Stephany Lapierre CEO at Tealbook
ESG and work for companies whose values align with theirs . When looking to attract top talent , supplier diversity programs speak to your corporate ethics and make for a good selling point .
According to a UPS survey conducted by Hootology ( itself a diverse supplier ), 52 % of respondents said they want to work for a company that has a supplier diversity and inclusion program . In 2019 another study performed by Hootology for Coca-Cola showed that 25 % of respondents were more likely to think favourably about the brand , and 49 % were more likely to use Coca-Cola products . So , if diversity is good for business , then what ’ s the problem ?
Virtue signalling Although supplier diversity programs can and should be authentically initiated out of an honest desire to establish a high moral and ethical standard , or even because it makes good business sense , that ’ s not always the case . Much like greenwashing , they are often created reactively to mitigate brand risk and tend to be more about virtue signalling and brand building than a valued initiative to drive business improvements and align the business with corporate values .
As Kris Oswald , supplier diversity expert for UPS , said , “ To truly drive toward economic equality , supplier diversity can ’ t feel like a secret tucked away in the procurement function ; it has to hit the main stage .” It must be taken seriously and influence procurement decisions .
Critically , the pandemic both highlighted and exasperated the need for improved supply chain practices in ESG — yet , according to the survey , 63 % still lack full visibility into supplier data to be able to do so .
Stephany Lapierre CEO at Tealbook
Stephany Lapierre is the Founder and CEO of Tealbook . A highly coveted supply chain thought leader , and one of the most influential minds in emerging data technologies , her mission
is to deliver a ‘ Trusted Source of Supplier Data ’ to anever-growing eProcurement space . Prior to Tealbook , Stephany spent 10 years building a successful strategic sourcing andprocurement consulting firm focusing on large scale sourcing optimization projects . Given her experience and visibility into the data issues crippling procurement , she built an impressive technology , data team , and launched Tealbook . It is the only Big Data company that provides a self-enriching and self-maintaining mechanism that connects to all procurement software critical to the success of a digital procurement transformation . Tealbook has been adopted by Fortune 100 companies across multiple sectors and has won prestigious awards including Spend Matter 50 Vendors to Watch , Gartner ’ s Cool Vendor , CIX Most Innovative Company and Most Upside Potential by C100 .
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