The shaper of my perspective
Looking at the past to inform the future: My master's program, my thesis, why it is important to my perspective on the world and how it informs my work at the perspective lab.
One of the main shapers of my perspective on the world, our society, and what it needs for a desirable future, was my master's program at the TU Munich “Responsibility in Science, Engineering and Technology”, short form: RESET. That abreveation summaries what this program was all about: A reset to how we as society think and implement progress. In my thesis, I chose a topic that brought all the ideas, frameworks, and debates of my time with RESET together with a - to me - perfect case study of clashing perspectives: Global supply chains. It’s title:
Mind the Gap or c’est le ton qui fait la chanson
How do we establish equitable responsibility distribution in Global Production Networks, and what role does technology play in this context?
Launching my perspective lab, thinking and working deeper again into perspectives, how to mediate between differing ones, made me realise the quality of my work back then in 2021/2022, my extensive knowledge about equitable responsibility distribution in global supply chains and the challenges that come with it. Which is why I want to focus my work in the perspective lab on it for now. One step of this is to publish my thesis here, chapter by chapter, and contextualize it with my current knowledge and today’s societal situation, as back then, when I was writing it, responsbility regulations like the German supply chain due diligence act, the EU corporate social due diligence directive or the digital product passport were mere discussion points and far from being the mulit-million risks reality for companies and their supply chains which they are today. My research already pointed to upcoming challenges for companies, called out the sustainability imperialism that companies of the Global North live in their supply chains, and established that technology will never be the solution, only a tool that can be used in good or bad ways.
Today, I start by sharing the abstract and my personal note.
Trade is based on Global Production Networks and on the interaction of many different actors. This way of doing business has corresponding – mostly negative – effects on our planet and society. By now, global corporations – who seem to be responsible for these impacts – are aware of the burden they bear on society and try to better themselves. What remains unconsidered in their efforts to assume responsibility: The sustainabilization of their Global Production Networks goes hand in hand with sustainability imperialism. In this context the role of technology cannot be ignored because it enables multinational companies to assume their responsibility, measure sustainability, and make their efforts transparent to customers. However, as valuable as it might be, the digital space takes over the unjust societal structures from the analogue world which only strengthens the current power structures.
Therefore, this research deals with finding answers to the question: How do we establish equitable responsibility distribution in Global Production Networks and what role does technology play in this context? Conceived as a proof of concept, I interviewed the actors of a production network individually and in a joint workshop to figure out which approaches are helpful for equitable responsibility distribution. The most important finding was: There must be a clear separation between corporate and product responsibility, as each company in Global Production Networks is to be understood as an independent actor. We need to stop talking about and start talking with other actors because Global Production Networks consist of many companies, all of which have to carry their burden and assume responsibility in their ways. Only through this separation can equitable structures emerge. With this change of perspective, the existing approaches in academia and business must be re-evaluated. For these have been developed from the perspective of the Global North and for its benefit. Only with a holistic approach, through which all actors in a production network are given a voice, will equitable responsibility distribution be possible. Technology plays a subordinate role here, because it is only a tool, not the solution.
Overall, my research has delivered insightful results, and I hope to have already contributed to a fairer distribution of global trade advantages and disadvantages among all stakeholders. However, due to its scope and the selected production network, it can only be the first step towards equitable responsibility distribution in Global Production Networks. I look forward to future research projects that benefit from my experience and apply it in various settings.
Personal Note
The anchor point of my research is the topic of responsibility and its distribution in Global Production Networks. Its driver is my innate sense of justice. Due to my motivation for this research, I decided to use the first-person narrative. If this text seems overly critical or activist to readers, it is a by-product of my caring attitude – developed through my studies and work experiences – towards societal structures that I perceive as unjust for living beings in Global Production Networks and my sense of urgency towards the societal challenges we face. In addition, I would like to state that I do not want to evaluate the ways global actors have tried to assume their responsibility so far. It is much more a reference point for me to uncover transformation potential. I want to critically examine existing approaches while remembering that those approaches brought us to where we are now.
I also want to state that while justice is a central concept to address equitable responsibility distribution in Global Production Networks, I did not concentrate on this notion for my research. I was more concerned with the engagement and interaction among actors in a production network to negotiate equitable responsibility distribution. In this context, the concept of justice seemed like a hindrance because it carries certain societal perceptions. Equitable responsibility distribution in a production network is not primarily about what society perceives as just, but about the participants’ perception of what they feel is fair or unfair regarding the assumption of responsibility. Furthermore, the legal situation biased the notion of justice, which is not helpful for an equitable responsibility distribution in Global Production Networks as I will show.
After this personal remark, I now start reporting my results from the last six months of research.