Abstract

In this paper the author describes the difficulties related to the «ethical» diamonds, but at the same time analyzing the value of socially responsible behavior, for small and medium firms too, strongly represented in this business. The ethical implications of the analyzed sector in reality are shared by many other businesses, characterized by a separation of decisionmaking, concentrated in a few large firms of the developed countries, and operations / production activities, which prevails a highly fragmentation and location of production sites in emerging and developing countries. This makes difficult and complex to control the entire chain and at the same time the failure of some international initiatives for the dissemination of ethical practices, is leading to the use to legal regulation, already present for this sector in some countries overseas. This paper presents an alternative to the construction of a gold chain, feasible by small and medium-sized enterprises, but it must see involved not only the companies, already accustomed to assumptions of liability in this business, but should co-opt many other economic actors, firms of integrated chains and institutional stakeholders, in order to pursue a Crs strategy in a wider logic of network. The empirical investigation, proposed in the text, is exploratory and has as its main objective the analysis of the sensitivity of producers and consumers towards «ethical» jewelry.