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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

TypeThesis or Dissertation

Text version

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

RightsDescription

Supervisor:永井由佳里

Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

氏

名

MAHMOOD, Md Sultan

学

位の種類

博士（知識科学）学

位記番号

博知第 302 号

学 位 授 与 年 月 日

令和 4 年 3 月 24 日
Implementing Sustainability Programs toward improving

論文

題

目

bottom-line practices in the Global Garment Sector: Bangladesh
perspective

論 文 審 査 委 員

主査 永井由佳里 北陸先端科学技術大学院大学教授

神田陽治

同教授

Kim Eunyoung

同准教授

川西俊吾

同特任教授

Norani Nordin, Universiti Utara Malaysia

教授

論文の内容の要旨

Background 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 this study is toexplore 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 reachedthrough three research queries. First, what does sustainability mean to the garment suppliers, and how
important is sustainability program to consider in the current business practices? Second, what are thekey performance indicators to implement sustainability programs by garment suppliers?
Furthermore third, how do the workplace compliance pressures mediate to improve suppliers'
sustainability programs?
Materials and Method We designed an exploratory case study with multiple cases from theBangladesh 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 workplaceoccurrences. We selected only three case companies after considering the research aim, datacollection protocols, and accessibility to the study setting. The study employed multi-methods ofinterviews, observations, and document reviews for data collection from the three Bangladeshi
apparel manufacturers. We selected the twenty-two respondents through non-probability samplingfor interview data collection. The researcher analyzed all interview data through the thematic content
analysis technique.
Study Results and discussions 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, case firms developed five bottom lines (FBL)
capabilities by focusing on the workplace, environmental, social, economic, and governancedimensions. These capabilities help firms tackle organizational and operational challenges facing
day-to-day business activities. They developed almost twenty-three key performance indicators

(KPIs) under the FBL capabilities. Although there were many differences among the KPIs, they set
them as visible 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 andset initiatives to remediate them. Second, they extended the programs that contribute to societal andenvironmental practices, and finally, they combined SPs to continue the changes for creating new
business scopes.
To firm A, workplace safety, occupational health, and cleaner production assessment are thethree key initiatives to embrace sustainability practices. These initiatives became very visible andmeasurable toward improving bottom-line performance. On the other hand, firm B emphasizedtransforming human capital through ensuring workers' human rights, labor codes practices,
empowerment, skilled training, and other volunteering activities alongside workplace safety andoccupational health. However, this firm also addressed the ecological impacts, process wastes, andresources barriers to expedite environmental assessment, offset the carbon emissions, and develop
resource management. However, case firm C is more structured in sustainability orientation than theother 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., asstrategic initiatives to lead garment export business in the competitive edge.
All three firms differentiated among them, deeming their corporate strategies, policy-making,and KPIs practices. Their corporate statement showed how to embody sustainability through theirbusiness activities. Each firm set a vision to be the most regarded company by offering quality
products and the best manufacturing services with less social and environmental costs. The study
results revealed that the corporate leaders of all three firms learned triple-bottom-line issues frommany national regulations international and global management standards. They combined theirknowledge with their internal organizations and converted these into policies and action plans toimplement sustainability programs. The study argued that the garment suppliers' sustainability
programs should be considered five bottom lines instead of three bottom lines.
Theoretical and practical contributions The study serves two significant purposes, both inacademic and practical fields. It also offers several directions and indicators toward improving
sustainability practices from five areas.
The study argued that the case firms of the global garment sector integrated knowledge
management alongside institutional, resource-based, and stakeholder approaches to create corevalues, corporate policies, and business practices toward sustainability programs. The study foundthat the firms accepted global climate issues and societal impacts as core to rethink with the businessactivities. Therefore, they combined those concerns with core business activities to set thesustainability programs in operational and organizational practices. The corporate team of all threecompanies 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.

The study results have a high impact considering practical implications. The study identified aset of key performance indicators (KPIs) with hundreds of 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 undertwenty-third KPIs for enhancing the five bottom lines practices of the garment suppliers.
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. Manybusiness frameworks have been illustrated in the prior literature that is overgeneralized, including
macro views, and challenging to translate into practice garment sector context. Therefore, thecontext-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 aframework that three factors: independent factors (barriers), motivating factors (drivers), anddependent variables such as KPIs from three case firms toward sustainable business practices.
Limitation and future study The main limitation of this study is to exclude the indirect garmentexporters. Due to access limitations, reluctance to share information, and lack of business data, thisstudy 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 andbusiness 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 and Governance,Ecological Footprint.

論文審査の結果の要旨
本博士研究論文は、現代の社会で企業経営に対してもサスティナビリティへの意識が求められる動向にあることを踏まえ、バングラディシュのアパレル産業の実態が、どのような状況に置かれており、また、企業体質を変えていく試みがどのように行われ、どの程度の効果を示しているかについて、根本的な企業構造を探り出し、それを改革するために問いを立てながら追求することで、複雑な問題を解決する糸口を探り出そうとする研究である。
まず、関連する資料の調査を執拗に重ねていくという方法で、バングラディシュの産業構造の主軸を成しているアパレル業界の職場としての在り方、経済の構造上の課題、社会的基盤とその変化、環境という視点での新たな企業課題を多角的に洗い出すことで、具体的な研究目標を設定した。次に、バング
ラディシュの規範的企業３社に対する聞き取りにより、サスティナビリティの視点が企業経営に影響をもたらしうるものである可能性を論考した。事例研究としては、インタビューの規模が限定的であるが、社会科学的アプローチでの調査的側面では議論が成立している。文献研究の幅広さとコーディングを適応してまとめあげた過程は評価に値する。一方で、収集したデータを十分に分析しきれているかどうかという問題が残るが、これについては今後、本研究で得られた仮説を検証する目的で研究を継続する過程で活かされていく見込みがあると判断した。予備審査時点で論考の不明瞭さを指摘され、改善を何度も重ねてきた経緯があり、完成度が非常に高いとは言えないものの、博士論文としての全体的な構成が整うに至っている。
環境保全という大きな社会課題に対して、個々の研究者が取り組めることを本研究において実行したことは意義あることであり、事例研究としての学術的な価値も認められる。企業経営という実社会的な問題において、サスティナビリティに対する意識がプラスに働くという知見は、特にアパレル産業、及び、その他の衰退傾向にある主幹産業を抱える諸国で共有されうる、問題解決の手がかりになりうるだろう。諸外国との連携の上で成り立つ我が国の企業においても、参照されるべき環境経営の重要性が示唆されている。
以上、本論文は、バングラディシュのアパレル産業における企業経営の改革についてサスティナビリティの観点を加えて探索的に考究したものであり、学術的に貢献するところが大きい。よって博士（知識科学）の学位論文として十分価値あるものと認めた。