10 Voices, 10 Strategies: Five strategies for sustainable supply chains

Featuring Maryam Lotfi, Associate Professor of Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Cardiff Business School.

My name is Maryam Lotfi, and I am an Associate Professor of Sustainable Supply Chain Management at Cardiff Business School. I’m also the Co-Director of the Modern Slavery and Social Sustainability Research Group at Cardiff University. It’s an honor to be part of this panel, and I’ve gained so much from the insights shared by other speakers. I’d like to offer a few key strategies to tackle modern slavery and enhance sustainability in supply chains.

Ensuring transparency in complex supply chains

As supply chains expand, particularly in developing countries, visibility into the production stages often becomes blurred. This lack of transparency is a significant issue, particularly when many human rights violations, like modern slavery, occur in these lower-tier production stages. It’s vital that organisations work towards gaining transparency across all levels of their supply chains, especially the lower ones. From my research, sectors like tourism and hospitality are lagging in this area. For example, hotels in countries like India or Bangladesh may have little knowledge about recruitment practices. This blind spot needs to be addressed if we’re serious about combating modern slavery.

Collaborating with local NGOs

Collaboration is key, especially with local NGOs operating within lower-tier supply chains. During my research in India on child slavery, I witnessed the incredible efforts of local NGOs who identify cases, rescue children, and place them in rehabilitation centers. These organisations provide essential skills training and education, preparing these children for a better future. However, there’s often a notable lack of engagement from major brands and global supply chains. It’s critical that businesses collaborate with these local organisations that are doing essential, on-the-ground work to protect vulnerable individuals.

Building capacity in lower-tier suppliers

Many lower-tier suppliers, particularly in developing countries, lack the necessary resources to even implement basic training on modern slavery or child labour. To drive meaningful change, companies must work together with their suppliers to build capacity. This includes providing education, resources, and tools that can help suppliers at the bottom of the chain identify and prevent exploitation.

Ethical purchasing practices

Fair pricing and wages are central to ethical purchasing practices. Too often, suppliers in countries like India promise families that their children will be paid for work, only to stop payments after a few months, which traps them in a cycle of slavery. We need to ensure that suppliers are paid fairly and aren’t pushed to cut costs unsustainably. Pressuring suppliers to lower prices can have disastrous effects on vulnerable workers in the supply chain.

Worker-centric engagement

Lastly, we need to embrace what I call “worker-centric engagement.” This means engaging directly with workers on the ground in developing countries, especially in difficult environments. Relying on statistics or audits alone won’t give us a true understanding of the working conditions. To fully comprehend what’s happening in our supply chains, we need to hear directly from the workers and their families. Only by seeing their realities can we drive real change.

These strategies—transparency, collaboration, capacity building, ethical purchasing, and worker-centric engagement—are key steps toward creating sustainable and ethical supply chains. Thank you again to Anthony Hanley, Senior Vice President, Supply Chain Compliance at Alcumus SafeContractor, for this opportunity to share these insights. I hope these strategies will inspire further action in the fight against modern slavery.