Supply chains are a difficult beast to control. There are many layers and with each step away from the consumer, the number of suppliers increases and transparency of supplier work practices decreases. By the time you get to raw materials there is very little that consumers know. Hence, companies have historically paid little attention to consumers’ social responsibility preferences as they haven’t impacted final purchase decisions.
A few NGOs are hoping to change this practice and shine a little light on deep levels of supply chains. One focus is procurement of raw materials that are obtained by forced labor and other forms of employee abuse. These “conflict minerals” are in basically everything you own (even the computer I am typing on right now, though Apple is making progress). To learn a bit more about how you can find out if your favorite company is a responsible sourcer check out the article below and the NGOs listed within.
Credit to Brian Splane, a Penn State/Smeal College of Business student, for bringing this article to my attention.