Developing Technologies for Enhancing Ethical Procurement in Supply Chains - Paper Example

The garment and agricultural supply industries play a critical role in the overall growth and development of the economy not only in Australia but also in the global world. For instance, according to the Fashion Industry Statistics Australia, 2020, the domestic market value of the fashion industry runs into approximately 28.5 billion Australian dollars with yearly retail sales of nearly 21 billion Australian dollars. Additionally, employment in the textile, clothing, leather, and footwear runs into a figure of more than 37,000. Similarly, an analysis of the Snapshot of Australian Agriculture 2020 authored by Jackson, Hatfield-Dodds, and Zammit indicates that the Australian agriculture accounts for 58% of Australian land use and 59% of water extractions. This literature by Jackson, Hatfield-Dodds, and Zammit also indicates that agricultural goods and services exported for the period 2018-2019 accounted for 11%, of the total exports, representing 2.2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 2.6% of the total employment for the same period. These are important figures and display how the garment and agricultural sectors contribute to economic growth and development. This paper proposes new technologies that can be applied to enhance supply chain tracking and ethical procurement to keep up with International Norms of Human Rights Due Diligence.

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Proposal of New Technologies

The above-mentioned sectors appear to take a lead in the misuse of both environmental and human rights performance. For instance, the two sectors are run on unfavourable labour conditions depicted by lower than living standards, threateningly physical conditions as well as the absence of freedom of association (ILO, 2016). For example, the Rana Plaza building collapse on garment lead firms caused casualties that left 1,130 garment workers lifeless while more than 2,000 were seriously wounded (Schuessler, Frenkel and Wright, 2019). Additionally, it has proved challenging in terms of tracking and costs as a result of the cross-national boundaries and the convolution of the supply chains. Because of these tracking and cost challenges, it is justified that technology should be incorporated in the supply chains of both garment and agricultural industries.

Automated Reporting Structures

The increased awareness of international norms of human rights due diligence coupled with the changing customer demands which have set the expectations of the consumers to extremely high levels have played a fundamental role in calling for appropriate use of technology. This is especially necessitated in tracking to ensure the ethical standards are met in totality. Firstly, the new technology can be incorporated in the garment and agricultural industries by connecting their supply chains in a highly elaborate approach controlled effectively through automated reporting structures. This is beneficial in sending a single message to several stakeholders. By so doing, unnecessary manipulations that can be made by rogue individuals are avoided. In consequence, ethics, environmental, and human rights are safeguarded.

Computers

Secondly, computers can be installed to facilitate effective procurement, shipping, tracking, and electronic invoicing among others. These computerized operations are essential in satisfying customer demands and expectations in a manner that is ethical, fair, and transparent. It ensures that no single individual has an advantage over the others since aspects such as information asymmetry are highly avoided. For example, customers can get quality clothes and the right quantities of the agricultural goods they ordered for. The result of the application of this technology is that all the customers and the employers, as well as employees and the general society, are happy with the operations of the relevant industries. This will give the garment and agricultural sectors a conducive working environment and as a result, the economy will be highly boosted through more productivity of these industries.

Applications and Smartphone

Thirdly, applications and smartphone features can be applied in the supply chain apps and to add relevance and portability of supply chains. These features can be useful in the entire process of tracking by developing specific codes that can be beneficial in the scanning of the products to ensure authenticity. The advantage of these features is that they are incorporated into portable electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops, and tablets and therefore convenient for the godown and depot performance. As a result, tracking can be conveniently done from wherever place and this ensures all the stakeholders operate within the required set of rules that are in line with ethics, environmental and human rights.

GPS Technology

Next, tracking of the supply chains for garments and agricultural goods can be affected by the use of GPS technology. For this case the track drivers for instance, can be provided with portable GPS devices which they use to immediately report the challenges they may experience in the course of transportation. For example, they can easily report traffic snarl-ups that cause inconveniences in transporting perishable agricultural goods such as tomatoes. This will help the management to consider alternative ways that can be considered to avert the losses that could occur and also protect the environment by preventing food wastage. Importantly, the GPS trackers can be beneficial in reporting cases where for example, drivers are attacked, abducted and their rights tempered with. In response the relevant authority will act swiftly to save the victims and bring the suspects to book. In so doing, human rights are protected.

Cloud Computing and Software

Furthermore, the use of cloud computing and software plans of actions can play a fundamental role in the enforcement of tracking and supply chains. By illustration, cloud computing can ensure the tracking of products at any time when the need arises. It can also be programmed to automatically update the conditions of products frequently so that those products that go bad are not wrongly sold to consumers. By so doing, the consumers are protected from the consumption of poisonous agricultural products thereby ensuring the safeguarding of the customer health. Subsequently, the ethics and human rights concerning the consumption of products are adhered to. Walmart is a good example of an organization that has adopted the use of technology in tracking its inventory levels and resultantly, they have been able to efficiently program for its product transportation for customer convenience. Amazon also uses technology to ensure effective supply of their goods to the users in a global context.

Conclusion

Being a fact that the garment and agricultural industries play important roles in the economy of a given nation and the general globe, technology must be adopted by these industries to maximize their operations. This will ensure quality productivity and the reduction of costs, maximizing profits, and promotion of environmental safety by preventing food wastes. Importantly, it will promote human rights by helping to track and hold accountable those who violate other people’s rights in the course of product transportation as is the requirement of the International norms of human rights due diligence. The script discussed the application of technology in the enhancement of supply chain tracking and ethical procurement.

References

https://au.fashionunited.com/fashion-industry-statistics-australiahttps://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/publications/insights/snapshot-of-australian-agriculture-2020https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0019793918771360ILO.2016

Jackson, T., Hatfield-Dodds, S., and Zammit, K., 2018. Snapshot of Australian Agriculture 2020.

Schuessler, E., Frenkel, S.J., and Wright, C.F., 2019. Governance of labour standards in Australian and German garment supply chains: The impact of Rana Plaza. ILR Review, 72(3), pp.552-579.