Ethical Issues in Global Supply Chains

Despite all technological advances, global supply chains are always based on the interaction of people. And wherever people are interacting, a kaleidoscope of ethical issues emerges. This paper uses the central actors in a global supply chain as framework to discuss some important ethical issues pertaining to producers, middlemen, retailers and consumers. Moreover, it calls into question whether the micro-perspective usually taken in ethics research is sufficient. Finally, the paper identifies some promising future research avenues on ethical concerns in global supply chains.