The movie Blood Diamond put the spotlight on a natural
resource's availability to spark civil wars, but other conflict minerals
-- like tin, tantalum and tungsten -- are even more controversial,
although lesser known.
Why? Odds are, the smart phone or laptop you're reading this on requires
at least one of these conflict minerals to work. Along with MP3 players,
medical devices and other favorite gadgets, the most successful
technology companies are top consumers of these resources. The SEC has
the next move, deciding how the Dodd-Frank Act will impact business.
"Electronic manufacturers are gearing up for new product launches and
the holiday shopping season to make up for revenue shortcomings from the
first half of 2012," explained Rick Long, Vice President at
BravoSolution. "These companies are now forced to table supply chain
preparation to ensure that they are ready for the SEC ruling."
BravoSolution, the spend
analysis company, is making sure customers are ahead of the game -- outlining how to leverage existing technology to comply with likely
disclosure requirements and avoid supply chain disruptions and revenue
loss in
a new market brief, according to a news release. Here are three steps to address conflict
minerals and avoid backlash:
Gain supplier visibility. Understand which suppliers are
providing these minerals to you, where they're sourced from and if
they're in jeopardy of supporting conflict. All supplier information
should live in a single system that can sort and select suppliers
based on multiple SEC scenarios.
Leverage technology to optimize reporting. By coupling enhanced
supplier data with flexible spend analysis, you'll understand how
heavily production relies on each supplier. These systems and
analytics should optimize and analyze supplier data to drive
real-time, actionable decision making. The ruling may require
reporting down to the most granular levels such as country of origin,
process facility and location of the specific mine.
Make your contracts work harder. Build conflict minerals terms
directly into contracts with suppliers to ensure that what they sell
to you cannot be sourced from conflict regions. This method should go
deeper in the supply chain too, to include contract terms with tier-2
and tier-3 suppliers.
"There's no way to know how the SEC will rule. However, the debate about
conflict minerals is already trickling down to the consumer. Much like
'ging green,' people will start to avoid buying from companies that
support conflict," said Long.
