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Ethical Gold Supply Chain:
“How can RFID enhance the Fair Trade gold
certification process of the ASM gold supply
chains in Africa?”
22 June 2015
Artur Granatyr 2516578
MSc Supply Chain Management
University of Groningen
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Henk G. Sol
2nd supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ir. Kees Ahaus
Word count: 11 657Abstract
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Acknowledgments
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction... 4
2. Literature review... 7
2.1. Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASM)……….…….……. 7
2.2. ASM Gold mining process………. 7
2.3. Current programmes and policies for ASM……….. 8
2.4. Ethical certification of gold……….……….. 10
2.4.1. Trust and legitimacy in gold ethical certification…….…….... 11
2.5. Traceability……….. 13
2.6. RFID ………..………..………. 14
2.7. RFID in ethical certification of gold supply chains………. 15
3. Methodology……….………..……… 16
3.1. Introduction………..………… 16
3.2. Case setting……….……….…… 17
3.3. Proposed conceptual model……..……….………..……. 19
4. Discussion……….…………...…….. 21
4.1. Introduction……….. 21
4.2. Supply chain description………...………... 21
4.3. Stakeholders………..………….. 23
4.4. RFID implementation in certified ASM gold supply chain ……. 24
4.5. Prerequisites necessary before implementation of RFID……….. 25
4.5.1. User requirements……… 25
4.5.2. Cost-benefit analysis of RFID……… 25
4.5.3. Unique identification number………..……….. 27
4.5.4. IT infrastructure……….……….. 28
4.5.5. Other important considerations………..….. 29
4.6. Proposed schematics of RFID system for Fair Trade certified
ASM gold supply chain….………. 30
4.7. Possible practical ideas for project implementation……… 35
5. Conclusions and recommendations………..……… 36
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1. Introduction
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a traceability technology using radio waves to gather the required data on the physical entities of the product and the location of its transformations (i.e. where the product was processed, packaged and stored) throughout the whole of its supply chain. The benefits of RFID include supply chain optimization, product safety, lower operating costs and gains in productivity (Regattieri et al. 2007).
With the concept of traceability seen as being applicable to all products and all types of the supply chain (Regattieri et al. 2007) this paper seeks to check its applicability to Fair Trade certified Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASM) supply chain in Africa. In particular it is interested in the application of RFID technology to support Fair Trade certification in their main stated objectives including shortening of the gold supply chain (i.e. phasing out the middleman from the supply chain), product differentiation, better wages and working conditions and reduced health and safety hazards.
Kundu and Chopra (2008; 2009) posit that the introduction of RFID in the supply chain will allow leaving out the ethical certification altogether, assuring the end customer about ethicality of the product by itself. The work of (Kundu & Chopra 2008; 2009) sets the framework and initial requirements for the introduction of RFID in ethical supply chain and focuses on Indian coffee and Chilean wine markets.
This research builds on Kundu and Chopra (2008; 2009) but extends its application to that of Fair Trade certified ASM supply chain in Africa. It also sees RFID technology as supporting the ethical standard certification process and its goals rather than a standalone tool assuring the prospective customer of the product ethicality. As such the following research question is being put forward:
“How can RFID enhance the Fair Trade gold certification process of the ASM gold supply chains in Africa?”
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introduction of RFID tracing technology into ASM gold supply chain can indeed magnify the promised positive changes that Fair Trade gold aims to introduce to often impoverished and exploitative ASM gold industry in Africa.
This paper aims to research the applicability of RFID tracking technology in Fair Trade ASM gold supply chain. It seeks to describe and develop the prerequisites, principles and steps necessary for implementation of RFID in ethical gold ASM. Hence it strives to develop a relevant design theory for that application. Gregor and Hevner (2013) posit that academic contribution could include “partial theory, incomplete theory, or even some particularly interesting and perhaps surprising empirical generalization in the form of a new design artefact.” The design theory developed in this paper can be viewed as type of artefact. The reasoning and the discussion of its possible value creation, its potential for use and its acceptance by the ASM gold mining community they can also be seen as a form of contribution to knowledge (Gregor & Hevner, 2013).
Moreover further academic interest in this type of research can relate to the potential for its results to be copied and applied in other certified ethical supply chains. If the lessons learned from the implementation of RFID in gold ASM will meet the expectations it could be possible to extend that research results into much larger and much more recognized Fair Trade certification of, for example, agriculture produce from Africa (Elliot, 2012).
The vast majority of the research on RFID applies to agriculture/food, forestry and fisheries and to the author’s best knowledge the concept of RFID applicability has not been researched for ethically certified ASM gold sector or for the wider gold supply chain for that matter. This paper does not attempt to provide comprehensive solution for the fully functional RFID system for ASM gold supply chains. However it will introduce a general framework for the possible implementation of that project.
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2. Literature review
2.1. Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining
The ASM gold sector comprise of estimated 16 million workers worldwide. Furthermore there are approximately 100 million people globally depending on ASM for their very survival (FLO, 2015).
The very informal and frequently illegal character of the ASM operations increases the risk of environmental damage, health problems and often leads to conflict between the large international mining companies and the local communities. The often corrupt and inefficient governments of Sub Saharan Africa will regularly exacerbate the problem when seen acting as agents for large mining companies through protection of their licenses and concessions (Childs, 2008).
There is an effort on part of the various government and NGOs to alleviate working conditions of the impoverished miners by the creation of alternative ways of earning a living wage. Nevertheless it is worth noting that despite deploring conditions in artisanal gold mining the poor, unemployed and unskilled workers can still earn 3-5 times more in ASM gold mining than in alternative occupations (Imparato, 2010). At present there are various ethical and sustainable standards of mining being introduced in Africa but Fair Trade Gold is seen as the main contender in setting a common standard for ethically certified gold supply chains (Childs, 2014a).
2.2. ASM Gold mining process
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suck up river water and sediment which is next filtrated and added to water-mercury solution (PSG, 2012).
The gold ore is either processed at the mining site or carried to the separate processing site. The process of gold extraction involves crushing of ore and mixing it together with mercury and water. As mercury binds with gold (forming amalgamates) the rest of toxic solution is usually discarded back to the environment. In fact almost 100% of mercury is dumped back to the environment. The last stage is the process of amalgamation where the excess mercury is burned off leaving almost pure gold behind (FLO, 2015).
It is worth noting that the range of the used techniques vary from very primitive (i.e. panning and mercury amalgamation) to more advanced such as gravimetric concentration, cyanidation tanks, activated carbon etc. Certified ASM gold mining would require for most of the mercury/cyanide to be captured and/or recycled (ARM, 2009). The business model of ASM gold supply chain is presented in Fig. 1 bellow.
9 2.3. Current programmes and policies for ASM
In their paper The British Jewellers’ Association (BJA) (2013) discusses various ethical initiatives aimed at the improvement of the livelihoods of ASM gold miners. They provide the jewellery makers with the list of recommendations increasing the chances of sourcing the gold in socially responsible manner. The overall suggestion is to ask the suppliers to provide their Code of Conduct, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report, state the country of origin and/or production. The drafting of new protocols for counterparty risk and due diligence together with requirement of VAT registration documents are seen in that paper as the next logical steps in the process of sourcing gold responsibly (BJA, 2013). The aforementioned paper also advises the creation of warranty system and industry agreements on acceptable gold standards and possibility of joining various programmes like Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), Fair Trade Gold or Fair Mined Gold. The interest in improving ASM gold mining practices is shared by many researchers. For example Hilson (2002) focuses on legalising of ASM, appropriate legislation, economic support, training and education, and dissemination of appropriate technology. Macedo et al. (2009) highlighted the importance of better coordination among public entities supervising ASM industry and improvements in local planning. Kambani (2003) suggested granting mining license only after environmental impact assessment report has been submitted by ASM cooperative. Quiroga (2002) advocated creating alternative way of earning livelihood.
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2010). There was some success in Ghana where hundreds of government officials were tasked with purchasing gold at the price sufficiently high to discourage smuggling (Imparato, 2010).
The inconsistency of these various initiatives and programmes can be attributed to widespread mistrust of ASM mining community in both the government and NGOs (Hilson, 2008). The red tape surrounding legal rights to mining and subsequent acquisition or lease of property often lead to ambiguous situations in which miners can “operate both within and outside of the law” which frequently lead to the conflict within mining communities and between the miners and the large scale operators (Imparato, 2010).
2.4. Ethical Certification of Gold
Fair Trade gold standard seeks to establish physical and documentary traceability of gold throughout the supply chain from the mined gold ore to the end product at jeweller’s shelf (FLO, 2015). The Fair Trade certification seeks to make a distinction between the gold approved by Fair Trade Labelling Organization (FLO) as ethical gold (and produced by certified ASM mining cooperatives) and the rest of the gold stock. Certified gold carries a premium of 10-15% which under the Fair Trade standard should be reinvested in mining communities to allow for further economic and social development at the local level (Echavarria, 2010). As it currently stands Fair Trade gold certification can only be awarded to the community mining organizations (i.e. cooperatives) and not the individual miners or small-scale entrepreneurs (Childs, 2008).
There are many challenges to the successful implementation of Fair Trade in ASM gold mining sector. The physical attributes of the metal, where once the gold is melted, make it difficult to establish where it comes from (Boyd, 2014; Oakley 2012). The complexity of the gold supply chain, its portability and high value makes it very difficult to trace its origins. All that allows for the gold to be relatively easily smuggled across the borders which further exacerbates the illegal trade (FLO, 2015).
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national regulations) (Echavarria, 2010). Also there is no wider agreement on what the ethical gold actually means (Oakley, 2012). The existence of many ethical standards, endorsed by different organisations, (Childs 2014) creates confusion for both producers and consumers alike. Moreover as opposed to widely recognized Fair Trade certification in agriculture, Fair Trade certification of gold is still in its early stages (introduced in 2011) largely unheard of and unrecognized by its potential customers (Boyd, 2014; Bates, 2013).
The major challenge, as seen by many (Childs, 2008; 2014b; Hilson, 2008; Hinton, Veiga & Veiga, 2002; Imparato, 2010; Pegg, 2003; 2006; Ross, 2001), to the introduction of ethical mining standards to ASM are the national governments themselves. The gold produced by ASM is usually kept as part of foreign exchange reserves by the host government. Gold is seen as a currency substitute and as such it is treated as equal to earning foreign income (Childs, 2008; Imparato, 2010). The governments’ main concern for ASM industry is not alleviating the poverty but rather ensuring that all its gold is captured and not smuggled outside the country of the origin (Hilson, 2008).
2.4.1. Trust and legitimacy in gold ethical certification
It could be argued that for any government and/or NGO initiative (as discussed in previous paragraph) to work the issues of trust and legitimacy have to be addressed. Gaining trust and legitimacy begins with widely understood acceptance. Therefore for an initiative (i.e. certification standard) to be successful it had to be accepted by all stakeholders affected by it (Marin-Burgos et al. 2014). To increase the chance of the acceptance the standard has to allow for inclusiveness and participation of all relevant stakeholders (Berenstein, 2011) and to address the issues of power asymmetries and conflict of different values among stakeholders (Marin-Burgos et al. 2014). The distribution of power impacts the trust between the parties and by extension their business relationship in the long term. Lack of trust has a great impact for particular party to get engaged in any voluntary participation (i.e. adhering to the ethical standard) (McDermott, 2011).
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mandatory compliance and oversight are seen as fundamental to the successful implementation of ethical gold standard. He also highlights the importance of the standard to apply to the whole industry and not only to the large mining companies. Hinton et al. (2002) focus more on the production technology employed within ASM. They argue that if the miners were to switch to more sustainable processes of mining gold that method would have to be fast, easy and cheap. Moreover it would have to be pre-tested and followed by sufficient training to be effectively used by miners. The authors also emphasize the fact that each geographic region is unique and thus it is unreasonable to expect for one standard and technology to be equally applicable in all ASM regions.
The issue of legality seems to be mostly widely discussed by both researchers (Childs, 2014b; Hilson 2008; Hinton, Veiga & Veiga, 2002; Imparato, 2010) and entities with direct stake (FLO, ARM) in ASM. It is emphasized that one of the biggest challenges for ASM miners is the ability to secure legal mining rights which usually are designed for large mining operators (FLO, 2015). Fair Trade Foundation states that only “only community-based artisanal and small-scale miners’ organizations, composed of self-employed miners who are members, shareholders, or production partners of the mining organization, or small entrepreneurs with contracted labour, can apply for Fair Trade certification. The organization must also be legally entitled to mine and is responsible for all mining activities within its mining area” (FLO, 2015).
However, as Imparato (2010) and Hilson (2008) point out approximately 90% of ASM gold is produced without legal authorization (usually because of the absence of legal claim over the land). By default it renders the majority of the ASM miners as not being eligible to contract with the registered Fair Trade enterprise. It raises the questions about the overall effectiveness of the Fair Trade standard as it exclude from participation the majority of people for whom it was designed in the first place.
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being produced by large mining companies. That again raises questions about effectiveness of Fair Trade in alleviating the poverty of the ASM miners. The author maintains that for a standard to bring positive change it has to view the host governments and not the Western jewellers as the end customer. Furthermore he sees the support of the host government as crucial to the success of the project.
Childs (2014b) argues that readdressing the general view of ASM (where the miners are seen as criminals) to that of an opportunity for change allowing thousands of miners to become productive and contributing members of society. He suggested that the existing legal framework needs to be ameliorated. The author sees that recognition as an important prerequisite for establishing any successful Fair Trade standard.
2.5. Traceability
Traceability is the ability to discover product whereabouts both backwards and forwards. Backward traceability (i.e. product tracing) allows to determine product journey before arriving at the company. Forward traceability allows locating of the product path after it left the company (Jakkhupan et al. 2015). Supply chain traceability starts with internal traceability (Karlsen et al. 2011). The internal traceability is the ability to monitor movements of the product within the company. The external traceability refers to ability to trace the movement of the product throughout the supply chain (Jakkhupan et al. 2015).
14 2.6. RFID
The use of communication based on the reflection of power (i.e. passive RFID) begins in World War II as transponder technology employed by British Air force, a so called friend-or-foe identification (Landt, 2001). It was first described in 1948 by Stockman (1948). The first commercial use of RFID was pioneered by companies such as Kongo, Sensormatic and Checkpoint in the late 1960s (Chawla & Dong Sam, 2007). However the technology really took off in early 2000s as retailing powerhouse Wal-Mart announced that its 100 top suppliers would be required to use RFID for all their deliveries by January 2005 (Weinstein, 2005).
RFID is a popular traceability system. It supports logistics and supply chain operations by tracking and tracing the information on product within the supply chain. It provides precise and real time information about the product (Zhu et al. 2012). RFID technology comprises of a RFID tag (chip) and a RFID reader both connected to the computer system. It attaches the unique identifying number to the product (object) being tracked. Beside the unique number there is much other relevant information about the product that can be stored on the chip (Zhu et al. 2012).
RFID tagging can take place at essentially three levels of granularity. In pallet level tagging, a tag is affixed to a pallet. In case level tagging, tags are placed on cases. Item-level tags are usually part of the item packaging (Gaukler & Seifert, 2007).
Depending on the power source RFID tags are classified as passive or active. Active tags have their own power source while the passive tags gather their power from received radio waves and stored onto on-board capacitor in the process called inductive coupling. Due to their own power source active tags can send stronger signal but it makes them larger and more expensive (Weinstein, 2005).
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important questions like: where, when and in which lot product was manufactured (Wyld, 2006).
2.7. RFID in ethical certification of gold supply chains
In their two articles Kundu and Chopra (2008; 2009) outline the framework and list the prerequisites to introduction of RFID into the ethical supply chain for Indian coffee. The authors believe that the introduction of tracing technology into coffee supply chain will increase the desirability of coffee for the consumers in developed economies of the North and by extension will bring greater financial rents to producers in the South. Beside transparency, RFID should allow for the identification of distribution of value added activities along the supply chain enabling the producers to focus on the activities that bring the most value. Consequently it would allow a producer to preserve the differentiation of their product in its journey throughout the supply chain until it reaches the customers (Chopra & Kundu, 2008).
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3. Methodology
3.1. Introduction
The research undertaken in this paper has the characteristics of design science research (DSR). That type of research is highly important to information systems (IS) research. An organization implement IS with sole purpose of increasing its efficiency and effectiveness. DSR aims to create innovative artefacts solving real-world problems faced by that company (Hevner and Chatterjee, 2010). In DSR methodology would consists of three elements: “conceptual principles to define what is meant by DS research, practice rules (i.e. process of developing an artefact), and a process for carrying out and presenting the research” (Peffers et al. 2007). All three building blocks are further described in this section.
This paper attempts to develop a design theory. The design theory itself as a type of artefact and as such is seen as a direct contribution to knowledge. That contribution is classified as situated implementation of artefact with that artefact further described as instantiation of implementation of process (Gregor & Hevner, 2013).
The specific type of DSR undertaken in this paper was classified as Exaptation i.e. Known Solutions Extended to New Problems. In this type of DSR it is not unusual for the required artefacts, solving the particular problem, to exist in other fields from where they can imported and adopted for the use in new specific context (Gregor & Hevner 2013). This research exapted the application uses of RFID from various fields including fishery, forestry and agriculture.
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successful implementation of RFID including user requirements, unique identification and IT infrastructure together with extensive cost-benefit analysis will be discussed.
To deepen the analysis this paper will draw on the research on certification and labelling, traceability and RFID, artisanal mining and Fair Trade conducted over the last decade (2005-2015) in gold industry, agriculture, forestry, fisheries. It will also make use of general quality standards as designed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Various written material including standards, certification reports and policy documents published by industry associations, environmental organizations and government agencies has also been extensively researched in preparation for this paper.
Lastly this paper will attempt to develop schematics of RFID system for Fair Trade certified ASM gold supply chain. The Unified Modelling Language (UML) was used to create use-case representation of the workings of proposed IS system. That model is seen as a first step in the design phase of actual system (Barenji et al. 2014) and often seen as a communication bridge between business and software designers.
3.2. Case setting
DSR project undertaken here describes specific context of informal, often illegal and under-researched environment of ASM gold industry in Africa and as such it will be impacted by specific opportunities and constraints of that application. Further research would be necessary to generalize the results to wider domains (i.e. RFID in Fair Trade for agriculture products) (Hevner & Chatterjee, 2010).
As such it is proposed here that additional research is necessary to find out whether introduction of RFID technology (independent variable) will have positive effect on the ethical certification of ASM gold supply chain (dependent variable). The positive should be understood as the ability to increase:
the scope of the Fair Trade certification standard in gold ASM
the acceptance and recognition of the standard by various stakeholders in gold ASM supply chain
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This additional research as a point of departure could use the principles described by Kundu and Chopra (2008; 2009) in their attempt to apply digital traceability in Indian coffee supply chain. It could start with mapping of the ASM gold supply chain to understand how and where the gold miners create most value added and whether the introduction of RFID would enhance the attainment of those benefits. The further research should analyze whether it is possible and/or necessary to include all actors within the ASM supply chain in the process of implementation of RFID (Kundu & Chopra, 2009).
Further research should establish what particular sort of gold data would be possible to obtain and regularly gathered with relative ease throughout the ASM gold supply chain, as opposed to what data would be absolutely. The questions like:
how to prove the efficiency and sustainability of RFID to the mining communities (i.e. trust and acceptance),
how to increase the end customer awareness,
how to identify the alternative gold distribution channels
(Chopra & Kundu, 2008)
would all have be researched and addressed before trying to implement RFID for Fair Trade in gold ASM and not to mention an attempt to generalize the results into other fields (like already mentioned RFID for Fair Trade in agriculture).
19 3.3. Proposed conceptual model
In their paper Parrish et al. (2005) examined performance of Fair Trade certification. The authors compared financial results of cooperative that sold part of its coffee through Fair Trade exchange and the rest under normal market exchange conditions. Ethical sales represented one-third of total exports of that cooperative. Authors were able to demonstrate that Fair Trade created additional 38% value added per kilo of the coffee sold. However it is important to note that both quantitative and qualitative data were collected by means of rapid appraisal methodology over the three months of field research. Moreover the authors themselves admit that results do not present complete picture (Parrish et al. 2005).
Because of the novelty of the idea introduced in this paper (i.e. currently RFID technology is not used in Fair Trade certified gold supply chains) similar comparison would not be feasible. Any additional research could involve pilot introduction of RFID into existing Fair Trade certified supply chain to allow for that comparison. Benchmarking the results of the different (RFID used or not) cooperatives within that gold supply chain against each other could be viewed as so called ‘yardstick’, whereby the success or failure of RFID introduction could be judged. The possible conceptual model is introduced (Fig. 2 below) to aid any potential advancement of the idea.
Fig. 2 The proposed conceptual model
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4. Discussion
4.1. Introduction
Discussed in paragraph 2 issues of trust, legitimacy, political involvement, decriminalisation, Fair Trade and various programmes can prove important when attempting to make improvements in lives of thousands of ASM miners. However the vast majority of gold ASM research/initiatives propose the changes at policy and/or social involvement level. This paper is interested in more practical solution of the possible introduction of RFID technology to already Fair Trade certified ASM gold supply chains and whether that implementation would further support the stated goals of that standard.
Despite of wide application of RFID in agriculture, forestry, fishing and retail its use in traceability within ethical supply chains is practically nonexistent. In their two articles (2008; 2009) Chopra and Kundu laid out the framework for introduction of RFID for tracing and differentiation of ethically produced Indian coffee. However, to the best knowledge of the author, the application of RFID to enhance traceability in Fair Trade ASM gold supply chains has not been researched. As such this paper aims to make use of RFID application principles from various fields where such application has been proven to be successful. For clarity this paper will focus on the ASM gold cooperative already certified under Fair Trade gold standard that is the entity working under legal framework of the domestic country and adhering to relevant safety and environmental rules both national and those laid out by FLO.
4.2. Supply chain description
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As such the following (Fig. 3) model of ethical ASM gold supply chain was created. The supply chain in Fig. 3 is a simplified construct adapted for the purposes of the analysis in this paper. It is focused on the immediate ASM gold supply chain. Hence, at the producer end it omits mercury and/or cyanide (used in the process of amalgamation) supplier not only for the simplicity of the analysis but first and foremost because FLO certified ASM operation recaptures majority of the mercury and in some cases even stops the use of mercury altogether (Echavarria, 2010). On the customer end it sees the Fair Trade jeweller as the end customer of the product because approximately 80 percent of mined gold is used in jewellery production (Hilson, 2008). It is important to mention that the rest of gold is either captured by the domestic government (kept as foreign reserves) or it is melted into investment gold bars by the international miners (Imparato, 2010). That gold is unlikely to be mined in ethical way as it is improbable for both large investors and national governments to be ethically motivated and as such that gold is excluded from consideration in the ethical gold supply chain. Lastly it is important to recognize that ethical refining (i.e. smelting) can take place at the mining site (combining mining and smelting) or at the site outside. Similarly the production of ethical jewellery can take place in either the country of origin or at its retail destination. Again for the analysis simplicity this paper assumes that the Fair Trade jeweller both produces and sells the jewellery at its end retail destination (normally the country of the developed North either Europe or North America).
23 4.3. Stakeholders
Certified ASM gold miner
Hilson (2002) sees ASM operation as the process of extraction of gold and/or gold ore situated at or near of the earth crust. It usually entails intense labour activity in a group of 15 workers or less. The mining usually takes place in remote/isolated site and involves rudimentary techniques. Low health and safety, environmental and technological awareness are often combined with persistent shortage of capital and lack of mechanisation (Hilson, 2002)
In this paper ethical ASM mining entity broadly falls under the definition provided by Hilson (2002) but it also fulfils the requirements laid out by FLO. It means that certified cooperative would employ technology to improve working conditions of its miners and limit and recapture the mercury (and/or cyanide) used in the process of amalgamation (FLO, 2015). FLO certified ASM entity promotes responsible mining, gender equality and elimination of child labour. At the same time it invests the premium within its own local community creating new opportunities outside of the mining (ARM, 2009).
Certified Intermediate Buyer
In ideally functioning certified ASM gold supply chain the role of intermediate buyer is greatly reduced if not eliminated entirely (FLO, 2015). Thus in this paper the role of intermediate buyer is not discussed to allow for better and more focused analysis of that chain. However in designing fully functional RFID traceability system the role of intermediate buyer and its requirements would have to be considered. It is especially important as often middleman offers services to ASM miners that host governments and NGOs are unable or unwilling to deliver. These include not only provision of mercury (and/or cyanide) but also much needed access to credit (Hilson, 2008).
Certified Refiner
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Ethical Jeweller
An ethical jeweller is fully aware of origins its input products. Ethical jeweller would also be expected to present some information about ASM communities from which it sourced its raw materials. That materials would have to come from FLO accepted and certified cooperative mines (EC, 2014). BJA (2013) describes ethical jeweller as an organization upholding the highest level of honesty, integrity and business ethics. It would adhere to all relevant laws and industry standards, with clearly defined service standards and avoidance of minerals from conflict zone (BJA, 2013).
4.4. RFID implementation in certified ASM gold supply
Many researchers quote relatively high cost of required investment and associated uncertainty with regards of future payoff as a barrier to possible implantation of RFID technology (Cannon et al. 2008). However as Karlsen et al. (2011) argues, the products with high value added can recompense for the acquired costs of RFID implementation. As such it could be inferred that the gold (high value commodity) shows a great promise for RFID project.
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4.5. Prerequisites necessary to implementation of RFID
4.5.1. User requirements
If a company cannot determine the direct benefits of RFID introduction, the motivation to implement the new traceability system will dramatically decrease (Karlsen et al. 2011). The same company would be unlikely to make any substantial investment in the system allowing better product information such as RFID if it cannot identify the resulting benefits of that expenditure. Early identification of benefits in both internal and supply chain traceability is crucial for the successful implementation of any traceability system (Manikas & Manos, 2009). As such many researchers (Hu et al. 2013; Karlsen et al. 2011; Manikas & Manos, 2009) highlight the determination of user requirements as an important foundation to implementation of any traceability system.
To determine the benefits of RFID implementation it is necessary to determine requirements of each user in ethical supply chain. Hu et al. (2013) see user requirements as an important step in the successful implementation of traceability system. According to (Thakur & Hurburgh, 2009) ASM gold miner and ethical jeweller as the main parties in the supply chain should create their traceability plans based on their need to comply with Fair Trade standard and their business and customer requirements.
It is also important to note that current and related research on the perceived cost-benefit analysis of introducing traceability system to the supply chain is underdeveloped and requires further study (Karlsen et al. 2011). The relevant cost-benefit analysis (CBA) for RFID in ethical supply chain is presented in the next paragraph.
4.5.2. Cost-benefit analysis of RFID
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authors advise evaluation of derived model in the long-term study and in different project settings.
In the same manner and because the RFID implementation in ASM is a novelty idea, together with the limited scope of this research, CBA analysis is depicted in this paper as a general guideline rather than applicable RFID calculator. The CBA analysis discussed here also avoids divulging into details of benefits classification because of its open discretion/interpretation by academics. For example Bunduchi et al. (2011) find out that the main focus of implementation research is on the success factors related to effective application of technology rather than determination on what that success really means. As such in similar fashion to Al-Kassab et al. (2009) this paper also advises to run a pilot study to gather additional insights into possible issues possibly not discovered in this research.
CBA will vary depending on the project being analysed but only in very specific details. For RFID traceability implementation project these specific particulars as referred by most academic research would include amongst others battery life, number of readers, IT support, the gap between existing and required infrastructure, incorporation with other systems etc (Barlow, 2006). Regardless of various origins and results of particular benefits Al-Kassab et al. (2009) identified reliable method for calculation of benefits. It includes the following steps: determination and quantification of benefit potentials and later allocation of financial value to each business case. The benefit potentials are further divided into direct and indirect financial benefits, quantified and intangible benefits. However an application of that classification is beyond the scope of this paper. The CBA discussed here focuses mainly on the determination of benefit potentials leaving out quantification and putting the financial value on them. Jones et al. (2004) see that potential in increased flexibility and speed of data transfer, greater information accuracy and more secure data sharing amongst supply chain participants. Margulis (2005) notes that the main benefits of RFID implementation is increased supply chain visibility at both ends (i.e. production and consumption) and greater understanding of customer demand. Another potential benefits include time and cost savings, greater use of capacity and capability for innovation, increases in customer service, productivity and worker morale and reduction in processing errors (Barut et al. 2006).
As opposed to benefits, costs had been given far less attention and when they are mentioned they are often imprecisely quantified. They can be frequently described as highly variable financial costs of design and implementation in technology adoption research or very broadly as costs of implementation in the technology implementation research (Bunduchi et al. 2011). Generally in RFID the expenditures come in three categories: (i) hardware cost (tag and reader), (ii) middleware cost (software and infrastructure), and (iii) service cost (design, customization, and configuration cost) (Barlow, 2006; Baysan & Ustundag, 2013).
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often include improvements in internal process as they do not have direct impact on the business bottom line (Al-Kassab et al. 2009). There are differences between the costs in implementation of newly developed emergent technology to that of more established mature technology (Bunduchi et al. 2011). It is especially complicated in the proposed implementation of RFID technology in ASM supply gold chains. The ambiguity in this case involves not only RFID being the relatively new technology in itself but also that it has not been tried in the proposed scenario. The other cost concern relates to RFID not being a simple ‘add-on’ technology but it would most likely require significant transformation of existing IT infrastructure used within the supply chain (Barut et al. 2006). Finally there is a question of how to make sure that the potential benefits to be realised originate directly from RFID implementation and not from other factors (Al-Kassab et al. 2009).
4.5.3. Unique identification number
Many researchers (Manikas & Manos, 2009; Karlsen et al. 2011; Senneset et al. 2007) see unique items (raw materials, semi-finished products, finished products, batch, trade units and logistic units) identification as an absolute prerequisite to introduction of RFID system. Throughout the supply chain all tracked products should be assigned a unique identification number. Overall effectiveness of RFID system would be contingent on the distinct identification of each item allowing for continuous tracking of its movement throughout the supply chain. Product identification should be the exactly the same for all partners within that supply chain (Manikas & Manos, 2009). In order to achieve supply chain traceability at bare minimum the unique properties of all (sourced and delivered) traced items should be recorded at both point of reception and shipping (Senneset et al. 2007) including the assignment of unique identifiers to all traceable items and documentation of their transformations (Karlsen et al. 2011). Karlsen et al. (2011) further argue that chain traceability procedures at point of reception and delivery are necessary to implement electronic chain traceability in the seafood industry. Author also stress out that the ability to trace relevant information is dependent on documenting the link between traced item and its specific database record within the company. Furthermore that link must be maintained downstream supply chain to allow for tracing important information about the input factors.
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associated with increased costs and information management efforts compared to the latter (Manikas & Manos, 2009). Given that RFID system identifies individual item it will by extension produce high volume of data. An introduction of RFID system is expected to generate between 10 and 100 times more data that the long-established barcode technology. As such there is need for qualified data administrators to be able to deal with possible increased pressure on information systems in terms of both speed and volume (Jakkhupan et al. 2015).
It would be advisable for ethical jeweller to create well-defined criteria to trim down the amount of trash data clogging the supply network. At the same time optimization should involve decentralization of data management system to allow for pre-processing of the data. Next step involves elimination of double entries closer to their point of origin which is to say that it could be corrected at the beginning of the supply chain by ASM miner (Ruiz-Garcia & Lunadei, 2011). Karlsen et al. (2011) recommend the use of open standard for information exchange, with the system equipped with modules allowing both transmitting and receiving of electronic messages.
It is important to note there is no one/universal way of defining how the data should look like or in what way it should be presented. Moreover the software programmes used in the supply chain by different partners are usually also different to one another. Even in the unlikely situation where the same software application is used the output format of data will most likely be different (Manikas & Manos, 2009). However in this paper it is seen as an opportunity. As ASM miners are unlikely to have any IS systems in place (Chopra & Kundu, 2008) it would allow the dominant partner (i.e. ethical jeweller) to introduce brand new traceability system specifically designed to the needs of ethical gold supply chain with no or less resistance from the other partners. This point is discussed in greater detail in the next paragraph.
4.5.4. IT infrastructure
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chain (i.e. different application platforms, business processes and data formats) are seen as major problem in implementing information integration system. The key issue here is seen as integration of information from various sources by applying same standards for each entity within the supply chain (Jakkhupan et al. 2015). However as already mentioned above because ASM gold miners rarely use IS technology to track and record information it presents a unique opportunity to introduce new system without much conflict or resistance from/between partners (Chopra & Kundu, 2008).
The main challenge identified by Chopra and Kundu (2008) in developing effective communication model for Fair tracing of coffee is the lack of required infrastructure that is so often taken for granted in developed countries. The ASM gold mining industry in Africa is characterised by similar situation (Hilson, 2008). Karlsen et al. (2011) see the existence of an appropriate IT infrastructure as a necessary condition for implementation of traceability system like RFID. However as Zhu et al. (2012) notice it is the dominant entity within the supply chain (i.e. ethical jeweller) that would usually enforce the implementation of RFID technology throughout the whole chain. Thus the ethical jeweller taking the long-term perspective would also be prepared to subsidise other more reluctant entities within the supply chain to implement the technology.
4.5.5. Other important considerations
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scenario as each site has different geological characteristics and often people with different cultural backgrounds operating them (Hinton et al. 2003).
4.6. Proposed schematics of RFID system for Fair Trade certified ASM gold supply chain According Eriksson and Penker (2000) business modelling allows for deeper understanding of goals, processes, resources and rules affecting the business. They further argue that it allows for the simplification of often complex business paradigm and creation of a common communication platform for all business stakeholders. It is prudent to use the same modelling language bridging the gap between the business and IT (i.e. design) departments of the company as it facilitates communication between business and software modellers (Eriksson & Penker, 2000). In fact incompatible documentation and insufficient communication between the user, the system designer and the implementer have been identified as the two major obstacles to successful implementation of new technology in the system (Barenji et al. 2014).
Presentation of the abstract representation of the business’ resources and activities to the system designers is seen as a first step in designing process of that system (Barenji et al. 2014). The authors see UML as a useful tool for creation of that abstraction model which in turn should assists in the communication between supply chain stakeholders, accommodation of different requirements of the supply chain members, and later the creation of actual model that could be implemented.
The UML introduces a standard for process description but it does not standardize the process of designing those descriptions. It allows for presentation of the system structure through different diagrams including use case diagrams, class diagrams, activity diagrams, and sequence diagrams (Eriksson & Penker, 2000, pp.17-57). The advantages of UML lists its wide and successful implementation in various industrial setups, the ability to represent the majority of most modern equipment and systems, incorporation of all: business, object and component modelling, the ability for derived abstraction to be tested for consistency and finally its possible conversions into other representations (Wang et al. 2011).
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behaviour of supply members at the highest point of abstraction (Barenji et al. 2014). Eriksson and Penker (pp.17-57, 2000) suggest for the design of the system to begin with use case diagram to identify the functional requirements to be placed on that system. A use case illustrates a particular usage of the system as required by the actor(s). An actor is seen as a specific role played by user or another system. The main goal of use case modelling is to determine and describe all use cases required by the actor (i.e. users) of the system. Beside the graphical representation, the use case diagram should also include written description of not only the actors but the relevant actions and responses placed on the designed system (Eriksson & Penker, pp.17-57; 2000).
The use case diagram is developed for this paper is a simplified model for communicating the general idea rather than an attempt to design the whole system. It starts the process of analysis but all remaining parts (outside of the scope of this paper) including designing; coding and testing phases would still have to be addressed at later stages of the project (Banas, 2012). The proposed UML use case diagram for introduction of RFID into certified ASM gold supply chain is presented below (Fig. 3).
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Description of the Use Case - Gold Traceability Certified ASM gold cooperative
The use case is initiated by ASM gold cooperative. The user enters information about produced gold. It is suggested for the information to include product weight (in grams), the number of nuggets, customer (cooperative) unique identification number, order number and its destination (i.e. certified refiner and possibly its unique identification number), delivery method, courier company, courier reference number, country id, invoice number, insurance policy number and insurer (if object was insured). After inputting all relevant data the system verifies its correctness. That could include checking the entered units (for example whether they do not exceed the usual amounts), the identification numbers of certified refiners (whether they are listed in the database), order number (whether order was created in the system). Depending on the type of RFID chipset used some or all of that information would be inputted onto to the transmitter. The continued access to the system would allow for constant monitoring of the product movements along the whole of supply chain.
Certified gold refiner
For gold refiner most of the data send downstream (i.e. to the ethical jeweller) would be similar to that of send by ASM gold cooperative. However the main difference would be retention of the information on gold’s origins. For the gold refiner it would mean to keeping and recording data like cooperative unique identification number, order number etc. on the system and passing them onto new (or reused) RFID chipset. Saving and recording of the information is important to ensure the main goal of the system (i.e. establishing of the traceability along supply chain). It is important as the refined gold bar would most likely be melted down from more than one gold nugget and often sourced from many ASM cooperatives.
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Ethical jeweller
In similar fashion, the jeweller would check the correctness of the recorded data against the received delivery and check for any discrepancies. It should record all previously entered data to allow for identification of the source of its jewellery. Each piece of newly made jewellery ought to have records (i.e. maintain of all records passed along the supply chain) allowing prospective customer to check its route from the very beginning. The jeweller has unrestricted access to the system.
It is often the case to break down the components of the use case separately from the use case description to further clarify the requirements of the system to the design team (Eriksson & Penker, 2000, pp.17-57). The table below (Tab. 1) presents the possible elements to be included in the first part of the system design.
Components Examples
Trigger Creation of Records
Actors Certified ASM gold cooperative, certified gold refiner, ethical jeweller Preconditions Unrestricted access to the system by all users
Goals Determination of origins of gold (i.e. traceability), enhancement of ethical gold certification
Failed conclusions
Inputting incorrect data, data and/or user not recognized by the system
Extensions Block the user account if entered data invalid (after 3 attempts) Steps of
execution
1. Input the relevant data 1A. Data incorrect 1B. Block the user
2. Data validated by the system 3. Create the record
Tab. 1 Gold traceability use case - the components
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largely reduced if not phase out altogether (FLO, 2015). Lastly it excludes jewellery maker assuming that ethical jeweller is responsible for both making and retailing the jewellery. The assumptions were made to both simplify and clarify the steps taken by actors and their relationships in the proposed IS system design. The end goal was to make the resulting analysis (i.e. the first stage of RFID system designation) more focused and helpful in potential further advancement of the idea.
4.7. Possible practical ideas for project implementation
During the research into the basic idea of RFID implementation it was established that the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in their certification manual for gold produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo advises ASM miners to use packaging adhering to the CEEC system (i.e. sealed containers that cannot be open) (BGR, 2011). Although this paper does not focus on practical considerations of the RFID project, the author sees them as a great opportunity to bridge the gap between analysis and the next phase – design part. Introduction of tamper free packaging and placing the RFID chipset inside should in theory increase the trust in new technology being less susceptible to unauthorized and unwanted access. Throughout that paper trust was seen as a key issue to be addressed before implementing the project.
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5. Conclusions and recommendations
This paper had discussed various important considerations regarding the possible implementation of the RFID traceability system in Fair Trade certified ASM gold supply chains in Africa. Beside the RFID and traceability the main issues around the ASM gold industry including ethical certification, trust and legitimacy affecting that certification were also considered. The UML case diagram was used to draw the basic schematics of the proposed model of the RFID system for ASM ethical chain. As for the main question of this paper whether RFID traceability can enhance the certification process the answer appears to be that theoretically it can but some other important questions have to be answered and more detailed research is required.
Despite its price swings in the world markets, gold is considered a high value product/commodity. As such it justifies the extra expenses to be borne by the introduction of RFID alleviating some uncertainties regarding the future payoffs from that investment. Moreover the majority of those costs should fall on to the dominant entity within the supply chain (i.e. ethical jeweller) which by definition would be the best suited to deal with that extra expense. However first and foremost the RFID traceability system in its basic concept and assumptions appears to be a perfect solution to support the main goal of the ethical certification which is to differentiate ethical gold from the gold mined in non-ethical/unsustainable way. That in itself is crucial because of the gold unique properties, where once melted down it is impossible to trace it, thus making makes that extra layer of differentiation that much more valuable.
Nevertheless there are many issues concerning the viability of the project. The vast majority of ASM gold is produced illegally and most of that gold is captured by the domestic governments and kept as part of national foreign reserves. In many cases governments are very interested in perpetuating the cycle as it allows them to acquire the gold at a fraction of the official market price. The widespread illegality in ASM gold mining makes it very difficult for researchers and local authorities to determine the size of the ASM gold market or the real scale of the problems affecting it. Next there is an ambiguity in regards to the definitions of: ASM, cooperative mining operation or ethical gold. That confusion is only magnified by the existence of many ethical standards and the organizations responsible for enforcement of those standards. The main standard (Fair Trade gold) is a relatively new idea with very little recognition among the prospective customers in developed countries. Moreover that standard by its very own design states that certification is only possible for the ASM cooperative operating within legal framework of domestic country which currently automatically excludes the majority of potential beneficiaries that it was designed for. As such it is no surprise that in its current form the standard did not get much traction among ASM communities and the majority of ASM miners are not even aware of the potential benefits that ethical certification presents. In fact they hardly trust or accept any new initiative which is mainly due to their past poor experience with various government and non-government schemes.
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importance to increase the acceptance and recognition of the project by it various stakeholders. However in each country there would be different perception of the gold ASM industry by various entities. Each country would have different legal framework, government involvement, political situation, level of corruption, culture, geological characteristics and many more. Therefore it would be unreasonable to expect one universal solution for all different ASM gold mining African countries. By the same token there would be gaps between existing and required IT infrastructure, education, business and computer skills. The more detailed research into these issues would have to be conducted before trying to design fully functioning RFID traceability system.
The research onto the composition of market is also necessary. How the ethical gold is procured, whether it is sourced directly at the source or indirectly from the intermediate buyers. Let’s assume that Ghana has more favourable conditions to introduce RFID than Mali. Now what would happen if one dominant ethical jeweller which is getting its gold from various African countries decides to do pilot testing of the RFID in Ghana? Would that be beneficial for ASM miners in Ghana in terms of better differentiation of their product as compared with ethically certified but non-RFID traced gold from for example Mali? Or the customer of ethical jewellery in the developed North would be absolutely indifferent to that extra assurance of ethicality (through better differentiation) provided by RFID. If so than the project would only disadvantage ASM communities in Ghana as they would now have to do more work (inputting the data) which in turn would make Mali product more competitive. These are very important questions especially because the Fair Trade market is very specific in its nature. In agriculture Fair Trade reached the limit and with vast interest from African producers it lead to the situation that sometimes majority of the Fair Trade stock had to be discounted at a tender or below the price of non ethical produce to even have a chance of being sold (Elliot, 2012). Even with Fair Trade gold still being novelty (i.e. it most likely not reached that limit yet) is it beneficial for ASM cooperative to take on an extra work (and for that matter for the ethical jeweller to incur extra costs) knowing that most likely there is a limit on the market. In theory it could make Ghana’s product more differentiated and more desirable by the customer in Europe or North America but would the extra investment (in terms of time and money) be worthwhile in the long term? And if the extra research shows promises, should the project be introduced simultaneously in all countries currently certified under FLO standard to avoid disadvantaging any particular ASM community? Or rather it should be a pilot programme that gradually gains momentum? Should the ethical jewellers try to come together in introducing the new technology or maybe it should be the FLO organisation that takes the lead? In the end it is important to remember that for ASM miner to adopt any technology it must be fast, easy and cheap, followed by sufficient amount of training and pre-testing and with clearly defined benefits and/or payoffs. With clear answers to those questions one could expect an increase in the participation of all relevant stakeholders and especially ASM miners. That increased participation was also identified as one of the key positives of RFID introduction.
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