Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Diamond Industry - It Is Time To Be Ethical

Diamonds Are Covered With Blood
Have you ever heard of the word “Blood Diamond”? It is a common term used between diamond fans because conventional diamonds usually involve the exploitation of laborers in hazardous working conditions. This problem causes conflict regarding the value of diamonds and the financial power that dominates the mining industry. People may look for its breathtaking beauty, but there are various ethical conflicts surrounding the diamond industry where businesses receive tremendous outrage from their customers. Still, some industries strive to behave responsibly and find an alternative method to keep both the business and the customers fulfilled.

How Are Diamond Businesses Striving To Become Socially Responsible?
In response to the protests from customers about the cruelty behind diamond mining, jewelry companies are striving to find alternatives that have similar or better quality than conventional diamonds to appeal to the existing customer base. Currently, there are two well-known alternatives for diamonds: moissanite and lab-grown diamonds.

Moissanite is not an actual diamond but is a naturally occurring gemstone from meteorites that landed on Earth. Despite originating from outer space, diamond checkers, a specific tool that jewelry experts use to detect diamonds, cannot differentiate real diamonds and moissanite. As a result, moissanite is a popular substitution for diamonds among customers.

Lab-grown diamonds, like their name, are created in science laboratories by applying high pressure to what scientists call “diamond seeds”. Although it takes a few weeks to produce, it is an ethical way of gaining diamonds without exploiting workers and violating ethical issues. One well-known example that produced products using lab-grown diamonds is Lloyd, a European jewelry company founded in 1990. Lloyd has created a series of jewelry collections named “L-DIAMOND LINE”, with its products priced under $2,000, which is comparatively cheaper than naturally occurring diamonds and looks the same.

Benefits Of Ethical Diamonds
Jewelry businesses that strive to be responsible may gain benefits for their ethical actions. First, brands that refrain from using “Bloody Diamonds” and choose lab-grown or moissanite diamonds market ethical and kind brand image that care about workers’ rights and not just greedily value money. In addition, this will increase the customer loyalty of such brands, for the customers’ money spent to those ethical businesses would be used for further product development and maintaining ethical unique selling points, not for exploiting people.

Second, both moissanite and lab-grown diamonds are significantly more affordable than typical diamonds. While natural diamonds are priced about up to $12,000, these alternatives are priced up to $6,000, about 50% cheaper. Furthermore, lab-grown diamonds are capable of being produced in a wide variety of colors on a mass scale. This is an excellent differentiation that makes businesses with lab-grown diamond products competitive than businesses that only sell natural diamonds. Diamonds are financially burdensome for those who want to purchase them, where it is highly likely for the customers to buy a plain and common white diamond that is thought to be “original”, even if their favorite color is pink, blue, or yellow. This does not fully satisfy customers' needs after purchasing. On the contrary, because lab-grown diamonds are cheaper and come in diverse colors, customers are able to buy multiple versions of the diamond to enjoy without feeling any regrets. This would lead to increase in sales as well as the number of returning customers, which would strengthen the market share as well as brand awareness.

Third, both moissanite and lab-grown diamonds have noticeably higher profit margins than real diamonds. While natural diamonds have a profit margin of up to 15%, these alternatives have a high profit margin of about 40%. This is truly beneficial for businesses whose primary aim is to raise profit and become successful.