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Find one near you. Our offices. For localized information, please click below Sign Up. Take Action. Outreach and Engagement Outreach and Engagement. These events create a space for MWBEs to learn about: upcoming contracting opportunities network and engage with various City Departments, and connect with our resource partners.
Policy and process Policy and process. We work to create and oversee City policies to increase access for minority-owned and woman-owned businesses. February executive order. Disparity Study. November executive order. Mayor Walsh signed an executive order in support of equitable procurement procedures in Boston. Supplier Diversity Advisory Council. The council advises the City on: the implementation of the recommendations following the Disparity Study, and the creation of the new Supplier Diversity Program.
The Council brings experience in: best practices in supplier diversity technical assistance community economic development, and equity programs.
Upcoming Events. Who's Involved:. Equity and Inclusion Cabinet. Small Business Development. Supplier diversity programs are also a selling point when hiring. Fifty-two percent of respondents to a survey conducted for UPS by Hootology, a specialized marketing and consumer insights research firm, said they want to work for a company that has a supplier diversity and inclusion program, according to Oswold.
Aside from these moral and ethical arguments, there are sound commercial reasons for creating supplier diversity programs. An inclusive procurement strategy widens the pool of potential suppliers and promotes competition in the 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. Stacey Key, president and CEO of the Georgia Minority Supplier Development Council GMSDC , gave one example of how that flexibility has helped during the pandemic: Minority businesses drew on their expertise in formulating and manufacturing hair products to create their own line of hand sanitizers and multi-purpose disinfectant cleaners.
The current furor over race relations in the United States and increasing support for movements such as Black Lives Matter will surely bolster the impact of supplier diversity programs on brands. A key issue is that diversity programs are often created reactively as distinct entities that are treated as nonessential.
These token departments may not have a seat at the procurement table and hence wield little influence on buying decisions. The obvious remedy is to go beyond tokenism by making programs more central to procurement decisions.
To help address this issue, companies can seek out small, diverse suppliers that need support in the certification process and create mentoring and training programs to help them meet standards. Another approach is to partner with relevant councils and chambers of commerce that provide these support systems.
Yet another issue that needs to be addressed is accountability: How can firms verify that their investments in diversity programs go to the right groups and that these groups are genuine? Any company that is a federal contractor must comply with small-business-subcontracting requirements or federal acquisition regulations that define specific reporting requirements. In addition, a number of companies with long-running programs that we studied have established oversight mechanisms. Its members include its CEO, other people on its executive leadership team, and other managers.
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