Case Study: Exploratory Assessment of Sustainability Capability of Textile and Apparel Corporations in China

This study explores the highly polluting and resource and labor-intensive features of the textile and apparel industry. It reveals four key areas or goals in corporate sustainability: environmental protection, labor relations, operation improvement, and public welfare involvement. Only 22% of Chinese textile and apparel corporations can be considered "Truly Sustainable Corporations", leaving ample opportunity for improvement.

What moral responsibility do corporations have when producing goods? What factors determine the degree to which a corporation takes on social and environmental responsibilities?  What factors would account for lack of consistent, long-term commitment to sustainability by a company?

Abstract

Within the moral responsibility theory of corporate sustainability (MRCS) framework, the study examined 86 sustainability reports from top performing textile and apparel companies in China to explore their perceptions and sustainability capability implications. Content analysis of their sustainability reports was conducted to analyze whether each company (a) perceives sustainability as a perfect duty or not, (b) has clear goals toward sustainability or not, and (c) has well-defined structures toward sustainability goals or not. Results show that 66 of the 86 reports described sustainability as a perfect duty to fulfill; 11 described as an imperfect duty, and 9 described no opinions about sustainability. Of the 66 reports, 19 explicitly showed clear goals and the evidence of organizational structures toward such goals, leading us to categorize them as truly sustainable corporations as Ha-Brookshire described. Of the 66, 43 lacked clear sustainability goals, leading us to categorize them as occasionally sustainable corporations as described by Ha-Brookshire. Other firms were also categorized within the MRCS framework. Findings show a spectrum of Chinese textile and apparel companies' sustainability capability from the moral responsibility perspective.


Source: Nannan Yang and Jung E. Ha‑Brookshire, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40691-019-0172-6
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