliance reports from various departments. The suppliers maintained the
explicit data by official documents that could provide the rich information [167]. These
internal documents analysis helped to access the authentic information toward businesspractices on organizations’ economic, social, and environmental bottom lines. We criticallyexamined these documents to reveal the meaning of their actions toward corporate
sustainability practices.
Moreover, the study gathered the external documents related to Accord’s inspection
reports and Corrective Action Plans (CAPs), BSCI audits reports, worker’s complaints
records, and recognition letters. We extracted all numeric and text data regarding firms’
financial information, resources consumption rate, waste streams, employees’ labor andhuman rights practices, absenteeism, migration rates, and workers’ grievances. These
documents review allowed the researcher to verify with respondents’ feedback regarding
firms’ financial, social, and environmental dimensions.
3.3.5 Data Analysis
As a nature of case study research, we have followed the multiple units of analysis
including case organizations and key respondents’ analyses. Here, the researcher was
focused on data analysis procedures with rigor and sturdiness of fieldwork data collected
47 | P a g e

via interviews, observation, and document reviews. Therefore, we emphasized analyzing all
three sources of data by maintaining consistency and coherence. For internal validity, these
relationships among three sources are crucial, and the output of the data analyses give thereliability and replicability in generating the finding for future studies.
3.3.5.1 The internal documents and observation analysis
The qualitative data of the three case firms are not statistically representative. In linewith Patton (2015), we argue that the statistical-driven analysis can only quantify thethought or hypothesized and operationalized results in advance. However, we gathered
many internal documents and took observation memos and numerical information from
respondents of all three organizations. We conducted step-by-steps analysis of all threesources.
As mentioned above, all observation notes are maintained organized orders that helped
us write summaries for each case firm. Then we read these summaries repeatedly andchecked with organizations' business profiles and other internal documents if any
mismatch. Further, we write observation summaries for each case presents in the result
analysis chapter (see Chapter 4). For document review and analysis is another data
presentation step to summarize with any numeric data.
We collected many internal data from several departments of the case firms that
contain a lot of numeric data about their business practices including facility compliance
audits, inventory, production, and financial data. These data help to understand the businessflow concerning workplace, social and environmental practices. We analyzed these numeric
data using descriptive techniques and presented in tables and figures with textualinterpretation (see Chapter 4). In line with Saunders et al. [169], the study used descriptive
analysis to get insights on sustainability practices by evaluating the numeric data from theinternal documents. Again, the respondents' numeric data is verified with firms’ internal
documents and direct observations. The numbers and figures we used here are taken fromthe firm’s business profile, production reports, utility reports, internal and external audit
reports, and other public sources.
3.3.5.2 Interview data analysis
The researchers have analyzed interview data through the thematic content analysis(TCA) techniques. Thematic analysis is a ‘foundations method for qualitative data analysis
48 | P a g e

[169, pp. 579–580]. It is organized for the data cross cases and coding is employed as basic
analytical strategy. The study searches codes and themes across the data sets toward theory
development [172]. Following TCA, the study has employed steps of coding andcategorizing (SCAC) techniques to create codes, categories, and core categories fordeveloping stories and new theories from data. The overall data analyses process of theinterview data has been following several steps, shown in figure 3.3.

Figure 3.2: The steps of data analysis

Transcriptions. We transcribed all interview audiotapes and wrote in the local
language on A4 size papers. The research assistances (RAs) helped the principal
investigator (PI) transcribing all audio tapes after each interview. At the very first of thetranscription phase, the principal investigator together with RAs transcribed one fullinterview via virtual meeting. The first transcription, we carefully listened the whole audio
clips twice and identified some conversations or talks that are irrelevant to our queries.
Translated and transferred to excel. We transcribed 19 interviews to the handwritten
texts through local language and the three interviews already have gathered in English
language. The total transcriptions took around three hundred pages on A4 size paper. All
handwritten interviews are double checked by RAs and the PI to ensure the accuracy andclarity. Especially, the PI found a lots of unclear terms or incomplete sentences on the
manual transcriptions. There were a few reasons behind these situations. First, the RAs
were unable to write in correct spelling of those terms. Second, they could not complete
some sentences because of the unfamiliar terms. However, the PI met numerous virtual
meetings to solve these issues as he was familiar on those technical terms.
After the confirming the transcriptions, we started to translate into English. Our bothRAs were also selected based on their previous education background and experiences ontranslation services in several academic research. Moreover, both RAs cross-checked eachother translations. The PI also checked one-by-one all translations to understand all
49 | P a g e

nineteen interviews. The interviewees mentioned almost terms, concepts, and processes’
names in English language. Therefore, the PI easily grasp the objective meaning of thetranslations. However, for more clarification the RAs sent all written interviews to the
respondents to reconfirm our understanding. The interview texts according to respondents’
codes are organized in the rows and columns of a spreadsheet, shown in figure 3.3.
Steps of coding and categorizing (SCAC). As abovementioned, we employed the
SCAC to analyze qualitative data. In these steps, we developed the codes, selective codes,
sub-categories, and categories from fieldwork data. The ‘code’ was defined as a unit of text,or phrases, or words that best describes the sentences or paragraphs of the transcribed data[169], [172], [173]. We have labeled mainly two kinds of codes: ‘data-driven’ and ‘theorydriven’ codes on each code line [172]. The data set contained almost 944 sentences under
371 paragraphs. The analysis was generated almost three-hundreds seventy-two (371) codelines. Figure 3.3 has shown the SAC process using the spread sheet.
Here the data-driven codes were derived from textual data (raw information). These
were again separated as ‘new codes’ and ‘in-vivo’ codes that derived from the whole data
set. We created the ‘new codes’ to brief the meaning of the unit of data or sentences, orparagraphs. We were careful to create the ‘new code’ as if it would provide the best
possible meaning of the raw information. Besides, many words or phrases were directly
highlighted as codes from the sentences or paragraphs that called ‘in-vivo’ codes [166]. On
the other hand, the study employed theory-driven codes that sourced from previous
literature and theories to link the units of data, often called as ‘priori’ code [166], [172].
After initial coding, we paraphrased all codes to extend the meaning of the unit of text.
We matched and linked all three types of codes into several parent codes based on the best
possible relationship. These analyses processes often identified as selective or focusedcoding [173] that linked the similar subcodes with the parent codes. The study further
searched and merged the selective / focused codes based on close relationship to develop
patterns and themes. The patterns and themes were searched from whole data set undersubcategories.

50 | P a g e

Figure 3.3: SCAC process using spreadsheet

We described all subcategories by creating stories by linking the patterns and themes.
However, some subcategories changed because of vague meaning and labeled as newnames. Again, some were merged and removed because of similar meaning over time byverifying with prior literature and. The study developed a total of twenty-threesubcategories where fifteen subcategories based on prior literatures and the eights were‘new’. In the final step, we further clustered the subcategories into several major themes ofsubject-matter that labelled as five categories in this study. The study theorized all fivecategories by linking and merging the stories of subcategories. These five categories, in thisstudy, are the main pillars or dimensions of sustainability initiatives, and the sub-categories
represent the key performance indicators of sustainability of the Bangladesh RMG sector.

51 | P a g e

3.3. Challenges during data collection and analyses stages
We encountered several obstacles during data collection from management and nonmanagement employees. These issues made the researcher challenging to complete one
interview without any interruption.
 First, although we had an agreement, sometimes top management would restrict
random access to facilities and visit production floors.
 Second, they often restrict researchers from asking any query workers and floor
managers during onsite observation. Moreover, the workers also felt shy or afraid torespond to researchers’ queries.
 Third, management respondents were in a hurry and challenging to cover theinterview without interruption.
 Fourth, the non-management participants want to avoid some questions because offear of sharing.
However, to cope with these challenges, the researchers prepared flexible interview
schedules considering time and location.
Moreover, we also faced several difficulties during the data analysis process. These areas
below,
 Researchers were struggling to transcribe verbatim data because some interviews
contained unnecessary talks, such as phone conversations and discussions with coworkers.
 Researchers did not identify several unfamiliar terms, unclear pronunciations, andsometimes low voices.
However, the principal investigator has arranged virtual meetings and listened to a couple
of interviews with RA and guided them to avoid these issues. Besides, the researchers
contacted respondents to clarify some concepts whenever necessary.

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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS FROM DATA ANALYSIS
4. Introduction
This chapter mainly contains the data analysis that is presented in the three subsections.
First, the brief introduction of each case firms. Second, we highlight the cross-casesummaries. Finally, we have presented the respondent analysis through summarizing andinterpretating using categories. Here, we interpreted all observations and interview data inthe text format. However, a few descriptive analyses have used for presenting numeric dataof the document review. Here, the data analysis has outlined the case organization’s
economic activities, corporate governance, and social and environmental bottom-line
practice.
4.1 Case Introduction
4.1.1 Firm A
Background. The firm has formed as private limited company under the Company Act(Bangladesh), 1994. The company has become a group of companies over the year and has
developed four sister-concerns: two garment factories, one fabric mill, and one design anddevelopment company. The headquarter is in the Mawna, Gazipur, Bangladesh. Almost all
production facilities are accommodated within the HQ location.
Corporate Structure. The owner of firm A is a Managing Director (MD) and the boardof directors (BODs) chief. His wife act as a chairman and a member of BODs. Besides, twomore directors are from the owner's family members and only a member from the
management employee. Therefore, the five people on the corporate board of firm A
represent corporate governance. The owner of firm A makes all corporate decisions
regarding financial, social, and environmental governance. The organization hierarchies
stand on a vertical relationship in the corporate management. The owner as a Managing
Director was the chief of firm’s corporate governance the Technical Director and
COO/CFO were followed by him. The complete organogram follows Managing Director→Technical Director →Chief Operating Officer / Chief Financial Officer →Divisions or
Department Heads→ Managers→ Executives→ Non-management staff.
Corporate Statement and management intents. The corporate boards have aimed to bea valuable and reliable name as a garment supplier cum manufacturer. They have focused to
53 | P a g e

continuous improvement concerning product’s quality, production services, andinnovativeness. In their corporate profile, they highlighted three core values: customer trust,empowerment, and sustainability. They have determined to achieve customers’ trust by
supplying quality products, process innovation, on-time delivery, social compliance, andinformation transparency.
Another commitment was to be respectful for neighboring communities and careful
about employees’ and communities’ livelihood. From such a pledge, they have been
pursuing to increase business growth with creating employment, corporate volunteering,and environmental conservation. The top management have desired to attaining sustainablegrowth by improving resources efficiency, skilled workforces, and waste/emission
management. Very recently, the firm has perceived reducing, recycling, recovering, andreusing nonrenewable resources toward achieving sustainable development goals.
4.1.2 Firm B
Background. This firm is also a group of companies, and it starts as a sole
proprietorship. Over the decades, it has transformed into a private limited company. It
locates at a special industrial zone at Fatullah, Narayanganj, 15 kilometers away from thecapital. The group consists of two sister concerns: knit composite manufacturing (KCM)
and woven garment assembly (WGA) business units. The KCM comprises five divisions,
including fabric mil, Laundry, Printing, Embroidery, Design and Sampling, and Cut & Sew.
All production units, offices, and design studios are located within the headquarter location.
Besides, the company collaborated with two independent European Design teams to
manage their European customers' seasonal collections and trends.
Corporate structure. The owner of firm B also acts as MD, and his wife, two sons, andone daughter perform as members of the corporate board. Besides family members, theExecutive Director (ED) from management employees are also valuable members of
BODs. The elder son holds the Deputy Managing Director (DMD) position, and the
younger son works as Assistant Deputy Director. The company follows a hybrid
management structure. Contrast to firm A, an individual director assigned as chief of theGroup Accounts and Finance, HR, Compliance, and Sustainability department. The
executive director (ED) and Chief Operating Officers (COO) mainly engaged to manage allbusiness activities. The Corporate HR, Sustainability Admin & Compliance, merchandisingin-charges, and other managers and executives helped ED and COO. The top management
54 | P a g e

of these two firms usually approves groups’ policies, rules, and COPs. Besides, senior
management like the General manager (GM) and Deputy General Manager (DGM) refer tothe divisions/departments' heads and participate in the monthly business meeting.
Corporate vision, missions, and values. Firm B also envisions one of the best garment
makers globally and one of the top 3 in Bangladesh. They designed the missions andbusiness values to achieve this tailored vision. The missions include enhancing people
competencies through empowerment, creating opportunities for skilled development,
exceeding quality standards, promoting product and process innovation, increasing
stakeholders’ relationships, and integrating information and communication technology tomake the process faster and improve efficiencies. The firm aims to deliver five core values,
including being passionate about customer’s desires, caring for customers, employees, andsocietal needs, innovating a new way of work, being courageous to the firm’s vision andmission, and being accountable for every action.
4.1.3 Firm C
Background. It became a group of companies in 2018 and set a vision to diversify thebusiness operations. The company started its journey as a private limited company in textile
and readymade garment sector since 1987. After a decade, they established a knitwear
factory in 2000 that was the first footstep in knit garment business. In the following years,
the company founded a vertical-integrated knitwear garment factory in 2002 that included
fabric processing, laundry, screen printing unit, embroidery, and Cut & Sew units. Besides,
the group also established a printing company in 2005, and environmental-friendly
packaging company in 2011. At present, the group comprises one textile mill, a composite
knitwear factory, a woven wear assembling factory, a print shop, and a packaging factory.
The headquarter (HQ) is in Tongi industrial zone, Gazipur, next to Dhaka's capital city. The
Except textile mill, all factories housed in the HQ premises and next to it. The company
incorporated with the Registrar and Joint Stock Company in 2011 as a public limited
company.
Corporate structure. The firm has a hybrid structure in the corporate governance andmanagement practice. After the founding owner departed, his five children took theownership roles all five independent business units. The elder son acted as MD, and CEOof the knitwear business unit. The other two brothers and two sisters also act as Chairmen
and MD respectively on the other four business units. All family members and two more
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directors from factory operations acted as board of directors (BODs). As a public limited
company, the firm appointed an independent director from outside organizations. All BODs
are university graduated and participate the board meetings as per public limited company
acts. Only two women represent out of eight members in the corporate board.
The firm has a two-layer management system including corporate management andfactory management. The BODs are chief of both management systems. The corporate
management employees look after the group’s general affairs: Administration, Accounts
and Finance, Human Resource, Compliance, and Sustainability departments. The firm has
assigned Chief Operating Officers (COO) as a chief for each factory’s operation. Besides,
each factory has its HR, Admin, Compliance, Merchandising, Production, Quality, andother related departments to manage business activities independently. The corporate teamusually create the groups’ policies, laws/rules, and COCs and the factory management
execute the corporate practices. Besides, the firm has created senior management position
like the General manager (GM) and Deputy General Manager (DGM) to act as thedepartments' heads and participate in the monthly business meeting.
Corporate vision, missions, and values. As a group of companies, firm C intended to
be a preferable name to its customers, employees, stockholders, and other indirect
stakeholders. They focused on four missions: exceed the customers’ expectations delivering
the quality products and services; empower the workforce and convert them into the best
human resources; contribute to local communities by enrichment of society and fewer
emissions and maximize stakeholders/shareholders’ values.
The company wanted to embed ‘integrity, people first, technology, and sustainability
as core values throughout its operational activities and management functions. They
determined to be loyal to their customers by sharing corporate policies, open access andreporting practice across all business activities. The firm considered its people as astoryteller of company’s success and customers as source of business inspirations.
Therefore, it had been promoting people-oriented values and beliefs to lead their legacy of
success.
4.2 Cross-case summaries
4.2.1 The overview of case firms’ economic activities and business impacts
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The corporate profiles of all three firms are tabulated in table 4.1 that extracted fromthe document review and observation memos. The selected case firms are verticallyintegrated because they manage the key production components such as textile fabrics,
other subcontracting services of printing, embroidery, laundry, and accessories from theirproduction network shown in table 4.1. These corporate data have helped us to know theorganizational strengths of these firms that promoted to drive for the sustainability
practices.
Table 4.1 Case Firm’s Corporate Profiles
FeaturesEstablishment
Ownership
structure
Employee size
Business Units/factories

Assembling lines*
Major markets
Product
Categories
Major resourcesin production
Production defectrates
Compliance
Status *Accord’s WSP
statusCredit Report.
Sustainability
ReportingFirm A
2007
Private Ltd. Company

Firm B
1998
Private Ltd. Company

Firm C
1987
Public Ltd. Company

5503 (Female -2044)
Textile fabric mill,Printing, All Over
Printing, and Cut &Sew factory
10010903 (Female- 3610)
Textile fabric mill, and
Cut & Sew and woven
wear factories

5900 (Female- 3280)
Textile fabric mill, Cut &Sew, woven wear,
packaging factories

140

72

Europe and Asia
Basic tees/polo,
blouse, sportswear,etc.
IE and GE, NG &GW
5%Europe and US
Basic knitwear/woven
wear for all aged group

European
Basic, casual, sportswear,
and fancy knitwear

IE and GE, NG, Diesel,& GW
4%

IE & GE, Solar, NG, GW,
rainwater
5%

BSCI Rating B

BSCI Rating A

BSCI Rating A

above 95%
remediatedNo
No

Fully remediatedabove 95 % remediatedNo
No

Credit Rating Report
GRI and UNGC COP

Note: ‘*’ = data are variable, COP = Communication on Progress, IE= Internal Electricity, GE= Grid
Electricity, NG=Natural Gas, GW= Groundwater || Source: Fieldwork 2018-2019

Concerning business strengths, the three firms chiefly export the finished garment.
They usually take complete garment workorders with an FOB5 price and they manage raw
5

FOB – Free on board or freight on board is commonly used when shipping goods to indicate who pays

loading and transportation costs, and/or the point at which the responsibility of the goods transfers fromshipper to buyer.
57 | P a g e

materials to fabric production, garment stitching and handover finished goods to sea/air
forwarders at port. Besides exports, they also produce and sell textile fabric to local
garment factories. The firms have inhouse fabric mills which consists of knitting, washing,dyeing, and finishing processes. All firms are the labor-intensive companies considering
employment size and fall in the large manufacturing industry category6. Both firms A & B
have above 60 percent male and in contrast firm C has above 55 percent female employees,
shown in table 4.1. The average female workers of RMG sector is above 65 percent which
is more higher than the case companies [159].
In terms of production capacity strength, the three firms produce the mass quantities
with an average of 75000 to 140000pcs by 80 to 120 garment assembling lines. The firms’
garment assembling lines consist of modular assembly lines7 and lean manufacturing lines8.
Both firms A and C set up the lean lines in 2015, and nowadays they possess above 40
percent. On the other hand, the firm B replaced more than 80 percent of modular lines withlean lines. The new method helped suppliers to reduce the additional labor (such as man vs.
machine ratio 1:1) from garment sewing processes, decrease the crowd from sewing floors
and reduce labor costs.

Figure 4.1 (a) The annual turnovers in sales volume and values; (b) The annual growth rates
in sales value.

6

According to the Ministry of Industry of Bangladesh, the labor size is more than 1000 will fall into thelarge industry category.
7

modular assembly line or classic assembly line – the series of individual operations are designed in aliner line to produce the final product. In this system, the garment sewing production requires 1.5 times laborsthan machines.
8

Lean manufacturing line- has become very popular method in automotive industry that introduced by

Toyota. In this system, the labor and machine ratio are equal. it is a systematic approach for achieving theshortest possible cycle time by eliminating the process waste
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The annual revenues of all three firms gradually increased from 2016 to 2019, shownin Figure 4.1a. But the average price of all three firms gradually decreased in FY 2018-19
than in the past years. The growth rates of firms A and C shown in Figure 4.1b, were
almost double in FY2018-19 than the previous year. However, firm B experienced a slightdecrease during the same period. Although the daily garment-making capacity of case B istwice that of the other two firms (see table 4.1), the process loss is less low in both firms A
and C.
Concerning the garment components sourcing, the main production input of all threefirms is undyed yarns because almost 70 to 80 percent of the garment is made from cotton
yarn and the rest are mixed quality yarns. The firms supply garments to western buyers
based on three cotton qualities: inorganic cotton (cotton grown with pesticide), organic
cotton (naturally grown), and Better Cotton Initiative (alternative cotton yarns that use noharmful pesticides). Besides yarns, another critical material is the chemicals that use it tocolor the fabric. The chemical inventory report of firm C shows, above two hundred, thereactive and pigment dyes and fixers required in fabric production. The other raw materials,
such as sewing and trims, packaging accessories usually manage primarily local and very
few from overseas vendors by firms.
The source of energy resources, all three firms used significant amount of energy(natural gas, fossil fuel, &electricity) and water in textile and garment production processes.
The data found, the natural gas (NG) is the primary energy resource of all firms and usuallypurchases 100 percent from national grids. The major portion of NG uses in the internal
power generation system (PGS). Moreover, the NG use directly to operate heavy textile
machines and steam boilers. The PGS of firms A and C supply almost 60 percent electricity
to run factories. In contrast, firm B supplies nearly 75 percent of power to all facilities from
PGS. The rest of the electric power is purchases from the national girds. Only firm C has a
50kwh solar power system to supply renewable energy.
The water resource is another valuable production input for all firms. They all heavily
rely on freshwater use in fabric processing unit, laundry, and yarn dyeing unit. They
withdraw volumes of water from underground to support 24 hours fabric production
processes specifically washing, dyeing, and finishing (WDF) processes. In addition, firm C
has the rainwater harvesting system (a method to hold rain waters on the rooftop) and uses
an average of 5 to 8 percent water of the total requirement. However, all three firms have an
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Effluent Treatment Plant9 (ETP) that can recover only 10 -15 percent of treated water forreuse in general purposes such as watering the garden, cleaning, and sanitation.
Considering energy and water resource intensity, firm B found efficiently manage all
three main resources: electricity, NG, and water (see table 4.2). The company consumed
NG and water resources less than 50 percent compared to the other two firms for producing
every 12 pieces of garment in the fiscal year 2018-19. However, the electric power
consumption of all firms was almost similar.
Regarding the negative manufacturing outputs (NMOs), the waste/emission intensities
differentiated among these firms according to manufacturing capacities, resource utilization
policies and technologies application. These intensities have shown in Table 4.2. We foundthat the firms’ fabric production and laundry units generated high negative outputs. The
firms addressed wastewaters, carbon emissions, and hazardous and non-hazardous solid
wastes as negative outputs.
Table 4.2: The resource and waste intensity of three firms in 2018-2019
Resource intensity

Firm A

Firm B

Firm CElectricity (kwh/per dozen)
NG (m3/per dozen)
Fresh Water (litter/dozen)
Negative manufacturing outputs(NMOs)
Solid waste (kg/per dozen)
Wastewaters
Steam (kg/dozen)
Carbon emission (kg/Dozen)

6.44
5.69
681.156.12
2.26
481.156.85
6.00
528.500.72
603.00
61.56
7.06

0.96
413.28
35.52
5.28

0.5
456.2854.17
6.33

Note: the data is variable based on several factors; (source: Fieldwork 2018-2019)

Table 4.2 shows that firm A released the highest wastewater (approximately 80 percentof the total) per 12pcs garment production in the year 2018-19. The wastewater wasdischarged to local water bodies through ETP outlets that contain lots of chemicalcompounds. Considering the emission, three firms sunk tons of carbon dioxide (CO2)annually and estimated an average of 5.5 to 7kg per 12pcs garment production. Concerningsolid waste, firm C efficiently handled the solid waste compared to the other two firms.

9

A water treatment plant that processes waste waters to reduce the chemical toxicities before discharge tolocal waterbodies.
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Firms A and B yielded an average of 0.7 to 0.9 kilograms of solid waste generated in 201819 for every 12 garment production pieces that seem high waste concerning the industry
benchmark.
4.2.2. Case firm’s corporate policies and programs
The corporate management of the case organizations adopted numerous corporate
policies regarding factory compliance, human rights and labor codes, ethical business, andenvironmental dimensions, shown in table 4.3. They adopted construction safety, healthand safety, safety training and monitoring, emergency response policies under factorycompliance policies. All firms focused on resource management and recovery policy
through a cleaner production. In addition, firms B and C developed the green factory policy
to increase the efficient management in energy, water, and emission since 2016.
Concerning policy communication, firm A hanged up all corporate policies in the policyboard and the other two assigned respective corporate teams to disseminate across all
production units.
Table 4.3 Case firms’ corporate policies
Corporate Policies
Labor codes and Human Rights policies
Forced Labor and Child labor Prohibition
Anti-Harassment and Anti-Discrimination
Disciplinary Action and Penalty
Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
Factory Compliance Policies
Health and Safety
Workplace Safety Training and Monitoring Policy
Emergency Response and Action
Complaint Mechanism
Maternity Leave and Benefit
Ethical Business Policies
Wage and Benefit
Recruitment, Selection, and Discontinuation
Holidays and Leave Policy
Sub-contracting and Suppliers' management
Anti-Corruption and bribery
Corporate training and education policy
Environmental Policies
Resource management and recovery policy
Green Factory Policy
Cleaner Production Assessment
Chemical Policy

Status of Implementation
Firm A
Firm B
Firm C
√
√
√
√

√
√
x
√

√
√
x
√

√
√
√
√
√

√
√
x
√
√

√
√
x
√
√

√
√
√
√
x
x

√
√
√
√
x
√

√
√
√
x
√
√

√
x
√
√

√
√
√
√

√
√
x
√
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Environmental Management system

x

√

√

Note: ‘√’ = Action has taken, ‘x’ = No action, ‘△’ = Unidentified || Source: Fieldwork 2018-19

Considering employees development, all three firms emphasized training andeducation policy. The policy helped firms in increasing corporate awareness and build
knowledge toward firms’ workplace, social and environmental compliance. Moreover, only
firm C has implemented anti-corruption and bribery policy since 2017 following the UN
Global Compact principle. This firm stressed employees’ fairness and honesty in business
transactions. As a result, the anti-corruption and bribery policy encouraged employees torefrain from illegal transactions and briberies with their business partners. The other two
firms have internal audit control to monitor employees’ unauthorized actions concerning
different contracts' approval and transactions. The respondents (RS.9, and RS.16) believedthat corruption increased operating costs, posed severe legal and reputational risks. Theysaid, their firms were serious about this matter since the joining of the UN Global Compact
standards. Therefore, our top management focused on employees’ accountability toward
their actions.
4.2.2.1 Workplace safety compliance (WSC) programs
The case companies took all legal approvals on building and fire safety constructions
under Bangladesh National Building Council 2006 and Bangladesh Civil Defense Act. The
three companies joined Accord’s WSC program to inspect their structural, electrical, andfire (SEF) safety matters after the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse. The inspection results depictednumerous safety faults of these firms that created internal and external pressures to solvethese immediately. They remediated all SEF issues compiled by Accord inspectors, shownin table 4.4. In addition, they adopted the health and hygiene provisions, boiler safety
operation, and factory labor codes under Bangladesh Labor Act 2006 and Labor Regulation
2015. All three suppliers completed above 95 percent SEF issues respecting the nationalbuilding codes of BNBC 2006 shown in table 4.1.
Table 4.4: Factories’ safety corrections
Dimensions
Structural
SafetyRemediation Completed
Firm A and B ensured occupying the floor under the approved load-plan
All firms revised drawings to reflect the as-built structure
all production buildings of firm A are reviewed and corrected adequacy ofcolumns for supporting loads
All three factories reviewed the capacity of the large brick wall panels,
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columns, and beams to resist the wind and lateral loads

Electrical
SafetyFire Safety

Three firms prepared schedule maintenance plans, and they recorded all safety
hazards observed and remediations steps for improving building durability
All three firms agreed to conduct the DEA every five years
Firm A removed additional structural constructions that were mismatched witharch. drawing and corrected others respecting the national building codes
Firms removed temporary constructions which were not included in drawings
All firms have initiated testing and recording the Thermographic scanning(TGS) after Accord suggestions
All firms replaced the cable support boards and protection system
Firm B and C have installed the lightning protection system (LPS)
All firms used combustible materials to cover the Cable trench
Firm B has installed the new circuit breakers (CB)
Firms are advised to do regular maintenance on electrical equipment to clean
hazardous dust & lint. And improving earthing equipment
Firm C installed new fire detection & alarm system and developed a fire
suppression system
All firms replaced the lockable collapsible gates with fire coated doors
Firm A & C have increased egress lighting as per NFA standards
All firms constructed the fire-coated fence to separate the hazardous areas
Firm C have increased the means of egress and the areas of the exit stair
openings as per CAPs

Note: BNBC - Bangladesh National Building Codes 2006, NFPA- National Fire Protection Act

4.2.2.2 Social and ethical programs (SEPs)
All three firms developed several initiatives under SEPs to improve corporate social
performance summarized in table 4.5. These initiatives included primary healthcare, worker
physical and mental health safety, work injury compensations, occupational diseases
prevention. These initiatives associated national labor laws BLA 2006, occupational healthsafety provisions, and international standardized management systems (ISMS) such as
BSCI, SEDEX, ISO900110, ISO1400111 and ISO4500112. These state regulations and ISMS
promote social equity, health hazards, and health and hygiene practices to prevent
unintended incidents. All three firms have confirmed these social compliance issues by
third-party BSCI/Sedex audits. Table 4.5 shows many similar initiatives in onsite medical

10

ISO9001 – the total quality management system that ensure the plant’s overall quality of production

component, and processes to ensure customers health.
11

ISO14001 – the environmental management system that provides guidelines the plant to measure,prepare and document all negative impacts generated from manufacturing plant.
12

ISO45001 – the occupational health and safety standard that guides plant to address, measure, anddocument all OHS issues in workplace and develop integrated management system to reduce the accident rate.
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centers, occupational nurses, full-time Physicians, and indoor childcare centers to meetworkers' healthcare and societal needs.
Table 4.5 Ethical compliance and social needs creation by case firms
Social & Ethical Initiatives
Enabling Initiatives

Firm A

Firm B Firm C

On-site Medical Center, Occupational Nurses, Fulltime Physician,and free medicine
Outdoor medical visit/ Medicine bill*
Firefighters, activated fire equipment, adequate first aid box,
Ambulance service, and safety complaint box
Childcare center, free vaccines, child meals, playground, andcaregivers
Annual Health Checkup, Medical Camp, adult healthcare
consultations, and women healthcare
Annual Eyecare camp

√

√

√

x
√

x
√

√
√

√

√

√

√

√

√

x

x

√

Mental health and stress awareness camps

x

√

x

Liability Insurance, and worker’s health insurance

√

√

√

Overtime work, holiday duties, festival bonus and target incentives
Production incentives, and performance bonus
Orientation training, on-job-training, technical and soft skill
training
Forms of associations, collective bargaining, labor-management
based committees
Female supervisor program, and women participation in corporate
management

√
x
√

√
x
√

√
√
√

√

√

√

x

√

√

Note: ‘√’ -Action has taken. ‘x’- No action has taken.

4.2.2.3 Environmental footprint management (EFM) program
The case organizations obtained an Environmental Clearance Certificate (ECC) underBangladesh Environmental Conservation Acts (BECA)’ 1995 and the environmental
conservation rules (BECR)’ 1997. These legal approvals certified that the firms maintained
the standard practices in manufacturing operations concerning environmental footprint
management (EFM). Therefore, they submitted an annual environmental impact assessment(EIA) to state authority before expiring the ECC. All three firms incorporated several
standardized systems: OEKO-TEX STeP standards (case A), Higg’s FEM standards (firmB), Environmental management system (firm B &C) and green factory standards (firm B &C) for improving EFM. The study summarized firms’ industrywide practices toward
environmental dimensions, shown in table 4.6.

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Table 4.6 EFM performances developed by case firms
Initiatives
Writtencompliantpolicies

EIA of theIndustrial
wastesSitemanagement

Energyefficiency

Water
efficiency

Materials andresource
management

Chemical
Wastemanagement

Firm Athe firm developed
environmental policy
following the state
regulation, ISO 9001,
and Oeko-Tex STeP
assess the internal air,wastewater, carbon
emission, soundpollution to ensure thefresh air circulation at
the workplace
integrated pest mgt.,
erosion control, accessto the site by walk &bicycle, light pollution
reduction
Optimize energy use by
reducing process loss,
daylight, system-level
metering, and energyefficient machinery
Reduce water usage infabric processing,analyze water
performance, recycle
wastewater,
Recyclable
construction mat.;
Increase Organic cont.
Use the third-party
solid waste mgt.,
Reduce fabric & mat.
Cons.
reduce hazardous
chemicals following
ZDHC MRSL andchemical wastes
handover to local
recycle companies

Firm B
A comprehensive
policy is developed
following ISO 14001,
ISO 45001, and ISO
9001

Firm CHas policy respecting state
regulation, and audit system
of ISO14001, ISO 9001,
and the USGBC’s LEED
standards

Measure the impacts on
air quality, hazardous
dyes, wastewater, &sound pollution

Assess Internal air quality,
emission, and wastewater
quality before releasing to
the environment

Easy access to the site,use fuel-efficient
vehicles, maintain thegreen landscape acrosspremises
Optimize energy perf.
by improving energy
audits, refrigerant
management, energyefficient lighting &motorsWater use reduction
through integrating
modern dyeing
machines, recycle andreuse wastewater,alternative transportation,
integrated pest mgt., erosion
control, landscape mgmt.
Plan;reduce energy usage
through energy-efficient
structures, system-level
metering, air circulation via
cooling pads; emission
reduction reporting
Reduce ground water use
through increasing rainwaters use, advanced dyeing
machines, and recycle
wastewaters

Increased use ofrecycled yarns, organic
contents; Develop solid
waste mgt., Reuse
leftover fabric &materials

Promoting green
procurement; increased
Organic & Recycledmaterials use, wastemonitoring, waste to energy
conversion via husk boilers

Following state
regulations, the MSRL
by ZDHC & buyer’s
COCs to assess
chemical wastes.

following national
regulation, RSL guidelines,
and brand's COCs to handlechemical safety acrossproduction processes

Note: these above initiatives are summarized from internal documents and direct researchobservation

The green factory standards recognized as the Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design. Case firm C was awarded a LEED certificate in the Gold Category
in 2016 for establishing a green factory building (GFB). The OEKO-TEX STeP and Higg’s
Facility Environment Module (FEM) are also industry-wide environmental practices to
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reduce emissions and wastes from facilities’ operations. Besides, firms A and B invested
sizable amounts for Cleaner Production Assessment (CPA) and Cleaner Production
Technology (CPT) to achieve efficient resource management and waste/emission control.
Figure 4.2 (a & b) has shown the water and energy performance outcomes for per kilogram
fabric production of all three firms after CPA&T and LEED implementation.

Figure 4.2 Firms water and energy performance after implementing CPA&T

4.2.2.4 Corporate governance program
Over the years, the firms faced constant challenges to reduce the gaps between internalorganizations and external parties. They emphasized improving customers’ trust and thepartners’ credibility through transparent communication and contract management. Firms B
and C took anti-corruption policies, subcontract policies, and firm A ethical business
policies to tackle these challenges. Besides, all three firms assigned respective managers to
support customers, vendors, and other stakeholders through close interactions, frequentmeetings, and gathering feedback. They arranged weekly and monthly follow-up meetings
with customers, vendors, regulators, and development organizations (NGOs). Thesemeetings helped case firms collect new information, experiences, and knowledge related tobottom-line practices. On the other hand, the team managers usually contact customers andvendors for maintaining production-related services through employing executives andofficers.
Over the years, the three firms increased their close interactions with customers, public
regulators, and stockholders/shareholders. They identified as direct stakeholders. On theother hand, they considered local communities, trade unions, government organizations,
66 | P a g e

industry associations, media, and NGO indirect stakeholders. As we found, firm C believes
its stakeholders as knowledge partners and external well-wishers. They thought their direct
and indirect stakeholders’ values increased corporate social performance. In contrast, firm
B collaborated with several partnership projects to improve social and environmental
performance. Again, firm A joined several stakeholders’ programs to create shared values
to overcome internal organizations issues. Firms A and B shared their internal disclosure
with investors, customers, employees, and other stakeholders. In contrast, firm C hasinternal and external reporting practices following GRI and the UN guiding principles.
Moreover, all three firms engaged direct stakeholders since 2014, joining
Accord/Alliance WSP program. They joined with different international voluntaryorganizations like BSR, SNV-Netherland, Palladium, Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC),ZDHC, and UGSBC to enhance employees’ knowledge and skills in workplace safety,
occupational health, social and environmental risks. Through NGOs’ insights andcollaboration, firms implemented workers’ sexual and reproductive maternity healthcare
practices and child immunization. These collaborations help manufacturers uphold theworkers’ social needs that create long-term business value and scale impact.
4.3 Respondent analyses
We conducted interviews employing two different sets of the content questionnaire(see Appendix A: appendix table A1 and A2) because of two other groups of respondents.
The data analyses progressed following hybrid techniques, including software and manual
analyses. Almost all management respondents were educated and highly experienced intheir areas (see the demographic profile of table 3.3). They possessed different perceptionsof sustainability issues and practices from their company contexts.
4.3.1 Respondents’ perception of Sustainability and its necessities
The respondents describe their perceptions of sustainability from their firm’s context(see Appendix B: appendix table B1). The firm’s respondent (RS.1) viewed sustainability
as a business vision and set for long-term goals. Another respondent (RS.6) perceived it is
as a ‘strategy of the firm to tackle its business barriers for future growth. He stated, “Byperceiving this goal, we want to be a best-regarded company among the garment exportersof Bangladesh.” The executive director (RS.9) of firm B thought the concept of‘sustainability’ is difficult to describe in a garment manufacturing setting. He mentioned
67 | P a g e‘sustainability’ as a philosophy that cannot achieve by doing certain actions or withincertain deadlines. The COO (RS.12) considered sustainability as a corporate vision. “We
aim to achieve our ability to adjust in every action considering uncertainties and futureclimate challenges,” he emphasized. For case firm C, the respondents (RS.18 and RS.20)
defined sustainability as a principle or standard that must incorporate corporate vision. The
Compliance and Sustainability Manager (RS.20) expressed, “many of our customers
already talk about sustainability standards, so we must consider this with our businesspractices as a proactive company.”
The above perceptions of respondents have clearly stated that the firms’ sustainability
programs have developed based on their corporate visions, business needs, and challenges
in sustaining the global market. The top management of all three firms understoodsustainability as a critical requirement to overcome business barriers. Although the
respondents possessed different perceptions about sustainability, they agreed that the SPs
helped them tackle firm bottom-line obstacles. The SPs become a business requirement
when case manufacturers face continuous challenges and forecast more uncertainties.
The respondents (RS.1, RS.3, & RS.5) of firm A have highlighted structural retrofitting
and renovation costs, lack of skilled workforces, customer low priced strategy, rawmaterial, and energy price hikes are significant obstacles to remain business growth.
Another respondent (RS.3_A) added few more issues such as continuous productionchangeovers, cancellation and discount policies, and management unwillingness in social
issues concerning their business barriers. Both respondents agreed that the firm would
search for a permanent solution.
For firm B, the respondents (RS.9, RS.10, and RS.13) pointed out that a variety ofcustomers’ COCs, excessive compliance pressures, unskilled workforce, high processwastes, limited versions of products, worker’s delay responses, customer’s pricing policy,
lack of material diversity, market knowledge constraint, Etc. as key business issues to them.
The respondent (RS.9) highlighted several other challenges concerning external issues:
market instability, rapid flux in international trade policies, customer consciousness, andnongovernmental organizational pressures, which led them to rethink business
policymaking. One respondent (RS.10) mentioned that ETP sludge management wasanother big internal issue that affected workers’ health. The respondents said that a variety
of inside and outside matters stimulated them to rethink the conventional practices.
68 | P a g e

On the other hand, firm C respondents (RS.16, RS.18. RS.20) mentioned several
internal challenges and external issues that were common for all firms. However, theyhighlighted a few new challenges, including various industry-wide norms, regulations,price decline, increased nonrenewable material and energy resource costs, limited source of
renewable resources, inadequate experts in waste management systems, lack of SDGs
knowledge, and stakeholder's collaboration. These are essential barriers for their company
to address and adopt initiatives to overcome for long-term financial growth. The firm's
director (RS.16) emphasized renewable resources and a waste recovery system that could
reduce nonrenewable resources pressures and reduce air/water pollution and carbon
emissions. The Compliance and Sustainability Manager (Rs.20) considered employee's
safety, safe work conditions, worker's social needs, and synchronization between middle
and top management employees toward overcoming bottom-line barriers.
4.3.2 Governance dimension
Corporate policies and programs Almost all respondents have emphasized a written
corporate statement as the first step toward their companies' sustainability program. The
values and missions clearly state the firms' sustainability visions. They think the company
can transform institutional factors into actions through written policies and objectives. The
respondent (RS.20_C) of firm C argued, "the policies are the source of the company's codesof practice. The corporate policies such as risks management, environmental management,social compliance policy incorporated the institutional laws/rules and global standardized
systems. We adopted ISO 14001, the USGBC's LEED standard, and national conservation
laws from institutional perspectives." Besides, the worker's health safety and social security
policy are critical institutional factors, was emphasized by another respondent (RS.18_C) of
firm C. To him, "the company should improve the policy for ensuring social security for theemployees. End of the day, the employees are empty when they take retirement from thecompany of this sector.”
The respondent (RS.2_A) of firm A stated that the firm set policies as plans of action
or code-of-practices and assigned responsible persons to execute. “All policies are preparedusing the state laws/rules as reference. These are accessible by all employees, as we hangthese in front of all production buildings, factory HR and Compliance office”. Another
respondent (RS10_B) of firm B mentioned that firm’s sustainability initiatives included
workers’ safety, social & ethical norms, anti-corruption, environmental regulations, and
69 | P a g e

protection. He phrased, “the HR, Compliance and Sustainability department initiallyprepare the draft of the policies and submit to the BODs meeting for approval.” The
respondents emphasized the management policies as action plans or COP that drive thefirm’s sustainability objectives. They combined the national regulations with the global
standardized systems to create corporate policies and standard work procedures (SOP) to
implement the three-pillar sustainability practices.
Corporate leadership. The respondents talked about the corporate board members’
essential roles in initiating a sustainability program. The board of directors (BODs) shouldhave the intent to understand the realities of social and environmental circumstances thatfacilitate financial growth. The BODs are critical initiators of the company. They decide to
implement the state regulations and standardized practices to promote workplace, socialand environmental governance. The respondent (RS.2_A) shared, “the MD engages inbusiness operations and compliance issues. He cares about the workers’ grievances, sitswith labor-management-based committees (PC & SC), and technical matter concerning
product safety, health, and environmental risks to resolve as a priority. The respondents offirm A praised the corporate leaders’ changing approach toward external networking
through social and environmental projects.
From the respondents’ point of view, the firm's corporate leaders must be responsible
and flexible to consider the bottom lines of stakeholders’ collaboration, informationtransparency, and accountability practices. One respondent (RS.12_B) of firm B mentionedthat the BODs are agile to accept the changes and integrate corporate sustainability
programs nowadays. He further said, “the top management physically the businessactivities and makes quick decisions with middle-management. The DMD and ED often
visit customers’ offices, participate in customer meetings, and take feedback from
customers and other business clients. Another director of the management involves
worker's grievance management.”
Firm’s Knowledge and information management. Firms’ visions and policies differ
because the BODs and managers possess different views and experiences towardsustainable development. Again, the company became more open because of its corporate
leaders’ flexibility, knowledge, and attitudes. The interviewee (RS.1_A) of firm A shared
the initial information and knowledge on SDGs from external stakeholders such as
governmental campaigns, BGMEA’s commitment, and several NGO initiatives. As a
70 | P a g e

garment manufacturer cum supplier, the information related to new products, processes, orservice flows from top to middle and then lower management. Another respondent(RS.3_A) clarified that fashion brands share continuous product knowledge and COCs todevelop supply chain transparency over the suppliers’ factories. Constant interactions occur
between the brands and factories regarding products, processes, and facility compliancestatus.
The respondent (RS.12) of firm B pointed out that brands create and share explicit
information through product manuals, specifications, and COCs. The factory team analyzes
and captures knowledge from direct sources, and they share the technical information withthe brands. Another respondent (RS.10_B) mentioned that the top management has both
new generation (DMD) and old generations (MD and ED) people. The DMD is a secondgeneration management, is an overseas MBA graduate. He possesses different views thanhis father (owner) and other executive management. He introduced the new trends toimprove internal organizations combining the international standardized systems. The firm
has introduced Management Trainee Officer (MTO) programs by hiring fresh graduates.
Over the years, the firm adopted the job induction program, provisional training, on-jobtraining and soft-skill training to educate new and existing employees capturing and sharing
manufacturing knowledge.
All three firms took employee development programs (EDP) by integrating training,
work evaluation meeting, and vocational education. The respondent said the management
believes continuous engagement with employees helps to improve their human resources.
Table 4.7 summarizes the knowledge creating and sharing process within the organization.
Another respondent (RS.12_B) shared that many conflicts have occurred at the beginningto adjust with new management approaches. He also added, “the top management recently
focused on implementing many standardized management systems, new technologies like
automation, smart dyeing machines (automated operations), and ERP software, and training
to enhance workers’ skills and technical knowledge. However, the main goal is to increase
productivity and workers’ efficiencies through organizational learning such as formal
training, technical meeting, and external training.”
Again, firm C created an extensive training and development plan for workers toprovide technical education about production processes. Expert trainers and the technicalteam provide the training. The training method is learning by doing, and trainers verbally
71 | P a g eand physically show the process during the training sessions. They recently increased thesoft skills training for all workers in collaboration with Accord and other NGOs. The
respondent (RS.18_C) said that the top management considered workers' efforts a great
asset to the company's success. Therefore, the workers are engaged in a personal
development program to improve awareness over workplace hazards, machine hazards,
location hazards, and health safety issues. The workers further share their learning with coworkers and family members to make their lives and workplace safe.
Table 4.7: Organizational knowledge management through training & development
programs
Employee
Induction
Program
Employee
Probationary
Period (EPP)
Department
Orientation
training(DOT)

Firm Aa day long EIP for
management staff

Firm B
2 days EIP for
management staff

Firm Ca day long EIP for all
employees

Staff - 6 month andWorkers - 3 mon.

Staff - 12 months andWorkers - 3 months

same as case firm A

Existing employees
receive training on safety
and health policies adopted
by company

H&S policies,
workplace hazards andrisks; personal
protection system, use ofsafety manual
OJT vary on employee’s
experiences and job
duties and training
supervise by co-worker
or supervisor
A training anddevelopment (T&D)
team usually design,
plan and executeinternal and external
employee’s awarenesstrainings.
firm arrange 3 fire drills
in collaboration withlocal fire defense
service. Fire control,
emergency rescue, andevacuation
demonstration are
performed to provide
practical knowledge
about fire safety issue.
the team members
update daily job status toteam leader. And weekly
meeting held withcompany companion
system, health safety
policies and objectives;

On-jobtraining(OJT)

all employees must go
through a week OJT underline manager

Soft skills
training(SST)

mostly internal training on
employee’s responsivenesstoward compliance issues.
Training is organized bycorporate HR andCompliance.

Workshops
and Drills(W&D)

arrange fire drills twice ina year. The drill covers fire
control, emergency rescue,and evacuation
demonstration throughsharing knowledge aboutfire safety issue,
prevention measures andfeedback system during
accidents
daily meeting held atmorning or afternoon andweekly meetings with line
manager held at every

daily andweeklymeeting(DWM)

OJT is mandatory forall. Firm has SOP, JD,
and reporting system
for all staffs.
The firm has also T&Dteam and they designand develop training
schedules and assign
instructors based on thecontents with priorapproval.
same as they also
conduct fire drills andsafety demonstration
twice in a year.

team members
participate a shortmorning meeting withline managers. Besides,
72 | P a g e

Saturday morning. Before
meeting, the staffs update
weekly job status
Interdepartm
ental meeting(IDM)
Appraisalinterview
meeting(AIM)department in-charge
and top management
every Saturday noon.

every week all
employees update theirorder/production status
to department head
The IMD occurs once a week among production, quality, merchandising, andplanning department. All department/division in-charges or team leaders join themeeting with top management. However, this meeting often occurs within short
notice based on emergent issues or some urgent production requirement.
appraisal meeting occurs
appraisal meeting occurs appraisal meeting
once in every year toonce in every December occurs twice in every
evaluate employee's work
for measuring
year to evaluate
performance, based on job employee's performance employee's
duties, failures, andbased on major job
performance following
achievement for moreobjectives and key
the integrated HR
effective work approach
performance indicators
assessment system.
(MO-KPI)
Employees' bonus andincentives rely on bothassessment results

Corporate report sharing and Stakeholder’s engagement. The respondent (RS.20_C)
of firm C has argued they consider transparent and accountable measures for firm’s
business activities and information sharing with customers, shareholders, industry
associations, and other indirect stakeholders as a limited company. He said, “the BODs
with senior managers take business decisions. All BODs are executive members, and they
are vastly experienced, educated and knowledgeable in manufacturing and export businessmore than two decades”. The top management is responsible for making corporate
governance policies and setting performance indicators during the board meeting. Another
respondent (RS.16_C) of firm C shared, “We welcome stakeholders’ feedback andcollaboration to improve overall business practices. The firm spent sizable costs for socialand environmental partnership projects to increase human resource and natural resource
management with NGOs, BGMEA, and BKMEA”.
According to respondents, the garment manufacturing firms must update theirfacilities’ health safety status to the labor inspector of the Department of Inspection Factory
Establishment (DIFE) and other monitoring mechanisms by the RMG sustainability
Council (RGS). Besides, these companies perform several voluntary audits over social
compliance and natural resource conservation. The reports share with customers, thegovernment, and other stakeholders. The respondent (RS.18_C) of firm C shared, “we shareannual reports on the CSR, Workplace Safety and Financial audits to stakeholders. These
reports are also public. Any stakeholder can check the Corporate Reports of Sustainability’2018 and the Communication on Progress’ 2016 from our official webpage. This action
73 | P a g eshows our leadership toward information transparency and accountable behavior as
corporate citizens.”
The respondents (RS.1, RS.6, RS.9, RS.11, RS.18, RS.20) of all firms believed that thesustainability programs are robust, and they alone could solve all issues by internalarrangement. The ED of firm B stated that the garment MSC included diverse businessclients, and all would not possess similar intentions to mitigate any issue in real-time.
Therefore, the customers and regulators must create pressure overall MSC throughcorporate dialogue and feedback systems. The technical director (RS.1) of firm A said thatthe corporate dialogue and third-party monitoring could reduce governance gaps. The COO
of firm A phrased that the customers’ audits and third-party feedback led suppliers to copewith new challenges. The respondent (RS.11) stated that we could engage our customers
and development organizations (such as NGOs) through several partnership projects. Firm
B took occupational health, workers’ rights awareness, and female supervisor programs incollaboration with Better Work Bangladesh (BWB) and SNV Netherland. Our firm also
participated cleaner production project with the PaCT programs, and we provided adult andmaternal healthcare with BKMEA, stated a respondent (RS.1).
4.3.3 Social dimension
The respondents of all three firms illustrate these social issues. They talked about
several programs, including workplace safety compliance (WSC), human rights and labor
codes, workers' empowerment programs, worker social needs, ethical business programs,
and community engagement to improve social bottom-line capabilities. Almost all
respondents argued that firms considered social bottom-line problems a priority after the2013 Rana Plaza. Significantly, the WHSC became special attention since 2013 after many
public and private regulators' enforcement emerged. The garment sector of Bangladesh has
transitioned to a safe and healthy workplace in the last decade.
WSC programs. The respondents described the WSC issues from many aspects
summarized in Appendix B (Appendix B: appendix 0table B2). The regulator enforced
firms inspect and remediate all factories’ constructions, including structural, electrical, andfire (SEF), to increase occupational safety. All three firms conducted the SEF initialinspections by Accord. Further, they received the CAPs from the regulator as guidelines
where the remediations are needed. The respondents of firm A explained that the factory
redesigned work floor layouts, egress, rooftop and floor capacities, and power generation
74 | P a g e

areas as per Accord’s CAPs. One respondent (RS.20_C) of firm C confirmed that Accord’s
follow-up inspections verified the SEF safety corrections. However, some respondents also
criticized a few decisions of Accord that compelled them to do some unnecessary
replacements with costly safety equipment. Although some criticisms of Accord’s CAPs,
almost all respondents believed that the Accord helped them increase safe workplace
conditions.
Besides, the three firms integrated the standard management practices on the hazard
and risks management issues, health and hygiene, and primary healthcare issues asmentioned by the respondents (see Appendix C: appendix table C1). Firms evolved primary
healthcare practices to increase healthcare benefits and protect workers from occupational
diseases. The company created a clean work environment with enough visibility,
ventilation, and temperature control. The respondent (RS.7_A) emphasized theoccupational health HRA practices that they learned from Accord’s training. The workers
can identify the hazardous elements that endanger the work environment. Another
respondent (RS.4) of firm A said that the workers could prevent the common physical,
chemical, machine, and biological hazards by correctly using the PPE, safety manual, andpersonal carelessness.
However, many healthcare practices described by respondents are also found in theircorporate profiles and internal policy documents. For example, the companies establishedthe primary healthcare benefits, including diagnosis, medicines, and hospitalization
benefits, to protect workers from ill-health conditions. Moreover, the pregnant workers of
all three firms can access exceptional care by providing separate clothes and shortening
working hours with several breaks. They receive minimum four months of maternity leaves
with basic salaries. However, the regulation does not mandate these benefits concerning
primary healthcare; firms have developed those benefits voluntarily as corporate COPs as
lead suppliers.
Human rights and labor codes practice. The respondents described that the corporate
policies incorporated the national labor laws/regulations and ILO core conventions tocomply with workers' human rights and labor codes practices. Many respondents depicted,
their companies’ key policies on the HRLC are to control workplace violence, harassment,
discrimination, child labor, and forced labor issues from corporate practices. The
respondent (RS.2_A) of firm A pointed out that the national labor code of BLA 2006 is
75 | P a g e

adequate to eradicate the unethical practices concerning HRLC. Several others havefocused the forms of association, collective bargaining, and labor-management-based
committees toward HRLC practices. The respondents of firms B and C highlighted rigid
policies and labor-management-based committees to resolve workers’ claims over HRLC
issues. The respondents mentioned that their policies also included the structure of
implementation and disciplinary actions if any noncompliance issue or rules violation. One
respondent (RS.2_A) of firm A stated, “if we find any complaint on the violation, first therespective departments investigate, and notify the compliant team. After an investigation by
an independent team, the top management will take actions as per the company's code-ofpractice.”
Ethical business practices. Concerning EBP, almost all interviewees stressed thatworkers’ wages, benefits, adequate break time, holidays, leaves, overtime duties, maternity
leaves, and payments are the critical factors to evolve EBP. They mentioned that their firms
settled the worker’s wages/salaries as per the national wage board of the Bangladesh RMG
worker. The respondent (RS.9_B) of firm B stated that they have two workers considering
piece rate and monthly salaries. The piece-rate workers are more accessible than salaried
workers, and their monthly wages vary according to the number of the batch production.
Another respondent (RS.18_C) of firm C also indicated that the timely wages, overtime
payments, and leave encashments are the ethical rights for workers. Still, many factories
often fail to address these ethical issues. The workers seem happy for their timely salary,leave encashment, annual picnic, and tours, employee appreciation culture by management.
Empowerment. Empowerment is another key factor in developing social sustainability
practices which several interviewees replicate. The respondents stated that only regulatory
practices are limited improving employees’ motivations. Incredibly, many of themmentioned the training and education programs to enhance workers’ functional andpersonal skills. However, one respondent (RS12_B) of firm B expressed that only skill
development or an in-house training center is insufficient to improve workers' efficiency. In
many forms, the company is attempting to increase worker empowerment. Many
respondents (RS.1, RS.6, RS.9, RS.10, RS.12, RS.16, & RS.20) argued that the
productivity of garment workers is quite low, and their factories utilize less than 60 percentof their total production capacities since the beginning. That is why employee’s personal
motivation with technical training is a critical factor in increasing productivity. These firms
76 | P a g e

took EDP to attain multi-tasking skills, technical know-how, and personal management.
The respondent (RS18_C) emphasized that the soft skills with technical competencies canimprove workers’ duties. He said, “our company offers Photography and Video editing
courses through Pathsala (the partnered institution), a formal education program foruneducated workers, a Cyber security campaign, Lean, 5S, and Productivity improvement
courses for management employees.”
Social lives. Empowerment also provides workers to enjoy dignity in their social lives.
The workers of these factories come from remote villages across Bangladesh, and they
belong to the marginalized groups concerning the economic class. The respondents
highlighted that their companies provide many employments to those people with a fixedincome every month. They added several other initiatives that their companies contribute toincreasing workers’ contribution to the national economy. This way, the manufacturers
gave their workers to enjoy their social lives and social identities. The respondent of firm A
mentioned the training program, education sponsorships, corporate benefits, and social
contributions that increased the company's presence and employees’ professional lives.
Therefore, the employees can create their social identity as representatives of the company.
Another respondent (RS.9_B) illustrated that besides the fair price shops, we arrange
cultural shows, fashion shows, and annual picnics to refresh our workers and management
staff. Again, one respondent (RS.16_C) of firm C believes that sufficient breaks andholidays help employees to energize that reflect in work performance.
4.3.4 Environment dimension
Environmental impacts assessment. The negative environmental outcomes became
critical challenge for the garment manufacturing and supplying business. The respondents
mentioned several environmental issues and practices that firms continuously struggle tocope with (see Appendix C: Appendix table C2). They emphasized environmental
regulations, impact assessment, environmental footprint management, hazardous wastes
management, and lifecycle or cleaner technologies to tackle external and internal
environmental issues. The respondent (RS.1_A) said that an environmental clearance
certificate (ECC) is the first step to set up heavy industrial projects, and his company got
this approval from the GOB. Another respondent (RS.10_B) highlighted the diverse issues
that affect environmental performance, and EIA is one of them. He also highlighted thecleaner production and carbon footprint assessment. However, almost all respondents
77 | P a g eemphasized the wet processing activities (fabric washing, dyeing, printing, and finishing)
generate high impacts, including GHGs emissions, air and sound pollution, chemical andbiological wastes, wastewaters, and solid wastes. The production wastes and emissions arevery harmful. Still, the factories are struggling to maintain accurate inventory data. Many
respondents claimed that their firms had adopted digital technologies to grasp the lifecycle
and cleaner assessment data to increase the reliable EIA.
Carbon emissions. Firms took some strategies to reduce carbon emissions to protect
internal and external ecological footprint. They initiated carbon footprint management(CFM) to offset carbon emissions and pollutions across the manufacturing chain. Firms
took strategies over energy, steam, and material efficiencies that are almost similar as
mentioned by the respondents (see Appendix C: Appendix table C2). The respondent(RS.1_A) of firm A explained that energy is a critical resource for manufacturing and thebest selection of energy sources is important to reduce carbon intensity. Another respondent(RS.10_B) also shared almost similar opinions about reducing energy and material use tocontrol carbon emissions. The respondents of C emphasized energy efficiency throughout
the production processes and utility areas. Firm C has started to save non-renewable energy
resources with renewable solar energy. Although it is still limited capacities (50kwh), theeffort on alternative energy reduces the use of the grid electricity. Moreover, they
implemented retrofitting and introduced the best available technologies such as waste heatrecovery boilers for reusing steam to save NG consumption.
Resource efficiency. All three firms emphasized resource efficiency by applying the
reduce, reuse, and recycle techniques to improve environmental practices. The interviewee(RS.6_A) shared that the company retrofitted the production constructions to minimize
resource consumption and recover waste resources. Besides, they bought new machines inthe dyeing and sewing section that minimize power consumption, resources loss, and solid
wastes. Again, the respondent of firm B added, they are endeavoring to recover the waste
heat and vapors by installing steam condensers. The company has already integrated digitalsensors and metering to measure real-time utility consumption and process loss. All
respondents said their firms are continuously reduce groundwater use by developing water
recycling and reusing hot waters in the fabric production processes. The respondent of firm
C confirmed that, currently, the company reuses 10 to 15 percent of water from ETP.
Besides, they reclaim the rain waters to utilize in the facility. The respondents argued that78 | P a g eefficient resource management progress the reduction of wastes. Again, the wastes canconvert as input if these could be adequately treated. The respondent of firm C shared that70 percent of the total solid wastes are disposed of by burning in the Jhut boiler, and theremaining 30% is given to third parties who can dispose of it.
Chemical waste management. All respondents agreed that their company developed achemical policy respecting the national and international chemical regulation andinternational chemical management standards. The respondents stated that firms avoidedusing restricted chemicals substances in the fabric dyeing, washing, and printing processes.
The respondent (RS.18_C) mentioned that we follow the REACH regulation to buy, use,and dispose of chemicals because high-quality chemicals reduce health hazards. The
respondents agreed that the production processes create immense pressures on thesurrounding ecosystem through wastewaters, carbon emissions, sound, and air pollutions.
Over the years, they have been striving to improve resource efficiencies and waste
management in fabric production. The firms are interested in optimizing resources toremain competitive by integrating two new approaches. First, they installed several newenergy-efficient machineries, and most of the latest technologies were procured from
Germany, Japan, Greece, and Taiwan. Secondly, they emphasized process innovation by
integrating cleaner production assessment (CPA) since 2019.
The respondent (RS.4_A) of firm A mentioned that they adopted the Cleaner
Production Assessment (CPA) in collaboration with PaCT Bangladesh, financed by IFC.
This program helped the firm to develop the SOP on resource management. Following the
SOP, the company has reduced the process losses from production and utility. Another
respondent emphasized that the CPA maximizes efficiencies over energy, waters, steams,
and reduces the hazardous output (emissions, pollution, and wastewaters). Moreover, therespondent (RS.9_B) of firm B said the CPA reveals the water consumption for onekilogram fabric is higher than the industry average. Following a recommendation fromexperts, the firm implemented a computerized greenfield dye house, waste heat recovery
boiler, new dyeing machines, thermal oil heater, hot water module, and auto-dispensing
system to reduce the resources use and recover resources from wastes.
In contrast, firm C developed a CPA initiative with the USGBC and installed advanced
technologies such as Cold-Pad batch dying, husk Boiler, servo motors, steam condensers,
and waste heat recovery boilers as cleaner technologies to reduce energy, water, and
79 | P a g e

emissions. Several respondents also pointed out that the initial investments would seem aburden for the factory. However, the return will be in a quick time. The cleaner
technologies, advanced engineering tools such as skeletal system and total quality
management, and global audit standards (such as ISO, Oeko-tex, LEED & GRI) helped
factories achieve environmental management by reducing negative impacts from theproduction process.
4.3.5 Economic dimension
Economic risks management. The business focuses primarily on gaining economic
stability by reducing internal and external risks. The respondents of all firms emphasized
the economic growth and profit stability are critical elements to become more sustainable inthe social and environmental bottom lines. To them, firms must be solvent economically tolead positive changes toward better sustainable practices. They talked about financial risks
management, economic contribution, market presence, diversification, product and process
innovation, and sustainable investment to achieve the sound management of economic
sustainability, shown in Appendix B: appendix table B4.
The respondents mentioned the several financial risks that firms are struggling toovercome. They emphasized addressing these risks and identifying measures forovercoming the economic challenges of a manufacturing firm. However, the internal
assessment of financial risks may differ from firm to firm. However, the respondents of all
three firms agreed that the future challenges should consider in advance in terms of thecompany’s business activities, market, and economic stability. The respondents (RS.9_B
and RS.16) of firms B and C highlighted that the corporate board members of bothcompanies are concerned about FRM to direct the future business. Firm C is a public listedcompany, and they must be accountable to address economic risks concerning the country’s
fiscal policy, stock market, and customers’ financial policies.
Economic contributions. The respondents (RS.1, RS.4, RS.10, RS.11, RS.18) describedthat their companies are primarily export-oriented manufacturers. However, they can also
sell components such as finished fabrics and trims & accessories to local garment
manufacturers. The respondents (RS.2, RS.9 and RS.20) stated that firms contribute to thenational economy in two directions. The garment supply firms directly share to national
export earnings that propel economic development on the one hand. Furthermore, theycreate huge employment for marginalized people of the remote villages on the other.
80 | P a g e

Several respondents (RS.4, RS.6 RS.9, RS.13, and RS.17) also mentioned that their firms
promote women's empowerment by engaging in economic functions and paying a standard
compensation with some inclusive overtime benefits, two festival bonuses, target bonuses,
leave encashment, and maternity pays.
Market presence. Firms increased their market share through corporate branding,industry association memberships, corporate partnership, and collaboration with theircorporate clients, valued suppliers, NGOs, and consultant companies. The respondents offirms A and B shared that they became members with BGMEA and BKMEA since their
inception. All three firms have increased their market presence by expanding their businessactivities and creating continuous jobs for nations. The respondent (RS.16_C) of firm C
stated that their company had been started in the RMG business more than three decadesago. It increased its market presence through economic contributions, education and healthsectors improvement, and local community development. For instance, apart from
employment generation, we also established primary school and junior high school forcommunity education, set up a hospital with modern treatment facilities in the northern partof Bangladesh, and an NGO for local community development.
Product and process innovation (PPI). These firms have been considering PPI recently
due to competing with rivals in the market. Almost all respondents said their factory setup,
production lines, and people mindsets mainly concentrate on basic garment stitching, andthey often avoid the critical product constructions. However, in recent decades, garment
exporters have realized that production and process innovation could solve these gaps to set
new markets. The respondent (RS.11_B) of firm B remarked that although ourmanufacturing philosophy had been rooted for large batch production, we understood it was
not enough to stick to the same production policy in the recent decade.
The improvement of the product development team, skilled laborers, design studio, andlogistics management became essential for this company to restructure the conventional
supply model. Another respondent (RS.3_A) remarked that the R&D team developed new
trends and product extensions for creating new markets. They are closely working withoverseas designers and constantly creating products, processes, and markets-related
knowledge. In contrast, the respondent (RS.17_C) of firm C mentioned that their firm had
been continuously focusing on PPI integrating automation, alternative raw material policy,

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product development budgets, and training to product developers, industrial designers,
sample makers, and production people.
Sustainable Investment policy. The respondents considered another essential initiative
was the sustainable investment policy and its management. They described that their firms
contributed investments in several aspects of economic growth, environmental security, andsocial wellbeing. They argued that these investments brought measurable changes in all
three bottom-lines. The respondent (RS.1_A) stated that the firm improved energy, water,
emissions, and social well-being through sizable capital investment. Firm B also
highlighted increasing its capital investments on such business projects that create fewer
impacts and retrofitting to control utility process loss. Moreover, the respondent (RS.9_B)
added the budgets also spent on evolving management systems, audit and monitoring
systems, skills development that increase corporate leadership. The director (RS.16_C) of
firm C phrased that the company increased its capital budgets to implement green facilities,building management systems, cleaner technologies such CPB dyeing, social well-being
projects (schools, and hospitals), and corporate volunteering activities.

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CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS DISCUSSIONS
5. Introduction
The chapter presents the results discussions derived from the data analyses. The study
results are interpreted into three subsections: case organizations’ approaches tosustainability programs, key performance indicators to improve sustainability, and factorsthat lead to implementing sustainability programs. The first subsection includes the
respondents’ perceptions of the sustainability agenda to describe the case firms’
sustainability approach. The KPIs on bottom lines practices are described, developed by thecase firms, and finally, how does workplace safety program facilitate sustainability
practices.
5.1. The definition and necessities of ‘Sustainability’ from garment supply firm’s
context
The meaning of sustainability has two directions: first, how do the respondents definesustainability; and second, why it is necessary to integrate across business practices fromtheir firm context. The study has interpreted the sustainability meaning from these two
viewpoints summarizing respondents’ perceptions of their firms’ sustainability programs.
The data analysis has shown, almost all respondents have homogenous perceptions and a
few differences in defining sustainability. The differences have yielded with regard theirknowledge, experiences, category of works and positions.
The respondents’ views of sustainability can be grouped into four different themes orperceptions (see Appendix B: appendix table B1). Most of them interpreted sustainability
as a ‘Strategy’ of corporate management. Several others are perceived as a ‘Standard’ tomaintain in the factory operations. A few remained it a ‘Business vision’ of the future
growth. A few top management employees believe that it is a ‘Philosophy’ of corporate
practices, and it cannot achieve within certain times or some specific measures. All threefirms have exhibited their vision and values differently, but the key goal is to be the mostregarded company concerning sustainable growth. To achieve these visions, they adopted
many corporate policies and programs on workplace safety, social, and environmental
aspects (see table 4.3). The firms’ policies act as governance measures that have developed
associated with the state laws/regulations, international conventions, and standardized
management systems.
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Second, the case firms recognized the necessity of SPs to negotiate the challenges ofthe financial, market flux, workplace safety, social compliance issues, and environmental
uncertainties. The BODs of the case firms emphasized these internal and external
challenges as a priority to overcome for sustaining the export market. Almost all
respondents of the case firms highlighted several workplaces, social, environmental andgovernance barriers that influenced their firms to drive for SPs. They reckoned several
environmental issues including resources scarcities, high wastes and emissions generations,
inadequate environmental quality management, and carbon emission reductions across the
production chain as internal barriers. These issues put suppliers’ pressures to manage theoperating model efficiently. External issues such as quick production demands, customer’s
poor pricing, quick changeover, increased component costs, market volatility, regulatorychanges, a variety of COCs, and stakeholder pressures put case firms’ pressures on
switching business practices.
The garment export markets are unstable because of continuous changes occurring ininternational trade policies, regulations, intergovernmental relationships, consumerawareness, customer sourcing and pricing, labor union and nongovernmental organizations
pressures. Many respondents argued that the SPs would mitigate these internal and externalbusiness issues. They agreed that it is complex process to practice sustainability on aregular basis. Therefore, the lead firms incorporated many COPs to replace the CBP. They
thought that the sustainability strategy or standard would help them to eliminate social andenvironmental costs and occupational accidents expanses. Many respondents also believed,
the safe, healthy, and green environmental practices increase the opportunities for appealing
to high-valued and high-priced customers, production quality, worker’s efficiency, anddelivery management.
The firms gradually increased social and environmental accountability by contributing
responsible business practices and sustainable investments in green projects, efficientmanagement, and cleaner and digital technologies. The corporate vision and core values offirm A set sustainability as core standards of economic prosperity concerning social andenvironmental issues. They adopted the sustainability vision to mitigate financial risk
factors that heavily influenced the organization’s bottom-lines challenges. Still, they havebeen focusing on financial performance by integrating tangible and intangible resources84 | P a g e

such as R&D and design studio, process innovation, workplace safety renovation, social
responsibilities, and environmental standards.
Again, firm B prioritized its sustainability program focusing on customer’s demand(product), employee care (people), and environmental stewardship (planet). Therefore, they
concerned about internal and external environmental issues and the subsequent impacts
from each business action. The firm C considered SPs as corporate standards to integratewith every business actions. Only this firm adopted corporate sustainability measuresthrough GRI and UN global compact (UNGC) reporting standards. They integrated
standardized management practices to develop corporate governance, and employees’knowledge to achieve workplace, social, environmental, and economic capabilities. Again,
they combined the tenth principle of the UNGC is to improve corporate reputation on
workers’ human rights, labor practices, anti-corruptions as sustainability practices. The
proponent of the UNGC principles argued, the tenth principle worked as an engine for thesocial performance of the MNCs by increasing human rights and labor practices voluntarily[46], [65].
5.2 Case Organizations’ initiatives toward bottom lines practices
The data analyses show that the manufacturers concern two more dimensions with theconventional three-pillar sustainability. These are workplace health safety compliance(WHSC) and Corporate Governance and leadership (CGL) as separate dimensions.
Therefore, these firms usually implement sustainability programs in the five dimensions:workplace, environment, social, economic, and governance. More precisely, they havepracticed in the 23 specific areas that we have name the key performance indicators (KPIs)
under those five dimensions. The following table 5.1 summarizes the KPIs practiced by thecase organizations.
Table 5.1 Key performance indicators for sustainability programs by case firms
Core categories
Workplace
Health Safety
Compliance(WHSC)
Environmental

Categories
Factories' Buildings, Electrical and Fire Safety
Efficient Safety management
Hazards and risks assessment
Health and Hygiene measures
Workplace Healthcare management
Environmental impact assessment

Factors support by
Literature[4], [15], [130], [174][15], [72][72], [130]○○[175], [176]85 | P a g e

Performance
management(EPM)

Social andEthicalComplianceStandards(SECS)

Carbon footprint management[16], [71], [177]Resource and Waste Management
Chemical Waste Management
Cleaner Production Assessment & Technology
Human rights and Labor codes
Ethical business practices
Worker's empowerment
Employee’s social need
Community engagement programs
Accountability and transparency[17], [79]○○[10], [13], [70][12], [43], [70]○[3], [4]○[7], [48]Corporate
Governance and Disclose Sustainability Practices
Leadership
Devising Knowledge Management(CGL)
Stakeholder Engagement
Direct and indirect economic Contributions
Economic
Product and Process innovation
Growth andProsperity
Enhancing Market Presence(EGP)
Sustainable Investment[48], [89]○[2], [67], [88], [134][75], [178], [179]○[26], [55]○Note: ‘○’ = ‘new’ || These five categories may vary according to manufacturing sectors.

5.2.1 Workplace health safety compliance (WHSC)
The data analyses reveal that firms’ WHSC program emphasizes the five major actions
to develop. These include factory’s Structural, Electrical, and Fire (SEF) safety, Efficient
Safety management (ESM), Hazards and Risks Assessment (HRA), Health and Hygiene
measures (HHM); and Workplace Healthcare Management (WHM). Many of the priorstudies highlighted that improving the construction’s safety inspection and remediation,
workplace healthcare, and OHS rights are primary performance as workplace complianceby garment manufacturers [4], [180], [181]. However, the study found that all threefactories have also engaged in improving hazard and risks assessment and efficient safety
management to enable the WHSC practices.
Factory structural, electrical, and fire (SEF) safety. Under Accord’s program, the casefirms emphasized conducting SEF inspection throughout all production buildings,
warehouse constructions, office buildings, several other extensions. According to document
data, firm C joined the Accord’s workplace safety program (WSP) in May 2013 and theother two firms in the following year. The inspection reports of the three firms have shown
the large governance gaps related to constructions safety throughout the factories’
production buildings. All three firms completed step-by-step renovating and solved the SEF
safety gaps following Accord Corrective Action Plan (see table 4.4). The remediations were
slowly progressed over 4 to 6 years. Both case firms A and C completed 95 percent
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retrofitting tasks, and the other completed 100 percent as of May 2019 (see table 4.1). They
upgraded SEF safety protection systems to save workers’ lives from workplace accidents
and prevent occupational injuries. However, the boiler safety assessments under Accord’s
supervision were excluded from Accord’s program. The case firms started the boiler safety
inspections by internal experts who obtained 2nd class operator certificates.
Efficient Safety management. The data analysis shows that the three firms haveactivated several workplace safeties measures. The study summarized that three firms
created a total of nine specific actions in their facilities for ESM (see Appendix C: appendix
table C1). The respondents mentioned, their firms have installed numerous FPE,
communication tools, first-aid boxes, and safety complaint boxes across factory buildings
to tackle the probable fire risks. Besides equipment, they assigned safety workforces (SWF)
for monitoring and contacting workers to identify fire or electrical hazards. The PPE isprovided to workers who work comparatively in risky jobs. As the respondent said, most
PPE was used by the fabric cutting, sewing, dyeing, and printing workers. Moreover,workers are also responsible for caring for their coworkers from physical and machine
hazards while working.
Firms have welcomed all employees to notify safety threats through ‘safety complaintboxes.’ The firm kept a first aid box on each working floor for primary treatment
concerning physical injury of cut, burn, or other damages. Three firms improved the safety
communication system through announcement devices (dong-bell and warning signs),
visual maps, and illuminated signs. Moreover, all firms also increased the emergency exits
for an easy escape from factories’ buildings as per Accord’s program. Proper safety
training, education, and drills empower SWF and safety personnel (SP). The SWF consistsof firefighters, rescuers, and a first-aid team. The size of these teams varies according to thetotal number of employees.
Hazards and Risks assessment. The three firms devised the different HRA measures inpreventing the sources of hazards and probable risks at work locations (see Appendix C:
appendix table C1). As the respondents mentioned, all incidents and harmful actions always
are recorded by the SWF of each department for further root causes analysis. The workers
are taught to respond to physical hazards and prevent themselves by using safety
instructions and PPE. Firms are encouraging workers’ self-reporting and frequent
communication to superiors regarding potential dangers. The SC of these firms conducts
87 | P a g ephysical visits, reviews, and sets priorities to take corrective measures to detect any safety
fault. If the issues are critical, then immediate contact with the safety engineering team to
fix them. As the respondents of Firm B shared, their company follows the Plan, Do, Check,and Action (PDCA) cycle to conduct a risk assessment. The other two firms apply thechecklists for addressing and recording the sources of hazardous agents (harm to health)throughout factory premises.
Health and Hygiene measures Three firms develop a total of nine specific actions toimprove H&H performance (see Appendix C: appendix table C1). The firms identified
fabric dust, debris, chemical dirt, and hazardous fume are the most common health hazards
that would occur at fabric processing, printing, and laundry sections due to wet and slippery
floors. They comply with preventive measures such as daily housekeeping to clean the
production floors, staircases, shared spaces, restrooms, and canteen areas. The increased
ventilation, daylights, exhausted fans, cooling pads, and LED lights for improving
visibility, air quality, and cool temperature. All firms have internal audits on the durable
materials and waste streams under solid waste management programs. Regarding rights toaccess pure drinking water, all three firms arrange freshwater across factory premises andthe water quality assessment conducted by ICDDRB (an international NGO) in the random
inspection. Again, three firms placed numerous portable dustbins and sand-filled buckets tokeep the workroom and common spaces maintain a neat environment. Moreover, firm B
circulated numbers of colored posters requesting workers to follow the etiquette to avoid
throwing spits and dirt here and there.
Healthcare Management (HCM) Initiatives. The case firms introduced several
voluntary benefits that meet workers’ healthcare demands. All three firms provide primary
healthcare (PHC) by the internal medical center (MC), professional physicians and nurses,
free medicines, and vaccines for pregnant workers and children (see table 4.5). All firms
also developed an independent childcare unit to promote female workers. The PHC chiefly
covers health surveillance through essential diagnosis, treatment, and counseling support
for work-related injuries and non-occupational diseases (general sickness and noncommunicable illness). All three firms engaged in various healthcare programs to extend
reproductive health and maternal health supports for female workers in cooperation withBKMEA and local NGOs. They initiated mental health counseling, child healthcare,
reproductive healthcare, eye care, and healthcare awareness against menstruation taboos,
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collaborating with the external medical team. Moreover, in-house health professionals keep
recording all cases of work-related injuries, general sicknesses, and infectious diseases.
5.2.2 Environmental Performance Management (EPM)
The study results show that the case firms have been increasing concerns about theexternal environmental and resource management issues over the year, which are replicatedin previous investigations [16], [18]. The study shows that the firms have created several
KPIs to enhance environmental bottom-line practices. These include environmental impact
assessment, carbon footprint management, solid waste, wastewater management, chemical
waste management, and cleaner production assessment and technology to improve
environmental performance.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The firms assess the impacts to identify the
GHGs intensity in air pollution and the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in wastewaters
because these industrial wastes affect the local ecosystem, biological elements, and socioeconomic condition of the surrounding communities [17], [18], [86]. The companies arecommitted to addressing the negative impacts of the business practices that harm
employees’ health and communities’ livelihood. Therefore, firms B and C have adopted the
EMS of ISO 14001, and case A developed OEKO-TEX STeP standards with environmental
regulation. However, they are still unable to perform the acute remediation concerning
negative impacts. Many respondents shared that their factories strive to gather accurate datafor correct EIAs. Case firm A emphasized that the experts hiring or special training to theinternal team may overcome these governance gaps. In contrast, firms B and C haverecruited dedicated environmental engineers to maintain quality data over ecologicalaspects.
Carbon footprint management (CFM). Three firms’ CFM relies on the heavy use of energy,
steam, and material management. They incorporated energy audits, steam condenser, waste
heat

recovery,alternative

energyresources

andrecyclecontents

tocontrolemissions/wastes. The data show that all three firms focused on using the NG as significant
energy resources, and they replaced almost all fuel generators with gas generators. Again,
firm C also uses solar energy as a renewable resource. The other two firms have norenewable sources of electricity, but they attempted to avoid using fossil fuels and gridelectricity as much as possible. The previous studies also argued that diesel-based

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electricity creates high emissions, and grid electricity estimates high process loss because of
the poor supply management [16], [182].
Besides the energy sources, they also concentrated on fixing the energy-efficient LED
lights to control light pollution in the utility areas. In addition, they replaced power supply
motors of the heavy machinery with fewer energy consumptions. The prior study showsthat the energy-efficient lighting systems are cost-effective concerning long-term benefits
and help firms reduce carbon emissions [16]. Steam management is another way to reducecarbon emissions. For instance, firms B and C replaced the exhaust boilers that recovered
the excessive heat from the fabric finishing processes. Further, it reuses the dyeing
machines to hot the waters and finishing process to produce steam. Through thistechnology, they also reduce carbon emissions.
Resource and Waste Management (RWM). The firms’ garment and textile processing,by nature, use the massive volume of resources that created products and NMOs (see table
4.2). These wastes usually return to environmental sinks such as landfills, air, and water
bodies. The prior research shows that industrial wastes significantly impact the natural
water bodies, workers’ health, and communities' livelihoods, such as health problems andfreshwater crisis [17], [18]. Manufacturers have struggled to manage alternative water
sources and control chemical compounds from wastewater of the fabric processing units.
However, they endeavored to implement several measures such as metering regular water
consumption, improving dyeing technologies, water recycling, and alternative source ofgroundwater to reduce water intensity.
Only firm C developed rainwater harvesting as an alternative source to reduce thepressure of groundwater, shown in table 4.6. The other two firms still struggle to create
alternative sources of water. All three firms have an ETP facility that reduces the toxicity
from wastewaters before discharge to local drainage or waterbodies. Till now, these firms
have been able to recover only 10 to 15 percent of waters from ETP. However, ETP helped
to manage wastewater better, the big challenge to manage ETP sludge is averse to healthand the surrounding environment. Currently, manufacturers sell the sludges to local
brickfields or government-nominated waste collectors. The sludges contain manyhazardous gases that cause air pollution while using as a fuel source in the brickfields. The
respondent data show the proper ETP wastes management requires a comprehensive
management system through the engagement of government, experts, factories, and waste
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collectors. Moreover, all three firms emphasized advancing the dyeing technologies andhigh-quality chemicals to reduce wastewater. Firm C invested a sizeable amount ininstalling the latest dyeing machines, which improve water performance almost twice thatof old facilities. However, the other two firms also invested in cleaner technologies toimprove water efficiencies. Besides, it is an excellent emitter through discharging theGHGs, and heat (from hot water steam, boiler, and machinery) to the surrounding
ecosystem that is adverse to local communities, and social life, wildlife, species in theaquifer, and microbes.
Chemical Waste Management (CWM). The data show that textile processing ischemical-intensive, discharging hazardous substances like lead and toxic substances into
water bodies. All case firms referred to the chemical preparation and application often
exposure to human health that causes skin irritation and injuries. The garment suppliers
develop two critical practices for chemical safety management. First, the regulatory
guidelines prevent hazards throughout the production processes, such as inventory,laboratory testing, usage, and disposal. Second, they formed Standard Operating Procedures(SOP) to reduce chemical use and dispose of the following chemical regulations, such as
Restricted Substance Lists (RSL) or Manufacturing Restricted Substance Lists (MRSL).
Moreover, all firms comply with European Chemical Regulations such as REACH(Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals) test to export
garments in the European region.
Case A follows the guidelines of the OEKO-TEX MRSL. In contrast, the other two
firms develop the ZDHC MRSL. Following SOP, three firms maintain similar practices,such as frequent bleaching and antibacterial cleaning in the fabric processing unit to avoid
chemical hazards. Moreover, they comply with material safety data sheets, usage of safety
wear, goggles, face shields, and gloves as personal protective equipment (PPE) duringchemical handling. However, the SOP varies based on the manufacturers’ aim andobjectives to practice international standards. Firm A devised the global management
standards (OEKO-TEX 100) to improve chemical inventory, usage, and waste
management. In partnership with the ZDHC MRSL program, firms B and C maintaincareful assessments, test the hazardous parameter, Material Safety Data (MSD) sheet, andon-job training during using and disposing of chemicals. The firm focuses on using green
chemicals concerning environmental damage and health safety for workers, customers, and
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local communities. The respondent asserted collaborative actions by the public and private
partnership to manage the industrial wastes.
Cleaner Production Assessment, Green building, and technologies. Firms A and B
have invested a sizeable amount in implementing the CPA throughout WDPF processes
through the PaCT programs. In contrast, firm C spent big budgets on LEED standards
under the green factory project to improve the efficient structure, water, and energy
efficiencies from production and utilities. For instance, all three firms set a five-year target
to efficiently achieve resource and emission/waste management through cleaner and green
technologies. Firm A took a resource conservation project from 2016 – 2020, considering
2014 as the base year[183].
On the other hand, firm B & C took 2017-2021 to increase energy, water, andemissions management efficiencies. All three firms successfully reduced the natural
resources (energy and water) consumption, steam, and carbon emissions intensity from the
WDPF processes. The internal data has shown that the water efficiency was achieved above
45 percent by firm A and above 55 percent by firm B in the WDPF processes concerning
the base years 2014 (firm A) and 2016 (firm B and C). At the same time, firm A & B
reduced energy use estimated 15 percent and steam by an average of 15 percent. However,they only offset 15 to 18 percent carbon emission from all processes. In contrast, firm C
finds a significant impact in energy (25 percent), waters (above 40 percent), steam (25percent), and carbon emissions (approx.39 percent) after enabling LEED standards.
5.2.3 Social and Ethical Compliance Standards (SECS)
In the social dimension, all three firms developed several KPIs to improve Social andEthical Compliance Standards (see Appendix C: appendix table C3). These KPIs are
summarized and interpreted in following sections.
Human rights and Labor codes. All three firms took several crucial measures over
HRLC practices to uphold workers’ rights practices (see Appendix C: appendix table C3).
The workers’ awareness of their rights helped them refuse work in harmful conditions.
Firm A took the disciplinary measures and penalty system such as show-cause, fine,demotion, hold a promotion, and terminations to prevent non-compliant practices (ILO
convention #111). One representative from the top management of firm C directly controls
workers’ grievances concerning harassment and prioritizes the issues. They ensured
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transparent and impartial management to settle all objections immediately after workers’
written complaints. The other firms, A and B, created the Anti-Harassment Committee(AHC) to resolve physical, sexual, or oral harassment issues following the corporate codeof practices. Both firms advised employees notifying verbal or written objections to line
managers or committee members. The workers of firm B have direct access via email to thehead of human resources or compliance manager if necessary. Moreover, all threecompanies A, B, and C, put several complaint boxes throughout the factory so that workers
can report work-related issues or problems to top management, hiding their identity.
Three firms endeavor to eliminate workplace violence such as slapping, pushing,fighting, pulling off clothes, or being robbed at worksites. Firm A has introduced
surveillance measures by engaging security personnel and installing security cameras tomonitor employees’ actions and wrongdoing that adverse work environment security.
Again, firm B launched behavioral training and strict punishment measures to prevent
workplace violence. Like firm A, case company C also developed administrative controls
and punishments to avoid violence and abuse by coworkers or line managers. All threefirms adopted anti-force labor and anti-discrimination policies to promote workers’ humanrights practices in the corporate business norms and procedures. As per policy, all threefirms discouraged discrimination among workers. They also ensured zero discrimination
concerning salaries, bonuses, and other benefits. However, firm C recruited somephysically challenged people in clerical positions with equal wages and benefits. Like caseC, firm B is also determined to hire from their social commitment.
Ethical business practices. Firms developed a set of ethical business policies (seeTable 4.4) following the BSCI standards. As a BSCI listed firm, each firm maintains thestandard working hours, overtime hours, adequate break-time, paid leaves (both sick andannual), maternity rights, and employer liability insurance. However, target bonuses,
pension schemes, workers’ recreational programs and outdoor health insurance coverage
include the discretionary requirements that depend on firms’ policies. All three firms
maintained the adequate breaks and holidays to reduce probable ergonomic hazards,
overtime works. According to respondents of firm B and C, the companies shrunk OT
works over the years that impact workers’ earning. They replaced many manuals works byinvesting in automation and advanced industrial engineering tools. They believed thatmechanizing would increase productivity but reduce assistance, excessive working hours,
93 | P a g eand risky jobs. In contrast, Firm A still relies on manual and semi-auto sewing machines.
However, only automation is implemented in cutting and printing sections.
All three firms adopted the maternity rights and were provisioned to pay 16-weeks ofmaternity leave with a lump sum amount during childbirth. Moreover, all three firms allow
yearly 14-day paid sick leave and 18-day annual leaves for all employees. One interviewee(RS.7_A) of firm A criticized the formal procedures of granting sick leave. Besides that, allthree firms adopted the employer liability insurance policy but the health insurance policies
only for management employees. Only firm C provides a subsidy to workers for outdoor
treatments in cooperation with two local hospitals. Firm B lunched pension and gratuity
benefits since 2017 but other two firms yet to develop these benefits. The respondent(RS.20) of firm C phrased, we have nothing to take in future life from this job after
retirement. Therefore, our future lives are not secure, so this gap should consider by top
management.
Concerning recruitment, firms follow a fair strategy for recruiting freshers andexperienced employees. Generally, all new workers are hired as assistant operators or
helpers based on age, education, and work experiences (if applicable) by the factory humanresources (HR) section. In contrast, the fresh graduates are usually recruited as
Management Trainee Officers (MTOs) by firms B and C under the corporate HR
department. In contrast, the Human Resource (HR) of firm A follow conventional methods
to hire new employees as Junior Officers (JOs) by firm A or experienced one through job
opening announcement in the national dailies.
Firms train MTOs or Officers through orientation programs. Firms B and C assign
their MTOs in the probational programs that vary from three to twelve months of training
across all corporate divisions. On the other hand, firm A assigns JOs to the required
department after one week-orientation, and they start the on-job training from following
week of joining. The MTOs probation periods are a minimum of six months to one year,
and they place in the appropriate department after the training period. According tocompanies’ wage and benefits policies, all new MTOs, or JOs avail for equal salaries andother admissible benefits regardless gender, color, education, and cultural background.
However, the respondents (RS.18 and RS.20) of firm C stated, top management does nottreat all MTOs in terms of wage and benefits. They offer little higher salaries to the MTOs
who are public universities’ graduates. All companies also have mid-career recruitment
94 | P a g epolicies based on the candidate's abilities. The remuneration and other benefits ofexperienced hire vary from candidate to candidate.
Employees' Social Needs. Living wages and salaries are very crucial to upgrade
workers’ social needs and employees’ wellbeing. All three suppliers follow the 5th national
wages grade in terms of workers' payment. For all three cases, the salaries of management
employees mainly depend on the ability and experiences of an employee but no fixed salarystructure by the government. The bonus and incentive rates are fixed as per company
policy, and at least workers receive an average of 1.5-time hourly salaries. Firms often
require additional hours of production work for some assembly lines based on shipment
urgency or critical production processes besides overtime. That is why firms keep
production incentives and bonuses systems so that workers do not claim forced laborers.
Besides that, firm C shares annual profits with all employees from the company’s social
commitment. The other two firms A & B, have no such policy. Again, for all firms yet tocover health insurance for workers, the insurance coverage is adopted only for management
staff. However, firm C has a plan to include all workers under health insurance coverage.
Besides, both firms B and C have developed several training and development
programs to improve employees’ functional and personal competencies. All threecompanies deliver periodic training to workers for improving production skills, safety, andhealth hygiene awareness. Firms B and C have established an independent training anddevelopment center (TDC) under the Human Resource Department to organize scheduledtraining and educational programs to enhance workers’ skills. However, firm A has atechnical training center (TTC) for increasing worker production skills. The company has
engaged one team of the HR department to organize EDP through internal and external
training and drills. All firm arranges internal training for management staff by engaging
experienced people from top management.
Another important value creation initiative by all firm B is to introduce the subsidized
shop policy or fair price shop that allows workers to buy dry foods, vegetables, and otheritems at a fair price. As a corporate citizen, the firm believes the shop help workers to meet
daily necessities and supply health items to all employees at subsidized prices. Firm A also
considered launching the subsidized shop within-firm premises soon.
Worker’s empowerment through labor-management committee. Three firms created theparticipatory committee (PC) and factory safety committee (SC) by engaging both workers
95 | P a g eand management employees to uphold the workers’ rights regarding social compliance.
According to the national labor laws (section 175), the firm must promote workers’ union
activities and collective bargaining practices. However, they formed labor-managementbased PC and SC but discouraged workers from joining the registered trade unions. The
workers elect a 12-member PC through voting, but the SC members are appointed by PC
and top management selection. The PC mainly facilitates the collective communications
that ensure helpful discussions and resolutions on workers’ rights-related claims, needs, andbenefits.
All three firms formed the SC based on equal participation from both management andworkers representatives. Accord and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) cooperated withfirms to develop the two-long SC through the selection process. The size of the SC varies
among firms’ employee sizes. All three firms formed an individual SC according tonational labor law. Both firms A and C formed a 12-member SC for each factory, but atotal of 16-member SC was found for case B. The SC members developed, implemented,
and monitored the factories’ property safety and health-related issues. In this regard, they
became responsible for supervising the SEF safety inspections, and remediation works
hazards, risk assessment, and responding to workers’ health issues. Another essential dutyof SC is to respond to worker’s complaints and suggestions about the work-related hazards
and review the workplace accident records on how to prevent them. Firms B and C engaged
SC in delivering training to factory firefighting, rescue, health safety, and first aid teams.
The structural and fire safety engineers cooperated with SC to design the training.
The job duties of SC members also review and evaluated by corporate governancebodies of the three firms. Accord experts taught SC members to incorporate all issues in asingle report and organize review meetings once every three months. The meeting minutes
further submit to the top management for their actions wherever necessary and sent to
Accord (currently RSC) for some instances. The chief operating officer (COO) andcompliance head of case B examine the SC activities and thoroughly check the agendas
before any workplace safety management decision-making. In contrast, the owner, HR, andAdmin Director of firm A directly supervise and evaluate SC activities over factory safety.
Again, case C's sustainability head and welfare manager generally review and evaluate SC
meeting minutes and take further actions to resolve the problem.

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Community engagement. All three firms relate to the local communities and nations inmany ways. Almost all workers of these firms stay closer to their firms; therefore, theiremployees represent members of the local communities. However, they engaged withvarious NGOs and government projects to improve workers' skills, communities’ health,and educations. For instance, firm B participated in several development projects with
NGOs to solve community housing issues, maternity healthcare, local education
institutions, religious centers, and relief and support to government funds. Firm C
established local hospitals such as eyecare and maternity care centers to support
communities’ health. Besides, this firm established a vocational college in the northern partof the country to deliver technical education for the betterment of the community. Firm A
supports the orphanage education center and connects with several local NGOs to assist thepoverty elimination program, workforce development, and women empowerment.
5.2.4 Economic Growth and Prosperity
All three manufacturers have already integrated many initiatives toward economic
prosperity and development for sustaining the competitive markets. These initiatives (see inAppendix C: appendix table C4) vary according to firms’ vision and values towardsustainability. Moreover, these economic initiatives are not static but changing concerning
the environmental and social bottom-line challenges. However, all these initiatives andmeasures have been adopted by firms to extend their efforts toward saving environmental
and social costs by maintaining economic prosperity.
Economic contributions to the national economy. Firms created an excellent scope forthe country’s fresh graduates and experienced employees to grab jobs with market standard
remuneration and other admissible benefits. For instance, firms A hires overseas expert
designers for their London-based design office. Firm B also recruited two freelance expert
designers to enrich their local design team. In contrast, firm C still recruited all local
experts and fresh graduates in the design and innovation team. They devised a production
improvement cell to train workers regularly, and industrial engineers improved productivity.
However, firms A and B set up Worker Training Center to provide workers with basic
training on garment-making processes. Besides workers, firms B and C established training
and development (T&D) wings as an essential part of human resource management.
Through the T&D, they arrange periodical training on diverse issues covering functional
and personal competencies.
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Product and Process innovation. Although three firms are doing homogenous business,they constantly seek new market entry through new products and process innovation
strategies. Garment trends are in flux, and manufacturers intend to deal with the market
quickly for sustaining in the long run. Therefore, firms established the research anddevelopment (R&D) and design studio (DS) over a decade ago to attract customers with awide range of products. Firms’ product and process innovation are mainly R&D driven, andDS is the physical space to exhibit finished garments, fabrics quality, patterns, andalternative material.
The manufacturers’ R& D activities can be categorized into three primary roles. First,
create innovative workmanship and fitting; Second, reduce bottleneck to increase
production process efficiencies; and finally, cost-effective materials development andsearch alternative materials such as recycle contents. The suppliers’ R&D teams collaborate
with fashion designers, material developers, computer-automated design (CAD) teams,
pattern makers, production, and quality people to develop the new products. Still, designers
play the dominant roles, and the knowledge of the products or materials is mostly ideated ingarment development processes. The study found R&D team of the case firms want toincrease the use of leftover materials such as stock fabrics and accessories to develop new
combinations of garments as proto samples or quotation sample. It is anticipated that Firm
A is spending more on R&D as they recruited many overseas designers. This firm createdlots of new trends and arranged fashion exhibitions every season in their London office.
Their marketing approach engaging fashion designers help firms to reach customers inadvance.
On the other hand, firm B has also been increasing R&D budgets over the years. Their
two freelance designers frequently visit customers' locations to introduce new products
range according to customers' profiles and gather customers’ requirements. Moreover, thefirm arranges an annual fashion show once a year, inviting all local representatives ofwestern brands. Items used vary according to their environment and corporate.
Market Presence. These firms have been increasing their market presence in many
ways. Significantly, firms started branding their images to create direct and indirect
economic impacts. By employing vast numbers of local people and generating exports
values, three firms have increased their market presence over the years. Moreover, they
have been making strategic CSR investments throughout the country to foster economic
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growth and positively impact the local economy. Firm C participated in many corporate
volunteering activities, including an eye hospital, maternity care, vocational college,
partnering with NGOs projects, and supporting orphanage centers. The other two firms
have also been working with NGOs to extend their supports for poverty reduction,community health clinics, and child education.
Sustainable Investment. In the 2013 Rana Plaza aftermath, the three firms haveincreased sustainable investments in several areas. The investment is often treated as ESG
investment, socially responsible investment (SRI), and impact investments. The data showsthat the three firms have spent massive budgets integrating several standardized practices toimprove environmental management and cleaner technologies. For instance, firm C has
invested in constructing the green factory and incorporating green technologies as ESG
investing. The other two firms invested sizable amounts of green budgets in installingcleaner production technologies for environmental performance. Moreover, all three firms
have increased their socially responsible investments to renovate the infrastructure, work
conditions, and healthy environment that enhance worker safety and improve workforce
empowerment.
Besides ESG and SRI, firms B and C expand their impact investment throughsponsoring child education, orphanage centers, and poverty reduction. Besides, firm C has
been increasing financing for community eye hospitals, maternity care centers, andvocational training colleges as a commitment to ensure healthy lives and promote lifelong
learning. In addition, they started planting trees throughout factory premises and thenortheast part of Bangladesh to compensate for carbon emissions. Firm B often provides
donations to charity organizations and government relief funds. Moreover, the firmsponsors workers’ children for higher education and local communities for primaryeducation. On the other hand, firm A has a few education sponsorships to workers’ families,
volunteering projects to local communities, and disaster-prone areas from their relief funds.
5.2.5 Corporate Governance and Leadership (CGL)
Except one, all members of BODs both firms A and B represent owners’ families. In
contrast, there are five BODs from owner’s family out of eight members of firm C (table
4.1). The chief of the BODs of all firms, nowadays, deeply concern about environmental
and societal impacts that incessantly increase pressure on garment manufacturing
operations. The corporate bodies have addressed several business impacts over other99 | P a g e

organizations’ bottom-lines such as the health safety risks, environmental pressures, andsocietal changes. The study found that the firms developed a few KPIs to improve
corporate governance and leadership (see Appendix C: appendix table C5). These
indicators include accountability and transparency, knowledge-based management
practices, corporate disclosure, and stakeholders’ engagement.

They share allcommunication regarding environmental and societal impacts with employees throughinternal meetings and annual reporting.
Corporate policies and programs toward accountability and transparency inmanagement practices. The BODs of the case firms introduced numerous corporate policies
and action plans in cooperation with their customers, employees, industry association, andmedia. The firms’ policies included local laws and international norms to increasetransparency in managing workplace safety, social compliance, environmental management,
corruption, and capital expenditure issues. Nowadays, these firms integrate verticalinformation flow within departments and divisions. The inside and invisible practices
concerning organizations’ bottom-lines become more open and accessible. Firms B & C set
division-wise targets and assigned management employees to address and report theirsocietal and environmental impact activities. They have improved the communication
system through an information system and enterprise software. For firm A, board members
still articulated all policies and distributed them to all divisions head to implement
according to company targets.
All three firms often face challenges to developing internal culture concerning theenvironment and societal aspects because of ignorance by employees. They areendeavoring to educate employees toward companies’ etiquette, policies, and programs
over sustainability issues. The top management is concerned about changes that the firms
have experienced over the decades. Therefore, they are flexible to amend their corporate
policies and action plans based on ESG challenges. Besides, these companies maintain aclosed-loop information flow concerning clients' information or employees' private matter.
Organizational learning and Knowledge management. The management policies andpractices vary among case firms because of their corporate leaders’ intents, knowledge, andexperiences. In line with Takeuchi [184], we find that the firm's business practices varybecause of the people who make strategies. The training, meeting and stakeholder’sdialogue of these firms are the key approaches of corporate learning and knowledge
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management. The KM influences the corporate governance and leadership practices. The
respondent analyses found, the firms create and share technical (production, quality, etc.)
and soft skill knowledge (workplace complaint, health safety and management) throughseveral formal and informal interactions.
The firms addressed probation period, training, education programs as a formal
approach to create, capture, and share organizational knowledge among employees. Again,
the internal and external coordination, meeting, and dialogue with stakeholders wereidentified as an informal approach. Concerning the knowledge management process, allthree companies create, capture, and share information and knowledge from internalorganizations and external training and education programs. They promote formal andinformal learning through induction and provisional training, vocational education andworkshops programs, and frequent meetings to increase employees’ technical and soft skills,
shown in figure 5.1.
Firm A mainly relies on job orientation, daily meetings, on-job training, and formal
training by in-house trainers. Through these contexts, the firms create and share
information on the management policies and technical knowledge with employees. Again,
firm B focused on employees’ technical and personal knowledge development throughexternal training, corporate learning, weekly meeting, information sessions. The firm wants
to transform labor into human capital through continuously increasing workers’ technicalcompetencies, etiquettes, and respective duties. This way, the firm reduces inefficiencies
and increases productive hours. However, firm C also develops human resources throughinformal and formal learning corporate training, workshops, and vocational education. All
three firms believe that continuous learning motivates employees’ creative efforts andinnovativeness.
The manufacturing firms are constantly experiencing new realities through external
and internal knowledge sources. The flow of internal knowledge creation and sharing are
centering the work floors, especially production/quality, sampling (design studio, andPattern department), and maintenance areas which Nonaka & Takeuchi [148] identified as‘Ba’ (or space). Because almost all problems or issues are raised from these spaces, allemployees, workers, and management interact to solve the daily issues. The external
knowledge enters firms through customers, auditors, expert hires, and other indirect
stakeholders such as media, NGOs, and international organizations.
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Figure 5.1 Organizational learning and knowledge management matrix

The BODs and top management are the primary sources of corporate knowledge
creations through strategies and policymaking. The middle management to management
staff, non-management staff, execute management decisions into actionable. For firm, A
mostly follow top-down knowledge approaches to disseminate among employees andworkers. Firms B and C follow a participatory approach; the BODs allow management totake authority and implement decisions that do not conflict with the company's interest.
All companies have also developed information technology (IT) to manage the softskill knowledge of the employees. They integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),
FastReact (demand planning software), Product Life Cycle Management (PLM)Management Information System (MIS), and Human Resource Information System (HRIS)
to update and archive the daily business data (sales, procurement, inventory, production),T&D contents, and HR information. Moreover, these digital technologies help employees
know and measure business performance in real time. Firm B and C implemented the ERP
and FastReact to record all data. Firm A uses the MIS and PLM to track explicit
information of orders, inventory, production, commercial, finance, and HR activities. All
three firms incorporated IT to store and create daily reports for making the businessdecisions quickly.
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The industrial engineering (IE), R&D, CAD and pattern, production, and quality
departments lead the process innovations by sharing and combining their knowledge. These
teams work together and share the bottleneck or difficulties of garment production
processes through a Pre-production (PP) meeting that mainly focuses on the technicalknowledge (know-how) through members’ experience sharing. The interaction among thedifferent team members co-creates a new understanding and develops new know-how. The
outcome of the meeting often derives from co-creation among them. The PP meeting
minutes are written down in the production manual book of each item or garment style tofollow in assembling lines.
Corporate Reporting (disclosures) practices. In recent years, disclosure practices havebecome another focal initiative of corporate governance and leadership practices. Corporate
reporting over a firm’s social and environmental bottom lines enhances its accountability,
credibility, and traceability among the stakeholders [89], [134]. The safety inspection andremediation results and the other audits reports became publicly accessible by all threefirms.

For example, firms A and B published the workplace safety inspection andremediation status reports on their corporate website. Besides, they also publish third-party
inspection reports of chemical audits, wastewater assessment reports, and environmental
audit results. In contrast, firm C has disclosed the corporate credit rating report, Annual
Corporate Sustainability Report, and The UNGC Communication of Progress report since
2018. The report is shared with the direct stakeholders such as employees and customers
for comments and suggestions to increase the appropriateness over the key materiality
issues.
Stakeholder

Engagement.

These

days

manufacturers

welcomestakeholders’participation in improving their corporate governance gaps and management behavior. All
three firms include the needs of stakeholders’ interests in the corporate statement andpolicies. Their corporate statement explained the degree of relationship with the direct andindirect stakeholders. The case firms’ relationship with its direct stakeholders is dynamic
and stands on mutual interests to solve many challenges of the bottom lines. The radical
shift in workers’ and managers’ contributions has emerged since the 2013 factory collapse.
Over the years, the external stakeholders’ pressures on improving factory safety, workers'
rights issues, and physical and psychological health safety became inevitable. Theirintensive efforts regulate the garment suppliers toward WHSC performance. The BODs of
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firms engaged the dedicated Compliance/Welfare/Sustainability managers and labormanagement committees in improving health safety and worker’s rights practices toward
workplace compliance.
5.3 Workplace Safety Compliance (WSC) program toward Sustainability
The workplace disaster in 2013 was brought customers, unions, NGOs, and mediagroups together to impose regulatory pressures over garment sector for implementing theworkplace safety compliance (WSC) program. The forces resulted in emerging the three
regulators: Accord, Alliance and NTPA backed by western customers, governments,
unions, and other lobbyists. The Accord and Alliance both were independently 5-year
legally binding private governance programs. They supported garment factories to improvefactories’ constructions and health safety under WSC program during the end of 2013.
Therefore, all case organizations had to do the mandatory workplace compliance tasks
because of the export markets. The WSC program led the garment suppliers toward social,
ethical, and environmental compliance. The study identified three factors of WCP thatfacilitated manufacturers’ sustainability initiatives, shown in figure 5.1.
5.3.1 Address workplace safety issues and set initiatives to remediate them
The data analysis showed, the case firms’ sustainable development initiative started
over WSC program, and this phase has extended till 2018. The firms started WCS steps by
joining Accord’s on fire and building safety of Bangladesh (AFBSB) initiatives during
2013-14. They focused the AFBSB initiatives because their major buyers acted as signatory
members that initiatives. The firms did initial safety inspections in cooperation with Accord
to address the safety faults on the factories’ structural, electrical and fire systems. As
advised by Accord, all three firms conducted detail engineering assessment (DEA)
following national building codes.
After DEA, they have reviewed SEF with Accord’s experts and received the Corrective
Action Plans (CAPs). The data revealed that all three firms corrected many safety faults(see table 4.4) that threaten to workers' health safety. All safety faults were correctedfollowing Accord’s CAPs to overcome factories’ safety issues. In line with the previous
studies’ findings [6], [10], [13], [15], we found that the case firms received cooperation,
guidance, and directions from Accord’s experts to develop SEF protection and worker’s
health safety. Those studies also argued, the Accord inspection and remediation program
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facilitated to address suppliers’ constructions safety gaps and workers’ health hazards
throughout the production sites.

Figure 5.2: Case firms’ sustainability program in the bottom-lines’ practices

The management respondents (RS.1_A, RS.3_A, RS.9_B, RS.16 & RS.20_C) admired
Accord’s initiatives and their technical supports to improve internal workplace safety but
they criticized Accord because of costly remediations. A few studies [4], [6], [15] also
revealed similar results through case investigations over the Accord’s workplace program.
Sinkovics et al. [4] mentioned, the small-size factories are forced to cost huge investment
for expensive fire equipment. The respondent believed, many visible measures on theefficient safety management and hazards and risks assessment systems (Appendix C:
appendix table C1) have been improving worker’s health safety. They integrated internalsafety apparatus, PPE, labor-management based monitoring mechanism, and third-party
safety audits. Moreover, firms have prioritized incorporating the needs of occupational
health measures, including health and hygiene policies and primary healthcare for all
employees. The health professionals and occupational nurses are assigned to design, planand deliver supports to workers for occupational diseases.
Again, the case firms are forced to fix workers' rights to enhance health safety
practices. Prentice et al. [70] argued that the Bangladesh garment sector had completed
property safety rather than workers' safety as the worker’s rights toward OHS remained
unsettled. However, our study results differ from their findings in this matter. As our casefirms also developed several human rights policies and labor code ethical and social
105 | P a g e

compliance, workers’ safety committee (SC) toward sustaining the WHSC practices (seeAppendix C: appendix table C1). With the Accord supervision, all firms have formed a
dedicated SC to coach them to monitor and inspect the probable safety hazards and risks.
The safety education and training programs for SC, in collaboration with Accord’s Safety
Training Program (STP), have been boosting the safe work condition provision. Consistent
with [72], the study argued that the training and demonstrations increased the management
skills to adequately disseminate the factory safety measures.
5.3.2 Extend the initiatives that contribute to societal and environmental practices
Firms have been extending their SEF safety efforts over time. After Accord’s
governance program expire in 2019, the firms voluntarily increased responsibilities formaintaining WSC program aligned with their other social and environmental programs.
These programs expanded the regulations and the voluntary code of practices (COP) in
terms of safe workplace, environmental and socially responsible business practices.
Alongside Accord’s program, the firms joined several partnership projects in collaboration
with Partnership for Cleaner Technology (PaCT), Better Work Bangladesh (BWB), the US
Green Building Council (USGBC). For instance, firm A launched cleaner production
assessment (CPA) in 2016, and firm B in 2017 under PaCT project for retrofitting and thereplacing old processing technologies to increase efficient energy use, water reduction, andemissions management across production processes. In contrast, firm C agreed to retrofit
the existing production buildings following the USGBC’ leadership in energy andenvironmental designs (LLED) requirement.
Over the years, all three companies increased the regulatory and normative practices of
the universal human rights, CFM, employees’ social needs, participatory management,
transparency and accountability, stakeholder engagement, and corporate training andlearning as socially and environmentally responsible practices. These findings are
replicated in the previous studies [2], [4], [70]. Gradually, these firms integrated several
international management systems, audit standards, and reporting frameworks tostandardize the voluntary COPs. For instance, the study results show that BSCI listed firms
are evaluated by BSCI audits once a year. The western buyers mainly relied on the BSCIlisted suppliers as their business partners. Sinkovics et al. [4] criticized the Bangladesh
manufacturers because of their overreliance on the BSCI as factories' authorities often
manipulated the evaluation system.
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Several business practices, including maternity leave policy, employer’s liability
insurance coverage, worker performance bonus, and salary digitization, are evolved byfirms toward social and ethical compliance commitment. The BSCI and SEDEX annual
audits evaluate these extensive codes of practice. However, the case firms also support
workers to meet their social needs through different offerings. For instance, case A started
to provide free sanitary pads to female workers since 2018; firm B gives family planning
products and mental healthcare supports to the married workers since 2017, and firm C
provides free eyecare treatment since 2017. Moreover, both firm B and C have a fair priceshop for all workers. All firms introduced worker participatory committee, safetycommittee and anti-harassment committee following labor-management participation.
corporate volunteering activities and supports to educational institutions also enhancefirms’ presence as a corporate citizen.
For environmental bottom-line practices, all three cases adopted legal requirements andglobal norms to accelerate their management practices. For instance, firm A took ethicalbusiness and environmental policy in 2017 and OEKO-TEX STeP standards in 2018, firm
B integrated environmental management system (EMS) and, occupational health safety
policy in 2016, Higg’s FEM index, and life-cycle assessment (LCA) in 2018, and firm C
adopted EMS in 2015, green factory initiatives (following LEED principles) in 2016 and
UN Global Compact principles in 2017. However, these standards guide the EIA, offsetting
carbon emissions, chemical wastes management, resource efficiency, and SWWM
practices.
5.3.3 Combine SPs to continue the changes for creating new business scope
The study results reveal that these firms have brought many changes on their CBPs
over the years. These changes created numerous impacts after combining SPs that briefly
summarize in table 5.2 based on each KPI. Although the WHSC appeared as a regulatory
requirement after the 2013 Rana Plaza Collapse [15], [73], the case firms focusedenvironmental and social performances, and corporate governance to develop SPs across
MSC.
Table 5.2: Changes and impacts after implementation sustainability programs
KPIs

Changes after Implementation
Workplace Health Safety ComplianceImpacts

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Factories'
Buildings,
Electrical and Fire
SafetyEfficient Safety
management
Hazards and risks
assessment (HRA)
Health andHygiene measures
Workplace
Healthcare
management

Environmental
impact assessment
Carbon footprint
management
Solid wastes andWastewater
Management
Chemical Waste
Management
Cleaner Production
Assessment

Human rights, andLabor codes
Ethical businesspractices
Worker's
empowerment
Employee’s social
needvisible improvement in structural
layouts, electrical system, and fire
equipment
Installed fire protection, safety
communication device, engagement ofsafety committee and other safety
workforces
workers increase skills to addresscommon hazards and sources ofhazards
increased work floor's visibility,
temperature control, air quality andspacious work layout
inhouse treatment, free medicines,
outdoor medical benefits, healthinsurance, maternity, and childcare
benefits
Environmental Performance
Management
addressed the harmful manufacturing
operations and its consequencesemphasized energy efficient
infrastructure, performed energy audits,and reduced high polluting contents
integrated science-based matrices,wastewater treatment plant, andrecycling policies to assess and control
solid waste, wastewater, and air
pollution
incorporated chemical regulation,
restricted substance lists, and zerodischarge hazardous chemical policy
integrated best available technologies
to reduce, recycle, recover, and reuse
resources
Social and Ethical ComplianceStandards
Developed anti-harassment, antidiscrimination, anti-forced labor, antichild labor, freedom of association, andcomplaint mechanism policies
created policies on wage and benefits,target bonuses, maternity leave,
adequate breaks, and holidays
developed workers and managementbased participatory committee forworker's rights, health safety
introduced skilled training, annual
recreations, employees' appreciations,subsidized daily necessities,

reduced potential occupationalrisks and safety hazardous

reduce the communication gaps
improve the individual skills toapply in social life
developed a congenial andhealthy work condition

improved workers' family andsocial lives

developed a system to identify
negative environmental
outcomes
continuous improvement incarbon reduction

improved pollution and erosion
control across facilities
reduced hazardous or harmful
chemicals from production
process
improved energy, water andmaterial resource performancein production and utility areas

reduced workers' physical andverbal harassment, andimproved impartial complaint
management
reduced work stress, promoted
female workers, and improved
timely payments
enhanced worker's social
protection and collective
bargaining
improved human resources,
increased work efficiency,

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Community
engagement
programs

Accountability andtransparency

Discloser practices
Devising
Knowledge
Management
Stakeholder
Engagement

Direct and indirect
economic
Contributions
Creating
atmosphere for
Product andProcess innovation
Enhancing Market
Presence
Sustainable
Investment

increased corporate sponsorship andvolunteering programs in developing
local communities
Corporate Governance and Leadership(CGL)
developed corporate policies andgovernance measure on workplace,social, environmental, and economic
issuesincreased internal monitoring,
independent inspections, and thirdparty facility audits
started corporate training, drills,
vocational education, experiencesharing, and collaboration with local
and international experts
engaged direct and indirect dialogue,
and collaboration with customers,
regulators, governmental and privateorganizations, consultants, and NGOs
Economic Growth and Prosperity

increased community
healthcare, education, andsocial skills

increasing business activities,
employment, and skilled workforce

improving social and economic
lives of marginalized people
constantly efficiencies in
improving material
consumption, use of alternative
resources and searching newcustomers and market network
developed corporate image, or
goodwill as a trustworthy
supplier
improved corporate social
performance and local
community compensating
carbon emissions

increased research and development
spending, retrofitting, automation, andcleaner technologies
introduced Management Trainee
program, higher pays, corporate
volunteering activities

increased socially responsible
investment and impact investment

improved traceability,
information transparency andcorporate accountabilities
started internal and externalreporting and sharing withstakeholders
developed internalorganizational learning,knowledge creating and sharing
increased long-term
relationship and feedback
system from direct and indirectinterest groups

Although many long-term impacts have created by implementing the KPIs, yet thefirms confront several challenges to continue improvement. As discussed above, they havesome critical issues remain unsettled for continuing sustainability program. The
respondents' data shows, the customer’s poor pricing strategy, unethical purchasing
behaviors (quick changeover, discounts, air penalties, and cancellations) and diverse
pressures from stakeholders create obstacles to remain sustainability program alive. Again,
some other uncertainties concerning market shifts, climate changes, technology disruptions,and resources crisis also threat sustainability targets. Therefore, manufacturers’ focuses

109 | P a g ehave changed based on time and export markers’ requirements. They occasionally ignore
implementing the predetermined action plans.
The firms have assumed the abovementioned issues to tackle through corporate
governance and leadership practices. The top management continuously engage employees,
customers, industry associations, government, and nongovernmental organizations forincreasing internal and external collaborations toward knowledge and resource
management. They have endeavored to improve inclusive workplace including zeroworkplace incidents, zero-discrimination, zero-emissions, win-win partnership, andsustainable investment, etc. Therefore, three firms have determined several long-term
policies and programs to continue the SP. For example, the firm A drafted another five-year
management plans’ 2021 in 2019 to change all machineries with energy efficient power
supplies, and renewable energy-driven production process. Firm B is halfway through its
six-year plans’ 2019 that pursue to improve corporate social performances integrating
female supervisor, and zero-discrimination projects with BWB. In addition, the firm has
started retrofitting and renovating on existing production constructions to make efficientenergy and water resources management.
However, firm C approaches the end of the five-year mid-term plans’ 2016 in 2021.
The company has implemented green building standards almost two-third of production
constructions (two sister concerns factories: a garment assembling unit and fabricprocessing unit) in 2019. As per the commitment of the mid-term plans’ 2016, they reducethe carbon emission by around 15-20 percent by 2021 in collaboration with the USGBC.
Moreover, they aimed to achieve national SGDs commitment by implement carbon neutral
goal and zero-discrimination within 2030. Following this commitment, the firm has alreadyextended the LEED standards across all production units. They intend to achieve
capabilities in the eight areas: sustainable site, energy and atmosphere, water efficiency,
material and resources, indoor environment quality, innovation practice, and surrounding
environment.
5.4 Case firms’ Sustainability Programs toward bottom lines performance
The study demonstrates the garment Suppliers’ Sustainability Program (SSP) in figure5.2. The SSP is a set of twenty-three key performance indicators that include hundreds
above specific measures for an organization’s bottom-line performances. The firms have110 | P a g e

developed the SPs, improving organizations’ bottom-line capabilities. The bottom-line
capabilities are required to cope with changes. The BODs of these case firms endeavored toenhance organizational and operational capabilities by achieving a safe workplace, social
need creation, efficient resource and wastes management, human capital utilization,
corporate governance, innovation, and economic risks management.
The firms face many operating barriers, including internal and external barriers. The
study results show that the firms have two major internal issues, including organizationaland operational. The challenges: inadequate policies, unethical practices, inadequate
workers’ participation influence internal coordination. On the other hand, the unskilledlabor, sizable compliance costs, higher consumptions, high process costs, lower
productivities create operational problems. Besides internal issues, three firms always
consider many external pressures, including environmental degradation, climate change,
resource crisis and prices, increased material and labor costs, customer unethical buying
practices (poor pricing, air penalties, discounts, and cancellations), and costly costs
technologies. These internal and external barriers motivate the garment suppliers to
discover long-term paths to overcome those. For instance, our case firms have createdseveral corporate policies, programs, and management standards to remain sustainable
companies in the export business. However, some issues have appeared as post challenges
such as costly safety equipment, high renovation costs, expert migrations, and unexpectedunionization.
As a lead supplier, all firms have organizational and operational strengths to drive forlong-term development tackling above barriers. The study results have found that the firms
emphasized to increase internal coordination and external collaborations through utilizing
human knowledge capital (employees’ experiences, skills and learning abilities), operating
resources (investments, lands, structural properties, machinery, technologies, andproduction setups), institutional measures (regulatory policies, standardized management
systems, facilities’ audits, and cultural values), and stakeholders’ engagement (dialogue,
partnership projects, external knowledge sharing and feedback system).
The data shows that the firms possess many tangible and intangible resources that
motivate them to approach new opportunities to overcome challenges. The operating
resources of these firms are valuable and rare. The RBV theory advocates, the firm’s
success depends on the adequate management and alignment of valuable and rare resources.
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Again, they have designed several corporate learning and training methods (summarized intable 4.7) to develop employees’ experiences, knowledge, and skills as organizational
knowledge management. The two firms have emphasized improving employees’knowledge, skills, and learning through extensive training and vocational education. Their
independent T&D team designs the annual training and drill schedules for management
employees.

Figure 5.3: Garment Suppliers’ Sustainability Programs

Round the year, all three firms provide in-house knowledge sessions through formal
training, on-job training, orientation, and meeting. Besides the in-house training, all threefirms have extended the organizational learning in collaborating with external parties suchas public and private regulators, NGOs, industry associations, and trade unions. The firms
joined the Accord’s training program to train their employees on regulatory and voluntaryissues such as workplace safety, employee health safety, workers’ labor, and human rights
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issues. The training, vocational education, and EDP policy empower employees tonegotiate their rights and work responsibly. Moreover, these firms often arrange technicaltraining on process innovation through EIAs, CPA, resource management, andwaste/emission control.
The case firms have focused on the regulatory, normative, and local cultural values toformulate the corporate policies and regulate employees' behaviors. The corporate
governing bodies follow the national laws/rules and international standardized frameworks
to make corporate policies and management systems. Again, the stakeholders' engagementin evaluating corporate policies and programs helps firms know outside views in improving
workplace safety compliance and environmental and socially responsible practices.
All firms have created frequent dialogue and interaction with NGOs, Unions, and local
communities. These stakeholders' engagement help firms to increase partnership projects,
accountability, and traceability. The external collaborations encourage firms to make socialand environmental partnership projects. For instance, firms A and B have partnered with
the PaCT during 2016-2017. Again, firm B has joined another environmental partnershipproject with Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) to implement Higgs's FEM index. In
contrast, firm C has joined green factory projects following LEED standards with the
USGBC. These partnership projects improve impact assessment, cleaner production
technologies, and efficient infrastructure to minimize NMOs.
Moreover, the stakeholders' involvement also improves social partnership, improvingsocial need creation and better work practices. Our study finds that firm A has joined theworkers' health project with BKMEA, firm B with BWB, and firm C with Netherlandbased NGOs to extend their workers' social needs and social lives. These corporate
partnership policies and management steps drive them toward improving SECS. Moreover,firms B and C have developed female supervisor programs to increase female workers'
participation in production roles.
The case firms constantly combine their resource position, employees' knowledge,
rules/norms (system), and stakeholders' relationship to design several policies and programs
toward setting KPIs. The study data reveals that the firms have taken several policies andprograms (table 4.3) to implement across MCS. There are many specific policies under thefour central policies (shown in figure 5.2) that are easily communicable and implementable.
The firms assigned respective who disseminate and implement those policies. On the other113 | P a g e

hand, the case firms have also implemented several bottom-line programs, including safety,
environmental footprint management, social need creation, and governance to increase safe
work conditions, green and socially responsible practices (figure 5.2). These policies andprograms have mediated to develop KPIs steps-by-step. The study has summarized twentythree KPIs under five main pillars: workplace, environmental, social, economic, andgovernance. The continuous improvement of these KPIs is key to creating bottom-line
capabilities.
Among all, the three indicators EIAs, CPA, HRA, are focused on measuring the NMOs
generated from garment production processes. These three indicators aimed to protect theinternal environment, employees' health, energy and water resources, and community's
livelihood. However, the three firms have been practicing hundreds of above measures
under KPIs (see Appendix C: appendix tables C1-C5) to implement sustainability programs.
These KPIs are constantly improving concerning the internal and external barriers becauseof continuous changes in the environment and social issues. Thus, they focus on external
evaluation and feedback on their corporate reporting practices.
The independent monitoring, the annual evaluation on KPIs, and facilities' audits help
firms to make corporate traceability. As a modern corporation, all case firms have become
more open to the public through reporting practices. The disclosure practice also proves thefirm's knowledge transparency. The direct and indirect stakeholders often become'watchdogs' to know the safety measures and measurements to tackle annual impact
generations (emission/wastes) and social bottom line' performances. The study finds thattwo firms (case A and B) publish business profiles, safety inspections data, and third-party
impact assessment reports through their websites. The other firm (case C) discloses theannual sustainability report and the COP under GRI and UNGC.
All three firms' core values focus on improving customer trust and employees'
empowerment (direct stakeholders' needs). Besides, they also meet indirect stakeholders'
hopes by reducing NMOs, participating in corporate volunteering/sponsorships, andpromoting local

entrepreneurship. Nowadays, the suppliers'

businessbehaviors

continuously reform based on meeting direct stakeholders' needs, and indirect stakeholders
hope toward economic prosperity.

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CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION
6. Introduction
The chapter is designed into four subsections. First, the research provides the answers
to the three subsidiary research questions and one central research question. Second, wegive an overview of the research implications from academic angel and practitioners’
perspectives. The study examines the quality of the research results through the lens ofprior studies and four dominant theories of the firm. Third, we have depicted the case study
research limitations and discussed on how these gaps promote the scope of future studies.
In conclusion, we illustrate a brief remark depicting the claims of the findings as
originality.
6.1 Answer to the Research Questions
The major findings of this study are illustrated sustainability programs implementation
through the case study survey. Here we answer the subsidiary research questions (SRQs)
and major research question (MRQ) from case firms’ investigations.
SRQ1. How do garment suppliers define sustainability and why it is important to consider
in improving business practices
The case firms possess different business visions, but the main goal is to be a suitablename for their customers. As a vertical-integrated lead garment supplier, the firms havemulti-side businesses with diverse customers. These lead suppliers are labor-intensive,
resource and waste driven. Although all three firms are homogenous, they have a variety ofperceptions to define ‘sustainability’ concerning their business practices and management
policies. However, all companies intend to be the most regarded company by delivering
production services (capacity, price, delivery, and quality) with workplace, social andenvironmental compliance agendas. Therefore, the study argues that sustainability motto
influences the garment supplying firms to care financial growth with concerning customer
trust, employee safety, and surrounding environmental security.
The ‘sustainability theme is perceived in many ways by the corporate management
people. For instance, firm A defines sustainability as one of the core values embedded toachieve its long-term vision. Firm B considers sustainability as a philosophy or business
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process representing its business vision, missions, and values. Finally, firm C's corporate
statement defines it as standard to implement for improving management practices acrossbusiness activities. The result reveals that these organizations constantly upgrade theirfacilities by integrating products and process innovations, technologies incorporations, andvoluntary codes.
The corporate bodies of the firms consider sustainability programs (SPs) to resolveinternal and external factors such as lack of coordination, governance gaps, unskilled labor,market dynamics, environmental impacts, and societal changes. Therefore, they interpreted
SPs to achieve the capabilities of safe workplace, workers’ rights and their social needs,
human capital, environmental accountability, transparency, and stakeholder engagement intheir business practices. They have emphasized a corporate statement that can communicate
sustainability-led business practices across the manufacturing supply chain (MSC). The
firms’ statements clarify that the sustainability as core value, or business process, or
corporate standard is to deliver to the outside world through business activities andmanagement practices. Therefore, they took several relevant policies, programs, and codesof-practices to promote SPs.
SRQ2. What are the key performance indicators to implement a sustainability programby case firms?
The results identified three case firms’ KPIs with numerous enabling measures toimprove sustainability practices across the MSC. These indicators were categorized into thefive pillars: workplace health safety compliance (WHSC), environmental performance
management (EPM), Social and Ethical Compliance Standards (SECS), economic growthand prosperity (EGP), and corporate governance and leadership (CGL). Many key
indicators replicated in the prior studies. Some of those KPIs are new derived by caseanalyses data, shown in table 5.1. All three firms included many measures under these
indicators (see Appendix C: appendix tables C1 to C5) to promote the SPs across MSC.
The study argued that the sustainability concept in the GGS could be viewed as a fivedimension practice of workplace, environmental, social, governance, and economic.
The garment supply firms always go through many changes. They need to adapt to themarket’s flux, customers’ requirements, and environmental pressures to remain sustained.
The case firms are always ready to change themselves concerning internal and external
challenges. They evolve corporate policies aligned with state regulations and voluntary
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COPs to prepare and manage their bottom-line performance. However, the firms have beendeveloped steps-by-step all the bottom lines practices and review those practices throughinternal monitoring, reviewing and third-party auditing.
SRQ3. How do workplace compliance pressures mediate suppliers’ sustainability
programs?
All three firms have been approaching SPs step-by-step voluntarily over the years.
Nevertheless, the result shows that they have initiated mandatory WSC as part of SPs after
the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse. As lead firms, the suppliers have valued their key customers’
COC and agreed to do the mammoth tasks of infrastructural inspection and remediation.
Besides infrastructural safety tasks, all three firms have restructured existing corporate
policies and actions plans over workers' safety, health, and rights issues toward workplacecompliance. The study results find that the firms’ sustainability programs are extended
from the workplace safety compliance initiatives and stakeholders’ continuous pressures on
health and hygiene, and worker’s health rights issues. The study has found, the suppliers
split their sustainability programs into three major phases: 2013-2017 as workplace
program, 2017-2021 as social and environmentally responsible programs, and 2030 as theextension of regulatory and standardized practices to remain sustainability programs (seefigure 5.2).
At the beginning of the workplace program, all three companies have created a safeand healthy workplace (SHW) through constructions inspections, remediations andverifications, occupational healthcare, and workers’ participation. Secondly, during the
2017-2021 period, all three firms have expanded their WHSC initiatives integrating manysocietal and environmental programs to improve human and labor rights, ethical businesspractices, social needs, worker’s empowerment, energy performance, impact assessment,
resource and waste management, emission reductions. Moreover, the firms have included,
participatory management, transparency, accountability practices, and stakeholders'engagement toward corporate governance. However, the third phase considered until 2030
as the extension of suppliers’ SPs for continuous improvement aligned the national SDGs
Agendas 2030 to achieve more energy-efficient infrastructures, renewable resources use,
zero-emissions, and zero-discriminations.
MRQ: How do the lead suppliers implement the Sustainability Program (SP) toward
bottom-line practices (BLP) in the labor-intensive global garment sector?
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The implementation of the Sustainability Programs (SPs) in the labor-intensive
industry has become an inevitable concern but it is not an easy process. The export industry
is very complex considering diverse issues: labor intensive, customer satisfaction, supply
chain, vendor management, social and environmental problems. The study results revealthat the case firms have begun the basic requirement of the SPs through resolving worker’s
health safety issues followed by social, environmental, and governance problems. The
supply firms have determined those challenges through increasing the organizational
strengths, renewable operating resources, human capital, participatory management,
stakeholders’ collaboration. They have focused corporate policies, programs, andpartnership projects to lever sustainability programs within five bottom-line practices,
including workplace health safety, environmental performance management, socially
responsible business practices, corporate governance, and economic growth.
The study results identified suppliers’ SPs have combined the twenty-three KPIs (seeAppendix C: appendix tables C1 to C5) under five dimensions: workplace, social,environmental, economic, and governance. Although the garment supply firms arehomogenous, the sustainability implementation approaches vary because different corporate
governance people understand SPs differently (see Appendix C: appendix table C1 to C5).
These firms’ top management people (BODs) gathered sustainability knowledge andinformation from several regulatory and international standardized organizations, industry
associations, unions, and NGOs. Therefore, they developed different knowledge fromexternal interactions that influenced them to make different business strategies and targets
toward implementing SPs.
6.2 Research implication
6.2.1 Theoretical Contributions
6.2.1.1 Findings contribute to existing literature
The study argued sustainability had become an effective strategy for the garment
manufacturing sector. Its’ implementation is not limited to triple-bottom-line or three pillar
practices. The results find two critical aspects: workplace health and safety compliance (orworkplace) and Corporate Governance and Leadership (or Governance) with TBL
initiatives. Therefore, the suppliers’ SPs have incorporated five dimensions or bottom-lines:

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workplace, environmental, social, economic, and governance (WESEG) as a new version ofsustainability of the GGS context.
The study found several internal issues, including weak workplace regulations,inhumane work conditions, unskilled workforce, renewable resources, and material crises,
inadequate wastes/emission management are also similar to many previous studies [2], [4],[6], [15], [69], [88], [127], [130]. However, the case survey also revealed some uniqueproblems, including the communcation gaps among the top, mid-and lower management
employees, limited technical knowledge, employees’ negligence, delayed responses, lackof organizational learning, absence of participatory management, and inadequate
environmental management knowledge. The study addressed these problems as internalorganizational and operating challenges. Few other issues like customers’ fast fashion
policy, stakeholders’ pressures, poor purchasing practices, pricing strategy, numerous
COCs are identified as external issues replicated in many studies[2], [4], [6], [69], [185].
However, those studies did not highlight customers’ overproduction pressures,
misalignment between industry associations and member factories, unhealthy pricecompetition, shortage of skilled worker supplies, and inadequate recyclers.
The study results suggest that the implementation of SPs in a garment supply firm has
become a soft business requirement as it has no regulatory pressure. The ‘workplace’ pillar
has emerged independently to mitigate poor work condition issues during 2012-2013. This
pillar has become mandatory COPs respecting state-regulated and other regulators’ COCs.
For instance, the firms gave priority to Accord’s factory safety program after the factorycollapse in 2013. This strategy was not only to solve workers’ safety and their health issues
but to protect their corporate image. Again, stakeholders have increased pressure on firms
to share detailed reports of factory construction inspections and remediations status, healthand hygiene initiatives, and workers’ rights practices. The garment supply firms havebecome more accountable and transparent over the workplace, social, environmental,
governance pillars. These findings are coherent with many previous works of several priorliteratures [4], [6], [70].
These workplace compliance tasks have motivated suppliers to drive increasing
environmental, social and governance programs. This finding is consistent with a few priorliteratures [6], [56], [57]. In line with Gilding et al. [97], suppliers’ SPs were launched tosafeguard work conditions, workers’ healthcare, and health and safety rights. The suppliers
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expanded the workplace compliance activities as a safety funnel that remained theirsustainability vision. Consistent with [6], [174], the study results found that garment
suppliers constantly increase structural and fire safety, workers’ health safety, and ethicalcompliance practices as a foundation of sustainable business practices.
6.2.1.2 Findings contirbute to existing theories of firms
The NIT-focused firms have perceived sustainability efforts as a comprehensive
regulative, normative, and cultural cognitive [69]. The study argues that legally binding
codes such as labor laws, the building acts, conservation laws are forced manufacturers as aregulatory practice. The absence of such regulatory rules can endanger the working
conditions, such as the 2013 Rana Plaza accident. This accident was occurred because ofignorance of national building codes during construction [6], [15].
Moreover, firms focus on the extensive COPs over social and environmental pillars asnormative action. These normative behaviors continuously motivate them to address thenegative impacts and eliminate them from firms’ operating models. For instance, the casefirms have adapted wage and benefit policies, paid maternity leaves, in-house medical andchildcare benefits, adult healthcare and family planning supports, and eye care treatment associal responsibilities. Like [3], we find that the garment suppliers emphasized standardized
management systems as voluntary COPs to uphold workers’ rights and social needs.
Usually, the firms have considered the social responsibilities as voluntary COPs tosolve the social issues. A few studies [4], [42], [69] also replicated, the garment suppliers
developed voluntary obligations for managing social and ethical risks to increase corporate
accountability. But we argued these COPs have no regulative form, mainly, derived from
corporate board members’ intent and corporate governance measures. Therefore, the lack ofmonitoring and inadequate follow-up often causes them to fail their socially and culturally
responsive practices. Moreover, the data have shown that workers’ negligence, delayed
responses, and communication gaps create a void to implement policies and programs.
In the RBV lens, the study argued that the case firms emphasized efficient resource use
and waste/emission reductions to manage environmental performance. For instance, thecase firms’ cleaner assessment projects, Higgs’s facility environmental module, and green
factory projects (USGBC LEED) enabled them to improve the energy and water
efficiencies per unit production. The RBV of a firm argued saving valuable resources and
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creating alternative resources is vital to coping with environmental challenges [53], [141],[186]. They focused on waste heat recovery, wastewater recycling, and recycled contents todevelop alternative resources. Besides that, the firms continuously reduce nonrenewable
resources and virgin material use by incorporating technology shifts (automation, softwarebased planning, and sensor-based metering), energy-efficient machinery and process
innovations. The firms adopted conservation policy, reduced material consumptions, use ofalternative resources as the key strategies to decrease emissions/pollutions from theoperating model. These findings become reliable with the prior studies' results [16], [17].
From the KBV perspective, the garment sector's sustainability programs have included
three critical elements: engagement in employees and stakeholders, continuous
policymaking changes, and societal problems. The study results have shown that the firms
have maintained various training and development programs to increase employees’
technical and soft skills (see table 4.7). In recent decades, garment supply firms haveengaged management employees and workers in the participatory management system
based on equal participation. For instance, the study finds that the case firms have formedlabor-management-based committees: PC, SC, and AHC to monitor workplace compliance,
ethical, and other voluntary works.
Moreover, the garment suppliers have partnered with direct and indirect stakeholders tocreate and share knowledge in managing ESG issues. The stakeholders’ interventions
increase ethical business practices, information transparency, environmental accountability,
and CSR practice of a firm, which is widely discussed in the scientific literature. An
organization’s ethical and social behavior are directly or indirectly influenced by theinternal and external groups or individuals [153], [154]. The stakeholders can cooperatewith firms to improve environmental and social performance by sharing feedback,criticism, and recommendations [154], [156]. The firms’ SPs are different not only becauseof their dependency on diverse resources and various management systems but also because
they possess various human resources who have a variety of abilities and skills. Thisfinding is very crucial to examine through KBV theory [148]. The neoclassical theorists seethat the corporations differ because of heterogeneous resources, efficient management,
multi-layered stakeholders’ relationship, and institutional formation.
Although theories like RBV, stakeholder approach, and NIT have focused corporate
governance toward achieving a firm’s bottom-line capabilities [53], [147], [150], [152],
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those theories have excluded the human resources (intellectual abilities, experiences, skills)
to make policies and strategies. The KBV of firms has highlighted diversity amongcorporate leaders based on employees’ subjective knowledge, experiences, abilities [148],[184]. The case study results find the differences in implementing the SPs among thesefirms because of the BODs and managers’ abilities who possess a diverse understanding ofstrategy making. The increasing management literature continuously focuses on the KCS toremain competitive-advantage [187].
Again, the firms always combine employees' experiences (tacit) and corporate policies(explicit) to improve work conditions, CEP, CSR, products quality, and processes
efficiency. The firm's tacit and explicit knowledge is interconnected in the corporate
training and development programs. Their organization's missions and policies guide theemployees. Further, they execute the policies to achieve performances and evaluate them to
set a new caproate statement. Employees' intellectual and technical abilities are criticalassets to the KBV of a firm. The firm must acknowledge employees' intellectual andtechnical abilities as valuable and rare resources.
The employees' social and cultural communication also triggers the continuous KCS to
improve the quality of work, learning method, creativity, and innovation. Therefore, when
we talk about a firm's SP, we refer to the quality of employers' business activities andemployees' life in terms of the workplace, social, environmental, and economic dimensions.
The firms capture the new knowledge (skills, learning, and experiences) from internal andexternal interactions and formalize it to drive product and process innovation [148], [149].
That is why Nonaka [187] sees the employees of an organization as knowledge workers
who make a difference.
Finally, we conclude that the infancy of sustainability issues in the GGS is still limited
in multidisciplinary literature. Most prior studies have been investigated only an
independent pillar linked with other pillars of SDGs [2], [69], [114]. However, the study
covered a holistic approach to exploring SPs in the garment supplier’s context, which areimportant players in the GGS. Moreover, the findings of this study have been examinedfrom various theoretical angles, including KBV, which is rare in the priors works.
Therefore, we argue, the continuity of sustainability programs can be progressed byincreasing employees’ abilities, corporate boards’ intents, and participatory management.
6.2.2 Practical Implication
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The study results have a high impact considering practical implications. The study
identified a set of sustainability indicators with hundreds of measures. Besides, we havedeveloped above theoretical framework on the supplier’s SPs through case-based
exploration. The KPIs of the SPs can be employed to measure sustainability initiatives
across the industries. As mentioned, the Bangladesh garment sector comprises above 5000
production factories, including direct and indirect export contributions. The garment
suppliers and manufacturers use these KPIs to scale their corporate performance voluntarily
as these are inevitable to increase ESG performance.
In past years, several industrial accidents caused massive fatalities and injuries that
impacted the victims' social lives and families. These were immeasurable losses to recoverby workers’ families. Therefore, workers’ absence and migrations became common
phenomena at garment production locations. The garment sector searched for carefulalignment of workplace, social and environmental issues with its economic contributions.
In this light, the KPIs of the SP can be easily transferrable for the whole sector toward
improving services for workers, customers, local communities, stockholders, and otherbeneficiaries. The performance indicators of SPs consist of five main pillars including
workplace, environmental, social, economic, and governance to improve bottom-line
practices across MSC. Again, the KPIs are designed with twenty-third indicators that
include more than one hundred specific measures so that suppliers can implement them toassess their bottom-line performance.
6.3 Limitation and Future Study
6.3.1 Research Limitation
The research is encountered several limitations concerning the research context,
subject matter, and methodological barriers. The major limitation is to exclude the indirect
suppliers. The research findings are derived from direct suppliers’ investigations, the results
may not represent for all in the global garment production network. Due to accesslimitations, reluctance to share information, and lack of business data, this study did notconsider the subcontractor or informal garment sector. It is assumed that indirect suppliers
have material and human resource limitations to implement the global sustainability
framework. However, our proposed model guides them to address the pressing materiality

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issues concerning workplace compliance, health safety, and ethical business practices toimprove work conditions.
Secondly, the study faced a methodological constraint because of case study research.
Here the case study selected limited respondents of the case firms to explore sustainability
practices that might not reflect sustainability practices of the whole RMG sector. The
critical challenge of qualitative research is to prove reproducibility and internal validity
based on a small sampling. However, the respondents’ size is only twenty-two, and only
male respondents may not replicate the perception of the whole population. However, theexperienced respondents are purposely chosen as they have obtained adequate knowledge
on the issues. Their valuable insights spark the actual events embedded in the real-life
setting.
The third is the restrictions of random visits inside facilities and the access limitations
to interviewees. Although we respect case firms’ conditions, they often refuse us to faceinterviews. To avoid this, we take time and talk to key informants to help us. Besides, weensured respondents through the consent form before conducting interviews. The fourth isthe limited sustainability data sources concerning environmental data, workplace incidents,
complaints, and workers’ ill-health-related issues. Firms record environmental, and healthoccurrence data in different logs, and they hardly compile it in a single database. It is notvery easy to get official records from factories. Therefore, we excluded discussing how theculture of safe and sustainable practices influences overall occupational accidents or illhealth issues.
6.3.2 Future study
The study supports future studies in two directions. First, it provides an extensive viewof the suppliers’ strategies in setting materiality issues and reflecting in their long-term
practices that redirect sustainable business development. Future studies can seek therelationship between crucial materiality issues and business performances. How much
impact on productivity and worker efficiencies after implementing these issues? Second,
there are immense scopes to improve this model in further research.
The said limitations also help future research verifying our model over suppliers fell inindirect sourcing and other informal manufacturing sectors. Finally, how to improve future
research to overcome the boundary of data sources and the overlooked subject matters due
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to the limited scope of case study research. Therefore, we suggest an ethnographic
investigation of the above sensitive issues in the global garment sector to find more
succinct results.
6.4 Concluding Remarks
The garment suppliers have perceived the SPs as a continuous improvement byimplementing several regulatory policies and normative projects over the workplace, social,environmental, and economic pillars. The study results show that the lead suppliers havepracticed hundred above visible measures to create and deliver sustainability-based values
to their customers, markets, and stakeholders. The study categorized visible measures as
twenty-third KPIs to scale their SPs. Nevertheless, workplace compliance is underpinned as
the initial effort that mediated the SPs through several phases. The lead garment suppliersof Bangladesh have intended to integrate the SPs for increasing ethical and social trading
practices across the MSC. Simultaneously, they reduce resource wastes, workplace hazards,
discrimination, and corruption, leading them to achieve cost leadership across the
manufacturing chain. The study argued that the sustainability practices had increased thebranding images of these firms toward a safe, green, and cost-effective supplier.
The sustainability agendas are dynamic because of many uncertainties. Therefore,
garment suppliers need to adjust their sustainability KPIs over time. In that regard, thegarment suppliers should increase the internal coordination, external engagement, andstakeholders’ assessment to address the risk factors. Moreover, they need to adopt new
corporate policies, programs, and technologies to battle for uncertainties.

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Appendix A: Questionnaire
Table A1 Content Questionnaire for Management Employees
Category
Key Contents and Questions
General topics on sustainability
GeneralMeaning: how does ‘sustainability mean to this firm?
Policy / Regulations/ Action plans: what are policies to design towardsustainable development?
Corporate Governance: How do the corporate board members ensureaccountability and transparency across business activities?
Knowledge management: How does sustainability-related data andinformation are managed by the corporate management team?
Technologies: What are technologies firm introduced to manage a safe andgreen work environment?
Specific issues on three-pillar sustainability
Impacts assessment: Does the firm address its adverse impacts across theEnvironmental
manufacturing chain? What actions have been taken to reduce those impacts?
Sources of Resources/ Footprint management: What are this firm's major
sources of energy, water, and raw materials? How does this firm improve theenergy/ raw materials /water performances?
Emissions/wastes management: What kind of emissions/wastes firms yieldfrom production, and how do they handle these?
Environmental quality: How does this company manage its workplaceenvironmental quality?
Reduce/Recycle/Reuse policy: How does the firm implement the 3R policy
toward sustainability?
Workplace safety health: How do firms ensure facility safety issues andSocialhealth and hygiene issues? What OHS rights does this firm implement
toward a safe and healthy workplace?
Labor codes and workers' human rights: What are the practices the company
evolved concerning labor and human rights? How does the management deal
with the worker’s complaint issues?
Employees/Development/empowerment: How does this firm develop its
employees’ skills and knowledge? Does this firm give freedom to employees
for their jobs
Ethical practice: How does a firm make sure the ethical business practices?
Social contributions: How does this organization contribute to developing thesurrounding communities and the nations?
Economic values/market presence: What are the direct and indirect economic
Economic
contributions firms generated over the years? How does it set the market
position?
Product and process improvement: How does a firm improve its efficiency
and productivity?
Sustainable investment: What areas firm increase its capital investment over
the years?
Financial risks and opportunities: What are financial risks and opportunities
assess by firms toward long-term stability?

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Table A2: Content Questionnaire for Non-management Employees
Category
Demographic

safetyWorkers'
Rights

Ethicalpractices
WorkerEmpowerment

Key Contents and Questions
Personal information: Name, Categories of work, year of experiences andhighest education
Specific questions
Workplace safety: What is your opinion about the work condition in recent
years? How safe do you feel during work?
Work environment condition: What initiatives has this company taken
toward employees' health and hygiene issues? Are you happy with these
initiatives?
OHS Rights: What practices does this company develop for health safety
rights? Are you happy with these initiatives?
Labor Codes & Human Rights: Are you aware of workers' human rights andlabor practice? And what is your opinion about the human rights of thiscompany
Decent work condition: Do you believe this company provides you enoughbenefits and rights to work and live happily?
Social life: Do you believe this company offers you a social life? If yes, what
initiatives have your company taken?
Employee's Development: How does your company develop worker's skills
and work efficiencies?

Appendix B: Interview Summaries
Table B1: Sustainability concept from respondents’ perceptions
Core
Category

Categories

Sustaina
bilityMeaning

Respondents’ feedback(RS.6_A) I believe that the ‘SD’ also appeared as a strategy to improve
corporate management. It is sometimes confusing us what to achieve andhow to achieve. The firm started to increase factory safety in 2014 andattempted to continuous improvement from sustainability commitment.
(RS.1_A) Our sustainability goal is to act as a best-regarded company. The
SP is crucial for improving from compliance and business growth
perspectives. Our challenges are to tackle safety, worker’s rights, andenvironmental degradation. Parallelly, we face sizable costs, price decline,
stakeholder intervention, and market changes.
(RS.9_B) Nowadays, it is hard to define in the business setting, especially ingarment manufacturing. I say it is a 'Philosophy' as we cannot achieve thiswithin specific deadlines or doing certain activities. The SD is a continuous
process. The importance of SP varies on sectoral impacts and crises.
(RS.12_B) SD is a vision, and we aim to achieve the ability to adjust in every
action concerning internal challenges and uncertainties. The externalpressures are increasing concerning customers’ poor pricing, quick lead time,
material price hikes, supply shortages, and labor union pressures.
(RS.18_C) The company adopted SDGs as the corporate policy to implement
throughout business practices. We define sustainability as the best standard toincorporate with corporate vision. It becomes business requirement to
mitigate several workers’ safety, environmental, social, ethical issues.
(RS.20_C) Many of our customers already talk about sustainability standards,
so we must consider this with our business practices as a proactive company.
Besides, we must consider several uncertainties as a supplier of export
markets.
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Note: These comments are from the ‘Management Employees’ as per the Content Questionnaire ofmanagement respondents.

Table B2: Respondents’ comments over social dimension
Core
Category

Categories

SocialBuildings,
Electricaland Fire
SafetySafetymanagement

Hazards andrisks
assessment

Health andHygienemeasuresRespondents’ Comments (story lines)(RS.1_A) We were forced to conduct structural inspections by our internalsafety commitment. The Rana Plaza disasters in 2013 pushed us toreconsider the factory safety inspections and constructions’ remediations.
That were the big challenges for us as well the direct suppliers of
Bangladesh. However, we remediated work floor layouts, egress, rooftop
and floor capacities, and power generation areas as per Accord’s CAPs.
(RS.10_B) Accord inspection became mandatory to respect our customers’commitment and workers’ safety. We renovated SEF issues as per
Corrective Action Plans that provided by Accord.
(RS.20_C) The Accord experts forced us to change several unnecessary
fire equipment during follow-up inspections and verification. For example,
the costly fire door, sprinkler, and fire pump, etc.
(RS.2_A) Although our factory's constructions are not so old, Accord
advised changing the floor layout plan, exit stairs, and emergency escaperoute.
(RS.13_B) the Accord's safety remediation helped this company upgrade
many fires, electrical equipment, and communication systems to reduce
probable fire hazards.
(RS.18_C) the company has been concerned about safety management toprevent workplace accidents since the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse. We do
not claim long-term business success and profitability without workers’
safety and their healthcare.
(Rs.4_A) we inspect and monitor to identify the physical and chemicalhazards. These two hazards are most common in dyeing sections becauseof wet floors and chemical dirt.
(RS.14_B) the garment-making tasks (cutting, sewing, and finishing) arerepetitive works, so long hours of work in the same position often affectworkers' health.
(RS.15_B) We mostly face fabric dust that affects our normal breath. To
overcome this issue, daily cleaning and sweeping are performed to remove
fabric dust and cut pieces.
(RS.19_C) We provided training to workers of dyeing, printing, and store
department on dealing with hazardous chemicals during inventory, use, andpost-use phases.
(RS.5_A) Our health and safety policies emphasized daily cleanliness,
improving visibility, temperature and humidity control, air quality
monitoring, and waste management.
(RS.10_B) Following BLA 2006 and ISO 45000 standards, the company
developed a physical and biological health protection system. The internalsafety committee and floor managers conduct regular inspections overhygiene issues.
(RS.21_C) Yes, the lines’ layouts were changed to increase space between
sewing machines that help us to easy movement. All lights are also
replaced, and now lighting is enough. The new cooling pads were installed
to control the workroom temperatures.

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Workplace
Healthcare
management

Human
Rights &Labor codes

Ethicalbusinesspractices

WorkerEmpowerment(RS.8_A) we provide in-house treatment through full-time doctors andnurses. All workers receive free medicines from the medical center.
Moreover, the pregnant workers are separated by the special uniform(RS.12_B) The top management is trying to improve Sanitation & Hygiene
facilities, maternity care, and family planning in collaboration with Better
Health Bangladesh, BKMEA, and SNV programs by Netherland-based
NGOs.
(RS.19_C) we provide treatment and medicines for general sicknesses suchas fever, gastric, and pain. We have collaboration with local hospitals andmedical colleges for emergency support.
(RS.8_A) No, there is no child labor. However, sometimes managers push
us to work when the shipment is approaching. Workers have alreadyadapted to this situation over overtime. I didn’t face or notice any worker’s
harassment and discrimination issues. The owner is very kind, and he often
visits production floors and talks to workers.
(RS.14_B) We joined the national labor foundation (Union). Ourrepresentatives (PC and SC) contact Union leaders for any suggestions. We
can negotiate with top management for our payment, leaves, bonuses, andhealth safety issues.
(RS.22_C) nowadays, the line managers or supervisors are aware of antiharassment policies and disciplinary action. We usually contact the PC orCompliance team to complain about any misconduct.
(RS.2_A) Following SEDEX standards and national regulation. Worker's
wages, benefits, break time, holidays, leaves, overtime duties, maternity
leaves, and payments are maintained.
(RS.7_A) Yes, we receive monthly wages as per national wage grades.
Besides salary, attendance bonuses, and two festival bonuses also receive
timely. But target bonuses and overtime payments often delay pay. The
company provides four months of paid maternity leave for female
employees.
(RS15_B) I receive a monthly salary, but more than 60 percent of
production workers are contracted as piece-rate wages. They also receive a
festival bonus and attendant bonus. Piece-rate workers earn much higher
than monthly salaried workers.
(RS.21_C) We earn a good income from here. Our company offers timely
salary, paid leave, two Eid bonuses, production incentives to all workers.
Besides, we can take loans during an emergency: the paid maternity leaves
and health allowance for female workers.
(RS.5_A) We are working to improve workers' functional skills, multitasking capacity, and personal development. The workers, in general, are
not technically efficient, so only the on-job training is not enough toincrease their productivities.
(RS.12_B) the workers' skill development is not new in the RMG sector.
This requires because, for the firm's own sake, I mean the 'productivity
improvement.
(RS.20_C) The company also intended to do worker's skills improvement
and worker empowerment (WE) as they can enjoy social lives with dignity.

Workers’social lives(RS.18_C) Employees can learn not only technical know-how but also
some entertainment courses to develop diverse interests.
(RS.1_A) the factory provided many jobs for uneducated people. Now theycan earn a good salary with several bonuses that help them to live withsocial dignity.
(RS.9_B) we provide two more rare benefits two our employees, such as
educational attainment program workers and their family members, andsubsidized daily goods via in-house fair shops.
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(RS.16_C) Our commitment is to give employees a balanced and peacefulwork-life where he/they can enjoy their social relationships. Therefore,
adequate leaves during EID vacations, national holidays, and recreational
benefits are provided to them.

Table B3 the respondents’ comments on the environmental dimension
Core Category

Environmental

categories
Environmen
tal impact
assessment

Carbonfootprint
mgt. (CFM)

Solid Waste
andWastewater
Mgt.

Respondent Comments (story lines)(RS.1_A) we conduct the EIA every year to measure which areas areproducing negative impacts across the manufacturing chain. The external
auditors train our internal teams to perform regular assessments tomeasure impacts.
(RS.6_A) The EIA shows, the fabric processing unit, AOP, and laundry
operations usually release high volume hazardous wastes that
contaminate air, water, and landfill. These also relate to societal impacts.
(RS.10_B) The diverse issues affect the environmental performance; For
EIA, the product life cycle and cleaner assessment are followed toestimate resource consumption and waste intensity. EIA is necessary to
put more focus on the particular areas.
(RS.18_C) we conduct several assessments of the environment
components and store the data, E.g., Carbon emissions measurement, Air
quality test as the main component, Wastewater parameter, and so on.
(RS.16_C) The fabric washing, dyeing, and finishing processes usually
release many toxic substances into the environment. These processes also
require heavy infrastructure and machinery that affect lands, water, andair quality.
(RS.1_A) We address the correct energy sources that release fewer
carbons and eco-friendly raw material uses in production for CFM. We
replaced all diesel generators with gas generators to lessen higher carbon
emissions. Besides, we emphasized organic and recycled contents infabric production.
(RS.11_B) We focused on carbon reduction and controlling pollution
from energy, steam, and materials used. We target to reduce carbon
intensity by 5 to 10 percent every year. The energy reduction directly
offsets emissions.
(RS.20_C) Our structures are modified with energy-efficient materials tosave energy and also replaced the oil generators and boilers with gas toachieve zero-carbon emissions. Again we installed LED lights, solar
power, and increased daylights to reduce GHG emissions.
(RS.18_C) We were awarded the prestigious LEED recognitions for bestpractices of energy, water, and emission across the processes(RS.1_A) the company attempted to recover both solid waste andwastewater through reuse the leftover materials and recycle thewastewaters throughout the process. The industrial engineers, CAD &Pattern department, and R&D teams are working to meet resource
efficiency and wastes management.
(RS.9_B) We focus on the reduction of the usage of water by installingmodern machinery rather than wastewater treatment. We have a target toreach less than 50-liter water/kg of fabric for production. We have a plan
to move forward by espousing Cold Pad Batch Dyeing within a few
years.
(RS.18_C) we test water quality before and after the treatment to have an
overall insight of functionality of the ETP and feasibility of disposal of
sludge in the environment considering the impacts. The company
generates many solid wastes, including fabrics, poly, plastic drums,
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paper cartons, food wastes are the major sources
Chemical
Waste mgt.

Cleaner
Prod.
Assessment& Tech.

(RS.4_A) The chemical waste is hazardous, and we follow the safe use
and dispose of the following chemical provisions. We targeted to reducethe 5% of the chemical consumption in dyeing, printing, and washingprocesses. Functional and awareness training is provided in this regard.
(RS.13_B) We adopted a Zero-discharge Hazardous Chemical (ZDHC)
policy that is guided us about the Manufacturing Restricted Substance
Lists (MRSL). We follow ZDHC policy to purchase, use, and dispose oflandfills. The in-house chemical assessment and MSDS are kept.
(RS.18_C) We are managing the chemical as per the regulation andstandardized practices. We provide several training on chemical
management to respective employees in cooperation with chemical
providers. Besides, currently, we prefer ZDHC approved environmentfriendly chemicals and nonhazardous dyes.
(RS.6_A) In CP initiatives, we set KPI on water, natural gas, steam, andpower consumption. Currently, we efficiently use water, and almost 45%
less water requires in the wet processing unit. At the same time, reduced
wastewaters and energy consumption also decline 18 % GHGs
emissions.
(RS.10_B) the CPA is one of the industry-wide tools to upgrade theproduction technologies and utility areas. We almost invested $270K for
factory process and utility improvement. However, the investment isvery effective as the return is rapid. We implement more CPA measures.
(RS.16_C) We integrated several cleaner technologies for resource
efficiency and process improvement, collaborating with the USGBC.
Currently, we use water and energy efficiency in fabric processing as oneof the best dyeing machines (Cold Pad Batch Dyeing) is installed. Only a
few garments factories invested such high technology. The CPB dyeing
requires an average of 80 to 85 litter waters per kilogram fabric.

Table B4: the respondents’ comments on the economic dimension
Core
Category

categories
Financialrisks mgt.

Economic

Economicshare

Respondent Perceptions(RS.6_A) We face several financial risks. Customer’s price pressures,compliance costs, and raw materials crisis are major risks for
manufacturing operations. Besides, nonrenewable material, energy andcut-make-trimming costs are increasing every years.
(RS.9_B) For economic stability, we need to concern the assessmentand management of the financial risks in advance. Our corporate board
members usually address the financial risks factors as they know very
well about the financial matters. We concern about the country’s fiscal
policies, trade schemes, and market shifts that impact our futurebusiness.
(RS.16_C) The corporate board members' annual general meeting(AGM) has discussed the risks factors from various perspectives. The
Accounts & Finance team prepared the whole picture of company
financial issues; therefore, they share anticipated risks in the AGM.
The BODs finalize appropriate measures to deal with the situations indetail.
(RS.3_A) The company contributes to the nation by generating foreign
revenues. This contributes to improving GDP growth. Besides, thecompany provides giant jobs to low-skilled or even no skills people.
Indirectly, the company helps to promote local enterprises.
144 | P a g e

Marketpresence

Product andProcess
innovation

Investment
mgt.

(RS.11_B) Above 10000 jobs are provided to the country's labormarket, and it is increasing gradually. Another issue is that the sector
has changed women's lives, especially those from remote villages withlow education profiles.
(RS.17_C) Our company serves many advantages to the country. I canmention GDP growth, improving workers’ living standards, economic
development, empowerment, local industry, local consumer market,
primary education entrance, and regional development.
(RS.3_A) Generally speaking, we always stay in the market both home
and abroad. As a manufacturing-based business, we already created a
corporate identity and have the memberships of several trade bodies.
Besides, we sell products to foreign customers.
(RS.11_B) we are constantly trying to increase our market presence
through quality products and services to our customers. Besides, weare also flexible and transparent with our subcontractors, raw material
suppliers, and customers. We recruit freshers and hire experts with agood salary package considering the market average.
(RS.17_C) Our company started the RMG business more than three
decades ago, and it is almost familiar in the local market. Besides, ourpresence has been increasing over the years in many areas such as
economic contributions, education, and health sectors improvement,
and local communities’ development.
(RS.3_A) As we have basic garment stitching, the key obstacle is tosearch for high-value products with better prices. We consider
improving these gaps through product diversification and process
innovation. The company set up a design studio and hired a productdevelopment team, overseas designers (for the London office), and aunique sample team.
(RS.11_B) First, we developed a skilled human resource such as the
R&D team, contractual designers, and salary-based workers arerecruited over the years. Second, we established a well-furnisheddesign studio, increased fine sewing lines, and installed auto machines
across knitting, dyeing, cutting, and sewing sections.
(RS.17_C) We continuously practice production and processes
innovation by integrating automation, using alternative materials,
increasing development costs, and providing special training to the
product development team, IE, sample, and production team.
(RS.1_A) the company has been increasing investments over the years
for improving energy and water efficiency, social welfare, andemployee development. So, these investments brought positive
impacts across the manufacturing process.
(RS.9_B) Over the year, we constantly spend lots of capital on process
up-gradation to achieve an eco-friendly setup. Also increased
investment for the standardized practices, audits, and skilledworkforce that led firm’s social and environmental performance.
(RS.16_C) we increased the capital budget in implementing the green
factory, retrofitting, and cleaner technologies. We have also impact
investments that directly help communities’ development, such as
school projects, hospitals, and other volunteering activities.

145 | P a g e

Appendix C: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Appendix C1: Workplace Health Safety Compliance
Table C1: Firms’ initiatives toward WHSC program
Factory building, electrical and fire safety
Periodical safety Inspections over SEF
SEF repair works including structural design, fire protection,
electrical wiring method
Regular Electrical and Fire Safety assessment
Periodical Boiler safety inspection by third-party audits
Efficient Safety management
Installation of electrical and fire equipment after expiration
Regular monitoring fire detection and protection system
Adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supply
First Aid Boxes throughout the facilities
Improve unanimous Safety Complaint System via Complaint
Box
Engaged Certified Engineers or Engineering firms
Assign dedicated safety workforce (firefighter, rescue, andfirst aid team)
Quarterly Safety inspections, testing, and drills
Develop educational programs for OHS awareness
Hazards and Risks Assessment (HRA)
Develop inspection system to address physical, chemical,
biological, and machine hazards
Monitoring and assessing potential risks and undertake
reasonably practical initiatives for advance
Improve the hazards recording system across facilities
Develop in-house training on conducting HRA
Health and Hygiene (H&H) measures
Implementing H&H policy, objectives, and action plan
Developed an integrated management system to monitor andevaluate H&H issues
Building management system to control indoor air, moisture,temperature, and sound quality
Develop training and manual to improve H&H practices
Workplace Healthcare Management
Develop in-house Medical and Childcare Center (MCC)
Hired occupational Nurses and Physicians
Arranged adequate diagnosis, medicines, and vaccination
Annual Medical Camp / Health Checkups for employees
Outdoor Healthcare supports/Outpatient medical benefits
Free Eyecare treatment and medicine benefits
Personal hygiene Supports to female employees
Reproductive Healthcare & Family Planning (FP) Supports forall employees
Adopted Group Health Insurance Policy

Firm A

Firm B

Firm C

√
√

√
√

√
√

√
x

√
x

√
√

√
√
√
√
√

√
√
√
√
√

√
√
√
√
√

x
√

√
√

x
√

√
√

√
√

√
√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√
x

√
√

√
x

√
√

√
√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√
√
√
△
x
x
√

√
√
√
△
x
x
△
√

√
√
√
√
△
√
√

√

△

x
△

x

△

Note: ‘√’ = Action has taken, ‘x’ = No action, ‘△’ = Unidentified
146 | P a g e

Appendix C2: Environmental Performance Management
Table C2 Suppliers' strategies for Environmental Performance Management
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Develop a policy for periodical EIA
Address Ecological, biological & socio-economic impacts
Maintain Quality of available environmental data
Consider technology and investment scopes for EIA.
Perform periodic Third party's EIA
Activate periodical training, monitoring plan, and capacity
building programs develop to EIA
Carbon footprint management (EFM)
Energy-efficient infrastructure development
Developed flexible, cost-effective, and applicable measures forcarbon emissions and pollution reduction
Adoption of the GHG Protocol to reduce carbon emission
Increasing renewable materials (recycled contents) as input
Solid wastes and Wastewater Management (SWWM)
Assess and control wastewater intensity
Wastewater Treatment before discharge to ecosystem
Solid wastes management through science-based matrices(hazardous and non-hazardous)
Solid wastes handover to certified waste collectors and recycledcompanies
A comprehensive ETP sludge management by recycling andreusing policies
Chemical Waste Management (CWM)
Develop Chemical Policy respecting the Chemical Regulations(RSL or MRSL)
Build accredited Laboratory for in-house assessment of thehazardous substances
Apply standardized management system for Chemical purchase,use, and post-use
Increasing the use of Green Chemicals and dyes
Cleaner Production Assessment & Technology (CPA&T)
Measure daily resource (water & energy) consumption throughdigital metering
Developed alternative sources of resources in operations
Minimize the process loss from production and utility areas
through retrofitting and replacing technology
Developed a recovery system to reduce waste-heat and steam
across fabric production processes
Integrated best available technologies (BATs) to reduce theresource use intensity

Firm A

Firm B

Firm C

√
√
x
x
√

√
√
△
△
√

√
√
x
√
√

x

△

√

x
√

△
√

√
√

x
√

x
√

△
√

√
x

√
△
√

√
x
√

△
√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

√

△
√

√
√

△
√

√

√

√

√

√

√

△
√

△
√

*
√

√

√

√

√

√

√

Note: ‘√’ = Action has taken, ‘x’ = No action, ‘△’ = Unidentified ||Appendix C3: Social and Ethical Compliance Standards
Table C3: Suppliers core strategies for Social and Ethical Compliance Standards
147 | P a g e

Firm A
Human rights and Labor codes
Adopted universal human rights respecting UNGC
x√
Implemented labor codes respecting state laws and ILO
Developed Anti-harassment, Anti-Discrimination, anti-forced√labor, and Anti-child labor policy
Developed surveillance measures and security measures against √workplace violence
Freedom of association and collective bargaining policy√
Impartial Grievance Management policy√
Ethical business practices
Living Wages and benefits respecting national labor laws√
Fair recruitment & termination policy√
Adequate Breaks and Leave policy△
Maternity leave rights and payment√
Annual leave encashment policy△
Employers’ liability insurance coverage√
Meeting employees' Social Needs
Wages and salaries are paid timely through the bank or other√financial institutions
performances bonus and incentives benefit to workers√
Health Insurance Coverage√
Annual profit sharing with all employeesxSubsidized Grocery Shop policy (Fair price shop)x
Worker’s orientation program and periodic training for√functional skills improvement
Education attainment program to enhance worker's skillxAnnual recreational program√
Workforce empowerment through Labor Management-Based Committees
Worker participatory committee√
Factory Safety Committee√
Anti-harassment committee√
Anti-discrimination committee√
Community Engagement
Community health programx
Engagement in volunteering activities (donation & relief)√
Facilitating and Sponsoring education institutionsx
Periodical dialogue with communities' leaders, local△
government, and NGOs

Firm B

Firm C

x
√
√

√
√
△

√

√

√
√

√
√

√
√
√
√
√
√

√
√
△
√
√
√

√

√

√
√
x
√
√

√
√
√
x
√

√
√

√
√

√
√
√
△

√
√
√
△

x
√
△

√
√
√

√

△

Note: ‘√’ = Action has taken, ‘x’ = No action, ‘△’ = Unidentified ||Appendix C4: Economic Growth and Prosperity
Table C4: Companies initiatives toward Economic Prosperity
Direct and indirect economic contributions
Continuous employment creation for marginalized people
Annual recruitment for local people as a management position
Hire expert and skill management from the overseas labor poolContinuous contribution for creating a skilled workforce

Firm A

Firm B

Firm C

√
√
√
√

√
√
√
√

√
√
x
√
148 | P a g e

Generates indirect economic impact promoting local SMEs
Creating the atmosphere for Product and Process innovation
Develop an R&D project with design studio
Increase R&D budgets for innovating products and processes
Assign a dedicated innovation and design team
Increasing budgets for BATs and employees’ efficiencies
Focus on the increasing use of renewable resources
Enhancing Market Presence
Increase the company branding across export markets
developing new customers from both traditional and non-traditional
markets
Create the B2C scopes to access local or overseas market
Sustainable Investment
improving investments for the green structures
increase socially responsible business investment
Improving the impact investment to develop the local community
compensate for carbon emissions

√

√

√

√
√
√

√
√
√

√
√
√

△
△

△
△

√
△

√

√

√

△
x

△
√

△
△

√
√
△
x

√
√
√
△

√
√
√
√

Note: ‘√’ = Action has taken, ‘x’ = No action, ‘△’ = Unidentified ||Appendix C5: Corporate Governance and Leadership (CGL)
Table C5: Firms’ initiatives of Corporate Governance and Leadership (CGL)
Firm A

Firm B

Firm C

△

√

√

△

△

△

√

√

√

√

√

√

√
x

√
△

√
x

√
△
√
√

√
√
√
√

√
√
√
√

Accountability and transparency on materiality issues
BODs directly engage in developing sustainability policies
BODs promote environmental and societal governance for theirevery action,
BODs agile to revise ESG policies and plans concerning futurechallenges
The BODs describe the processes of identifying and assessing
climate-related risks, societal issues, and financial risks
maintains closed-loop information flows
top management shares business impacts to all employees
Devising a knowledge-based management approach
BODs have knowledge and motivations toward sustainability
Top management promotes employee's autonomy
Corporate managers are accountable for every action
The company gives rewards for employee's creative efforts andinnovativenessFirm developed a physical archive center and integrated
platform to store data and information related to SDGs
BODs allow changes and diversity in org. structures
Company discloses materiality issues
BODs flexible to disclose factory SEF safety status
BODs promote independent audits to report company's progress
on work conditions
Management often arranges third-party audits and share auditor's
findings with stakeholders
The company reveals the metrics to assess climate-related risks

x

√

△

√

√

√

√
√

√
√

△
√

√

√

√

x

x

△
149 | P a g e

or opportunities
Disclose greenhouse gas emissions respecting GHG protocol’
2011
The company share annual sustainability report for all
Stakeholder Engagement and dialogue
Increasing concerns stakeholders' interests
Management can identify its internal and external stakeholders
Focus stakeholders’ guidance’s, suggestions, & consultation on
ESG issues
Arrange periodical dialogue with all stakeholders
Cross-checking materiality issues with external experts
Company invites activists or civil societies to share knowledgecreating and sharing process

x

x

△

△

△

√

√
√
√

√
√
√

√
√
√

△
√
√

△
√
√

△
√
√

Note: ‘√’ = Action has taken, ‘x’ = No action, ‘△’ = Unidentified ||150 | P a g e