Promoting Economic Growth & Corporate Leadership: Engaging The Boardroom

This conference re-examined companies' approach to supplier diversity and the necessary and appropriate role of the CEO in minority supplier development strategies. If the CEO engages directly in minority supplier development strategy and aligns performance benefits with the goals of supplier diversity, then a corporation's minority supplier development strategy is much more likely to become a long-term competitive advantage. When the CEO makes supplier diversity an enterprise-wide, strategic initiative and when the advantages of supplier diversity permeate the corporate culture, then minority supplier development becomes a profitable undertaking for the company.