Towards responsible conflict minerals supply chain management: a systematic literature review and a supply chain governance framework

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-03-2020-0140
• Published date: 28 December 2020
• Date: 28 December 2020
• Pages: 720-741
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics
• Author: Jamal El Baz,Fedwa Jebli,Akenroye Temidayo,Anass Cherrafi

Towards responsible conflict

minerals supply chain

management: a systematic

literature review and a supply

chain governance framework

Jamal El Baz

ERETTLOG, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco

Fedwa Jebli

Rabat Business School, Universit

e Internationale de Rabat, Sal

e, Morocco

Akenroye Temidayo

Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK, and

Anass Cherrafi

ENSAM-Meknes, Moulay Ismail University, Meknes, Morocco

Abstract

Purpose –Literature on conflict minerals supply chain management issues has witnessed a significant surge

during the last decade. The authors review how CM research addressed supply chain issues over the last

decades and present a critical assessment of such literature based on supply chain governance theory.

Design/methodology/approach –A systematic literature review approach was adopted, and a sample of

122 papers were identified in relevant journals. A descriptive, thematic and content analysis of the papers is

presented to delineate the structure and the main research clusters of the literature.

Findings –The authors provide a comprehensive assessment of CMSC literature and identify four main

research clusters. Most research has focussed on operational practices and adopted a fragmented approach to

CMSC issues. Accordingly, the authors provide research propositions related to under-explored aspects in

extant literature.

Research limitations/implications –This study has a number of implications. Practitioners and

researchers will gain a greater understanding of specific CMSC issues which have been addressed in current

literature and of how responsible CMSC actions can be implemented.

Originality/value –This study is one of the first literature reviews of publications on CMSC from a supply

chain governance perspective. This review presents an overarching map of CMSC literature and a series of

propositions to inform future research.

Keywords Conflict minerals, Literature review, Supply chain due diligence, Responsible supply chain

management, Supply chain governance, Conflict resources

Paper type Literature review

1. Introduction

Conflictminerals (CM) are those whosesystematic exploitationand trade contribute to, benefit

from or result in the commission of serious violations of human rights amounting to crimes

under international law (Hofmann et al.,2018). The military conflicts occurring in several

regions around the world are often exacerbated by the presence of minerals and natural

resources (H€

ark€

onen, 2018;Young, 20 15). Several studies underline how the competition for

valuable mineralsin Africa can cause wars (Gold et al.,2015) and how the revenues resulting

from miningin some regions are used to fund military operations (Silvaand Shaltegger, 2019).

IJLM

32,3

720

The authors would like to sincerely thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive remarks

and insightful suggestions that helped improving the current version of the paper.

Received 24 March 2020

Revised 11 October 2020

Accepted 13 December 2020

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 32 No. 3, 2021

pp. 720-741

© Emerald Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-03-2020-0140

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0957-4093.htm

For instance,armed groups in the Congo earn largeamounts by mining and trading CM,and in

that processthey frequently violate the basichuman rights by committing sexual violenceand

torture or by employing children as miners (Hofmann et al.,2018).

The term “conflict minerals”refers to coltan (the metal ore from which tantalum is

extracted), cassiterite (tin), wolframite (tungsten) and gold, also known together as the 3tg

minerals (Costanza, 2016). Conflict resources are located in different continents and have high

impact on several industries such as electronics, jewellery, clothing and other industries

(Swift et al., 2019).

Pressure from several stakeholders (consumers, civil society, mass media and

international institutions) has pushed firms to take into consideration CM issues and their

reputational risk (Hofmann et al., 2018). Instead of banning the sourcing of CM, regulations

like the Dodd–Frank Act use a “name and shame”mechanism to expose non-compliant firms

and indirectly entice companies to adopt proactively supply chain due-diligence (SCDD)

initiatives (Silva and Schaltegger, 2019;H€

ark€

onen, 2018). Thus, supply chain managers have

to verify that procurement process is “conflict-free”or take measures to prevent risks

associated with these resources due to the globally dispersed nature of supply chains and the

opacity of commodities’sourcing.

On the whole, conflict minerals supply chain (CMSC) issues are increasingly important

(Islam and van Staden, 2018), and there is a need to shed light on how operational and

strategic supply chain management issues were addressed in current literature. In particular,

issues regarding governance are becoming pressing (Hilson, 2014). Indeed, several studies

have criticized the narrow approach of transparency in SCDD that focuses on commercial

transactions within the SC and leaves out other important actors/elements at the upstream

level (Silva and Schaltegger, 2019;Hofmann et al., 2018). Also, several regulations highlight

the need to develop “stronger governance”regarding managing CM issues (US Secretary of

State and USAID, 2011). Accordingly, a framework drawing on supply chain governance

(SCG) is suggested to underline the numerous aspects of CMSC. SCG with its comprehensive

view of SC levels and stakeholders requirements (Li et al., 2014;Gimenez and Sierra, 2013)

provides an appropriate framework of responsible and sustainable supply chain

management practices (Beske and Seuring, 2014). Therefore, this research aims to assess

CMSC research and to identify gaps in the literature through critical assessment of previous

studies based on SCG outlook. In doing so, this research seeks to provide guidance for further

investigation and suggests several propositions for further research avenues.

The research questions are the following:

RQ1. How did literature on conflict minerals supply chain management address issues

related to responsible supply chain management from supply chain governance

perspective?

RQ2. How can supply chain governance approach enrich research on conflict minerals

supply chain management?

This literature review makes several contributions. First, it reviews research on CMSC issues

which complements prior studies on sustainability in minerals SC (e.g. Sauer and Seuring,

2019;Young, 2015). Furthermore, this paper is an attempt to answer the call of several

scholars for a SCM outlook on CM issues, i.e. how a SCM approach can be applicable to CM as

well as other theoretical frameworks of sustainable and responsible SCM (Gold and Schleper,

2017). Second, drawing on supply chain governance (SCG) theory (Li et al., 2014;Crisan and

Parpucea, 2011), this paper provides a framework for responsible SCM to address the various

issues of CMSC. Rather than ensure mere compliance with regulations, a SCG framework of

CMSC is an attempt to provide a broader outlook by drawing on a coherent set of theoretical

notions (sustainability, legitimacy and stakeholders’theories).

Responsible

conflict

minerals

supply chain

721