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This study aims to investigate the effects of mineral rents, conflict and population growth on countries' growth, with a specific interest in 13 selected economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This paper uses a combination of research methods: the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), the fixed effect and the system generalized method of moment (GMM). The consistent estimator (system GMM), which provides the paper's empirical findings, remedies the inherent endogeneity bias in the model formulation. The utilized panel dataset for the study spans from 1980 to 2022.

The study suggests that mineral rents positively affect countries' growth by about 0.407 percentage points in the short run. The study further demonstrates the long-run negative impacts of population growth rates and prevalence of civil war on economic growth. The empirical work of the study reveals that an increase in the number of international borders within the group promotes mineral conflicts, which impedes economic growth. Evidence from the specification tests performed in the study confirmed the validity of the empirical results.

Mineral rents, if well managed and conditioned on good institutions, are a blessing to an economy, contrary to the assumptions that mineral resources are a curse. The utilization of mineral rents in Sub-Saharan Africa for economic growth depends on several factors, notably the level of mineral conflicts, population growth rates, institutional factors and the ability to contain civil war, among others.

This study is the first attempt in the post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era to revisit the investigation of the impacts of mineral rents, conflict and population growth rates on the countries' growth while controlling for the potential implications of the qualities of institutions. One of the significant contributions of the study is the identification of high population growth rates as one of the primary drivers of mineral conflicts that impede economic growth in the states with enormous mineral deposits in Sub-Saharan Africa. The crucial inference drawn from the study is that mineral rents positively impact countries' growth, even with inherent institutional challenges, although the results could be better with good institutions.

The necessity to assess and manage supply chains to be free from social problems such as human and labour rights abuses has become particularly apparent since the introduction of conflict minerals regulations in the United States (Dodd-Frank Act) and the European Union. Similarly, stakeholders demand that products are free from social problems. Ever more companies are therefore challenged to assess and manage social issues in their supply chains. At the same time, the increasing literature on assessment and management of social issues is disperse and an overview missing. This paper aims to provide an overview of the existing literature on social assessment and management approaches relating to conflict minerals and connected to social issues in supply chains.

A review of the academic literature on social assessment and management of conflict minerals to provide an overview is currently missing. This paper addresses this gap by systematically reviewing the existing research literature on approaches for the social assessment and management of conflict minerals from a supply chain perspective.

The systematic literature review found 21 social assessment and 30 social management approaches with reference to conflict minerals, with the most referenced approach being the OECD guidelines. Overall, the conflict mineral related literature discusses rather general social assessment and management approaches, such as codes of conduct, while the effectiveness of the approaches is not analysed in depth. The paper finds that an analysis of the effectiveness and interlinkages of different approaches is missing. The large variety of social and human rights issues addressed in the academic literature ranges from corruption to violence, going beyond the scope of regulations focused on conflict minerals. This indicates that regulations on conflict minerals and the consequences for management are seen as a specific case with wider implications for future regulations and the necessity for management to solve social problems in supply chains in an effective way.

The review paper is conceptual and develops a framework to classify social assessment and management approaches for conflict minerals, drawing on the supply chain management literature.

The overview reveals that research refers to broader social assessment and management approaches indicating wider implications for assessing and managing social issues in supply chains in general, irrespective of whether they are conflict mineral related. Research has, however, so far not addressed the effectiveness and interlinkages between social assessment and management approaches. The aim of the emerging regulations, however, is to foster more effective management of social issues in supply chains. Management is therefore challenged to develop and implement innovative approaches to effectively reduce social problems in supply chains beyond conflict minerals. Conclusions are drawn for management and research.

The paper highlights the need for collaboration with NGOs, industry associations and suppliers, recommending to engage in supplier development.

The paper conducts the first systematic review of academic literature on conflict mineral related social assessment and management approaches. A framework is proposed to classify social assessment and management approaches based on supply chain management literature. While conflict minerals often represent a small fraction of components in a product, they can have huge and costly implications for companies, which require (potentially) large changes for the sourcing and supply strategy of a company. Conflict mineral regulations represent the first attempt to regulate social and human rights abuses in supply chains holding companies responsible for misconduct caused by suppliers abroad.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a focal firm can manage sustainability in its lower-tier suppliers which lie beyond the firm’s visible horizon.

This paper presents a new approach to managing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains with an illustrative case study that analyzes how electronic equipment firms make efforts to verify that they are not using conflict minerals.

The nexus supplier (smelters in the electronics supply chain) plays a relevant role in increasing visibility and tracing the source of minerals, thus guaranteeing sustainability upstream in the supply chain.

The paper is based on a specific supply chain (i.e. electronics supply chain) and therefore its conclusions might be only partially generalized to other sectors.

Firms in complex supply chains need to make efforts to identify and manage nexus suppliers to extend sustainability upstream in the supply chain, especially beyond their visible horizon.

The paper focuses on management of sustainability in the invisible zone of the supply chain, which has been neglected in previous literature and is increasingly important to the managerial world in an economy with a growing number of global supply chains.

This paper seeks to explicate issues of harm to humanity caused by the mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of coltan, a conflict mineral used in the manufacture of mobile phones and other devices. It seeks to develop remedies and draw an end to a particularized form of human suffering in the DRC (a significant supplier of the mineral) where in its easternmost regions coltan fuels a long‐standing war and unremitting atrocities.

The paper is presented in six sections: Introduction, Background and regional parties, The scramble, Resource curse, Approaches and alternatives, and Conclusion. It is based on primary sources accruing from more than a decade in which the author worked and resided in the Great Lakes region of Africa, initially as a UN Attorney in Rwanda (1994‐1995), and subsequently as Director/Attorney of an international human rights and humanitarian non‐profit organization (1996‐2005). Further work has been undertaken in Europe between 2005 and the present. The paper additionally employs secondary materials and explores the regional, historical, political and economic contexts necessary for effective understanding of the relevant issues.

The central issue is whether remedies are available to halt the negative consequences procurement of minerals in developing regions has on local and regional populations. The specific concern is whether the cell phone industry can ensure that it is not using a mineral that causes vast bloodshed including war and violations of human rights, and how a conflict that has already caused suffering of historical dimension can be brought to a halt. Manufacturers to date cannot provide assurances. Several key issues, insights, approaches and solutions could change the status quo and conceivably end long‐standing conditions of war. This paper sets them forth.

An entire industry could change the way it does business if the problems that are the subject of this paper are dealt with effectively, whether by the means suggested here or additional measures. Millions of people bearing the brunt of a deadly trade could find relief, ending large‐scale human suffering in a forsaken region. A substantial reduction in crimes against humanity and war crimes can be realized. Working conditions, substandard in the extreme, can improve for miners. A precedent can be set without imposing undue hardships on the industry – a benefit to the industry and consumers.

The paper relies foremost on direct experience in the relevant regions covering a period of 17 years. It presents several novel approaches to solving the core problem. It suggests solutions for governing bodies and industry and actions an individual may personally adopt to effectively address a problem of global dimension.

Literature on conflict minerals supply chain management issues has witnessed a significant surge during the last decade. The authors review how CM research addressed supply chain issues over the last decades and present a critical assessment of such literature based on supply chain governance theory.

A systematic literature review approach was adopted, and a sample of 122 papers were identified in relevant journals. A descriptive, thematic and content analysis of the papers is presented to delineate the structure and the main research clusters of the literature.

The authors provide a comprehensive assessment of CMSC literature and identify four main research clusters. Most research has focussed on operational practices and adopted a fragmented approach to CMSC issues. Accordingly, the authors provide research propositions related to under-explored aspects in extant literature.

This study has a number of implications. Practitioners and researchers will gain a greater understanding of specific CMSC issues which have been addressed in current literature and of how responsible CMSC actions can be implemented.

This study is one of the first literature reviews of publications on CMSC from a supply chain governance perspective. This review presents an overarching map of CMSC literature and a series of propositions to inform future research.

Firms are increasingly pressured to comply with mandatory supply chain transparency (SCT) regulations. Drawing on information processing theory (IPT), this study aims to show how blockchain technology can address information uncertainty and equivocality in assuring regulatory compliance in an interorganizational network (ION).

IPT is applied in a single case study of an ION in the mining industry that aimed to implement blockchain to address mandatory SCT regulations. The authors build on a rich proprietary data set consisting of interviews and substantial secondary material from actors along the supply chain.

The case shows that blockchain creates equality between actors, enables compliance and enhances efficiency in an ION, reducing information uncertainty and equivocality arising from conflict minerals regulation. The system promotes engagement and data sharing between parties while protecting commercial sensitive information. The lack of central authority prevents larger partners from taking control. The system provides mineral provenance and a regulation-compliant record. System cost analysis shows that the system is efficient as it is inexpensive relative to volumes and values of metals transacted. Issues were identified related to collecting richer human rights data for assurance and compliance with due diligence regulations.

The authors provide some of the first evidence in the operations and supply chain management literature of the specific architecture, costs and limitations of using blockchain for SCT. Using an IPT lens in an ION setting, the authors demonstrate how blockchain-based systems can address two key IPT challenges: environmental uncertainty and equivocality.