Question

300 words:

     (b) Do you think that it is appropriate for firms like Black Diamond to scrutinize its partner factories like this?

     (c) Why or why not?

case study

Task: Read the “Black Diamond Equipment” case below and then answer the following questions.

>> The way that Black Diamond is run, I don't really consider this the American way, I consider Black Diamond an extension of the attitude, the culture, the ethos, and the values of the life defining mountain sports that we were founded to serve. Hi, my name is Peter Metcalf. I'm the CEO and lead founder of Black Diamond. Very early on in the beginning of the company the sports of climbing, mountaineering, alpinism and alpine skiing were relatively small at that time. They've grown dramatically. However, if you aggregated the global demand for that product then you could have a fairly meaningful business. So from that recognition and understanding the amount of money that goes into research and development, commercializing a product, and recognize it to be competitive, to do what we really wanted to do we had to think globally. It was going to be about finding these global markets through finding other people who shared our passion, who were young embryonic business people in many cases who wanted to get into the business because they shared that passion, they knew the markets, they knew the space, and could develop a business as a distributor for us. And as time went on we did begin to recognize that nobody really cares about Black Diamond as much as Black Diamond people do, and for that reason we would have to take charge ultimately of the businesses that we were, the business we were conducting overseas through independent distributors. And there was also a recognition that to be the same brand in Europe or in Asia as we were in North America, we would have to be something slightly different because of cultural values, cultural interpretations.

>> In Salt Lake, like every two to three months stay here for one week to two weeks and but we work together on a daily basis. My name's Thomas Hodel, I'm from Switzerland. Born in Lucerne. Doing outdoor sports were, was always a big part of my life so a big passion of me and that's why I'm here working at Black Diamond sharing that passion and I have two roles at the moment. On a global view I'm responsible for all the ski categories, so together with the team here we define strategies and directions for all the categories which belong to the ski side. And then in Europe I'm the European Category Director so the role there is to make sure whatever we do here works also in Europe and the European needs are covered. And it takes a long time to really figure out the differences in Europe and it's every country has a different culture, mentality. Having that European perspective, I think that's a, that's definitely asset I can bring into this glob- into this company and help this company to become more global and to address those needs better.

>> What is most important to the success of Black Diamond is our unique culture and in all of the, in all of our locations the people that we've put in place there to lead those businesses, they all have a real passion for these activities. They have spent substantial time here. They've been immersed in this culture. They see how we operate. At our Asian facility that we built as a Greenfield project eight or nine years ago, what we did right in the process of hiring, right when we started, was we got people, anybody like you have to learn to repel, repel off the roof. We'd do weekend events where we'd take them hiking. So we're instilling in folks in a myriad of ways what the BD attitude and philosophy is towards life, towards work, collegiality, cooperation. You're only as strong as your weakest member. You have to have implicit trust and confidence in the competency of your partners.

>> So yeah having been in Asia for almost seven years it's a very dynamic culture, especially in China. There's a strong sense of change. There's a strong sense of growth. My name is Vindi Agher [assumed spelling]. Actually you pronounce it as Vindi Agher, but that's difficult so Vindi Agher, I go with Vindi Agher. I'm the VP of Manufacturing here at Black Diamond. Our business is really global. Our customers are global. And our manufacturing is definitely global as well. So yeah we own our own factory in Zhuhai. The products that we assemble and produce in the factory in Zhuhai are also part of this protective products that we use, that will be used in climbing and mountaineering so the quality needs to be good. But also we want to ensure that it's been done in a good way. So we control it from start to finish which means how we treat the people, how we manufacture, and how we run the organization that we ensure that everything is done in the right way.

>> Then another part of our business when it comes down to the soft goods, that is made what we call in the trade OEMs, original equipment manufacturers. Our people, our engineers-- in this case also my daughter, she's a developer of the apparel line-- she is spending weeks at a time at these factory partners in a place like Vietnam or China or Bangladesh and I would not send a 26 year old, my 26 year old daughter to spend time and be in these factories if I weren't comfortable with them. But more importantly, we have a certification and compliance process. We have auditors that go into these factories. We have a very strict guideline of ethical sourcing requirements. So we check these factories. We're not at some sweatshop. The factories that we're in, I think of the apparel factory in Bangladesh, the people get three meals a day, there's healthcare, there's English language, there's money for additional education, it's well ventilated, well lit. It's clean. It's safe. Because that's very important to us and what our values are. Being a global operation brings with it incredible opportunities for growth, for unique insights, for innovation, for just thinking differently than you would otherwise think. It also is taxing, time consuming. It demands that you are constantly questioning your, we're Americans so our American sort of perspective on things. It requires us, if we want to be true to being global, to not just nod at being global but create a true global management team, make sure that that team is part of the leadership team and part of the decision making process. Because being global is about more than just selling globally. If you really want to be a global brand, you have to think globally. And that's easy to say and harder to do.

Answer 1

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A TOTAL OF 319 WORDS

(b) Do you think that it is appropriate for firms like Black Diamond to scrutinize its partner factories like this?

Black Diamond has strong ethical expectations for the care of its workers in factory partners within the group. For such factories, Black Diamond operates a certification system which must fulfill such specific requirements, such as a ventilated and well-lit warehouse. In fact, the organization provides English language services, extra money for schooling and, most significantly, individual dignity. The answers of everyone will differ whether they believe that inspection is necessary. They kept their out-of-country offices secure with stringent enforcement and qualification procedures and indirectly trust them as demonstrated by the owner sending his engineer (daughter) to the location alone for an prolonged period of time.

(c) Why or why not?

By doing so, BD maintains that all of its workers are handled fairly, whether they be in the U.S. or in other nations, in order to promote and uphold even the strongest standard of professionalism in the company. Too many outsourced companies operated by municipal authorities without parent company involvement can wind up abusing local labor in an attempt to increase income. This has been demonstrated time and time again over the years, including with famous labels, when businesses remain generally ignorant of the working and living standards that the provider establishes for his employees (which may be totally intolerable in the nation of the parent company). This has culminated in unsafe working standards (too many hours a day), poor housing standards (not enough to sleep, too many people in a dorm), child labour, little recourse to health insurance or compensation for job losses. Therefore, it is reasonable and extremely important for businesses to scrutinize their vendors / partners / employees in other countries and insure that everyone working by them, even expanded employment, will be handled equally just equitably and as they should be in the company's own nation. Further parent company transparency would result in fair care of all staff, responsible procurement of standards and the development of a diverse and equitable labor force.

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