Posted on : 2022-08-26 02:48:02
Article : Good evening, Friday Management TASK 205- Diversity helps to create better workplaces and to support higher performance and social advancement.
With the growing yet limited understanding of what diversity, equity and inclusion entail, the world of work often restricts the focus in the space to simply hiring diverse talent. While that might be understandable as we tackle the gaps one step at a time, there is a need for businesses to recognise the far-reaching scope of diversity. Beyond meeting only talent and consumer expectations around diversity through organisational culture and services, there is an urgency to acknowledge and enhance the focus on supplier diversity.
Increasing the diversity of suppliers has become more urgent at a time when social issues strongly influence business growth. The purpose of supplier diversity program is to create a robust and diverse supply chain by ensuring that companies owned by traditionally underrepresented or underserved populations, including communities of colour, women, and veterans are considered for procurement contracts. This increased level of supplier diversity is an important way to signal to diverse job seekers, including veterans, that the company recognizes and shares their values. Furthermore, it provides with new and expanded talent pools of diverse individuals who are connected to these businesses.
Diversity helps to create better workplaces and to support higher performance and social advancement. Companies can unlock more value in their supplier diversity programs by including higher-growth sectors and promoting diversity across the business ecosystem. Sixty-four percent of millennials say they won’t work for companies that perform poorly on corporate social responsibility. Investors prioritize companies with a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy.
Robust talent pipelines of qualified veteran jobseekers with the skills and competencies necessary to succeed on the job do not simply appear overnight. Companies interested in connecting with diverse talent pools must be connected to those respective 16 communities as in USA and have deep, authentic relationships in place. Supplier diversity strategies offer networks of new contacts and an ability to support and grow opportunities in those communities.
Like in diversity procurement, closer relationships between buyers and suppliers could create significant value and help supply chains become more resilient. Companies with advanced procurement functions know that there are limits to the value they can generate by focusing purely on the price of the products and services they buy. These organizations understand that when buyers and suppliers are willing and able to cooperate, they can often find ways to unlock significant new sources of value that benefit them both.
A diverse supplier is a business that is at least 51% owned and operated by an individual or group that is part of a traditionally underrepresented or underserved group. Common classifications are small-business enterprises (SBEs), minority-owned enterprises (MBEs), and woman-owned enterprises (WBEs). Over time, the definition of diversity has expanded to businesses owned by other minority groups such as LGBQT, veterans, and proprietors with disabilities.
The history of supplier diversity in the United States is firmly rooted in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Following race riots in Detroit in 1968, General Motors set up what is regarded as one of the first supplier diversity programs, and much of the American auto industry followed suit. Early movers in the electronics industry such as IBM established supplier diversity programs around the same time. Later, Public Law 95-507 established a program to encourage government contractors to include minority-owned businesses in their supply chains.
Supplier diversity programs can be part of a company’s efforts to maintain high moral and ethical standards. To encourage such growth, Coca-Cola is spending over $800 million annually on diverse suppliers and has a goal of increasing that to more than $1 billion by the end of 2020. Together with Georgia State University, Coca-Cola formed a supplier-development institute four years ago to provide education on how to start businesses for small and disadvantaged groups. Coca-Cola also has the STEP initiative to support women entrepreneurs through training, education, and mentorship.
Some large companies encourage, and in some cases, require their suppliers to create their own diversity initiatives to broaden the impact. For instance, as of 2019, the retailer- Target spent $1.4 billion on goods and services provided by first-tier diverse suppliers and influenced its first-tier suppliers to buy over $800,000 worth of offerings from second-tier diverse suppliers.
An inclusive procurement strategy widens the pool of potential suppliers and promotes competition in the diverse supply base, which can improve product quality and drive down costs. And by providing more sourcing options, inclusiveness can make supply chains more resilient and agile — an increasingly important advantage in these uncertain times. “Diverse suppliers can turn on a dime and are now considered for contracts that they would not have been otherwise due to the imperative for flexibility. They have proven themselves to be agile in terms of responsiveness.”
Post your comments and career experiences on supply diversity to benefit the different organisations of all sizes in different sectors. We post real time information on supplier diversity programs conducted by leading global companies in our Good morning, Monday Management solution for TASK 205 on 29th August 2022.
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