Publications

July 1999
Background Note

Comments on Standard Times and the Division of Labor

By: Roy D. Shapiro

A brief note on the origins and uses of standard times in production process flow diagrams and on the benefits and drawbacks of division of labor. A rewritten version of two earlier notes. View Details

Keywords: Labor; Management Practices and Processes; Standards; Production

27 Jun 2012
Conference Presentation

Private Enforcement of Labor and Environmental Standards in Global Supply Chains

By: Michael W. Toffel

26 Dec 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Reinforcing Regulatory Regimes: How States, Civil Society, and Codes of Conduct Promote Adherence to Global Labor Standards

Keywords: by Michael W. Toffel, Jodi L. Short & Melissa Ouellet

18 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Beyond Symbolic Responses to Private Politics: Examining Labor Standards Improvement in Global Supply Chains

Keywords: by Andrea R. Hugill, Jodi L. Short, and Michael W. Toffel; Manufacturing

July–August 2019
Article

Coupling Labor Codes of Conduct and Supplier Labor Practices: The Role of Internal Structural Conditions

By: Yanhua Bird, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Exploitive working conditions have spurred companies to pressure their suppliers to adopt labor codes of conduct and to conform their labor practices to the standards set forth in those codes. Yet little is known about whether organizational structures such as codes... View Details

Keywords: Organization Theory; Economic Sociology; Social Responsibility; Sustainability; Auditing; Process Improvement; Organizational Structure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Supply Chain; Labor; Working Conditions

March 2024
Article

Do Safety Management System Standards Indicate Safer Operations? Evidence from the OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard

By: Kala Viswanathan, Matthew S. Johnson and Michael W. Toffel

Problem definition: Given the enormous disruptions and costs of occupational injuries, companies and buyers are increasingly looking to voluntary occupational health and safety standards to improve worker safety. Yet because these standards only require... View Details

Keywords: Occupational Health; Occupational Safety; Program Evaluation; Safety Performance; Injuries; OHSAS 18001; ISO 45001; Working Conditions; Safety; Standards

14 Feb 2013
Talk

Reinforcing Regulatory Regimes: How States, Civil Society, and Codes of Conduct Promote Adherence to Global Labor Standards

By: Michael W. Toffel

April 1982 (Revised September 1986)
Case

Ideal Standard France: Pat Paterson

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

A newly appointed country subsidiary manager must decide on action for an operation losing $1 million per month. He is constrained by price controls on one hand and sensitive union relations on the other. Furthermore a major loss-contributing plant has recently been... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Transition; Cost Management; Management; Crisis Management; Labor and Management Relations

08 Nov 2018
Working Paper Summaries

When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct

Keywords: by Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos, and Amit Seru; Financial Services

December 2012
Article

Structural Impediments to African Growth? New Evidence from Real Wages in British Africa, 1880–1965

By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg

Recent literature on the historical determinants of African poverty has emphasized structural impediments to African growth, such as adverse geographical conditions, weak institutions, or ethnic heterogeneity. But has African poverty been a persistent historical... View Details

Keywords: Living Standards; Real Wages; Labor Market; Colonial Institutions; Economic Growth; Wages; History; Africa

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September 2009
Article

Virtue out of Necessity? Compliance, Commitment and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains

By: Akshay Mangla, Richard Locke and Matthew Amengual

Private, voluntary compliance programs, promoted by global corporations and nongovernmental organizations alike, have produced only modest and uneven improvements in working conditions and labor rights in most global supply chains. Through a detailed study of a major... View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Ethics; Supply Chain; Governance Compliance; Globalization

June 2010
Article

Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers

By: David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Several studies have examined how the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard predicts changes in organizational outcomes such as profits. This is the first large-scale study to explore how employee outcomes such as employment, earnings, and health and safety... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Management; Standards; Employees; Wages; Organizations; Profit; Safety; Health; Policy

25 Jan 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

Keywords: by Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li & Julie Wulf

2007
Chapter

Expanding Ethical Standards of HRM: Necessary Evils and the Multiple Dimensions of Impact

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Adam M. Grant and Andrew Molinsky

Keywords: Ethics; Human Resources; Labor and Management Relations

2016
Working Paper

Signaling without Certification: The Critical Role of Civil Society Scrutiny

By: Susan A. Kayser, John W. Maxwell and Michael W. Toffel

In response to stakeholders' growing concerns, companies are joining voluntary environmental programs to signal their superior environmental management capabilities. In contrast to the literature's focus on certification programs that require a third-party audit, we... View Details

Keywords: United Nations; Labor Standards; Supplier Relationship; Procurement; Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Quality And Safety; Risk; Globalization; Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance; Working Conditions; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Reputation

SSRN

March 2003 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Worker Rights and Global Trade: The U.S.-Cambodia Bilateral Textile Trade Agreement

Examines the political and economic dimensions of the campaign to improve workers' rights around the world through the inclusion of labor standards in international trade agreements. The U.S.-Cambodia Textile Trade Agreement was the first agreement of its kind to link... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Agreements and Arrangements; Rights; Working Conditions; Globalization; Consumer Products Industry; Cambodia; United States

December 1994
Background Note

Cost System Analysis

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Describes six characteristics of cost systems: standard vs. actual costs; job-order vs. process costing; variable vs. full costs; disaggregate vs. aggregate cost accumulation; and specific vs. average rates for labor and overhead. A rewritten version of an earlier... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Analysis; System