Rahima Akter

There is a strong connection between ethics in business and sustainability. However, the accidents, disasters, delay in paying wages, poor working environment and exploitation of workers as described earlier, indicate that a large number of RMG manufacturers/exporters do not emphasise and value ethical issues much. However, the factory owners are not solely responsible for the negative images of the RMG industry in Bangladesh. The buyers, the big clothing retailers from developed countries, have the responsibility for maintaining the ethical practices into their supply-chain management system. A common practice amongst global companies approaching outsourcing from a cost benefit analysis (CBA) perspective is to move production to poorer nations to take advantage of cheap labour. The existing studies, few in numbers, are focused on compliance and compliance related issues. No systematic study has been conducted on ethical business practice and their impact on productivity. It is also pertinent to see why such unethical practices are being practiced and how the unethical practices influence the productivity, profitability and demand pattern from foreign buyers. This proposed study is an endeavour to fill the gap in research and help the industry and policy makers address the problems.