Study Case: Brandix And Sri Lankan Apparel’s Industry

CASTANEDA Luz Maria Master’s degree Course: Corporate Social Responsibility Study case: Brandix and Sri Lankan apparel’s industry
Introduction The International Labour Office (ILO) defines child labour as “work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development”. The ILO's Global Report on child labour estimatesthat there are 215 million children between 5 and 14 years old working worldwide. 115 million of them are exposed to hazardous forms of child labour. The main factors that have been encouraging child labour are closely linked to the social economic and political situation of each country which are: poverty, illiteracy, the difference between adults and children salary, death or permanent absence ofthe father, the level of rural underdevelopment, living conditions in poor neighbourhoods of the city, inability of the school system to ensure future employment, specific physical requirements to perform certain tasks (mines, carpet weaving, etc..), children abandoned or stray, truancy, large families and parental unemployment. The solution of this problem goes beyond forbidding and controllingthe formal sector of hiring children. The need of their families to increase their revenue makes them sell their children or encourage prostitution. Many international organisations as UNISEF, UNESCO and ILO, have implemented global policies in order to fight against it. Hundreds of NGOs have been also developing local programmes in developing countries to stop this phenomenon. Child labour is aglobal problem, to fight against this, the public and private sector have to get committed, and make that their local actions have a global impact. In this paper, we are going to present the case of Brandix, a Sri Lankan company that operates in the garment sector. This company has empowered its corporate strategy through a strong CSR policy which one of its aims is eliminate child labour in itssector. In the first place, we are going to present the company Brandix Sri Lanka and the socioeconomic environment where it develops. Then, we will discuss about Brandix CSR policy regarding child labour, and see how its implementation allowed Brandix to expand, conquer international markets and enhance its products quality.

Sri Lankan garment industry The apparel export industry one of thepillars of the Sri Lankan economy. During the last thirty years, this industry has grown and become the number one foreign exchange earner. At first, the private sector exploited the opportunities in the international market with success. Then, the government got involved and start working in cooperation with the private sector. The enhanced the amount of garment exports. Currently, the apparelindustry holds a very important position by producing high quality products for international brands. The United States and the United Kingdom have been through many years the biggest markets for Sri Lankan garment industry. The industry has been positioned as socially responsible. Sri Lanka is the only country in Asia where important brands outsource their production. The country has signed and adopted27 conventions with the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The sector is perceived worldwide as reliable and responsible because it pays fair wages and at the same time tries to fight against illegal workshops and child labour. The producers of the garment sector realised that to create long term relationships with large and reputed retailors, they had also to answer to the needs andexpectations of their stakeholders. So they identified the manufacture standards required to penetrate and stay in the international market. They focused on ethical manufacture and developed a CSR approach mostly to attract, but also to build a stronger relationship with the worldwide stakeholders. Sri Lankan apparel industry is evolving; it is passing from a manufacturing industry to a “fashion”...