Cameco

Introduction

This case is about the relationship between great technology companies, such as Intel and the conflict minerals. The purchase of these minerals supported the armed groups and the conflicts indeed. In Stage 1, the external environment is described in five aspects, including politics, economics, social culture, technology and ethical. The Stage 2 case analysis will analyze the current situation and work out possible solutions based on the background in Stage 1. This essay will firstly discuss the background and find out the main problem or issue in the external environment. Afterwards, it will give some possible solutions and determine the best solutions with reasons.

Background

As discussed in Stage 1 case analysis, the external environment issues are divided into five aspects. Overall, the current issue faced by the Democratic Republic of Congo is the uncontrollable conflict, which is caused by the armed group （Frederick A & Barbara M, 2015）. The conflicts not only lead to the poverty of this lamentable country but also the death of innocent people. The investments or purchases from great technology companies are supporting the armed groups to some extent, because the funds are used by armed groups controlling the minerals to buy weapons which is the direct causes of the conflicts (Frederick A & Barbara M, 2015). However, the big companies are seeking for trailing the sources of the minerals in order to avoid purchasing the materials from the rebel groups. But it is difficult to track the sources due to limited transparency, the development of the related techniques is essential (see Appendix 1). The global organizations, such as Intel are working together on this problem. Intel is one of the founding members of Public Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade, which is attempting to solve these problems in the world. （Miller S, 2015）As DRC is a multi-cultural country with various races and religions, the different consciousness is one of the potential reasons for the frequent conflicts (Everyculture, 2017). Furthermore, the economy of this country significantly relies on selling the minerals, therefore the sustainability is also an issue.

Main Focal Problem or issue

There are a large number of problems in the current situation. Because of the complexity of these problems, the companies, organizations and governments should collaborate on resolving the issues. Among all these issues, to finding out the conflict mines in the supply chain is the most urgent. Besides, developing new substitutional raw materials in the technology industry is the second urgent mission.

Successful tracing the conflict mines is the direct method of reducing the financial support to the armed groups, and this also make the minerals from rebel groups lose its market. In a long term, the conflicts between armed groups may disappear, because some of the conflicts are to control more minerals and more income. If the tracking become realistic, the conflicts will lose its financial support and sense. This will resolve this problem in the root. Secondly, the technology industry cannot develop without raw materials. It is necessary to find out the substitutional minerals to replace the status of the conflict minerals.