Opinion: Coronavirus crisis is the time to change supply chain for the better

Peter McAllister ETI

Ethical Trading Initiative executive director Peter McAllister argues that the coronavirus pandemic shows it is in retailers’ self-interest to ensure high standards throughout their supply chains.

In the space of just over a month, much of the world as we know it has changed. The speed of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on global supply chains on which international brands and retailers rely is unprecedented.

The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated more powerfully than ever the interconnectedness of countries, trade and communities.

A health emergency that first emerged in a region in China very quickly impacted workers on a flower farm in Kenya, garment production in Bangladesh and the high streets of many countries around the world.

Few businesses remain unaffected in some way or another, and few had contingency plans for such a global phenomenon.

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