De Beers' Interesting Week

It's been quite a week in De Beers-land. The company renewed its agreement with Namibia, and the European Union closed its investigation of Supplier of Choice. This last piece of news makes me (and I'm sure many others) squirm a bit; I don't doubt De Beers is making a sincere effort toward legal compliance, and that is a good thing, but there are many organizations and individuals with very real concerns about SoC, and the E.C. does not seem to be listening to what they have to say.

In any case, it would be a good-news week for De Beers, if not for the ongoing court case brought against them by sightholder Jayam (details here and here), where apparently the dirt is a-flowin', on both sides. (Chaim opens with some of the highlights.)  We're still trying to nail down the details, and maybe even get a transcript, but any eyewitnesses out there are welcome to write in  (rbates - at - reedbusiness.com).

One thing De Beers has done which I haven't noticed before it is now putting their sightholder criteria and other supporting materials on its web site. The most recent sightholder questionaire (from 2005) is here; it is not clear if the new "simplified" questionaire for SOC2 will be substantially different.  

De Beers should be applauded for putting those up there, but they do illustrate very dramatically the pressures sightholders felt under SoC1 and why so many rushed into marketing programs and vertical alliances, sometimes hastily. In particular, check out the questions under Criteria Four ("Please indicate your total spend on marketing and promotion last year" and "How many staff are involved full time in marketing and promotion?")  I ask you, if you were a sightholder whose supply was on the line, what would you do?