Today TODAY Misdirection and control:


Corporate supplier diversity Supplier diversity is the use of vendors owned by people from traditionally underrepresented groups (women, minorities, etc.). Supplier diversity began primarily as a response to government requirements for the inclusion of underrepresented suppliers for the performance of government contracts.


But, as the purchasing power of women and minorities grew, corporate marketers began to see supplier diversity as an opportunity to improve corporate image, increase penetration in diversity markets, improve brand position, and -- to make more money for the company. Today, supplier diversity is tightly intertwined with large corporate target-marketing initiatives.


The world’s largest corporations give themselves annual awards for supplier diversity without publicly providing details of their spending with women-owned firms.


The dark side of this process -- the misdirection – comes from the stranglehold large businesses have secured over the supply chain marketplace and the relatively small amount of purchasing that is actually performed with diverse suppliers. (Note previous -- Walmart spends only approximately two-percent with minority- and women-owned firms every year).


America’s largest firms have come together in lock step to control certain opportunities of the supply chain through pushing women-owned firms into large corporate “supplier diversity” channels.


To position themselves as the gatekeepers of opportunity for women- and minority-owned suppliers, many of our nation’s largest firms (Fortune 500/Global 500) founded, provide primary funding for, and dominate the board of directors for the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) (a non-profit organization).


Through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), many of these same firms dominate and mandate women- owned suppliers to secure a WBENC women- owned business certification – even if the firm already holds other reputable certifications authenticating women-owned status. Requiring the WBENC certification allows the large businesses to control the supply chain and secure very detailed business and financial information on women-owned firms and potentially secure information that could be used to achieve unfair competitive advantage.


The Women-Led EconomyTM Changes Everything


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36