Rights statement: This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 164, 102801, 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2022.102801
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Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - When it’s the Slaves that Pay
T2 - In Search of a Fair Due Diligence Cost Distribution in Conflict Mineral Supply Chains
AU - Schleper, Martin
AU - Blome, Constantin
AU - Stevenson, Mark
AU - Thurer, Matthias
AU - Tusell, Iu
N1 - This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 164, 102801, 2022 DOI: 10.1016/j.tre.2022.102801
PY - 2022/8/31
Y1 - 2022/8/31
N2 - Modern slavery and conflict minerals are often treated as two separate grand challenges governed by different legislation, yet conflict mineral settings commonly involve and inflict slavery in supply chains – hence these two wicked problems are deeply interconnected. This paper focuses on due diligence in the context of conflict mineral supply chains, and in doing so provides important insights for modern slavery in general. Using more than 38 h of recordings from exploratory interviews with 46 experts from 43 organizations, our study investigates: a) how due diligence costs and benefits are actually distributed in supply chains in practice; and b) the means through which due diligence costs and benefits can be (more appropriately) shared. We find that there is a lack of contextualization of cost-sharing mechanisms to conflict mineral supply chains, with most mechanisms being imported from the standard business literature where the producer must pay the production costs before reaping the benefits that offset these costs. But in conflict mineral supply chains, these benefits often do not materialize for the producer and, consequently, cost-sharing mechanisms lead to unintended consequences. The findings question the usefulness of due diligence, call for alternative financing mechanisms, and for contextualized solutions designed from the bottom up. This in turn has important implications for enhancing legislation on modern slavery.
AB - Modern slavery and conflict minerals are often treated as two separate grand challenges governed by different legislation, yet conflict mineral settings commonly involve and inflict slavery in supply chains – hence these two wicked problems are deeply interconnected. This paper focuses on due diligence in the context of conflict mineral supply chains, and in doing so provides important insights for modern slavery in general. Using more than 38 h of recordings from exploratory interviews with 46 experts from 43 organizations, our study investigates: a) how due diligence costs and benefits are actually distributed in supply chains in practice; and b) the means through which due diligence costs and benefits can be (more appropriately) shared. We find that there is a lack of contextualization of cost-sharing mechanisms to conflict mineral supply chains, with most mechanisms being imported from the standard business literature where the producer must pay the production costs before reaping the benefits that offset these costs. But in conflict mineral supply chains, these benefits often do not materialize for the producer and, consequently, cost-sharing mechanisms lead to unintended consequences. The findings question the usefulness of due diligence, call for alternative financing mechanisms, and for contextualized solutions designed from the bottom up. This in turn has important implications for enhancing legislation on modern slavery.
KW - Modern slavery
KW - Supply chain due diligence
KW - Conflict minerals
KW - Cost sharing
KW - Corporate social responsibility
KW - Unintended consequences
U2 - 10.1016/j.tre.2022.102801
DO - 10.1016/j.tre.2022.102801
M3 - Journal article
VL - 164
JO - Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
JF - Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review
SN - 1366-5545
M1 - 102801
ER -