Bonnie
Schipper
JD/MBA Candidate
Emory University & Global Indirect Procurement Supplier Diversity MBA Intern at HP
Bryan
Shepherd
MBA Candidate
Emory’s Goizueta Business School and Senior Strategy Consultant Intern at Accenture
Terrell
Smith
Global Supplier Diversity Program Manager
HP
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2:55-3:30pm EDT DEI Initiatives that Fuel Strategic Growth

General Session

When thinking about the role of people to your organization, your role as a leader requires you to think beyond your impact on just shareholders and employees. When Milton Friedman popularized the primacy of shareholders, leaders of large corporations widely accepted their role as one of maximizing profitability, and subsequent returns to those equity holders. While profitable growth is always a goal of large business, stakeholder capitalism provides a broader view of a business that includes both the communities businesses operate within and their customers. For large corporations, this means that issues of inclusion and diversity cannot be separated from material risk and strategic growth. Supplier diversity is a strategic business program that extends DE&I to vendors and suppliers, helping buyers qualify for government and corporate contract opportunities while also driving business to small and underrepresented businesses. 

 

Bonnie Schipper and Bryan Shepherd led a team from Emory University to victory in the John Lewis Racial Justice Case Competition, where they developed a solution for HP, Inc. to strengthen its community impact and address their supplier diversity challenges by reframing the criticality of diversity and inclusion, providing a stakeholder-focused recommendation that connected both to the client’s strategic goals and the betterment of social justice outcomes. As a result, HP has not only increased its spending with black-owned businesses and generated millions of dollars in economic impact, but has positioned itself for long term success. 

In this session, you will learn:

  • Strategies to articulate the strategic importance of diversity and inclusion issues

  • How to eliminate barriers to entry for vendors and suppliers from underrepresented communities into corporate supply chains 
  • Approaches to create rigorous accountabilities for change initiatives