Why Diversity In Your Supply Chain Matters

Julie Starr • Jun 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.

Is Your Small Business an Appealing Place to Work?

By Julie Starr • 07 May, 2024
Bringing passionate, enthusiastic and talented people into your business is obviously a top priority when you’re growing a company. However, the only way to onboard the brightest talent is by ensuring that your brand is an appealing place to work. Driven employees have certain expectations when it comes to choosing their ideal workplace, so you need to show them what you have to offer. Whether you’re looking into your business ethos , or reassessing certain compensation plans, you can do so much to ensure you’re attracting the best possible employees. Consider some of the following methods and your small business will soon be the go-to place for skilled, driven and talented individuals to work. Pay and Benefits Should Be Competitive When you’re running a small business, the idea of paying regular salaries to your employees will always be on your mind. Keeping up with bills and ever rising costs will never be easy, but you have to offer a competitive salary in order to attract the right type of people to your business. You should also consider all elements of a compensation plan so that your employees always feel valued for their contributions at your workplace. It may be worth talking to your current staff members to see what would be most important to them so you can assess it in the near future. Create a Career Development Plan Working towards the next goal is certainly something that most career driven individuals are keen to do. Staying stagnant in the same role for a prolonged period of time can reduce motivation and cause issues with staff retention. Making sure that there are clear progression opportunities will help to bring in the most talented and focused employees who are willing to put in the work and climb the ladder within your business. Adopt an Eco-Conscious Approach More and more employees are looking for workplaces that put the environment at the forefront and actively choose sustainable processes. Taking care of the planet and going green with your business may help you to align with the right talent for your company. Although this might not be the priority of everyone, it’s certainly a very popular value that a number of people carry in the modern day. Working in an environment where sustainability is a priority is extremely appealing and these people will help you to work alongside like minded colleagues within your business. Your small business goes above and beyond you as an individual; it’s also about the people who work for you and the potential employees you could be onboarding very soon. You can be sure that you’re reaching out to the right type of people and attracting the best possible talent by offering competitive salaries and benefits and working in a sustainable way that always keeps the environment in mind too. Hopefully, these ideas will give you a huge advantage when it comes to bringing in new people who would be an asset to your business.

How to Make Clinical Trials More Sustainable

By Julie Starr • 07 May, 2024
Running a business means you should know how to follow a sustainable path toward success. But while this is straightforward in some industries, it can be trickier in other professions. One common problem involves scientific businesses and laboratory environments that often struggle to ensure full sustainability and eco-conscious approaches. So how can clinical trials become more sustainable? Here is some advice to consider. Early Planning Planning is always a useful tool when working out how to improve sustainability within any workplace. You already know what you need to do, so why not focus on planning the different stages to ensure you can avoid delays or other problems that could generate wasted resources and electricity? Planning in laboratory settings is arguably even more crucial as the controlled environment requires a careful approach that is entirely error-free to ensure success and genuine results that scientists can use. Digital Solutions Businesses are using digital solutions more often as these can accelerate lessons and help them find accurate information immediately. The same can apply to clinical trials where using AI will reduce costs and provide quick insights into what you have learned, allowing you to make the most of the data without worrying you’ve made a mistake. Furthermore, this approach can avoid delays and reduce the number of people required in the lab at any time, meaning you can use fewer resources and don’t need to worry about getting to and from the lab. Partnerships Partnering with other companies or organizations can also help clinical trials become more sustainable. You can collaborate to share information, which means you have an entire library of data at your disposal without needing to collect it yourself. This can provide fast and efficient solutions and you don’t need to waste time and energy going into the field to collect this data yourself. Finding The Balance As much as clinical trials can improve sustainability, they also need to know how to find the balance. Since many central laboratory services require face-to-face conversation, it’s important to determine when to hold these meetings and invite patients into the controlled laboratory environment. You know you need to collect samples, but you must do as much as possible to avoid wasting resources. Ensuring you get everything right the first time will make a significant difference and help maintain a sustainable approach. Recognizing Where to Improve No business is perfectly sustainable, so understanding where to improve will be a continuous process. Clinical trials and similar environments can identify strategies to reduce the carbon footprint and take a more eco-friendly approach to their work. Although you won’t reduce your emissions or environmental impact entirely, you can do as much as possible to minimize any damage by maintaining transparency and following compliance regulations that put your laboratory in the best position to excel in every area. Sustainable Building sustainable practices is vital for any industry, and scientific environments are no different. These tips should highlight how and why clinical trials can become more sustainable to improve conditions and reduce the impact on the planet while also striving to further humanity’s knowledge and ability to overcome diseases and other issues.
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