by Gaurav Sehgal, Sidharth Jain, Santanu Roy, Nupur Gupta, Jyoti Prasad Kalita, Manoj P. K., Sneh Pandey
ABSTRACT
This study explores the ethical architectures of global supply chains by analyzing governance practices in the fast fashion, consumer electronics, and agrifood sectors through a post-humanist lens. Using a multi-case qualitative approach, the research evaluates corporate sustainability documents, supplier policies, and ESG reports against core indicators of ethical inclusion, including labor transparency, ecological accountability, and species consideration. The findings reveal that while firms increasingly adopt the language of sustainability, their operational frameworks remain structurally anthropocentric and exclusionary. Fast fashion exemplifies aestheticized ethics without upstream accountability; consumer electronics prioritizes procedural audits while ignoring multispecies harm; and agrifood offers symbolic gestures toward ecological justice with minimal systemic enforcement. These patterns indicate a governance paradigm that instrumentalizes ethics as a reputational asset, rather than embedding it within relational and multispecies accountability structures. The study concludes by advocating for a reorientation of supply chain ethics, where multispecies justice, rather than corporate compliance, becomes central to defining responsible governance in the planetary era.
