TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how organisations report on thedetection and remediation of modern slavery in their operations and supplychains and to understand their approaches to disclosing information inresponse to modern slavery legislation.Design/methodology/approach An analysis of secondary data based on the statements is released in responseto the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act by 101 firms in the clothing and textilessector.Findings Many firms use the same practices to detect and remediate modern slavery asfor other social issues. But the hidden, criminal nature of modern slaveryand the involvement of third party labour agencies mean practices need toeither be tailored or other more innovative approaches developed, includingin collaboration with traditional and non-traditional actors. Although fivebroad types of disclosure are identified, there is substantial heterogeneityin the statements. It is posited however that firms will converge on a morehomogenous set of responses over time.Researchlimitations/implications The study is limited to one industry, responses to UK legislation and theinformation disclosed by focal firms only. Future research could expand thefocus to include other industries, country contexts and stakeholders.Practical implications Managers must consider how their own firm’s behaviour contributes tothe modern slavery threat, regulates both their stock and non-stock supplychains and ensures modern slavery is elevated from the procurement functionto the boardroom. In making disclosures, managers may trade-off thepotential competitive gains of transparency against the threat ofinformation leakage and reputational risk should their statements befalsified. The managers should also consider what signals their statementssend back up the chain to (sub-)suppliers. Findings also have potentialpolicy implications.Originality/value The study expands the authors’ understanding of: modern slavery from asupply chain perspective, e.g. identifying the importance of standardsetting and risk avoidance; and, supply chain information disclosure inresponse to legislative demands. This is the first academic paper to examinethe statements produced by organisations in response to the UK ModernSlavery Act.
VL  - 23
IS  - 2
SN  - 1359-8546
DO  - 10.1108/SCM-11-2017-0382
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-11-2017-0382
AU  - Stevenson Mark
AU  - Cole Rosanna
PY  - 2018
Y1  - 2018/01/01
TI  - Modern slavery in supply chains: a secondary dataanalysis of detection, remediation and disclosure
T2  - Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 81
EP  - 99
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -