Implementing ethics on both sides could ensure a sustainable and ethical supply chain, not on the Bangladeshi front alone, speakers at a dialogue Monday said. They also said that Bangladesh has been helping western buyers by providing the cheapest clothes amid recession; in turn they are blaming the country’s readymade garments industry instead of helping out for sustainability and fair price. They urged interested researchers to focus on the fair price and implementation of business ethics in every sphere of supply chain, which would help the RMG industry. “The average price of readymade clothing has dropped at least 15 per cent in European and American high streets, superstores and supply chains in the last 15 years, which should have been on the contrary,” State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said. He was speaking as the chief guest at a dialogue on ‘Sustainable Workforce and Supply Chain Reforms for Vision 2021’-part of a day-long seminar titled ‘Ethics, Efficiency and Productivity in the RMG sector: Towards $50 billion Exports by 2021’. Dhaka University, Monash University, Australia and University of Warwick, UK jointly organised the seminar. Professor Amrik Sohail and Professor Qamrul Alam from Monash Business School discussed on ‘How to develop a sustainable workplace and 5Es,’ while Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam of Dhaka University and Professor Julian Teicher of Monash University moderated the session. Mentioning his experience in the RMG industry as an entrepreneur, the state minister said Bangladesh has been serving Western countries by proving cheaper clothes for long, now they cannot run away. “Some of the buyers, who were buying clothes from the factories housed at collapsed Rana Plaza refused to pay compensation after the tragedy, we needed two plus years to get the compensation from them,” he said. The state minister said that the country is implementing sustainable development goals (SDG) by setting up $50 billion RMG export goals. Poverty and hunger eradication, women empowerment and many other SDGs targets will be achieved by the target. Prof Amrik Sohail, in his presentation, said five Es (Ethics, Efficiency, Environment, Empowerment, and Employment) should be the focal point of the government and private sectors in achieving the $50 billion export target. He said, “Competition is at your doorsteps, many of your competitors add more value to the clothing supply chain than those of you do.” Mr. Sohail said the Bangladeshi manufacturers need to go for innovation in making clothes rather than copying from others. They need their own brands. “But during the process of achievement, you should focus at what and how much cost you are going to achieve the target.” Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka Professor Syed Ferhat Anwar raised the question as to where is the corporate social responsibility (CSR) fund of the big brands. They make huge profit from the cheaper clothes, but do not use CSR from them.
