The Strive Towards Ensuring Compliance with Codes of Conduct -a multiple case study of social audits used by food retailers in Sweden and Norway to asses working conditions in their global food supply chain

Abstract: The global food supply chain is known for facing problems related to workers‟ conditions at the stage of processing and production. A shift of governance towards the private sector has at the same time taken place among industries. This is seen among food retailers who implement Codes of Conduct in international operations in order to improve social conditions at the level of suppliers. However, the complexity of global food supply chains results in restraints in achieving compliance to Codes of Conduct. The purpose of this thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of food retailer‟s monitoring processes and how they work towards ensuring compliance with their Codes of Conduct and working conditions throughout the supply chains, through the application of social auditing. Companies selected for this study included one Norwegian and three Swedish food retailers. A qualitative approach was applied and a multiple case study took place. Findings indicate that the extensiveness of monitoring activities in the supply chain varies between actors when it comes to assessing working conditions in their global food supply chains through social audits. Auditing activities focused on own branded products and where audits were often conducted at the level of the subcontractor. Some variations still exist and one food retailer conducts social audits at the level of production. The extensiveness of monitoring activities is as a result of the resources available and the perception of how far down or up the supply chain that the responsibility should be levied. Social audits are conducted by retailers themselves, by suppliers or outsourced to an external auditing consultancy firm. Furthermore, the food retailers conduct a typical social compliance audit. Violations against Codes of Conduct result in the food retailers carrying out follow up activities through the creation of a correction action plan and beginning discussions with the supplier. Ending the business relationship is another follow up activity that is applied when severe infringements have taken place or no improvements at the level of supplier have been achieved.