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

Miquel Ballester Salvà (), Tessa Wernink and Carina Strahl
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Miquel Ballester Salvà: Fairphone
Tessa Wernink: thewholeworks

A chapter in Sustainable Value Chain Management, 2026, pp 157-181 from Springer

Abstract: 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. Since December 2013, when Fairphone delivered its first-generation phone, the company is making a statement that a phone can be built while operating a more transformative and sustainable value chain. With the launch of the 6th generation Fairphone, the company has demonstrated a substantial transformation from a campaign about conflict minerals to a viable social business. Since its inception, Fairphone has influenced a large community of customers, 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 affect systemic change.

Keywords: Supply chain; Life cycle assessment; Smartphone; Fair materials; Fair factories; Social enterprise (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-13293-2_5

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