An Exploration of Human Rights and the Capability Approach : A case study of Elkjøp’s supply chain in China

Abstract

Both human rights and supply chains have greatly changed with the advent of modern society with the accompanying technology and globalization. This thesis explores how companies' values complies with both conditions in countries where they have their supply chains as well as to theories of ethics, specifically Amartya Sen’s Capabilities approach. This thesis uses the Norwegian consumer electronics retailer Elkjøp, and its supply chain in China as a case study. Elkjøp’s codes of conduct relating to human rights have been examined through the lens of conditions in China and the Capabilities approach. Results show that there are significant differences. The capabilities approach demands more protection of human rights than what is provided by Elkjøp’s codes of conducts. The same codes of conduct place more demands upon the supply chain than historical conditions in China have been. It concludes that there is need for further research in the field of human rights in supply chains and more should be done to satisfy ethical demands placed by the capability approach.