How would you describe Black Diamond’s ethics in terms of how it treats its employees at the company’s factory partners in Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh? Do you think that it is appropriate for firms like Black Diamond to scrutinize its partner factories like this? Why or why not?
How would you describe Black Diamond’s ethics in terms of how it treats its employees at the company’s factory partners in Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh? Do you think that it is appropriate for firms like Black Diamond to scrutinize its partner factories like this? Why or why not?
>> The way that Black Diamond is run, I don't really consider this the American way, I consider Black Diamond an extension of the attitude, the culture, the ethos, and the values of the life defining mountain sports that we were founded to serve. In Salt Lake, like every two to three months stay here for one week to two weeks and but we work together on a daily basis.
>> What is most important to the success of Black Diamond is our unique culture and in all of the, in all of our locations the people that we've put in place there to lead those businesses, they all have a real passion for these activities. They have spent substantial time here. They've been immersed in this culture. They see how we operate. At our Asian facility that we built as a Greenfield project eight or nine years ago, what we did right in the process of hiring, right when we started, was we got people, anybody like you have to learn to repel, repel off the roof. We'd do weekend events where we'd take them hiking. So we're instilling in folks in a myriad of ways what the BD attitude and philosophy is towards life, towards work, collegiality, cooperation. You're only as strong as your weakest member. You have to have implicit trust and confidence in the competency of your partners.
>> So yeah having been in Asia for almost seven years it's a very dynamic culture, especially in China. There's a strong sense of change. There's a strong sense of growth. My name is Vindi Agher [assumed spelling]. Actually you pronounce it as Vindi Agher, but that's difficult so Vindi Agher, I go with Vindi Agher. I'm the VP of Manufacturing here at Black Diamond. Our business is really global. Our customers are global. And our manufacturing is definitely global as well. So yeah we own our own factory in Zhuhai. The products that we assemble and produce in the factory in Zhuhai are also part of this protective products that we use, that will be used in climbing and mountaineering so the quality needs to be good. But also we want to ensure that it's been done in a good way. So we control it from start to finish which means how we treat the people, how we manufacture, and how we run the organization that we ensure that everything is done in the right way.
>> Then another part of our business when it comes down to the soft goods, that is made what we call in the trade OEMs, original equipment manufacturers. Our people, our engineers-- in this case also my daughter, she's a developer of the apparel line-- she is spending weeks at a time at these factory partners in a place like Vietnam or China or Bangladesh and I would not send a 26 year old, my 26 year old daughter to spend time and be in these factories if I weren't comfortable with them. But more importantly, we have a certification and compliance process. We have auditors that go into these factories. We have a very strict guideline of ethical sourcing requirements. So we check these factories. We're not at some sweatshop. The factories that we're in, I think of the apparel factory in Bangladesh, the people get three meals a day, there's healthcare, there's English language, there's money for additional education, it's well ventilated, well lit. It's clean. It's safe. Because that's very important to us and what our values are. Being a global operation brings with it incredible opportunities for growth, for unique insights, for innovation, for just thinking differently than you would otherwise think. It also is taxing, time consuming. It demands that you are constantly questioning your, we're Americans so our American sort of perspective on things. It requires us, if we want to be true to being global, to not just nod at being global but create a true global management team, make sure that that team is part of the leadership team and part of the decision making process. Because being global is about more than just selling globally. If you really want to be a global brand, you have to think globally. And that's easy to say and harder to do.
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