ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the socioeconomic impact of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach to eliminating child labour from supply chains in developing countries. It draws on the authors’ practical experience of designing and implementing a child labour elimination strategy in the football industry in Sialkot, Pakistan. The chapter describes the social and industrial features of the football industry. It summarises the socioeconomic impacts of the home-based production structure of the football industry. The chapter details the CSR approach that was adopted by the Atlanta Partnership to eliminate child labour from the production of hand-stitched footballs. It also describes and examines the socioeconomic impacts of the child-labour-free production structure on football stitchers and their families. The business case for the adoption of the child labour CSR approach by global companies is persuasive. Although CSR appears to be a more socially sensitive approach to addressing child labour in Southern supply chains, it cannot truly be considered ‘socially responsible’.
