The entire summer of 2020 was marked by not only pandemic shutdowns but also widespread outrage over racial injustices. That discourse also had repercussions in the promotional products industry; ASI’s Customer Service department reported a 650% month-over-month increase in requests among distributors for ASI’s list of woman- and minority-owned suppliers. While the number has ticked down slightly in the first weeks of fall, the team reports the number is still higher than usual.

Among end-buyers, particularly large corporations, supplier diversity programs are required parts of company operations; that means that when procurement departments are looking at goods and services being bought by the firm, including promotional products, they require that distributors bring items to the table from suppliers that are at least 51% woman- or minority-owned.

Jamie Crump, left, and Kiruba Sankar

Supplier diversity “provides opportunities to diverse and/or disadvantaged businesses,” says Jamie Crump, president of The Richwell Group, a Georgia-based consulting firm for strategic sourcing and supplier diversity. “I’ll bring them into [my clients’] supply chains to provide diversity and innovation for them.”

But a diverse supply chain doesn’t just benefit the company doing the procurement; by offering opportunities to many different types of businesses, diversity programs actually help the entire community thrive. It’s an example of the old adage “a rising tide lifts all boats,” and it’s a fundamental principle of supplier diversity and corporate social responsibility.

“One of our core values is diversity and inclusion,” says Kiruba Sankar, global leader of corporate social responsibility at RBC Global Procurement with RBC – Royal Bank in Canada. RBC, says Sankar, is looking to “build an inclusive supply chain so that we’re able to advance equality opportunities for diverse suppliers, but at the same time help the community to prosper.”

Even though supplier diversity has a long history – in the U.S., for example, its roots lie in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s – misconceptions abound.

First, the definition of “supplier diversity” differs by region, says Sankar. Additionally, people, especially Americans, think the government is still mandating supplier diversity practices, says Crump. That happens in some quarters, but the industry today is made up mostly of corporate goals rather than government mandates, as corporations focus on their own corporate social responsibility and mission.

When it comes to end-buyers sourcing product and services, including promo, “one of the key things we look at is alignment with our values,” says Sankar. “If we focus on diversity, the environment, climate control, we want the partner and supplier to align with the same values and do the same thing we’re trying to do. That’s a very principled thing.”

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Sara Lavenduski of Advantages magazine discusses supplier diversity with Crump and Sankar, and what promo companies need to do to be able to serve those end-buyers with diversity programs.

Podcast Chapters
1:57 - What is supplier diversity?
3:56 - The importance of diversity to end-buyers
6:23 - Challenges of supplier diversity
11:58 Common misconceptions
18:42 - What suppliers and distributors should know
26:20 - Current discourse and the future of supplier diversity