Supplier Diversity For Dummies

Chapter 1

Understanding the Growing Demand for Supplier Diversity

IN THIS CHAPTER

Getting crystal clear on the nature of supplier diversity

Identifying the continued need for supplier diversity

Eyeing how external factors are changing the field

Exploring companies’ renewed investment in supplier diversity

Supplier diversity is a proactive business strategy that encourages buying from businesses that identify as belonging to a specific socioeconomic, historically disadvantaged, or underutilized demographic as suppliers, vendors, and contractors. The Small Business Administration, commonly called the SBA, classifies businesses in a number of categories. The most common are minority-owned or disadvantaged, women-owned, veteran-owned, and service-disabled-veteran owned. Corporations have expanded their definitions to also include LGBTQ to be more reflective of their local communities.

Supplier diversity has continued to progress from legislation to stabilize social unrest during the late 1960s to an economic imperative and a bona-fide management strategy. Supplier diversity programs ...