Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chains

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in global supply chains encompasses the strategies and practices by which businesses take accountability for the social, environmental and ethical impacts of their operations from raw material sourcing through to end-user delivery. It involves risk assessment, due diligence and stakeholder engagement to prevent labour abuses, human rights violations and environmental degradation. Key components include transparent disclosure of supply chain practices, third-party auditing and collaborative initiatives between companies, non-governmental organisations and local communities. Recent advances have seen the integration of industry 4.0 technologies for real-time monitoring, the rise of mandatory disclosure regulations modelled on the UK Modern Slavery Act and growing pressure from investors and civil society for meaningful remediation rather than symbolic compliance. As global value chains grow ever more complex, CSR serves both as a mechanism for managing reputational risk and as a driver of sustainable development, aligning corporate practice with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and fostering long-term resilience in sourcing networks.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Global Supply Chains publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in corporate social responsibility in global supply chains across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A management approach whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their operations and interactions with stakeholders.

Supply Chain Due Diligence: The systematic process of identifying, preventing and mitigating adverse social or environmental impacts in a company’s supply chain.

Ethical Audit Regime: A structured framework of assessments and inspections designed to verify compliance with labour, human rights and environmental standards among suppliers.

Modern Slavery: An umbrella term covering forced labour, human trafficking and related forms of severe labour exploitation in supply chains.

Disclosure Regulation: Legal requirements compelling firms to report on specific social or environmental risks and the measures they take to address them, often aimed at enhancing transparency.

Global Value Chain (GVC): The full sequence of activities, from design and production to distribution and consumption, through which a product or service acquires value across multiple geographic locations.

References

1. An examination of UK companies' modern slavery disclosure practices: Does board gender diversity matter?. Business Strategy and the Environment (2023).
2. Adoption and transferability of joint interventions to fight modern slavery in food supply chains. International Journal of Production Economics (2023).
3. A systematic literature review of modern slavery in supply chain management: State of the art, framework development and research opportunities. Journal of Cleaner Production (2024).
4. Modern Slavery Disclosure Regulation and Global Supply Chains: Insights from Stakeholder Narratives on the UK Modern Slavery Act. Journal of Business Ethics (2021).