Does anybody know where I can find some information on the business practices of the DeBeers diamond cartel? I’m also interested in human rights violations. I searched the archives here, but the only threads I found were pretty old, and I am hoping somebody knows of some new links. Google hasn’t been helpful, but maybe I’m using the wrong search terms.
This sounds suspiciously like a homework assignment, but I will tell you that as of mid-2000 DeBeers announced their ceasing the control over the monopoly they once had because they could no longer control the supply of diamonds and thier market share is only about 60% now.
Try looking for university published case studies and economics sources for their practices, as they are a good example of a typical monopoly to be studied. I don’t know where you would find human rights violations information.
The New York Times did a very good multipart series on the diamond trade in general, particularly focusing on human rights abuses, about six months ago or so, you might want to search their web site archives.
Here is what you want:
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sierraleone/links.html
Go to the middle of the page, under “conflict commodities”. There are several links there on this topic.
I saw the Frontline documentary “With This Ring” years ago, and it was excellent, I highly recommend it if you want to understand the history of the diamond scam.
Diamonds are not “rare” as people think they are, it’s been a huge disgusting marketing campaign, manufacturing desire for diamonds where there was little before.
Funny thing is, I never liked diamonds because I thought the hysteria over them was stupid, the documentary confirmed it.
I’ve been out of school for quite a while. I was just talking to a friend about DeBeers and how evil they are, and I was looking for actual information, instead of hearsay.
pfbob Thanks, I’ll look that up.
Correction, I saw a documentary on PBS on diamonds, but now I don’t know which one it is, it seems the one I mentioned above was a radio program.
If you want to find out about the most recent changes in DeBeers policy, search (google, etc) for “supplier of choice initiative”. That’s something they’ve been working on for the last 24 months or so, ever since a long-term consultant study focused them on the idea that they can no longer remain a cartel.
Also try searching for “anglo-american” and “Diamond Trading Company.” “DeBeers” is more a brand name than the actual company name at this point.
Also, searching for “Gareth Penny” or “Nicky Oppenheimer” might yield good results. Penny is the fellow heading up the supplier of choice initiative, while Oppenheimer is the Chairman.
Finally, idexonline.com is a great source for this sort of thing. (But joined-at-the-hip to DTC to some extent, so wouldn’t use this as only reference).
Mithril - BTW, I’m no cheerleader for them, but the short answer to your question is A) Not as evil as you think, and B) A lot less evil than they used to be.
Thanks, everyone. These will be great places to start!