Anglo American PLC is a diversified mining conglomerate operating worldwide with 69,000 employees who produce diamonds, precious metals (platinum), base metals (copper, nickel, zinc, and phosphates), and bulk metals (such as iron and coal). Founded in 1917 as the Anglo-American Corp. of South Africa and now headquartered in London with mining operations worldwide. With such a huge investment in South Africa, Anglo American has been heavily affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It was estimated that HIV/AIDS was adding as much as $5 to the cost of producing one ounce of gold, thereby tacking on $11 million a year to the company’s production costs. In addition to losses in productivity, the company had to bear the costs entailed by high levels of absenteeism, the constant retraining of replacement workers, and burgeoning payouts in health, hospitalization, and death benefits. Having recognized the threat as far back as the early 1990s, Anglo American was one of the first companies to establish a proactive, comprehensive strategy to combat the raging effects of the disease on its workforce. However, Anglo American has faced numerous challenges including employee compliance with the program, the spiraling costs for the program itself, pressure from various stakeholders, and the lack of active engagement from drug manufacturer. Given these problems, some have suggested that the company would be better off stopping the program rather than pouring more resources into it. There are also indications that the future may not be as bleak as it initially appeared as AIDS-related deaths had dropped by more than 51 percent since the peak in 2004. However, the introduction and spread of COVID-19 in 2020 has added a new complexity to the challenges faced by Anglo American.

Questions

1. Because such a large percentage of its workforce consists of migrant workers who are more likely to acquire and spread HIV/AIDS, should Anglo adopt the policy of not hiring migrant workers? Should the South African government close the doors to migrant workers?

2. What role do pharmaceutical companies play in responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa? Given that HIV/AIDS drugs can be exported from India at a lower cost than from the pharmaceutical companies themselves, should Anglo just import the drugs to be used for their employees?