Seminar

Responsible Business Conduct and Decent Work in Global Supply Chains

A seminar with students from South China University to introduce key CSR concepts, training on relevant international policy frameworks and initiatives and debate about their efficiency and coherence.

Webinar for students at the School of Public Administration, South China University of Technology. 

Providing current university students with knowledge, concepts and practical examples on decent work can have a positive impact to improve the attitude and knowledge of future business leaders and business actors. As the United Nation's specialized agency on labour issues, the ILO has a vast technical experience in supporting governments, employers and workers organisations to implement policies, programmes, projects and strategies aimed at improving working conditions, implement minimum labour standards and promote the development of sustainable enterprises through the implementation of decent work. ILO’s tripartite structure, its distinct role in global governance and its normative approach to development put the organization at the forefront of discussions about labour topics. This course will be instructed together with the ILO's “Responsible Supply Chains in Asia (RSCA)” programme, formed specifically to promote Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) and Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) in global supply chains in six Asian countries, including China. Students will access a broad range of academic, policy and practical concept which will allow them to critically analyse the benefits and drawbacks of the operations of buyers and suppliers in global supply chains.

Course description 课程简介
In this Seminar, students will gain an overview of responsible business conduct from the perspective of labour, decent work, what it is and how and how it is relevant for businesses and for the sustainability of enterprises in Today’s economy. For this purpose the students will be introduced to the concept of CSR according to the ILO, relevant international policy frameworks and initiatives and asked to debate about their efficiency and coherence. The course will continue by providing more contextualized content and examples on Asian supply chains, their unique challenges and opportunities as well as specific good practices.

Methodology 方法
The course will be composed of thematic session and Q&A session. The thematic session will be instructed by Mr. Fredy Guayacan, Manager of the RSCA programme, ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.
Prior to the Seminar, students will be provided with a reading list, some of which are required and other optional material for those students who want to go deeper into the subject.

Learning Outcomes 学习成果
The course will introduce students with business and social sciences background to the concept of decent work in global supply chains, main theoretical and policy frameworks, as well as some specific experiences from the company level. At the end of this course, students will:
• Be familiar with the concept of responsible business conduct (RBC) and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and Decent work
• Have knowledge of global supply chains, their complexity, challenges to deal with labour issues in the GSC and ways to address those issues.
• Be familiar with the concepts of private labour governance and public labour governance;
• Understand the different roles of governments, the private sector, and employers’ and workers’ organizations in maximizing the economic and social development impacts of MNEs;
• Be knowledgeable of the international policy frameworks concerning labour governance in global supply chains.