A DECENT FACTORY

Thomas Balmès
England, Finland, France 2004 | 79 Min. | BetaSP, OmeU

In an increas­ing­ly glob­al­ized econ­o­my, more cor­po­ra­tions are ‘out­sourc­ing’ their pro­duc­tion to coun­tries with cheap­er labour costs and less legal pro­tec­tion of work­ers’ rights. Some cor­po­rate man­agers, whether out of sin­cere moral con­cern or because they must respond to the con­sid­er­a­tions of investors and share­hold­ers, are attempt­ing to bal­ance profit-making with social morality. 

A DECENT FACTORY focus­es on such an effort by Nokia, the Finnish elec­tron­ics firm, which sends a team led by two busi­ness ethics advi­sors to exam­ine con­di­tions at a Chi­nese fac­to­ry that sup­plies parts to Nokia. Film­mak­er Thomas Balmès, having con­duct­ed three years of research on the sub­ject, fol­lows them on their inves­tiga­tive jour­ney. The film doc­u­ments in fas­ci­nat­ing detail their inspec­tion of the plant, guided by its Euro­pean and Chi­nese man­agers. During their tour the Nokia team inves­ti­gates work­ing and safety con­di­tions, pay­roll records, and poten­tial envi­ron­men­tal haz­ards. They also con­duct prob­ing inter­views with the fac­to­ry man­agers as well as sev­er­al of the young Chi­nese female employ­ees who work and live in dor­mi­to­ries on the site. The advi­sors’ final report to Nokia man­agers, which expos­es numer­ous vio­la­tions of even the less strin­gent Chi­nese laws on min­i­mum wage and work­ing con­di­tions, con­fronts Nokia with the dilem­ma now facing an increas­ing number of West­ern firms - how is it pos­si­ble to bal­ance the profit motive with a sense of social responsibility?