Drawing on her prior industry experience and research, the PhD student spoke in front of undergraduates on the Supply Chain Management course.
The lecture focused on linking the sustainability agenda to manufacturing and sourcing location decisions and also addressed modern slavery. Firstly, students were asked 'Who made your clothes?'. A quick check of the care labels in their clothing demonstrated how globally dispersed the industry is with their clothing being made my people in India, China, Turkey and Vietnam to name but a few. This helped to then develop an understanding of global supply chains, complex location decisions and how the sustainability agenda adds to this complexity with different locations having different implications for transparency and the risk of social problems, carbon emissions, and so on. The potential trade-offs between sustainability, and, particularly cost were also considered.
The second part of the lecture focused on modern slavery, a topic that is attracting significant media attention, particularly in the textiles and clothing industry, which is characterised by high labour intensity. Modern slavery challenges in terms of detection and remediation were discussed. Additionally, the capabilities needed to overcome these were highlighted whilst considering the institutional context. As a result, firms are looking beyond their boundaries, including through collaboration with companies that would normally be their competitors. A clip from a recent BBC Panorama investigation was also shown. This uncovered Syrian refugee children making clothes for UK High Street Retailers which helped to question the responsibility businesses have to tackle important global issues such as modern slavery.