Voluntary Initiatives – A Soft Law for Protecting Human Rights in The Supply-Chains

Abstract

After World War II came to an end., global trade and investment gradually increased, creating a strong development of multinational corporations. Through foreign direct investment activities and international mergers and acquisitions, multinational corporations are able to access natural resources and labor worldwide, thereby forming trade liberalization and investment and facilitating the emergence of the supply-chains. The development of the supply-chains have been studied by many scholars. From a narrow perspective, a supply-chain is definite by some scientists as a systematic manufacturing process that turns raw materials into finished goods and delivers them to clients [3], or a general description of process integration involving organizations to change raw resources into completed commodities and transfer them to the end-user. Thinking that the supply chain is not just a mere production process, many other scientists have introduced the concept with a broader view, specifically, a Supply Chain as the combined and coordinated flows of goods from origin to the last destination [37,p.17-28], or makers, suppliers, distributors, retailers, and transportation, information, and logistics management service providers that sell items to consumers. A Supply Chain includes both the external and internal associates for the corporate [7], or life cycle procedures including physical commodities, information, and financial flows to satisfy end customer needs with goods and services from varied, connected sources [2], which may include activities such as research and development (R&D), design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and end-consumer support [17]. "The cross-border coordination of the activities required to generate goods or services and bring them to consumers through inputs and various phases of development, production and delivery," according to the 2016 International Labor Conference (ILC) report. This concept includes foreign direct investment by multinational firms in wholly-owned subsidiaries or joint ventures where they directly manage the employment relationship [22].