If you want to understand what microfinance really does for rural economies, it helps to get beyond the feel-good stories and look closely at the numbers. The narrative of small loans transforming lives is powerful, but the mechanisms—who’s borrowing, what kinds of businesses they’re running, and how those ventures fare—deserve closer scrutiny. Here, ISIC codes […]
In February 2022, Executive Order 14067 was signed, marking a significant pivot in how the United States government approaches digital assets and the ecosystems that underpin them. Much of the immediate media focus fell, understandably, on its implications for consumer protection, financial stability, and the potential development of a central bank digital currency. But tucked […]
The European Union’s Conflict Minerals Regulation, which came into force in January 2021, was already considered by many to be a landmark in the global effort to reduce the trade in minerals that fund violence and human rights abuses. But as with so many regulatory frameworks, the first year of implementation revealed gaps—practical ambiguities that […]
If there’s one thing the pandemic made unmistakably clear, it’s that the way people work has changed—maybe for good. Telecommuting, once a niche arrangement or a perk reserved for a select few, became the norm for whole sectors almost overnight. But now, as the dust settles, the challenge for analysts and policymakers is figuring out […]
When the US Cybersecurity Disclosure Act was signed into law in March 2022, many in the policy and business communities welcomed it as both overdue and, frankly, daunting. The Act’s core requirement—that companies report significant supply-chain-related cybersecurity incidents—was born of growing concern over vulnerabilities that ripple outward from seemingly minor nodes in complex vendor networks. […]
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, revised in 2018, has had no shortage of commentary over the past few years. But with the release of the first full year of reporting data through the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) in 2021, the conversation shifted—from theory and regulatory text to data, and what that […]
The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), signed into law in December 2021 and taking effect on June 21, 2022, represents one of the most sweeping efforts by the United States to tackle forced labor concerns in global supply chains, particularly with respect to Xinjiang-origin goods. For apparel importers, this law imposes not only a […]
Circularity in fashion is the kind of idea that gets a lot of attention—endless conference panels, glossy brand campaigns, hopeful talk about closing the loop. But if you want to move beyond slogans and really understand whether the fashion industry is changing, you need to know where to look and how to measure. This is […]
When the Tariff Accountability Act was signed into law in December 2021, it was, in many respects, a formal acknowledgment of something industry participants and economists had been pointing out for years: that tariffs, though often wielded as blunt instruments of trade policy, generate complex and sometimes unintended ripple effects throughout supply chains. The Act […]
The April 2022 draft of the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) signaled a step change in what is expected from large companies operating within, or with significant exposure to, the European market. It expands environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure obligations in ways that many compliance teams are still grappling to interpret fully. With […]
The digital revolution in payments has been talked about for years, but the reality on the ground is uneven. Some retailers have leapt into mobile and online payments, while others—sometimes just down the street—stick to cash, wary of transaction fees, technology headaches, or customer resistance. For policymakers and analysts trying to track this transition, ISIC […]
Bill C-13, also known as the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2021, represents one of the most significant overhauls of Canadian privacy law in decades. With the legislation taking effect in November 2022, many Canadian firms—particularly those engaged in cross-border trade and logistics—have been steadily waking up to its profound implications. For supply chain managers, compliance […]
The introduction of the US Senate’s “Right to Repair” bill in early 2022 marked a significant moment in the long-running debate over consumer rights, electronics durability, and supply-chain transparency. For years, advocates had been calling for measures that would curb what they view as artificial barriers to product longevity—whether that means locked-down software, unavailable replacement […]
When crisis hits—like it did during the pandemic—governments are pressed to act fast, and act smart. The instinct is to throw a wide safety net over entire sectors, hoping no jobs slip through. But the reality is always more granular. Not every corner of manufacturing is hit the same way, and not every job is […]
The implementation of the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation (2017/821) has continued to reshape supply chain governance, particularly for sectors where tin, tantalum, tungsten, and gold—so-called 3TG minerals—are essential inputs. Nowhere has this been felt more keenly than in the automotive industry, where Tier 1 suppliers find themselves navigating complex global sourcing relationships under intense scrutiny. […]
The release of the first parliamentary review of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act (2018), published towards the end of 2021, marked an important, though perhaps somewhat sobering, milestone in the country’s effort to combat forced labour and exploitation in supply chains. For those of us tracking the Act’s implementation, the review’s findings were hardly surprising, yet […]