Keywords

1 Introduction

For a long time, the mining sector and its operations have been widely recognized as strongly influencing the natural environment. Therefore, the discussion about corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability has started to consider the mining sector with the aim of improving its environmental and social footprint and responding to the multiple challenges of sustainable development (Azapagic, 2004; Hilson & Murck, 2000; Mudd, 2010). This growing need to integrate environmental and social interests into the business models of the industry is guided by several factors. Firstly, we are witnessing the transformation of the structure of the world mining industry (Szablowki, 2002). Secondly, consumers’ demand for luxury goods has been rising noticeably, and transnational mining companies have opened up new regions for mineral exploration and development, particularly in the sector of diamond . The mined diamond production in 2017 is estimated to be 142.3 million carats, worth $15.6 billion, which would be an 11.5% increase in the carat volume produced over 2016 and a 9.9% increase in the total value produced. The diamond production data, collected by the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) in volume (carats) and US dollar value, show that South Africa occupies an important position. South Africa is endowed with large amounts of mineral wealth and is a global player with regard to the production of minerals and mineral-related products (Mutemeri & Petersen, 2002). Historically, South Africa ’s mining industry has been a major employer and contributed 7.7% to the gross domestic product in 2016. The sector also accounts for 25% of the exports in Africa’s most industrialized economy. While it may no longer dominate the South African economy to the same extent that it did a few decades ago, the mining industry remains a key source of direct and indirect employment, export earnings, and tax revenues (FTI Consulting, 2017).

Zimbabwe is among the top diamond producers, and mining has spawned urbanization, economic growth, and prosperity (Kamete, 2012), but many mining companies have closed their operations in recent years. As Muchadenyika (2015, p. 714) stated, many of “these once vibrant mining towns degenerated into ghost towns, closures which have adversely affected communities which have traditionally relied on the industry for their livelihoods”. Zimbabwe is also a member of the Kimberley Process (KP), a government -to-government certification scheme for rough diamonds set up in 2003 to prevent diamond -fuelled conflict and human rights violations. It is possible to distinguish four districts where diamonds are mined: Marange , Buhera, Chipinge, and Chimanimani. Zimbabwe received Kimberley Process certification to sell Marange diamonds in March 2011, despite contestations among other Kimberley Process members. Whilst much of the research work in the diamond literature has focused on transparency , human rights , and resource flows, this chapter examines the sustainability of the supply chain applied in the diamond sector. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis among government organizations (i.e. the US-based Sustainable Minerals Roundtable, the Canadian Minerals and Metals initiative, and the European Industrial Minerals Association) on sustainability-related aspects. In the mining industry , for example, the Global Mining Initiative (GMI) brought together many of the world’s largest mining, metals, and minerals companies, showing the importance of creating an industry association that could focus on sustainable development in the sector and an independent analysis of the key issues facing these industries. This progress has been accompanied by conflicts with local communities (Mugova, Mudenda, & Sachs, 2017) as well as a new challenge in the supply chain operations management in the diamond sector to implement sustainability issues in traditional supply chain management . Alongside this, a plethora of CSR principles, codes of conduct, and reporting guidelines have been developed, and more companies are signing up to such codes, indicating their commitment to meeting certain standards and principles regarding their behaviour in the marketplace. The Kimberly Process, African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), and Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) may constitute evidence of the progress.

The paper attempts to bridge a gap in the sustainable development and mining literature by clarifying exactly how a sustainable supply chain can be applied in the diamond sector. In this context, this paper aims to illustrate and conceptualize a phenomenon so that appropriate theorizing and the development of further areas can be advanced. Our research question is: “how can diamond companies manage sustainability internally and within their supply chain ?” We explore the sustainable practices promoted by the mining companies to offer a guide for those interested in improving the sustainability of their supply chain . Although the literature has focused on analysing sustainable practices, it has hardly managed to identify the influential sustainable supply chain management practices of producers. In the next sections, the paper introduces a brief description of the current debates on sustainability in the mining industry . The research methodology is then introduced. Next, the results obtained from a descriptive statistical analysis are presented. Discussions and conclusions follow.

2 Literature Review

2.1 CSR in the Mining Industry

The study of CSR in the mining industry has gained importance within the academic community during the last few years (Govindan, Kannan, & Shankar, 2014; Solomon, Katz, & Lovel, 2008; Cowell, Wehrmeyer, Argust, & Robertson, 1999). Several studies have investigated the strategies of companies regarding sustainable issues (Dutta, Lawson, & Marcinko, 2012; Hassan & Ibrahim, 2012), the effect on local communities (Hilson & Murck, 2000; Jenkins & Yakovleva, 2006), sustainable reporting and environmental disclosures (Fonseca, McAllister, & Fitzpatrick, 2014), the mechanisms that stakeholder groups use to influence corporate social responsibility (Viveros, 2017), and governance factors, codes of conduct, and policy reforms (Campbell, 2012, 2003). More generally, the literature seems to indicate that mining companies have increased their environmental consciousness (Hilson & Murck, 2000; Vintró, Sanmiquel, & Freijo, 2014; Zhu, Geng, Fujita, & Hashimoto, 2010). Mining activities mainly consist of the extraction, processing, and transportation of minerals from mining sites to the marketplace. Figure 1 depicts a typical mineral life cycle and highlights the key operations and activities from material production through product design/use to end-of-life recycling and disposal.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Source adapted from Fleury and Davies (2012)

Typical mineral life cycle.

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Different authors have conducted case studies of mining companies in different countries. For instance, Vintró et al. (2014) examined the adoption of environmental practices in small and medium-sized companies in the surface mining industry in Catalonia (Spain). Macedo, De Freive, Jose, and Akimoto (2003) provided an overview of the historical and present conditions of the Brazilian non-metallic small-scale mining industry , together with the efforts made by governmental and non-governmental organizations to improve mining technology and the environmental management of resident operations.

Ghose (2003) focused on some of the key environmental issues in the Indian small-scale mining industry (in particular the environmental management plan (EMP) adopted for small-scale mines in India ). Evangelinos and Oku (2006) analysed the mining operations of the Cyclades, examining the regulatory and environmental problems of mining operations and the process of obtaining a “social licence to operate” in the mining operations. Nikolaou and Evangelinos (2010) conducted a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis of the Greek mining and mineral industry ’s implementation of environmental management strategies.

Solomon et al. (2008) explored the Australian mineral industry since the pivotal 2002 Mining and Minerals Sustainable Development (MMSD) project. They identified the current themes, the diversity of mining stakeholder views, and the different ways in which resource policy challenges are articulated based on values , drivers, and interpretations. Viveros (2016) revealed that stakeholders perceive mining impacts on social and environmental domains negatively in contrast to their positive perception of economic impacts. He studied the way in which stakeholder groups in Chile perceive CSR and its impacts on the mining industry through 51 semi-structured interviews. The findings show that CSR is addressed in terms of social and environmental responsibilities but is also perceived negatively as mere rhetoric or simply as a marketing campaign.

Specifically, in Africa , the mining and extractive sector constitutes a significant and increasingly important share of exports and tax revenues (Besada & Martin, 2015), and many unique challenges to and opportunities for CSR in mining are presented in South Africa (Adler, Claassen, Godfrey, & Turton, 2007; Hamann, 2004, 2003; Mutemeri & Petersen, 2002). However, in recent years, the impact of regulations, rising costs, falling productivity, industrial unrest, an unreliable electricity supply, and political uncertainty in South Africa have frequently been cited as the reasons for other locations in Africa and globally now being more attractive destinations for direct investment in the sector (FTI Consulting, 2017). These problems demonstrate the challenge of CSR for companies while considering the needs of a developing nation, environmental protection, community involvement, and international business .

There are several reasons for the importance of CSR and other voluntary initiatives for mining companies: first to “demonstrate that it contributes to the welfare and wellbeing of the current generation” (WCED, 1987) but also to contribute in a meaningful way to sustainable development and add value not just for shareholders (Frynas, 2005; Walker & Howard, 2002).

Indeed, as stated by Jenkins and Yakovleva (2006, p. 272), one outcome of the CSR agenda is the increasing need for individual companies to justify their existence and document their performance through the disclosure of social and environmental information. CSR initiatives are important to obtain a competitive advantage, to achieve and maintain a stable working environment, or to manage external perceptions and maintain a good reputation (Frynas, 2005).

Sustainable development in the corporate mining context requires commitment to continuous environmental and socioeconomic improvement, from mineral exploration through operation to closure (Hilson & Murck, 2000; Jenkins & Yakovleva, 2006). Therefore, mining and mineral industries face challenges in their attempts to implement sustainability developments into the traditional supply chain management .

2.2 Sustainable and Green Supply Chain Management in the Mining Industry

The link between sustainable development and the mining sector still seems to be somewhat uncharted with reference to supply chains . Managing a supply chain sustainably means integrating sustainability into traditional supply chain management (Jia, Diabat, & Mathiyazhagan, 2015), and it could be the binding that combines the previously mentioned terms. The green supply chain management (GSCM) and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) concepts are now receiving special attention from academics, practitioners, and researchers (Kusi-Sarpong, Bai, Sarkis, & Wang, 2015; Kusi-Sarpong, Sarkis, & Wang, 2016; Mathiyazhagan, Diabat, Al-Refaie, & Xu, 2015). As perhaps already noted, in many papers on GSCM topics, several authors have defined GSCM as a sustainable supply chain (Jayaraman, Klassen, & Linton, 2007; Linton, Klassen, & Jayaraman, 2007; Muduli, Govindan, Barve, & Geng, 2013; Piplani, Pujawan, & Ray, 2008; Seuring, Sarkis, Muller, & Rao, 2008), although it is argued that SSCM is essentially an extension of GSCM (Ahi & Searcy, 2013).

For our purposes, we adopt the following definition of SSCM: “The creation of coordinated supply chains through the voluntary integration of economic , environmental, and social considerations with key inter-organizational business systems designed to efficiently and effectively manage the material, information, and capital flows associated with the procurement, production , and distribution of products or services in order to meet stakeholder requirements and improve the profitability, competitiveness, and resilience of the organization over the short- and long-term” (Ahi & Searcy, 2013, p. 339). GSCM focuses on the reduction of the adverse impacts of supply chain activities (Muduli et al., 2013); it helps organizations, among others, to optimize the use of resources, to achieve green products, to introduce recycling practices, and to become energy efficient (Govindan, Muduli, Devika, & Barve, 2016; Rostamzadeh, Govindan, Esmaeili, & Sabaghi, 2015; Van Hoek, 1999), thus emphasizing environmental issues in the upstream and downstream business enterprises in a supply chain (Govindan et al., 2016).

The growing importance of GSCM has motivated various researchers to discover the factors that influence GSCM implementation (Diabat & Govindan, 2011; Holt & Ghobadian, 2009; Mathiyazhagan & Haq, 2013; Mohanty & Prakash, 2014; Mudgal, Shankar, Talib, & Raj, 2009; Xu et al., 2013; Walker, Di Sisto, & McBain, 2008). More recently, Mathiyazhagan et al. (2015) analysed the pressures for GSCM adoption in the mining and mineral industries, and, from the literature review and a discussion with academics and practitioners from the mining and mineral industry , they identified four groups of pressures: regulations, external sources, financial factors, and production and operation factors. Furthermore, Kusi-Sarpong et al. (2015) proposed a comprehensive and integrative framework of green supply chain practices and sub-practices for the mining industry . They identified six distinctive GSCM practices (factors) and sub-practices (factors), which include green information technology and systems (GITS), strategic supplier partnership (SSP), operations and logistics integration (OLI), internal environmental management (IEM), eco-innovation practices (ECO), and end-of-life practices (EOL).

A few studies have examined SSCM practices, but every negative and positive action affecting both environmental and human health should be evaluated from a supply chain perspective (Massaroni, Cozzolino, & Wankowicz, 2015; Wankowicz, 2016). Sauer and Seuring (2017) found that, although there is an increasing demand for sustainability-related actions within the supply chains that are connected with mineral extraction, there seem to be only a few scientific articles related to minerals that are produced in a sustainable manner.

However, considering the growing trend in recent years of ethical and political movements for conflict-free diamonds, the analysis of initiatives that could support social justice and create a licence to operate for companies is required.

2.3 Gap

The mining sector faces some challenging environmental issues in its supply chain (Sivakumar, Kannan, & Murugesan, 2015). Following Azapagic (2004) and a widely accepted categorization of sustainability concerns, CSR is usually addressed by taking a triple-bottom-line (TBL) approach considering three dimensions: social , environmental, and economic (Elkington, 1997).

When trying to explain events, people speculate on cause-effect relationships to validate their hypotheses statistically. People can have different visions while analysing the same case, which is why the interpretation of the facts becomes essentially subjective and often discordant (Von Glasersfeld, 1988). For this purpose, it is relevant to understand whether there is a prospect of producers according to which we can justify the trend, finding consistency in the observed evolution (Baccarani & Golinelli, 2003) to obtain a positive explanation about systems and businesses. In particular, this kind of study focuses on the dynamic interpretation of the three dimensions: social , environmental, and economic .

The hypothesis, although formulated in an abductive way, seems to be reflected in the mentioned studies but needs to be developed and argued. To this end, the paper will proceed as follows. After evaluating the TBL in the viable system view, we will reflect on the implications of this possible evolutionary principle, trying to abstract rules of general value and drawing possible forward indications.

Achieving this new goal requires a new approach, based on important premises such as: (i) the need for an extended representation, analysing the historical background and thinking about its future; (ii) an acquired consciousness, perfectly in line with the established and shared assumptions and growing in complexity, considering the high variability of interpretative schemes used in the past, from which a better understanding of the main purpose can be achieved.

Regarding sustainability , there are two categories of active forces: (a) the first type of force is connected to the actions of decision makers, which, through procedures of address (laws , rules, and provisions), affect the actions of the communities in the systemic context; (b) the second type of force, derived from a sense of belonging of the participants, inspired by a common purpose and shared rules, is linked to the forces of the first type. The inspiring principle of forces is excluded from the autonomy of action of the pro tempore decision makers engaged in the context; despite being derived from a common feeling, the action of the forces is revealed as an independent and autonomous flow. At this point, the concept of “resonance ” is very important. When type 1 and type 2 forces cooperate in a crescendo of positive returns, a condition of alteration of individuality, in the end they proceed towards symbiotic behaviour. These last considerations allow us to affirm that sustainability is not an “absolute” concept; on the contrary, it is characterized by being “subjective”: the notion of context, that is, a portion of the more general environment, the boundaries of which are defined by the governing body and elected to the territory of the specific action of a viable system, implies that the prevalence of one of the three dimensions (environmental, social , and economic ) that form sustainability depends on the decision maker. In particular, the favouring of one dimension rather than another, without prejudice to the coexistence of the other two, will depend on the specific context conditions and the orientation given in a specific instant.

3 Methodology

3.1 Design

The methodology used, although a heuristic type, refers to the positive method, as practices and occurrences are used to delineate a precise research path. In particular, in our work we intend to refer to the VSA (viable system approach ), an interpretative model that was born and developed as explanatory support for the dynamics of business organizations and that appears to be increasingly able to explain socio-cultural phenomena (Barile, Saviano, Iandolo, & Calabrese, 2014; Saviano, Bassano, & Calabrese, 2010). In the following, starting from the definition of sustainability with a broader scope, some initial critical positions are exposed, from which we then arrive at the prospect of useful elements leading to the introduction of a working hypothesis aimed at producing a possible itinerary for the development of our research project. Furthermore, with reference to sustainability, the critical nature of the relationship and the influence of the various “supra-systems ” that populate the supply chain assume importance. In particular, the international strategies that can be implemented against the supra-systems can be as follows (Barile, Nigro, & Trumfio, 2006):

  1. (1)

    High influence  + high criticality of the relationship: strategies for sharing values ;

  2. (2)

    High influence  + low criticality of the relationship: weighting strategy ;

  3. (3)

    Low influence  + high criticality of the relationship: co-evolution strategies;

  4. (4)

    Low influence  + low criticality of the relationship: efficiency improvement strategies.

Nevertheless, the design and management of sustainability-oriented management systems must meet the following objectives:

  • Compliance with legislative and legislative restrictions: necessities;

  • The choice to adhere to voluntary certifications and standards : possibilities;

  • The push of the value categories linked to respect for the environment (resources), attention to the economic aspects (adherence to the rules), and attention to the social (results ): solutions.

Figure 2 summarizes the conceptual analogies that allow us to identify one general scheme, making evident the mechanism of what we identify as the “triple propeller of change”.

Fig. 2
figure 2

Source Barile, Saviano, http://www.asvsa.org

A scheme of synthesis of the triple helix of sustainability.

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Highlighted in the representation of Fig. 2 are the recognition of the scheme’s general principle underlying sustainability and the VSA, thus opening up further parallels and allowing a glimpse of another specific scheme that is hidden in the reported model: the model of the triple helix . Conceived as a model of innovation in the 1990s by Etzkowitz (1993) and Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff (1995), the triple propeller is actually based on the general scheme of the dynamics of change that unfolds between evolution, adaptation, and development, a pattern that clearly appears in the viable system perspective.

3.2 Sample

According to the World Diamond Council, CSR has been promoted by multiple associations, organizations, and NGOs: to mention a few, the African Diamond Producers Association (ADPA), the International Diamond Manufacturers Association (IDMA), the Diamond Development Initiative (DDI), and the Diamond Empowerment Fund. This research analyses the contribution of diamond producers, members of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJS), to corporate social responsibility . The RJS has been selected for this research as it permits us to analyse the role of entire diamond supply chains in social and environmental sustainability . However, none of companies extracted from the RJC database were operating in the Marange . To assure the alignment with the call for papers, the research goal of the contribution, and the completeness of the research, we include the analysis of one producer in the Marange diamond fields.Footnote 1 The social dimension, which is related to social well-being (Hassini, Surti, & Searcy, 2012), is analysed through the impacts of business on communities. The integration of social sustainability into supply chain management is often seen through corporate social responsibility (Mani et al., 2016). The environmental aspects “measure evaluates the extent to which firms reduce their environmental impact through a reduction in hazardous materials, resource consumption, greenhouse gas emission, waste disposal and waste water drainage” (Massaroni et al., 2015; Wong, 2013, p. 125).

A general description of the sample is provided in the following Table 1.

Table 1 General overview of the companies included in the research
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4 Results

Table 2 explores how the analysed companies, members of the RJC, have integrated social and environmental issues into their business (economic interests are considered as sine qua non and as a driver for the promotion of any of the above-mentioned initiatives).

Table 2 Initiatives for social and environmental sustainability
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4.1 Discussion

The results show that the dominant paradigm for the various companies is the mechanistic one; in fact, the various projects and/or actions concerning sustainability are strongly specific and focus on a maximum of a triple-bottom-line dimension. In reality, the three dimensions must be understood through a circular relationship, whereby the environment represents all the resources , the economy represents the laws that tell us how to use the resources, and the society represents the result achieved by using the resources in compliance with the specific rules (Barile, Pels, Polese, & Saviano, 2012). This circular notion means that the local and global levels cannot be separated. The global tends to incorporate, and even to define, the local aspects; at the same time, the local agents are solely responsible for the emergence of the totality (Barile, Carrubbo, Iandolo, & Caputo, 2013).

Achieving sustainability across the supply chain is not an easy task, as it requires close cross-functional and inter-company cooperation to address issues such as the following: environmental protection, improved productivity, risk minimization, and innovation. Obviously, all actions must be aimed at satisfying the expectations of the relevant suprasystems (Golinelli, 2010), mapped according to the indications given in the methodology.

This reading facilitates the adoption of sustainability in a company as an intrinsic necessity of the system’s survival conditions in its own viable context. In particular, it allows us to return to a unitary and broad perspective of sustainability and the conditions of equilibrium of the system at different levels of observation.

In the actions of the viable system, as we hoped, it becomes increasingly clear that the determinants of the processes are not only mechanistic but also of a finalistic type. In the succession of system-related events, considering the choices of the decision makers who govern the addresses, the identification of the goal and the tendency to achieve the same determine conditioning at least as important as that deriving from the choices made in the past.

In this representation, dynamically, the viable system seeks to preserve stability through phases of balancing and rebalancing (Table 3). In some cases, the solution can be found in a simple extension of the functional capacity of the component (elasticity ). When the need for adaptation exceeds the specific role played by the components and concerns the function performed, the case of transformation arises. The intervention requires “flexibility ”, that is, the ability to revise the role on the basis of the function performed. It is important to note that interventions in flexibility , once they are experienced, create new patterns (new skills), and they tend to be counted among the “available benefits” arising from new features. These new features change the traditional design logic-specific structures aimed at obtaining a certain result and introduce new resolutive methods (Saviano, 2015).

Table 3 The steps for the rebalancing of viable systems
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The rebalancing of the viable system can also be achieved by more drastic approaches than those of adjustments and transformations. In the case of physiological or pathological restructuring, the principles invoked are respectively those of plasticity and conservability .

We suggest interpreting SSCM as a pathological restructuring of firms because the idea of sustainability requires a profound change to allow a paradigmatic leap. Restructuring involves re-examining the strategic focus against the backdrop of a changing business environment. True long-term success depends on forging an approach that balances essence and power and acts as a scheme that reinterprets the triad proper into modal logic, necessity, possibility, and effectiveness. A review and possible refocusing of the supply chain will ensure that all the operational measures support the strategic goals. At the same time, flexibility and the ability to respond swiftly to new developments are essential for all business functions (i.e. for the accounting function, the necessity to adopt “integrated reporting ”; see Cucari & Mugova, 2017). A good example of this kind of strategic refocus is also occurring at the board level with a greater awareness of environmental and social governance issues (Cucari, Esposito De Falco, & Orlando, 2018; Nielsen & Noergaard, 2011; Tang, Hull, & Rothenberg, 2012). The results confirm that the producers have understood the importance of this relevant change and interpreted the challenges as a strategic goal (i.e. Alrosa—“As a member of the international community, we understand that the assessment of the overall performance depends on the extent of our responsibility before society and the environment”).

The analysed companies participate in the relevant global, national, and regional organizations, initiatives, sustainability standards , and management approaches to improve the performance activities promoted by the industry as a whole (i.e. membership of the RJC and adherence to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme ), and they are among the founding members of the Diamond Producers Association (DPA). They communicate their engagement with the corporate citizenship and sustainable development through the release of sustainability reports (De Beers, Lucara, and the Rio Tinto Group) or by creating sustainability sections on their websites (Alrosa and Dominion Diamond Mines). The efforts are implemented within the companies and in their supply chains . De Beers’s “Best Practice Principles programme”, based on partnership logic, permits it to benchmark activities across the value chain and ensure that the supply chain is free from diamond conflicts. Dominion Diamond Mines assures the integrity of the supply chain of Canadian diamonds from mine to retail through the CanadaMark™ (“Dominion Diamond Mines is committed to ensuring that all aspects of its business —including diamond mining and the sale of rough diamonds—reflect the highest standards of conduct”; Alrosa—“The Company is committed to operating in a sustainable manner and with the utmost integrity to enhance the positive economic , environmental and social impacts of its business while maximizing the resources it mines”). The companies maximize local procurement (i.e. in 2016, 82% of Lukara’s goods and services were sourced from Botswana ; De Beers created a 7-pillar socio-economic programme) as well as local employment. The companies care about long-term socio-economic benefits for the communities in which they locate their operations (Alrosa—“We see social policy as core to our operations”, Lucara—“Corporate responsibility is central to our strategic and operational thinking”; De Beers—“We focus on creating lasting socio-economic benefit wherever we operate”; “The Social Way requires that operations are aligned with a human rights ‘lens’ in assessing and managing social risks and impacts”; Dominion Diamond Mines—“We maintain a high standard of environmental stewardship throughout all phases of our operations”). This significant involvement in the social and environmental has been recognized by external entities. In March 2016 Lucara received a major international award for environmental and social responsibility , the Rio Tinto Group partnership with the Northern Territory Government , Developing East Arnhem Limited (DEAL), won a National Economic Development Excellence Award for best rural and remote initiative, and in 2015 Namdeb (Namibia De Beers) was declared the winner of the Chamber of Mines Safety Competition, recognizing the company ’s safety commitments and achievements. However, the research on the company operating in Zimbabwe’s diamond sector was strongly compromised. Even though Marange is considered to be one of the world’s biggest deposits of diamonds, thus constituting a profitable area for the mining of diamonds, it has been characterized by many conflicts in recent years. Unfortunately, as stated by Mbada Diamonds ’ chief security officer, Jabulani Mkoko, “Marange ’s potential has been overshadowed by violence , smuggling, corruption and most of all, lost opportunity” (Zimbabwe Situation, 2018).

5 Conclusion

From this first exploratory analysis some conclusions can be drawn. Observing the positive trend in the global demand for the diamonds and raising awareness of the consumers, the efforts of companies toward the corporate social responsibility will be constantly more required. Due to the necessity of implementation of CSR strategy in the mining sector , we propose a study of analyzing initiatives of CSR of six diamond producers, members of Responsible Jewellery Council. In this way, results show a set of initiatives that producers operating in the diamond supply chain may implement in order to contribute to the corporate social responsibility . Based on this assumption, the perspectives of sustainability and viable system are intertwined in this viable system approach highlighting not a few trade-offs that certainly make complex Sustainable Supply Chain Management . What has been said so far does not claim to express conclusive conceptualizations with respect to the possibility of developing a new perspective of an investigation, capable of explaining decisional dynamics and managerial choices. However, it is believed that the coherence guidelines found are not negligible and therefore sufficient to favor the possibility of a further commitment by a community of scholars with interdisciplinary skills and competencies, to explore the frontiers of knowledge related to dynamics of organizations. Future work might improve this framework by taking a different research methodology perspective. This might allow specific features to be identified in greater detail.