African Journal of Business Ethics

Strong business–state alliances at the expense of labour rights in Ethiopia’s apparel-exporting industrial parks

Mohammed Seid Ali, Solomon Molla Ademe — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:13:05 +0000

In the past decade, Ethiopia has demonstrated a strong ideological convention to the East-Asian model of ‘developmental state’, which stands for state-led industrialisation as its underlying industrial policy premise. Nevertheless, the labour rights externalities of this industrial policymaking have been overlooked in the existing academic and practical policy debates. Hence, using qualitative empirical data, the article attempts to address the research gap by analysing why and how Ethiopia’s state-led industrialisation and the corporate behaviours of apparel-exporting firms, as well as their respective global brand buyers, have contributed to the existing poverty wages and repressive practices against the associational rights of local industrial workers at those selected apparel-exporting industrial parks of the country. The maxim of industrialisation with a human face has increasingly become a promising alternative to the neoclassical intellectual view of labour relations following its fundamentals towards achieving a more sustainable industrial development in a given state. In light of this human right imperative, the finding revealed Ethiopia’s stateled industrialisation has firmly embraced strong business-state alliances, thereby curbing the power of local industrial workers. The Ethiopian government employs diverse de facto or de jure labour control mechanisms across those selected apparel-exporting industrial parks of the country. This is manifested through poverty wages and repressive measures to
deny the associational rights of workers. Further, the flawed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of employing firms and their respective global brands have contributed to the ongoing labour abuses across those selected apparel-exporting firms. Hence, Ethiopia’s industrial policy is expected to navigate a reasonable balance between facilitating industrial catch-up and ensuring labour standards for more viable and sustainable labour relations.

The use of non-financial performance metrics in determining directors’ remuneration: The case of listed companies in South Africa

Reon Matemane, Tankiso Moloi, Michael Adelowotan, Pallab Kumar Biswas — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:23:44 +0000

Despite the increasing importance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, it is not fully understood whether companies consider these factors when designing compensation plans for their directors. This study investigated the extent to which directors’ remuneration integrates ESG factors. The study sample is made up of JSE-listed companies for the period 2015 to 2021. The estimated generalised least squares regression technique was used to analyse the data. The results show the shift towards the integration of ESG factors in directors’ compensation plans. It should be established which ESG factors are pertinent in the South African context.

From feasting to fasting: An autoethnography of Njangis

Chimene Nukunah — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:34:06 +0000

IIn this article, I use autoethnography to share my personal experiences with Njangis in Cameroon, Central Africa. ‘Njangi’ is an old business practice where members of a community contribute money to assist one another turn by turn. There is literature on the concept of Njangis, however, autoethnography has not been used to share the rich African values that underpin this concept. Using reflexivity as a postmodernist technique,
I describe my experiences with Njangis as both a child and adult, while contrasting this with a conventional ‘Western’ banking system. The aim of this emancipatory exercise is to give voice to an African practice as it relates to business and ethics.

The predicament of the unprotected: Why lack-lustre legislation fails South African whistleblowers

Ugljesa Radulovic — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:28:00 +0000

Inadequate legal provisions in South African state law have left whistleblowers vulnerable. Despite the existence of the Protected Disclosures Act (and its amendment) aimed at safeguarding whistleblowers, the law has numerous loopholes. The participants in this qualitative study expressed the view that the law is indeed ineffective. While calls are being made to amend state law for adequate whistleblower protection, such efforts would be futile unless provisions are adapted from reliable instruments for implementation in the South African context. This article recommends incorporating provisions from the Serbian Law on Protection of Whistleblowers as a means of offering adequate protection to South African whistleblowers.