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In Bowoto v Chevron the

claimants sued Chevron (now ChevronTexaco) for human rights abuses and for issuing false and misleading information on its practices in Nigeria under a military regime. In March 2004, the US (federal) District Court in San Francisco, California, rejected Chevron‘s arguments that (1) Nigeria is the proper forum for the trial of the case, (2) the alleged human rights abuses did not violate international law, and (3) Chevron could not be held responsible for the actions of its Nigerian subsidiary.
In effect, in Bowoto v Chevron the court ruled that separate personality of a subsidiary corporation does not constitute a bar to holding a corporation accountable for the actions of their overseas subsidiaries.

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In the last decades China has become strongly integrated into the world economy and Chinese firms now play a key role as suppliers in global production chains. The success of this is partly attributable to a focus on low-cost manufacturing of mature products, significant FDI flows, and an abundant and relatively cheap workforce (Rodrik, 2006; Brandt et al, 2008; Zhang et al., 2009; Deng & Li, 2012). The challenge for the continuation of economic growth depends more and more on the ability of Chinese firms to create more value and increase innovativeness (Altenburg et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2009; Yue & Evenett, 2010; Barrientos et al, 2011; Deng et al., 2013). This also has implications for labour relations in Chinese firms. Chinese firms’ management will find there are increasingly stronger arguments to shift their relation towards the workforce from mostly exploitative to more supportive as it becomes more important to attract a skilled workforce, invest in workers and their skills, and improve retention of workers (Zhang et al., 2009; Jiang et al, 2009). Apart from being driven by the desire and need to improve the position of supplier firms within global value chains, this process is also driven by domestic forces such as a stronger voice of workers towards their employers, illustrated by rising conflicts between workers and employers, increasing strikes and labour shortages in China’s coastal provinces (Chen and Estreicher, 2011; Friedman, 2012), and increasing labour costs and domestic policies supporting a focus on innovation in Chinese firms (Zhang et al, 2009). As employer-employee and broader industrial relations (including roles of unions, government and civil society organisations) are an important part of corporate social responsibility, this paper explores the role of CSR practices as a potential win-win for both employers and employees in Chinese supplier firms. 

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In the last decades China has become strongly integrated into the world economy and Chinese firms now play a key role as suppliers in global production chains. The success of this is partly attributable to a focus on low-cost manufacturing of mature products, significant FDI flows, and an abundant and relatively cheap workforce (Rodrik, 2006; Brandt et al, 2008; Zhang et al., 2009; Deng & Li, 2012). The challenge for the continuation of economic growth depends more and more on the ability of Chinese firms to create more value and increase innovativeness (Altenburg et al., 2008; Zhang et al., 2009; Yue & Evenett, 2010; Barrientos et al, 2011; Deng et al., 2013). This also has implications for labour relations in Chinese firms. Chinese firms’ management will find there are increasingly stronger arguments to shift their relation towards the workforce from mostly exploitative to more supportive as it becomes more important to attract a skilled workforce, invest in workers and their skills, and improve retention of workers (Zhang et al., 2009; Jiang et al, 2009). Apart from being driven by the desire and need to improve the position of supplier firms within global value chains, this process is also driven by domestic forces such as a stronger voice of workers towards their employers, illustrated by rising conflicts between workers and employers, increasing strikes and labour shortages in China’s coastal provinces (Chen and Estreicher, 2011; Friedman, 2012), and increasing labour costs and domestic policies supporting a focus on innovation in Chinese firms (Zhang et al, 2009). As employer-employee and broader industrial relations (including roles of unions, government and civil society organisations) are an important part of corporate social responsibility, this paper explores the role of CSR practices as a potential win-win for both employers and employees in Chinese supplier firms. 

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The pressure exerted on multinational companies comes from both internal and external stakeholders such as customers, employees, unions, shareholders, business partners, governments, NGOs and the media, who show an increasing concern for the environmental and social conditions at offshore production locations, particularly in developing countries (Welford, 2000; Maloni and Brown, 2006; Barrientos, 2002).  Although firms choose their own approach to systematising the CSR efforts in supply chains, many studies reveal that the most visible element in the approach of large multinational companies is the employment of corporate codes of conduct

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The experience of Nike in the 1990s illustrates this quandary acutely. Like many U.S. corporations that outsource manufacturing, Nike was driven by a desire to assemble products at a fraction of the cost of producing them in the United States—indeed Nike was one of the great innovators in overseas manufacturing. What made Nike particularly remarkable is that it was one of the first U.S. companies to sever the connection between the independent contractor manufacturing a product and the company that contracts the work. Nike insisted that labour conditions in its contractors’ factories were not its responsibility. “Nike’s company line on the issue was clear and stubborn: without an in-house manufacturing facility, the company simply could not be held responsible for the actions of independent contractors,” wrote Debora L. Spar in “Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labour Practices” in the Harvard Business Review in 2002.

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IKEA is working with suppliers to achieve cost savings and help them create optimal conditions to produce efficiently. Moreover, the company works with suppliers on quality as well as environmental and social issues. It is a continuous development process aiming to bring suppliers to still higher levels of performance in cooperation with IKEA. IKEA introduced its code of conduct called  d “The IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products”.

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Ben and Jerry One of the company's major commitments is to go fully Fairtrade across its entire global flavor portfolio by 2013, which means all of the ingredients in its ice cream products will be certified by FLO-CERT, which audits companies to ensure that farmers in Third World countries (primarily in Africa) are not being exploited, and that environmentally sound practices are being used to harvest crops in a sustainable manner.

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Internationally and in Australia policy makers and practitioners alike support the use of health and safety management systems as a means to develop sound organisational safety cultures that protect the worker,
Example: When Rana Plaza, an eight-story building containing an apparel manufacturer, collapsed in the Greater Dhaka Area of Bangladesh on April 24, 2013, resulting in1,129 people killed and 2,515 injured (Butler, 2013)

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Supply chain responsibility can be divided into 3 elements according to a working paper from Stanford Initiative for the study of Supply Chain Responsibility:

 Social Compliance

 Environmental Impact

 Intellectual property protection

There are major problems with all 3 areas. By all means, the extent to what firms are expected to extend their workplace responsibilities to employees in their supply chain can be split in two parts: Increasing visibility and improving social, environmental and ethical performance. For example, good practices would include drawing on external data such as from NGO’s, identifying risks, sharing audits between suppliers and buyers. To motivate suppliers, a leader might align positive and negative incentives to encourage responsible practices.

Microsoft is experimenting with the use of facial-recognition software, to cut down on the use of fake IDs that can result in the employment of underage labor at suppliers' factories. Anne Kelley, senior director of supply chain and IP, said the company monitors plant employees directly. "In social responsibility," she said, "the voice of the worker is king. We need to hear things that don't come from the supplier."

So, is progress toward supply-chain responsibility being made? No question about it. But when it comes to assessing the maturity of those efforts, a lot of companies are still in their teenage years.

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A review done on multinationals reveals that many of them are far from achieving maturity in terms of their approach to dealing with working conditions and the environment. It is not due to lack of effort, according to the 2011 Chief Supply Chain Officer Report from SCM World, more than 80% of 750 companies surveyed had an internal system to monitor both their social and environmental practices, however fewer than a third had extended that system to their supplier networks, and that is why problems occur.

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Corporate responsibility to supply chain (Starbucks)

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Corporate responsibility to supply chain (Starbucks)

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In a bid to improve its labor and environmental practices, Starbucks offers coffee farmers "preferred supplier" status, including a premium price for their beans. The program is meant to offset the added financial burden on growers of complying with strict labor standards. At the same time, it burnishes Starbucks' public image as a "socially, environmentally and ethically conscious coffee seller."