Conflict Minerals and Corporate Social Responsibilities in Sweden : How do Swedish companies respond to the conflict minerals issue and what are the challenges?

Sammanfattning: This study focuses on one of the emerging issues in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), “conflict minerals”. The discussion of the “conflict minerals” issue is that the trade of “conflict minerals”, originating from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), helps to finance conflicts characterized by extreme violence including killing and rape, therefore, the downstream companies which indirectly buy these minerals should take actions (Global Witness, 2010).This study first seeks to provide an overview of the Swedish companies’ progress on the conflict minerals issue through desktop research, and later tries to find out the driving forces, the measures and the existing challenges related to the conflict minerals issue through case studies. In the case studies, interviews were carried out with Sony Ericsson and Atlas Copco. The results of the study show that most companies studied in the six industries have not addressed the conflict minerals issue while companies in the electronic industry has made the most progress on conflict minerals in Sweden. In the case studies, the results present that external pressure is one of the major driving forces for both companies, and Sony Ericsson have taken several measures which seem to be aligned with supply chain risk management approach and OECD DD Guidance. In addition, both companies have tried to integrate conflict mineral management into existing supply chain management. The challenges are different depending on the progress of the companies.The study contributes to providing a better understanding of the current situation surrounding the conflict minerals issue in Sweden and to elaborating examples of the measures and the existing challenges.