(External blog comment)
In response to this blog post, I looked into the details of corrupt, and inhumane supply chains; essentially how business ethics play into operations around the world.
While inhumanity in the supply chain is nothing new, a growing societal trend shows that consumers are starting to care more about where the products they buy come from. As far as trends go, this is one of the better ones; since the dawn of capitalism, companies have been able to neglect basic human rights in the pursuit of profit because no one has stopped them. Recently the issue has been most prominent in African mines, where companies ignore regulations without any protest from local government.
As this Forbes article points out though, the tides are changing. Consumers are starting to care about where their product comes from, and this is inhibiting firm’s ability’s to profit from their corrupt supply chains. This article also speaks to the bureaucratic and political measure being taken to prevent conflict in the supply chain, however the depth of the issue means that policy will not be able to stop this issue, the solution lies in the hands of the consumer.
This article relates to two important topics from class, business ethic and operations. The advantages that a company can get from ignoring business ethics in their supply chain are enormous. The defining factor is that while there is strong regulation in most first world countries that prevent ethical violations, it is easy to get away with supply chain ethical violations because companies can capitalize on lax regulation in many foreign countries, while selling products back to the first world.
As times change, with greater awareness and communication, the ability for corporations to violate human rights in the supply chain will hopefully get much harder. Consumers have shown, and continue to show, that they care about where their product comes from.
Blog: http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/blog/post/resource-page-progress-and-challenges-conflict-minerals-facts-dodd-frank-1502
Articles: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jwebb/2015/11/16/ridding-the-supply-chain-of-conflict-minerals/?ss=logistics-transport
