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This paper aims to demonstrate the role of supplier diversity in empowering indigenous entrepreneurship and the potential socio-economic benefits derived from Puna Awarau (supplier diversity) in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Supplier diversity is an emerging field in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The insights and learnings shared in this article are based on the authors' own professional experiences and insights as supplier diversity practitioners that have shaped, grown and worked in this field.

Supplier diversity is a global practice that is quickly gaining traction in Aotearoa. This is a highly practical tool to create equity for Maori, delivering benefits directly to whanau (families) and bolstering the conditions for entrepreneurship to flourish. Maori fare worst in multiple measures of social and economic well-being in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Super charging the country's fledgling supplier diversity movement is one of the tools in growing Maori entrepreneurship and socio-economic equity at the same time.

There is significant economic and social disparity between Maori and non-Maori. The median net worth of Maori is just a fraction of that of New Zealand (NZ) Europeans. What is clear is that the systems aren't serving Maori people and a “business as usual” approach simply doesn't work. Supplier diversity is a highly practical tool that can create equity for Maori, delivering benefits directly to whanau (families) and bolstering the conditions for entrepreneurship to flourish.

This paper is the one the first academic contributions to the supplier diversity practice in Aotearoa. This article demonstrates the case for supplier diversity, the supplier diversity journey to date and early learnings and insights from practitioners working at the coal face of this emerging practice in Aotearoa.

Supplier diversity has roots in US supply chains going back 50  years. Unfortunately, supplier diversity programs have been hindered by less than wholehearted buyer adoption and stakeholder engagement. The original scoping of supplier diversity also holds limitations when comparing to the multidimensionality of the diversity and inclusion concept. The purpose of this article is to share lessons learned from the development of an innovative supplier diversity program by Moet Hennessy aimed at more sustainably scoping, scaling and stimulating supplier diversity programs.

The development and the design of Moet Hennessy’s supplier diversity program is presented. The design was informed, and partially supported by, a collaboration with the author. Critical reflections on pitfalls and outstanding questions are developed based upon the program design.

Moet Hennessy developed a supplier diversity program that is more comprehensively defined, targets a more global scale and includes innovative stakeholder engagement techniques such as the development of supplier diversity champions in the business. The program also is embedded in existing environmental social and governance initiatives.

Moet Hennessy’s supplier diversity program was not mandated by one of its customers but sourced from an academic collaboration and stimulated by competitive opportunity. The program was designed bottoms up, not top down. The program is sponsored outside of procurement and has champions throughout the business. The program expands beyond the traditional scoping of supplier diversity programs. Pathways and pitfalls for managers are identified based upon insights from Moet Hennessy’s experience. These inform suggestions for further research.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theory and practice of supply chain management in terms of how an organisation should structure its supply base to be resilient to supply uncertainties and disruptions. An empirical assessment of supplier response diversity is demonstrated, and the following research question posed: Is response diversity of suppliers positively associated with supply chain resilience, more positively than mere supplier diversity is?

Resilience is operationalised as the maintenance of sales of two food products in 27 southern Finnish retail stores during two distinct disruptions. Response diversity is operationalised as 1) diversity in the personnel sizes of slaughterhouse suppliers of pork under domestic strikes and as 2) evenness in the proportions of imports and domestic supply of food oil under global price volatility. A five-step quantitative assessment is performed.

Response diversity is positively related to the maintenance of sales, more positively than diversity of individual suppliers is.

Response diversity is an advancement to the theory of supply chain resilience and supply base management, and access to big data increases practical potential.

Empirical assessments of response diversity of suppliers provide buyer companies an effective means to enhance their supply base management for resilience.

The proposed approach is useful for teaching and for authorities to enhance food security.

This first assessment of response diversity of supply chain operations presents an important advancement in the theory and practice of supply base management for resilience.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the rationale for supplier diversity, constituent elements of each case study programme, actual performance of the initiatives and key challenges involved in implementing supplier diversity programmes.

This paper goes beyond armchair accounts of the “American experience”, and presents evidence from three exemplars of supplier diversity in the USA – Ford Motor Company, JPMorgan Chase, and Unisys. Semi‐structured interviews with supplier diversity teams within these three case study firms were conducted to understand the rationale, drivers and challenges to implementing supplier diversity programmes.

The case studies highlight the importance of the “business case” in explaining corporate receptiveness to supplier diversity. This has particular force in light of the progressive “browning” of the USA. However, the role of the government as catalyst is not to be understated; a number of respondents identified governmental pressure as an important influence on the approach to supplier diversity. Sophisticated monitoring of supply chains and intense out‐reach activities with minority business enterprises were important features of the case study firm and provide a sharp contrast with the position in the UK.

The paper concludes by assessing the key elements of successful supplier diversity initiatives, and reflecting on the lessons that could be learned for the UK.

As firms consider initiatives to enhance their social sustainability performance, supplier diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have become significantly more important. As such, the purpose of this study is to theorize, operationalize and develop an empirical scale to measure supplier DEI.

The following three-phase scale development method was used: first, identification of scale items from the literature; second, a qualitative component involving interviews with expert panels; and third, a psychometric evaluation through two survey rounds with 327 managers from multiple areas of supply chain management.

Although not necessarily a new concept, this study provides a more complete understanding of supplier DEI beyond traditional aspects of supplier diversity (e.g. women and minority-owned suppliers) to feature additional considerations (e.g. LGBTQIAP+) and reflect broader societal considerations, such as human rights. Therefore, validated items for the three dimensions (i.e. diversity, equity [human rights] and inclusion) were identified.

This study provides systematically validated scales to measure supplier DEI based on three dimensions. Each dimension can be developed separately from the others, but they are intertwined, which reinforces the contribution to both scholars and practitioners.

The purpose of this study is to better understand the effects of independent restaurant partnerships upon product innovation associated with performance by investigating differences in business situations between startup and established independent restaurant sectors.

Partnership strength and diversity were assessed to identify their influence on restaurant product innovation and performance using a structural equation model to test the study’s hypotheses. A multi-group analysis was used to examine the moderating roles of business life cycle on the relationships between partnership strength and diversity and product innovation.

Results found that product innovation implementation requires strong and diverse partnerships with suppliers to improve independent restaurant performance. Diverse partnerships have a more positive effect upon product innovation than do strong partnerships. The positive effect partnership strength with suppliers had upon product innovation was significantly greater for startup restaurants, while its positive effect of diversity was greater for established restaurants.

Findings can be used to establish effective strategic partnerships with independent restaurant suppliers and to manage them more effectively in consideration of their business characteristics being startup or established operations.

This study was an initial attempt to empirically prove significant roles of partnership strength and diversity applied to the context of independent restaurant product innovation. Findings regarding different effects of partnership strength and diversity contributed to the existing body of knowledge about strategic partnerships with suppliers.

The study investigates how supply base structural complexity influences both supply chain agility and resilience. It employs Normal Accident Theory and Portfolio Theory to disentangle the effects of three structural facets of complexity – numerousness; technical and functional diversity; geographical distribution of suppliers – on the two capabilities simultaneously.

The study is grounded in the Italian footwear industry. 31 manufacturing firms with their global supply base have provided a cross-sectional time series database over a 10-year period (310 observations).

The results show that supply base numerousness has nonlinear effects on both supply chain agility and resilience. The directions of these effects are opposites. They also show that supply base diversity has an inverted U-shaped effect on supply chain agility while it is insignificant for resilience. Finally, the results show that suppliers' geographical dispersion is detrimental to both capabilities.

This is the first study that considers the multifaceted effects of supply base complexity on both supply chain agility and resilience. In doing so, it also sheds light on some of the most common trade-offs that firms address when they seek a balance between different strategies, such as increasing agility without damaging supply base resilience and vice versa. Considering the resource constraints firms normally face, by disentangling the dual effects of each complexity facet, this study helps decision-makers to develop scalability and leverage the supply base characteristics in order to survive and prosper in uncertain markets.

Based on a critical lens, this paper aims to empirically evaluate the adoption of programs to buy from minority suppliers (MS) and their outcomes in Brazil, considering a multi-stakeholder approach (buying companies, suppliers and third parties).

The data were collected via an exploratory survey involving 109 buying companies and two case studies with 21 in-depth interviews.

It was revealed that supplier diversity (SD) in Brazil is still developing, and is more rhetoric than a practice promoting real change. The current traditional procurement mindset, the role of third parties, and the focus on supplier selection, rather than on supplier development prevents a social impact that could reduce inequality between MS and their counterparts.

Previous studies were focused on buying companies' perspective in advanced countries that have clear regulation for SD. By exploring the phenomenon in a country with great economic disparities and no regulation, and using a critical lens, this study highlights the difference between desired and effective implementation of social initiatives that promote inclusiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study in which data envelopment analysis (DEA) is used to evaluate and classify the suppliers of a Colombian motorcycle assembly company. This tool allows the integration of several attributes into single performance measures (cross-efficiency and diversity efficiency) and subsequent classification based on the values obtained for these two metrics.

The classification uses a methodology based on two main tools. The first is an input-oriented cross-efficiency DEA model with ordinal variables to evaluate the suppliers’ performance, and the second is a classification of these into categories that identifies those with good performance for features that make them outstanding.

The assembly company segments its suppliers according to supply frequency. The results show that suppliers working under a just-in-time system achieve superior performance with respect to other suppliers.

The application of this methodology in a real-world case illustrates how DEA can be a useful tool to support the evaluation and classification of suppliers (a process of increasing complexity given the current trend to include multiple strategic measures together with classical operational measures). Moreover, the methodology illustrated in the study can be adapted to other similar settings.

The main contributions of this paper are twofold. First, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to illustrate the use of DEA in a real case related to supplier evaluation. Second, the presence of ordinal variables (e.g. quality or environmental ratings) gives rise to DEA variants seldom used in this context.

Este artículo presenta un caso de estudio en el que se utiliza análisis envolvente de datos (DEA) para evaluar y clasificar los proveedores de una ensambladora colombiana de motocicletas. Dicha herramienta permite integrar múltiples atributos en dos medidas de desempeño (eficiencia cruzada y de diversidad) y la posterior clasificación de éstos con base en los valores obtenidos para ambas medidas.

La clasificación usa una metodología basada en dos herramientas. La primera es un modelo DEA de eficiencia cruzada orientado a las entradas con variables ordinales que se usa para evaluar el desempeño de los proveedores. La segunda es una clasificación de los proveedores en categorías para identificar aquellos con buen desempeño en algunas características que los hacen sobresalientes.

La compañía segmenta sus proveedores de acuerdo con la frecuencia de abastecimiento. Los resultados muestran que los proveedores que operan bajo justo a tiempo (Just-in-time, JIT) tienen un desempeño superior con respecto a los demás proveedores.

La aplicación de esta metodología en un caso real ilustra como DEA es una herramienta útil para apoyar la evaluación y clasificación de proveedores (un proceso de complejidad creciente gracias a la tendencia actual de incluir medidas estratégicas junto a las medidas operacionales comúnmente utilizadas). Además, la metodología utilizada puede adaptarse fácilmente a otras situaciones similares.

Las contribuciones de este artículo son dos. Primero, hasta donde sabemos, este es el primer estudio que ilustra el uso de DEA en un caso real de evaluación de proveedores. Segundo, la presencia de variables ordinales (por ejemplo, evaluaciones de calidad y medioambiente) resultan en modelos DEA que son poco utilizados en este contexto.

In response to stakeholder concerns for social responsibility in global supply chains, companies have implemented codes of conduct in outsourcing activities. The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically how a multinational buying office implements its social responsibility and the codes in purchasing activities in the Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta (HK/PRD) region.

This paper reports a case study that reviews the experience from three sourcing projects of a multinational buying office in the HK/PRD region. This company has successfully adopted purchasing social responsibility (PSR) practices for years.

The results show that the environment, ethics, health and safety, and human rights are more important than diversity, community, and financial responsibility in PSR practices in the HK/PRD region. The benefits of adopting PSR include reduced operating costs, enhanced brand image and reputation, increased sales and customer loyalty, increased productivity and quality, increased ability to attract and retain employees, and risk management. The challenges include the cost of compliance, communication with uneducated workers, conflicts among different codes of conduct and sub‐contracting.

The paper reflects the recent PSR situation in the HK/PRD region, primarily giving new insights for future research.

The paper provides empirical evidence on PSR implementation in the HK/PRD region, proposing seven core/non‐core dimensions of PSR and identifying the benefits and obstacles to its implementation. The paper provides academic and managerial guidelines for implementing PSR practices in the HK/PRD region.