...as new sources of competition and suspicion about conflict diamonds, Gareth Penny had to rethink the basics A diamond may be forever, as De Beers' famous advertising slogan contends, but is the same true of a business model? That was the question facing Gareth Penny, managing director of De Beers, in the late 19'90s, when the famed diamond cartel found itself beset by a series of events that ultimately forced it to examine and then retool its business strategy. Since the company was founded in 1888, De Beers followed a strategy of supply control. In addition to mining its own diamonds, it bought diamonds from other producers and had what it called the "central selling organization," controlling some 90% of the world's diamonds. Its tight control over such a vast amount of supply enabled De Beers to keep prices high for a commodity that is neither particularly scarce nor useful. If a competitor offered diamonds on the market outside of De Beers' central selling organization, De Beers would simply flood the market with similar stones, thus eliminating any pricing power the competitor might offer. By the end of the 1990s, the business model of controlling supply and managing how much of its inventory went to market at any time was no longer effective: New sources of diamonds were discovered in sufficient quantity that they could be sold competitively outside of De Beers' central selling organization. Demand for diamonds was dropping at a time when demand for other luxury goods...
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...Ethical movie review Title: Blood Diamond Year: 2006 Studio: Virtual Studios Producer: Warner Bros. Director: Edward Zwick Country: United States of America 0.1 Introduction The following essay will examine ethical issues addressed through the movie “Blood Diamond”. The two main issues identified and discussed are; child soldiers and conflict diamonds. My main lens of ethical theories will consist of the four western theories, this includes, egoism, utilitarianism, ethics of duties and ethics of rights. Even though these theories are based on ethical absolutism, I will still try to apply a pluralistic view. Additionally, some of these theories will be expanded and other theories that do not tend so much towards ethical absolutism will be added. The following section will concentrate more on how these issues occurred and try to give some potential answer to the problems. In order to do so descriptive ethical theories will be tools in the examination. Finally the conclusion will be presented by a combination of a film review and a short summary of the findings in the text. 1.1 Children with guns The first of the two ethical issues that will be examined is the use of kids as soldiers. In order to do so I believe I have to take a subjective role on the subject, looking from a rebel soldier. The reasons for this is because I believe objective or western views on this topic will in the end state that this is neither moral or ethical. In order to get a more interesting...
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...Unethical Values Within De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited is a South African-based mining and trading company, which controls the flow of diamonds in the United States marketplace (Aurora, 2008). De Beers distributes diamonds, ships them, and distributes them to significant intermediaries, wholesalers and retailers (Atkinson, 2000). 1. Unethical behaviour: Unfair trading and competition The first unethical conduct identified within the De Beers example is unfair trading and competition, particularly in the formation of cartels. Unfair competition is unethical in terms of the Teleological Framework, as it focuses on the negative result of the conduct of an individual or company as a juristic person, which forms the basis of self-interest (ethical egoism), thereby going against the rights of others (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). This section will briefly explain the De Beers example of this form of unethical conduct, and look at ways in which De Beers could redeem their reputation. We will begin with the definition of a cartel. A cartel is a group of people, organisations, or companies that cooperate together to control production, marketing, and pricing of a product (Smith, 2003). Cartels are an example of unethical conduct and are thus explicitly illegal under antitrust laws in many countries of the world, as they eliminate fair market competition. A cartel’s biggest effect is driving the price of a commodity up and well beyond what is...
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...writes the rules of the international diamond market? How are they enforced? * De Beers and the other diamond companies of the their time and specifically the Central Selling Organization (CSO) and the government partners where they are mining (?) * Their sorting process and the which went through many different grades that measured the 4 Cs: carat, color, clarity, and cuttability (?) 2. How has De Beers structured its relationship with the U.S. diamond dealers and the U.S. government? Are these relationships sustainable? * Most expensive stones were cut and polished in New York. The U.S. was the biggest market for De Beers. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA), the largest, most respected nonprofit institute in its field, had developed the widely-used D-Z color scale and the Flawless-I3 clarity scale for polished diamonds. De Beers had irked U.S. authorities by failing to appear, in 1994, in a suite by the Department of Justice alleging price-fixing in industrial diamonds in which it was a co-defendant along with General Electric. And socially, the diamond industry began to be criticized for dealing in “conflict diamonds” from African countries. (?) * These relationships cannot be sustainable (?) 3. What should the U.S. government do about the flow of diamonds from Angola, the Congo and Sierra Leone? What should De Beers do? * Continue the fight started by the NGOs and demand that they diamonds be tracked and have to become certified...
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...Beers and the Conflict Diamonds De Beers is the most recognizable name in the diamond industry and since it was established in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes; the company have been linked to the “blood diamond” trade because for a long time they had the control of supply and demand of the diamond industry. De beers dominated the diamond market for the best part of the 20th century, but the creation of synthetic diamonds and the discovery of new diamond deposits in other countries have created new challenges and De Beers have been obligated to deviate from their traditional ways of doing business. Q1. The diamond industry is exclusive in comparison to other industries because of the nature of their product. Diamonds are unique and the competitive rivalry is limited to only a few producers. The diamond industry has been able to create a high demand of their product because they have the ability to control the supply. Other industries such as electronics and technology face stiff competition and do not have the ability to control the market as the diamond industry does. Industries other than the diamond industries offer a great deal of alternatives for their services and products, but when it comes to the diamond industry; the alternatives are somewhat limited. While other industries struggle to stay afloat; the diamond industry continues to grow and presents an attractive opportunity for investors. Q2. I believe that anyone or any company that purchase conflict diamond has no regards for...
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... The movie “Blood Diamond” is directed by Edward Zwick. This movie is considered as one of the great movies because the diamonds mined at Africa are traded in exchange for firearms and other weapons which are used in civil wars, coups and cruel military dictatorships, and what makes the story interesting is that, which side is worse? Is it the government or the rebels? So the first thing we see in this story if we will relate it to economic situation is that, people face tradeoffs. RUFs mine diamonds and sell to those people who will give them firearms in exchange for diamonds. Back to the story, this story takes place in 1999 in Sierra Leone, which during that time, is at civil war. The story stars Leonardo DiCapprio, played the role as Danny Archer, who is a diamond smuggler who needs money to leave Africa for good. There, he meets Solomon Vandy. His life changed when the Revolutionary United Front or RUF invaded their village, killed many people, and kidnapped most children and men. His family escaped, and he is sent to the forced labor camp to mine diamond. During that time, diamonds have really high value because they are traded for arms and is sold for a very high price. When Solomon is sifting sand on a river bank, he saw a 100 karat pink diamond which he initially hides then later buries. No less than a minute, it happened that there was government raid, he captured and he was sent in jail. There he meets Danny, who made deal with him. For diamond: Danny will help...
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...The makers of “Blood Diamond,” an exceptionally thriller starring a most excellent Leonardo DiCaprio, want you to know there may be blood on your hands, specifically your wedding finger. The story involves so-called conflict diamonds, illicitly mined stones that have been used to finance some of the most vicious wars in Africa. If films were judged solely by their good intentions, this one would be best in show. Instead, gilded in money and dripping with sanctimony, confused and mindlessly contradictory, the film is a textbook example of how easily commercialism can trump do-goodism, particularly in Hollywood. The 2006 movie (Blood Diamond) was recently seen by me, this is an American political war thriller film produced and directed by Edward Zwick, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou. The title refers to blood diamonds, which are diamonds mined in African war zones and sold to finance conflicts, and thereby profit warlords and diamond companies across the world. During Sierra Leone Civil War in 1996–2001, the film shows a country torn apart by the struggle between government soldiers and rebels. It also portrays many of the atrocities of that war, including the rebels' amputation of people's hands to discourage them from voting in upcoming elections. The film's ending, in which a conference is held concerning blood diamonds, is in reference to an actual meeting that took place in Kimberley, South Africa in 2000 and led to the Kimberley Process...
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...Conflict Diamonds and the Kimberly Process What this case is about was that ion the 2000’s, a common concern emerged among members of the diamond industry, the United Nations, several governments and Human Rights campaigners who all wished to end the trade in Conflict Diamonds which were gemstones that were being mined or stolen by rebels fighting internationally recognized governments. To end this, they embarked an unusual collaboration called the Kimberly Process. The Kimberly Process was a scheme for tracking diamonds all the way from the mine to the jewelry shop, so that consumers could be assured that the gems they were buying were conflict free. 1. Conflict Diamonds are diamonds that are illegally traded to fund conflicts. In recent times, conflicts in some of the poorest parts of Africa have often focused on rebels controlling their country’s natural resources and assets, for example, oil, wood, minerals and also diamonds. They are diamonds that had originated from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments. Conflict diamonds came to the attention of the world media during the extremely brutal conflict in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. The groups that were benefited from the trade in conflict diamonds were the combatants, including the Revolutionary United Front. Diamonds played a key role in obtaining funds to provide these...
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...Poverty is not uncommon in most parts of the Congo. In fact, it is likely that most areas of the Congo are struggling to provide for the people. Each city is filled with garbage on the streets, gang violence, and people living just to make it to the next day. Watching the documentary, Benda Bilili, depicted not only the struggle that the people of Congo endure everyday, but how music and passion drove the members of Staff Benda Bilili to prosperity. The movie sets the scene of despair and poverty right from the get go, opening on several kids discussing how they would be rich if they stole the cameras of the crew who were recording the journey of Staff Benda Bilili. It is shocking to see that these kids would steal in order to make a living....
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...«BLOOD DIAMOND» - Film review. Blood Diamond is an Oscar-nominated political war thriller movie from 2006 directed by Edward Zwick. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers and Stephen Collins. The movie is set during the Sierra Leone Civil War, from 1996 to 2001. We get introduced to the main characters, Danny Archer and Solomon Vandy, both living in Sierra Leone. Solomon gets kidnapped by the RUF (Revolutionary United Front). He got separated from his family, and his son got kidnapped too, and turned into a child-soldier. Solomon got sent to work as a slave in the diamond mines. If the slaves found any diamonds, the RUF would use the diamonds to buy military weapons. One day Solomon found a big shiny diamond, and he tried to hide it, but one of the RUF-soldiers caught him hiding it and Solomon got arrested, but the diamond stayed hidden. Behind bars, Solomon met Danny Archer, who had been arrested for diamond-smuggling. Danny found out about Solomon’s hidden diamond, and he offers to help Solomon finding his family in-trade for the diamond. Finding the diamond, and getting Solomon’s family back is the main-conflict in the movie. Throughout the movie we follow the main characters, Solomon and Danny. Salomon is introduced as a normal and happy family-father with a normal life. This changes when he gets kidnapped by the RUF. Salomon gets more and more angry and unstable during his time away from his family. He wants the best for...
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...ENGL 1157 05/05/2013 Blood Diamond I think, Blood Diamond could have been little shorter. While the film includes a number of political and sociological insights, the story is tepid and loses momentum as the storyline bogs down. The main character, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, has an effective arc that is believable because it does not force him to act contrary to his nature, but it takes a long time for Blood Diamond to get us to DiCaprio's moment of recognition. Pacing issues aside, this is a well constructed movie and clearly the product of a director who understands how to make a top-notch motion picture. It looks great and sounds great. If only Edward Zwick's mastery of the medium had extended to pruning the screenplay and editing the final result, Blood Diamond might have been a great film rather than one worthy of only a lukewarm recommendation. The story takes place in 1999 Sierra Leone, when the country is embroiled in a civil war. In this case, it's hard to determine which side is worse: the government or the rebels. As is often the case in this sort of bloodbath, atrocities abound and it's the innocent farmers and villagers caught in between who pay the price. Diamonds, one of the country's largest exportable commodities, are being smuggled out and purchased on the open market despite a supposed international ban on the purchase of so-called "conflict diamonds" or "blood diamonds." This historical background is accurate, although the three primary characters...
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...Diamond Ethics Blood Diamonds, also referred to as conflict diamonds, are diamonds that derive from areas controlled by forces or sections opposed to lawful and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in resistance to those governments, or in breach of the decisions of the Security Council. These radicals sell these diamonds, and the money is used to acquire weapons or to fund their military actions, and used to bribe foreign officials. Blood Diamonds are often created through the involuntary strained labor of men, women and children. They are also stolen during delivery or stolen by attacking the mining operations of lawful manufacturers. These assaults can be on the extent of a large military operation. The stones are then smuggled into the international diamond trade and sold as legitimate gems. These diamonds are often the main source of funding for the radicals, however, weapons businesses, smugglers and dishonest diamond traders enable their actions. Vast amounts of money are at stake and kickbacks, intimidation, torment, and murder are methods of maneuver. This is why the term "blood diamonds" is used. That diamond tainted and terminated many lives and the report of that stone bears a strong ethical significance. Angola Angola gained independence from Portugal on November 11, 1975. Although independent, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and...
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...The purpose of this memorandum is to educate the community on the ethical issues that should be taken into consideration when buying a diamond or additional precious jewelry. In today times, the issue of diamonds obtained from questionable sources has come up in the public, in the movies, and among top executives at Tiffany & Company. Members of several action groups question the ethics of obtaining diamonds from sources that are enmeshed in bloody conflict. As we take a look at the market, when most women are buying or receiving a diamond, probably do not give much thought to where the stone came from. Furthermore, whenever a man purchases a ring for his lady, how often does he think to ask the jeweler where the stone originated? In recent years, there has been a large movement to pressure jewelers, such as Tiffany & Co. to be more socially responsible in ensuring that their diamonds are not blood diamonds. The major issue that Tiffany & Co. faces in regards to these so-called blood diamonds would be classified as an issue of social responsibility. Tiffany & Co. admits openly that it has a responsibility to society to keep from supporting the atrocities that are committed by such groups as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), who are from Sierra Leone, who act in conflict-stricken countries around the world, who uses the diamond trade to fund their wars, often terrorizing the innocent populations of their own countries. Tiffany & Co. could now use Thorne et. al.’s “Framework...
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...Diamond Road Assignment 1. Rebel forces control areas and often through the forced labour of people, they produce stones that are known as blood diamonds. These rebels oppose the government, and use the money from the diamonds to purchase weapons and fund their military actions. Blood diamonds are also known as conflict diamonds. 2. If the natives own the land, they rent it to diamond companies, which will agree to leave everything like it was once they are done, Example: they will put all the fish back in the water. The natives then grow prosperous from the mine and the diamond companies are able to rent a piece of land until they no longer need it, which benefits them because they will not have to purchase it which relieves them of any long term commitment. 3. This situation benefits the natives because they are able to rent their land to the diamond companies, which will pay them and also keep the land well maintained. The diamond companies have respect for their land which is important to the natives and they leave everything like it was untouched. This situation benefits the diamond companies because they are able to mine diamonds, without the hefty cost of purchasing land. They are able to use the land for as long as they need and give it back to the natives, which save them a lot of money. 4. You are able to find a copy of the Rappaport report online at: www.rappaportdiamondreport.com. Usually, only subscribers to their magazine have access to this...
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...May 4, 2010 How do conflict diamonds fuel the conflict in regions they come from? From my impression of the films Blood Diamond and Lord of War, the illegal act of trading arms for diamonds seems like business as usual. It’s not until you look at, where the diamonds come from, how they are mined and who controls/owns the gems, that you begin to understand why these precious stones are called “Blood Diamonds”. Most diamonds on the market come from expensive mining operations run by large corporations, who drill into large bodies of volcanic rock containing diamond deposits, known as kimberlites. Sources like these are not easily accessible to anyone and in the case of Africa, “conflict diamonds come primarily from places where rivers have washed over kimberlites and spread their wealth down river in thick deposits of mud and gravel”. (stemming the flow) In west Africa, there are many well known regions which contain some of the world’s largest diamond deposits. INTRODUCTION The link between diamonds and armed conflict in Sierra Leone is obvious, and has been exposed, investigated, and deplored by humanitarians, journalists, politicians, and diamond industry leaders. Less obvious are the complex, entrenched relationships between exploitative systems of financial intermediation and resource management, poverty, and the spectacular, mysterious wealth of the diamond trade. Diamonds have facilitated, not caused, and armed conflict. Pre-war economic and social injustice...
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