On September 12 to 14, I attended the European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) yearly conference in Lille, France. The theme of this year’s edition was ‘License to Operate’.
I and my colleague Ilaria Pasquinelli, both presented a research paper, focused on sustainability and value generation in the fashion industry, and the status quo of knowledge on sustainable consumption habits respectively.
The paper parallel sessions as well as all practitioner panels were dedicated to the conference theme ‘license to operate’. The papers presented reached from case studies on how corporates partially lose their license to operate due to misbehaviour, the strategies through which the ‘license to operate’ can be maintained or gained, possibly even recovered, as the manifestation of short-sighted engagements many producers have in terms of ethical standards and compliance.
In the practitioners panels the contrast – whether existing or imagined – of ethics and compliance was a topic, and how different corporations realise varying approaches. While for instance L’Oreal bases its operations on ethical values first, and compliance second, companies such as Airbus take the opposite approach. One of the reasons that may – possibly – be behind this variation is the stark role legal and H&S legislation has for the second, where as it is ultimately the consumer that decides on the success of the former.
One of the panels also pointed out that there may arise cases where there is a difference between ‘the right thing to do’ and ‘the legal correct thing to do’, at least from a corporations point view.
Pamela Ravasio was also invited to be part of one of the expert practitioner panel on ‘ethical supply chains‘ along side Pierre de Ginestel, Quality Director at Auchan, one of France’s leading retailers, and Prof. Patrick Murphy from the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, US).
During the panel, which took place in the afternoon of Friday 13th of September, the following topics where discussed:
- The absence of a legal framework and the subsequent issues that may arise for agreements such as the Bangladesh Accord, with regard to formal engagements of official entities, NGOs, Unions, manufacturers, workers and contracting brands.
- Consumers have come to be accustomed to low prices in stores. At the same time, sustainability credentials don’t factor in very much into their purchase decision criteria (at this very moment, and in response on how companies communicate them in the present). At the same time pressure on companies to increase labour, material and quality standards is higher than ever. How can the two worlds be joined given the constraints in the market and the demands on supply chains?
- The trade off between engaging with suppliers about improving their working and environmental conditions versus engaging with them at all. Where is the thin red line? Is the wider impact – on a country like Bangladesh for instance – on society an argument to be taken into account, and if so how?
- Talking about labour standards and environmental issues in the commodities supply chain – fashion particularly – often ends up with a finger pointing exercise towards Eastern geographies: China, Indonesia, Bangladesh to just name a few. What is often forgotten however is the fact that similar situation remain in existence also in Europe. Only that they hardly get exposed in the media. However, there have been cases of illegal workers and abominable working conditions in Leeds, Manchester, Leicester and London in the UK; in Paris, Calais, Lyon and Lille in France; in Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples in Italy. And the list could easily be prolonged with only a little bit of research.
The conference overall was one of the rare opportunities where academics and businesses could engage and converse with each other about insights and lessons learned on either side. Interestingly, and maybe against the common perception, business seemed to be ahead of academics when it comes to actually identify the problem, assess its root causes and devise proven and strategic actions.
I assume this may be the case because ethics and sustainability – passing over compliance – are at the bottom line an interesting mix of conceptual and very hands on topics. Which therefore means that solutions can only be devised in a ‘Kaizen’ type of step-wise improvement process taking into account values and constraints embedded in each company.
— More About EBEN —
The European Business Ethics Network (EBEN) is a network of academics and practitioners that supports initiatives at cross-European, national and regional levels. They have 18 National networks established in several countries. There are active groups in over 40 countries. While the activities of each national network depends on their relative interest, the European network as a whole
- organises 2 yearly conference – one exclusively for academics, and one for academics as well as practitioners -,
- organises a doctoral workshop,
- runs a number of interest groups,
- and also organises the yearly Business Ethics Forum for ethics and compliance officers of middle to large sized corporations, in collaboration with the Institute for Business Ethics in London, US Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, and the French Cercle d’Éthique des Affaires.
EBEN’s mission is to “promote ethics and excellence in businesses, to increase awareness about ethical challenges in the global marketplace and to enable dialogue on the role of business in society.“
