ABSTRACT
Superbrands, established global companies, are popular but their business practices are often controversial. Recent crises, from COVID-19 to the war in Ukraine, have reignited a key question: How can such global corporations maintain complex supply chains in more ethical and sustainable ways? We discuss these recent developments and ask if superbrands may simply be “too big to be fair” and whether smaller and locally oriented companies could provide a better alternative. Consulting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) experts and reports, we conclude that superbrands from industries like fast fashion face large structural changes to become more sustainable. This often leads to a gap between the vision for higher ethical standards and the actual implementation. Significant reimagination is required to make superbrands fairer and more sustainable, an endeavour we regard as inevitable to create a future of work that is just.
