Richard Locke, professor of political science and director of the Watson Institute, will chair an academic advisory board for Apple Computer’s supplier responsibility program. An expert on global supply chains, Locke has published four books — most recently The Promise and Limits of Private Power (Cambridge University Press, 2013) — based on his research on labor standards in global supply chains. The advisory board, which consists of eight professors from leading U.S. universities, has been working together for six months. Its charge is to study and make recommendations to Apple about current policies and practices, to conduct or commission new research on labor standards within Apple’s supply chain, and to share research that may help improve those policies and practices. The research will be publicly available as working papers or in professional journals to ensure wide distribution. While at MIT Sloan, Locke led the development of the Laboratory for Sustainable Business, a course designed to provide students with in-depth knowledge of the various sustainability issues society faces today. He also pioneered the popular Global Entrepreneurship Laboratory, a course that teaches students about entrepreneurship in developing countries by placing them in internships with startup companies in emerging markets.

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