Fairphone: Sustainability from the Inside-Out and Outside-In

Abstract

Fairphone is a social venture on a journey to demonstrate that products and supply chains can be used to create positive and fair social impact. Driven by an understanding that being ‘less bad’ is not the solution, ‘fair’ is the driving principle for product development, supply chain partnering and stakeholder engagement, keeping in mind that the concept of ‘fairness’ is an ongoing discussion and not 100 % achievable. In December 2013, the first generation Fairphone was delivered to the market, to make a statement that a phone can be built while addressing the issue of conflict minerals. The second generation Fairphone is currently in the conceptual phase and will raise the bar for internal and external stakeholder engagement. In order to transition from a campaign about conflict minerals to a social venture, Fairphone is using the story of creating the Fairphone to trigger growing interest from customers, large mobile phone manufacturers and their shareholders. Rethinking the story and facts behind consumer electronics moves sustainability from a contextual discussion to the core of the business. By starting a discussion about the way phones are built with consumers, designers, phone manufacturers and their respective shareholders, Fairphone’s ultimate aim is to eventually influence systemic change.