Book Review: Social Accountability by Rajesh Chhabara
10 May '07
5 min read
Social Accountability, A Practical Guide to Implement Code of Conduct
Author: Rajesh Chhabara
An Excellent Primer on the Nuts and Bolts of Building Compliant Factories, Systems and Processes
The supply chain sustainability compliance regime that has emerged since 1990 has improved the lives of some workers in many parts of the world. But increasingly, buyers and suppliers alike recognize that it is far from perfect.
Environmental and labor abuses persist, even along the supply chains of the most progressive brand owners. Global market pressures force buyers to seek ever lower costs and ever tighter delivery schedules. And importantly, suppliers remain unconvinced that compliance brings any real financial benefit beyond new contracts.
The reasons for this failure are legion and complex. But one important factor is the lack of buy-in among suppliers, their insufficient training and their underdeveloped internal processes and management systems.
Rajesh Chhabara's new book Social Accountability: A Practical Guide to Implement Code of Conduct, tackles this in a direct, non-ideological and businesslike manner.
The book is written for the small to medium sized enterprise struggling to understand the compliance regime in general and codes of conduct in particular. It is organized around a Model Code of Conduct outlining all the requirements that factory management and owners can expect from new vendors.
This structure allows Chhabara to address each component of the code in a systematic and detailed manner.