Transnational supply chains are networks of locally-based enterprises that supply the demands of transnational corporations, mostly for raw materials and parts of manufactured goods. Transnational corporations set the terms of exchange within this supply chain: quality, prices, quantities and deadlines, leaving the supplying enterprises to determine working conditions, safety and environmental management. Retail and supermarkets are well-known examples of transnational supply chains, along with other chain businesses like call centres, postal services or transport management.

Transnational supply chains have been an expanding economic actor since transnational corporations began outsourcing manufacturing and suppliers to places where extremely low wages, low or non-existing labour safety standards and even slave labour prevailed or were tolerated. According to different sources, transnational supply chains currently account for 30 to 60 per cent of all global trade, and depend on the work of over 100 million workers globally. On average, companies relying on transnational supply chains only directly hire 6 per cent of the labour force they actually employ. The rest is “outsourced”, often scattered across several countries and amongst thousands of suppliers.