Richard Locke is the Howard Swearer Director of the Watson Institute for International Studies and Professor of Political Science at Brown University. He is professor on leave in the MIT Political Science Department.

Locke's current research is focused on improving labor and environmental conditions in global supply chains. Working with leading firms like Nike, Coca Cola, Apple, and HP, Locke and his students have been showing how corporate profitability and sustainable business practices can be reconciled. Locke has published five books – most recently The Promise & Limits of Private Power, Cambridge University Press (2013), based on his research on labor standards in global supply chains; Production in the Innovation Economy, with Rachel Wellhausen, The MIT Press (2013); Working in America with Paul Osterman, Thomas Kochan, and Michael Piore, The MIT Press (2001); Employment Relations in a Changing World Economy with Thomas Kochan, Michael Piore, The MIT Press (1995); and Remaking the Italian Economy, Cornell University Press (1995), as well as numerous articles on economic development, labor relations, and corporate responsibility.

This book examines and evaluates various private initiatives to enforce fair labor standards within global supply chains. Using unique data (internal audit reports, and access to more than 120 supply chain factories and 700 interviews in 14 countries) from several major global brands, including NIKE, HP, and the International Labor Organization's Factory Improvement Programme in Vietnam, this book examines both the promise and the limitations of different approaches to actually improve working conditions, wages, and working hours for the millions of workers employed in today's global supply chains. Through a careful, empirically grounded analysis of these programs, this book illustrates the mix of private and public regulation needed to address these complex issues in a global economy.