Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T22:01:01.928Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Playing by Unfair Rules? Asia's Positioning within Global Sports Production Networks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

Wolfram Manzenreiter
Get access

Abstract

The link between global sports brands and the violation of workers' rights in Asia has been a mainstream issue for many years. A ceaseless flow of news reports on the infringement of workers' rights in Asia suggests that neocolonialist dependencies and the ruthless exploitation of sweatshop labor are endemic in the industry. However, Asian corporations standing in the shadow of global brands have recently taken the lead in coordinating global sports commodity chains. Asia's rise within the industry is having manifold impacts on development opportunities for workers, companies, and countries, first of all in the Asian region, but also beyond. Putting these transformations into the historical perspective of industrialization, this essay questions the taken-for-granted assumption about agency and compliance behind the new international division of labor.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 313 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Adidas. 2011. Geschäftsbericht 2011 [Annual report 2011]. http://www.adidas-group.com/de/investorrelations/assets/pdf/annual_reports/2011/GB_2011_De.pdf (accessed December 14, 2012).Google Scholar
Ahmed, Saeed, and Lakhani, Leone. 2013. “Bangladesh Building Collapse: An End to Recovery Efforts, a Promise of a New Start.” CNN, June 14. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/14/world/asia/bangladesh-building-collapse-aftermath/ (accessed June 19, 2013).Google Scholar
Alpert, Emily. 2012. “Bangladesh Factory Fire Was Act of Sabotage, Committee Finds.” Los Angeles Times, December 17. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/17/world/la-fg-wn-bangladesh-factory-fire-sabotage (accessed June 19, 2013).Google Scholar
Amsden, Alice. 1989. Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Andreff, Marlene, and Andreff, Wladimir. 2009. “Global Trade in Sports Goods: International Specialisation of Major Trading Countries.” European Sport Management Quarterly 9(3):259–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appelbaum, Richard. 2009. “Big Suppliers in Great China: A Growing Counterweight to the Power of Giant Retailers.” In China and the Transformation of Global Capitalism, ed. Ho-Fung, Hung, 65–85. Baltimore, Md.: John Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Asics. 2012. Annual Report 2012. http://www.asics.com/global/img/investors/ar2012.pdf (accessed December 14, 2012).Google Scholar
Bunting, Madeleine. 2011. “Sweatshops Are Still Supplying High Street Brands.” The Guardian, April 28. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/apr/28/sweatshops-supplying-high-street-brands (accessed January 6, 2012).Google Scholar
Finkelmeyer, Todd. 2011. “Campus Connection: UW's Reilly Offers ‘Compromise’ on Additional Budget Hit.” Capital Times, December 17. http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/education/campus_connection/campus-connection-uw-s-reilly-offers-compromise-on-additional-budget/article_bab847e6-2826-11e1-9930-001871e3ce6c.html (accessed January 6, 2012).Google Scholar
Frenkel, Stephen. 2001. “Globalization, Athletic Footwear Commodity Chains and Employment Relations in China.” Organization Studies 22:531–62.Google Scholar
Gereffi, Gary. 2002. The International Competitiveness of Asian Economies in the Apparel Commodity Chain. ERD Working Paper No. 5. Manila: Asian Development Bank.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, Steven. 2011. “Students Battle a Dallas Cowboys Unit Over College Apparel.” New York Times, September 23. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/business/students-object-to-use-of-sweatshop-labor-on-college-clothing.html (accessed January 6, 2012).Google Scholar
Harvey, Jean, and Saint-Germain, Maurice. 2001. “Sporting Goods Trade, International Division of Labor, and the Unequal Hierarchy of Nations.” Sociology of Sport Journal 18:231–46.Google Scholar
Hassler, Markus. 2003. “Crisis, Coincidences and Strategic Market Behaviour: The Internationalization of Indonesian Clothing Brand-Owners.” Area 35(3):241–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, Jeffrey, Dicken, Peter, Hess, Martin, Coe, Neil, and Yeung, Henry Wai-Chung. 2002. “Global Production Networks and the Analysis of Economic Development.” Review of International Political Economy 9(3):436–64.Google Scholar
Hess, Martin. 2009. “Investigating the Archipelago Economy: Chains, Networks and the Study of Uneven Development.” Journal für Entwicklungspolitik 25(2):20–37.Google Scholar
Klein, Naomi. 1999. No Logo. New York: Picador.Google Scholar
Li & Fung. 2011. Annual Report 2011. http://www.lifung.com/eng/ir/reports/ar2011/ar2011.pdf (accessed December 14, 2012).Google Scholar
Ning, Li. 2011. Annual Report 2011. http://www.lining.com/eng/ir/reports.php (accessed December 14, 2012).Google Scholar
Manzenreiter, Wolfram. 2010. “A(sian) Race to the Bottom? Asiatische produktionsnetzwerke im globalen sportartikelmarkt“ [(A(sian) race to the bottom? Asian production networks on global sporting good market]. In Globale güterketten. Weltweite arbeitsteilung und ungleiche entwicklung [Global supply chains: Worldwide division of labor and unequal development], eds. Fischer, Karin, Reiner, Christian, and Staritz, Cornelia, 157–87. Wien: Promedia.Google Scholar
Maquila Solidarity Network. 2008. Die hürden überwinden. Schritte zur verbesserung von löhnen und arbeitsbedingungen in der globalen sportbekleidungsindustrie [Overcoming the hurdles: Steps to improve wages and working conditions in the global sports garment industry]. n.p.: Play Fair Campaign.Google Scholar
Matthews, Karen. 2011. “1911 Triangle Fire Remembered as Spur to Unions, Safety Laws.” USA Today, February 22. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2011-03-22-triangle-fire-remembered.htm (accessed January 6, 2012).Google Scholar
McNamara, Dennis. 1995. Textiles and Industrial Transition in Japan. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Merk, Jeroen. 2005. The Play Fair at the Olympics Campaign: An Evaluation of Company Responses. http://www.cleanclothes.org/documents/05-07-pfoc_evaluation.pdf (accessed March 4, 2010).Google Scholar
Merk, Jeroen. 2011. “Production beyond the Horizon of Consumption: Spatial Fixes and Anti-sweatshop Struggles in the Global Athletic Footwear Industry.” Global Society 25(1):73–95.Google Scholar
Meyerson, Harold. 2011. “The Mind-set that Survived the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.” Washington Post, March 23. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-mind-set-that-survived-the-triangle-shirtwaist-fire/2011/03/22/ABh20rEB_story.html (accessed January 2, 2012).Google Scholar
Mizuno. 2012. Mizuno Factbook 2012. http://www.mizuno.co.jp/finance/factbook/images/2012_FACTBOOK.pdf (accessed December 14, 2012).Google Scholar
Nadvi, Khalid, Lund-Thomsen, Peter, Xue, Hong, and Khara, Navjote. 2011. “Playing against China: Global Value Chains and Labour Standards in the International Sports Goods Industry.” Global Networks 11(3):334–54.Google Scholar
Nike. 2011. Corporate Responsibility Report FY 10/11. http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/report/ (accessed December 12, 2012).Google Scholar
Rehman, Zia Ur-, Walsh, Declan, and Masood, Salman. 2012. “More Than 300 Killed in Pakistani Factory Fires.” New York Times, September 12. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/world/asia/hundreds-die-in-factory-fires-in-pakistan.html (accessed June 19, 2013).Google Scholar
Romney, Edgar. 2010. “Fighting Back for Workers' Rights.” The Nation, December 21. http://www.thenation.com/article/157244/fighting-back-workers-rights (accessed January 6, 2012).Google Scholar
Singleton, John. 1997. The World Textile Industry. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Hong-Zen, Wang. 2005. “Asian Transnational Corporations and Labor Rights: Vietnamese Trade Unions in Taiwan-invested Companies.” Journal of Business Ethics 56:43–53.Google Scholar
Yardley, Jim. 2012. “Horrific Fire Revealed a Gap in Safety for Global Brands.” New York Times, December 6. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/world/asia/bangladesh-fire-exposes-safety-gap-in-supply-chain.html (accessed June 19, 2013).Google Scholar
Ping, Yew Chiew. 2012. “Rising Trend of Labor Strikes: Tables Turned for Chinese Workers?” In China: Development and Governance, eds. Gungwu, Wang and Yongnian, Zheng, 385–92. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing.Google Scholar
Xiaomin, Yu. 2008. “Impacts of Corporate Code of Conduct on Labor Standards: A Case Study of Reebok's Athletic Footwear Supplier Factory in China.” Journal of Business Ethics 81:513–29.Google Scholar
Yuen, Yue. 2011. Annual Report 2011. http://www.yueyuen.com/annual/2011/EW00551AR(1801).pdf (accessed December 14, 2012).Google Scholar