By:- Fibre2Fashion.com

Many businesses have enjoyed reputation, just by being in business. So is it necessary to adhere to any moral values?

A business, in order to be successful in the long run should not only focus on its products or service, but also on how it interacts with the world at large, its employees, and its one-on-one dealing with every single customer. Corporate responsibility is not an add-on from outside, but should be built with the company itself. Sometimes business have acquired a bad reputation due to its lack of social behavior.

Need for Business Ethics:


Ethics should be a part of every business. Ethical business practice is a broader term encompassing many aspects. Every business needs to follow a 'code of conduct' by itself regarding work place maintenance, management of human resources, their well being and safety. It should adhere to legal, environmental, and export, import compliance, customs and security standards.

A business, even if it is a multi-million seller needs to follow proper morals to sustain a positive image in the long run. In today's competitive world, companies that adhere to these principles are few and far behind. There needs to be specific guidelines for adopting these aspects throughout the facility, ensuring continuous adherence. The Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) has formulated a management systems approach towards compliance to ensure the required practices, along with an internal audit system.


WRAP Certification:

The Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) is an independent and international NGO, committed to certifying the companies engaged in lawful and ethical operations. This is the worlds largest facility certification program for apparel, footwear and sewn products. Facilities receive a certification of six months to one year based on compliance with the 12 WRAP Principles. The company enjoys immense support from the International Apparel Federation, and more than 20 additional trade and industry associations; worldwide.

E-business: a helping hand in promoting business values:

Globally; there are many buyers who are interested in dealing with companies that are environmentally conscious. With today's business becoming more and more tech savvy, internet plays a vital role in creating and spreading this message. Companies that are involved in creating e-business platforms can take an active role in including WRAP certification in their supplier profiles. &sec=article&uinfo=<%=server.URLEncode(2689)%>" target="_blank">Fibre2Fashion recently announced partnership with WRAP in promoting social and environmental compliance in the apparel industry.

By:- Fibre2Fashion.com

The &sec=article&uinfo=<%=server.URLEncode(2689)%>" target="_blank">News desk of Fibre2Fashion spoke with Mr. Avedis Seferian, Director of Compliance Administration, WRAP, to get an insight about the WRAP training course and to know, how it helps the apparel manufacturing sector.

  • How does WRAP influence apparel manufacturing activities?


"WRAP is a social compliance certification program, and, as such, does not directly impact the manufacturing activities of a factory itself. Rather, the focus is on the labor, environmental, customs and security aspects of the operation. In all of these areas, a WRAP certification makes a factory a better place, and to the extent that, this results in a more efficient and productive labor force, WRAP is thereby also able to impact the manufacturing activities and make them also more efficient."

  • How does the WRAP training favor the apparel exporters?


"This will be helpful for exporters because WRAP certification improves a factory's competitiveness by opening more doors of the factory to international buyers. Further, it also helps impact the factory's bottom line directly, because the management system that the facility implements in order to obtain WRAP certification will make it a much more, efficient production unit.

"This is because a socially compliant facility will have higher worker satisfaction, which in turn will result in higher worker productivity. Also, it lowers worker turnover, which in turn lowers all the related costs involved with having to constantly hire new employees (finding them, training them, the opportunity cost lost in getting a new hire to the same level of efficiency the previous worker was at prior to leaving, etc)."

  • Please rate the social compliance parameters of Indian clothing companies when with other Asian countries.

 

"India is an incredibly large and diverse country and it is therefore impossible, not to mention unfair, to paint all Indian clothing companies with the same brush when it comes to their social compliance levels. There are many excellent factories in India, just as there are many factories that need to improve. The important thing is that the general awareness about the importance and impact of social compliance issues is high, and factories are implementing measures necessary to reap the benefits of good management systems, to enable them to seek certification and get the competitive edge that brings."

"So in all these ways, WRAP training and subsequent certification can greatly help companies from the apparel export sector by improving their ability to compete in the global marketplace."

WRAP augments in creating a public awareness of the importance of doing business ethically. It helps the organizations to strengthen their culture, initiate high standards of business behavior, embedding relevant ethics and corporate accountability policies.


Reference:

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http://www.wrapcompliance.org/