Commodity Chains Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Commodity Chains - Essay Example In this regard, the paper will discuss Diamonds from Angola produced by DeBeers De Beer operates in over 25 nations and mining occurs in Namibia, Angola, South Africa, Botswana and Canada among others. In Botswana mining is done via the mining firm Debswana while in Namibia it occurs through Namdeb, which is a 50-50 joint venture with the Namibian government. Due to its massive market share, the firm has dominated diamond sale, mining, trading, and industrial manufacturing sectors. It is headquartered in Luxembourg and was founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes. In 2012, the company got revenue of $6.1 billion. It has over 20,000 employees. The key people in De Beer Group of Companies are Mark Cutifani as the Chairman and Philippe Mellier as the chief executive officer (De Beers Group, 2014). According to McConnell and Brue (421), De Beer used monopoloid practices all through the 20th century. However, there are numerous amounts of hours that are spent on examining the piles of rough diamonds, dividing them as well as subdividing them into over 7,000 categories. In the diamond industry, from to cutting to polishing is an art that requires several years of apprenticeship and skill. Subsequently, the stones are re-sorted into a further 5,000 categories. From the dealers, to cutters, to polishers, and to jewellery sellers, the price of a diamond usually increases by about 10-fold by the time it leaves the De Beers vaults in Charterhouse Street and arriving in the shop shelves. The diamond industry relies upon a standard supply at a stable price, and that is what De Beers provides.  In this perspective, De Beer has been involved in various controversies including price fixing and acquiring diamonds from war torn nations, such as, Angola. Angola is the seventh largest nation in Africa with a population of 21.47 million according to the 2013 World Bank statistics. The country measures about 1,246,620 km2. In relation to the socio-economic conditions of the nation,