Supplier Diversity Consulting & Strategy

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Building an inclusive supply chain can broaden a company’s supply ecosystem while lowering regulatory risk and satisfying investors’ demands for meaningful DEI action. BCG’s supplier diversity consulting team helps clients build inclusive strategies for advancing supplier diversity—both to strengthen their competitive position and to use their business to address inequity.

Organizations have long attempted to improve supplier diversity in procurement. But with today’s socioeconomic climate and the renewed urgency around racial justice, companies have an opportunity to double down on supplier diversity commitments to build a more inclusive, more resilient economy.

Inclusive supply chains do not just happen. They require commitment, intention, and direction.

Our Approach to Supplier Diversity

With BCG’s help, organizations can develop a supplier diversity program that delivers significant impact:

BCG partners with companies, nonprofits, and civic organizations to build inclusive sourcing strategies for advancing racial equity and business goals alike. Whether standing up a supplier diversity program or transforming an existing one, BCG can develop a comprehensive strategy to cover each component of the program in detail:

Vision. Building the vision and ambition for the inclusive supply chain, benchmarked against leading peers.
Roadmap. Determining near-, mid-, and long-term milestones for achieving that vision, along with detailed execution plans for implementation and key initiatives.
Governance. Providing clear decision-making rights, roles, and responsibilities between the supplier diversity team, business stakeholders, and procurement; developing processes for the team to operate efficiently, such as annual planning.
Engagement Models. Creating service models with varying levels of support that will align the supplier diversity team’s resources to maximize impact; the team can use these models to prioritize their capacity and standardize their playbook offerings.
Playbook Offerings. Determining the set of levers the team can use to grow their organization’s spending on diverse suppliers—along with the set of activities the team will offer and detailed tactical instructions to execute against.
Diverse Supplier Experience. Ensuring diverse suppliers are supported throughout their life cycle once they are onboarded (minimizing barriers, tracking their performance, helping them grow within the organization) and developing ways to cultivate the next generation of suppliers through trainings, mentorship programs, and incubators.
Tracking and Reporting. Building advanced metrics and reporting dashboards that will go beyond spending to measure impact against key areas: traction of the program, growth of spending and of supplier capabilities, and community impact.
Communications and PR. Developing a communications plan and scripts to announce changes and galvanize the organization, and creating roadshow materials for the supplier diversity team to secure buy-in from key business stakeholders.

Our Client Work in Supplier Diversity

Chamber of Commerce of a Large US City

BCG collaborated with leaders from several large corporations in a major US city to define their ambition for supplier diversity and develop a local ecosystem of minority business enterprises (MBEs). Through this work, the city identified $90M+ in funding opportunities and sourced 30 MBEs.

Global Tech Company

BCG partnered with a global tech company to develop an industry-leading supplier diversity strategy. BCG helped the company develop a program to increase spending on diverse suppliers by a factor of five while removing systemic barriers and activating the organization.

Our Insights on Supply Chain Diversity

Committing to Supplier Diversity

Developing supplier diversity requires leadership from CEOs, board members, and chief procurement officers. BCG’s Jim Lowry discusses what it takes to build inclusive supply chains.