Overcoming barriers to improving OHS among SMEs in Myanmar

project summary

In the wake of the Rana Plaza accident the recent years have witnessed increased interests among scholars, global brands, policy-makers and NGOs in occupational health and safety (OHS) among companies in developing countries (Huq et al 2016). However, the focus has been on the larger companies located in developing countries (Villena and Gioia 2018), which are suppliers to global firms and have knowledge sources that can assist in improving OHS (Distelhorst et al, 2017, Bari & Gereffi 2001). Scholars are not optimistic about improvements of OHS in SMEs, especially not countries existing in institutional voids as Myanmar. The overarching purpose of the project is therefore to create new knowledge about how and why intervention-based OHS knowledge is disseminated and used successfully in an industrial cluster. The project thereby contributes to the academic field by being the first to analyze drivers and barriers to OHS-productivity dissemination in clusters in a developing country. The project also contributes to building capacity among central labor market organizations.