This paper revisits the discourse on the roles of various stakeholders in improving labour standards in developing countries, paying particular attention on the role of multinational corporations (MNCs). standards is a multifarious issue, often misunderstood as overlapping motivations from a plethora of actors like the nation state, national and international labour unions and donor agencies are inter-engaged in complex political-economic contexts and have yet to agree on universal labour standards. None of the actors have sole responsibility or can unilaterally improve labour standards. While MNCs are seeking profit, developing countries are caught between foreign direct investment and overall economic growth through global trade. To substantiate, this article considers representative examples from mass produced consumer goods industries, which are major foreign exchange earners in developing countries, and are positioned at the centre of North-South and SouthSouth competition in the complex matrix of global trade.