Why Diversity In Your Supply Chain Matters

Julie Starr • June 10, 2021



In today’s economy, many businesses are identifying diversity as a key priority for their future growth. Alongside other initiatives and corporate social responsibility (CSR), customer increasingly expects the companies they do business with to reflect their own priorities when it comes to ethical, diverse and sustainable business practices. 

Your company might be making huge steps towards improving diversity and inclusion within your own workplace, but how far does that extend into your supply chain? 

With the wealth of information and transparency available on the internet, potential clients will be able to tell if you don’t practice what you preach. So why does ensuring diversity in the supply chain matter? 

Customer expectations

If you think that choosing suppliers comes down solely to price, you’re in for a shock in the future. Consumers have high expectations of the companies they do business with. Younger generations in particular have far less brand loyalty than seen previously. They aren’t afraid to vote with their feet and take their business elsewhere. Focussing on diversity and inclusion only in the context of your own organization is only a superficial fix. 

Companies such as Walmart and IBM have made public commitments to spend a significant portion of their budgets with diverse businesses and those who meet certain sustainability criteria. This is becoming a common company policy in organizations across the world, which recognize the multitude of benefits it can have. 

Using a multitude of consumer research and data enrichment services, you will be able to identify exactly what matters to your target market. 

Talent retention 

The battle to find and retain good employees is one faced by most companies. Yet recent research has shown that employees would consider leaving a company that did not reflect their own personal set of values. Since high employee turnover is indicative of low employee engagement, it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Better, more engaged employees directly contribute to the success of a company. If you have a diverse supply chain policy in place, make sure that this is communicated to existing employees and stakeholders. 

Profit growth

A growing, diverse population means that companies now actively target minority demographics as potential customers. Additionally, more and more businesses are now set up and run by a more diverse cross-section of people. This economic growth can filter through the supply chain, making businesses more profitable. 

Many organizations are investing in working with diverse suppliers as they realize that they can provide exceptional returns.

Competitive edge

Diversifying your supply chain can develop its competitive advantage by developing new target audiences. Millennials and Genz comprise the most diverse generations in history and they value diversity in the companies they buy from. 

Fostering innovation

Diverse, smaller suppliers, working with larger organizations, often find it easier to innovate and adapt to changes rapidly.  This kind of market agility leads to an innovative culture. Innovation pushes markets forward and opens up new opportunities for everyone involved in the process. 

Key points

By embracing diversity and inclusion beyond your own company can be the foundation of success for your company. Using diverse suppliers can boost profits, open up new target markets to your company. It’s also great for stakeholder management and employee engagement too.

Greener Clicks: How to Reduce Your Environmental Impact with Sustainable Digital Marketing

By Julie Starr • March 31, 2025
In the race to decarbonize our world, one area often overlooked is digital marketing. While it might seem inherently clean compared to print or physical campaigns, our online activities have a real and measurable environmental footprint. From servers powering your website to emails filling up inboxes, every click, stream, and scroll contributes to carbon emissions. At Taiga Company, we believe digital strategies can be powerful and low-impact. Here’s how to get started. Optimize for a Low-Carbon Web Why it matters: Websites and digital ads are hosted on servers that consume electricity, often powered by fossil fuels. Every time a user loads your site or ad, it uses energy. How to reduce your impact: Host green: Choose web hosts that use renewable energy or offset emissions. Clean up your code: Streamlined, efficient code reduces load times and energy use. Compress and reduce images: Smaller files mean faster pages and fewer emissions. Limit heavy media: Videos and animations are carbon-intensive; use them mindfully. A faster, leaner website isn’t just better for the planet—it also boosts SEO and user experience. Email Marketing with Intention Why it matters: Every email sent, received, and stored requires energy. Multiply that by millions of sends, and the impact adds up. How to reduce your impact: Clean your lists: Remove inactive subscribers to avoid waste. Segment wisely: Only send emails to those who will truly benefit. Use plain-text when possible: It’s lower in data and often more accessible. Reduce frequency: Send fewer, higher-quality emails with genuine value. Intentional emailing reduces not only emissions but also improves deliverability and engagement. Sustainable SEO and Content Strategy Why it matters: Search engines crawl, index, and serve up billions of web pages daily. Thoughtless content and bloated sites add to the load. How to reduce your impact: Create evergreen content: Focus on high-quality pages that stay relevant longer. Streamline your site structure: Fewer clicks to find content = less energy use. Use minimal plugins and scripts: Especially ones that load on every page. Green your CMS: Some content management systems are more resource-efficient than others. Sustainable SEO isn’t just eco-friendly—it’s good strategy. Fewer, better pieces often perform better than content mills. Rethink Marketing Automation Why it matters: Automated emails, ads, and data syncing can create a lot of digital clutter. That clutter eats up storage and energy. How to reduce your impact: Audit regularly: Retire old workflows and outdated automations. Optimize syncing: Reduce how often and how much data is transferred. Segment with purpose: Better targeting means fewer wasted sends. Use expiration dates: Don’t let outdated content or assets live forever. Efficient automation can reduce emissions and improve performance. Digital marketing isn’t going away—and it shouldn’t. It offers powerful tools for connection, education, and growth. But like all tools, it can be used more sustainably. At Taiga Company, we’re committed to helping organizations lower their environmental impact without sacrificing reach or results. Sustainable digital marketing is not only possible; it’s essential. Ready to make your marketing aligned with your company's corporate sustainability plan? Let’s start the conversation.

World Water Day 2025: How Beverage Brands Are Leading on Water—and Why Communicating It Matters

By Julie Starr • March 24, 2025
At Taiga Company, we work alongside brands who are not only doing the hard work of sustainability—but are learning how to talk about it in ways that connect with their stakeholders. This World Water Day , we’re reflecting on how leading beverage companies are advancing bold water stewardship goals and communicating those efforts clearly, thoughtfully, and strategically across digital platforms. Water is foundational to the beverage industry. From ingredient sourcing to packaging to community health, it’s a resource that demands attention—not just in terms of conservation, but in terms of how that commitment is shared with consumers, investors, regulators, and partners. Below, we’re highlighting three beverage companies whose recent water stewardship actions—and storytelling—stood out. PepsiCo: From Field to Community, Global Water Replenishment in Action PepsiCo launched 16 new water replenishment projects across nine countries in 2024 alone, restoring more than 1.7 billion liters of water to local ecosystems. These projects are practical and people-centered—ranging from irrigation efficiency in Texas to sustainable farming practices in the Dominican Republic. What stood out: clear project data, human-focused storytelling, and alignment with global frameworks. PepsiCo’s water webpage provides easy access to targets, progress updates, and case studies, helping stakeholders understand both the “why” and the “how.” Suntory Global Spirits: Water at the Heart of the Brand Suntory’s brands—from Maker’s Mark in Kentucky to Yamazaki in Japan—share a common origin: water. The company’s commitment to being net water positive by 2050 isn’t just a corporate goal—it’s integrated into brand storytelling, on-site conservation efforts, and supplier engagement. Their message is rooted in authenticity: water isn’t just an operational input, it’s an essential ingredient in their identity. Learn more on Suntory’s efforts via their LinkedIn post . Asahi Group Holdings: Building Local Water Resilience Together In the Netherlands, Asahi’s Koninklijke Grolsch partnered with stakeholders in the Twente region to develop a local water platform focused on reducing consumption and innovating wastewater reuse. This goes beyond operational efficiency—it’s about building water resilience within a shared ecosystem. Their community-first framing and long-term investment approach were key themes in this post . Why This Matters At Taiga Company, we believe that sustainability actions only go as far as their ability to be understood, felt, and trusted. Communicating water stewardship isn’t just about reporting metrics or sharing photos of wetlands (although both can help). It’s about giving stakeholders the context they need to see a company’s values in motion—clear commitments, thoughtful execution, and measurable impact.  If your team is evolving its water strategy—or simply looking for better ways to communicate what you're already doing—we’d love to be part of that conversation.
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