In a conference call by investors after publishing the year-end figures Juwaher Aldossary is accused of exploiting the workforce in India. She explains that they do not produce goods in India. The caller who she later learns is from an Islamic organization says that this is not the case. Although Bedouin Comfort technically does not own the suppliers, Bedouin Comfort is by far and away the biggest customer of the suppliers. The caller quotes an email from Bedouin Comfort complaining about the cost of the imported woods and threatening to transfer the order to Cambodia. The caller quotes the conditions in one of the major suppliers of wood in Cambodia and says that they are considerably worse than in India. This the caller explains was by Saudi standards already low. Indian workers did not enjoy anything like the real value of pay compared with Saudi workers. The caller further states that the poor conditions are poor by Indian standards as well, that the company is regarded as a poor employer in India.

Juwaher Aldossary is surprised by the call and is worried that other investors who are sensitive to pressure groups and some of whom have an ethical investment policy might be concerned about these accusations. She therefore decides to make a reasonably robust defence. Firstly she says that she had no idea that Bedouin Comfort was the main customer of the company and stressed that it had no shares or other interests other than being a customer. Secondly, being the main customer did not mean that they were the problem, it may be that the other customers were getting even lower prices. Thirdly, that she had a duty to shareholders to maximize returns and obtaining the best value for money from suppliers was part of that process.

One of the larger investors then responds asking Juwaher if he has an ethical purchasing policy. Juwaher is caught off guard by this but decides that he had better sound a bit more sympathetic. She responds that they do not have an ethical policy per se; but were they to have matters brought to their attention regarding the conditions in the factories of their suppliers, they would certainly look into the matter. The investor replies that they have recently come under pressure to ensure that their investments were ethical and conformed with Islamic principles. He asks Juwaher whether she engaged in Islamic finance. Juwaher argues that she would be sympathetic to any concerns that their company engaged in practices that might be considered unacceptable under Islamic principles.

After the call Juwaher Aldossary asks you as the company financial analyst to report on the following concerns:

1.) Draft out an ethical purchasing policy for Bedouin Comfort?

2.) Juwaher Aldossary remembers that on a trip to India the wood factory has mainly Muslim employees. He asks you whether there is anything that can be done to make the relationship more sympathetic to the Muslim faith?