Boston business groups back greater diversity in supply chains

Major Boston business groups are stepping up their efforts to help members improve the diversity of their supply chains, with the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership becoming the latest to join the fray. The partnership, a group of high-powered

CEOs, has unveiled an online survey that it will make available for free to companies to assess and improve their supplier diversity efforts with a series of measurable standards. The partnership used this survey to poll its own members, who run many of the biggest employers in the state, and found that 12 of 16 already have mature or somewhat mature supplier diversity programs. In a coincidence that underscores the issue’s importance in the local business community, there were dueling panels held last Wednesday to address supplier diversity. In the morning, Associated Industries of Massachusetts held its second annual supplier diversity forum at Microsoft’s office in Cambridge. Then, in the afternoon, the Competitive Partnership held a virtual roundtable to discuss its survey data and online assessment tool. One recurring theme: how tough it has been for companies to line up contracts with minorityowned businesses. AIM’s supplier diversity program, known as AIM Business Connect, has generated a dozen such contracts in its first year, a figure that also includes contracts with women-owned businesses. And the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce’s most recent data for its five-year-old Pacesetters program shows chamber participants placed $204 million worth of contracts with Massachusetts businesses owned by people of color in 2021, a 20 percent increase from 2020, while the participants’ national spending with such businesses fell by 6 percent. The chamber’s goal: for 10 percent of Pacesetters’ supplier spending to go to minorityowned businesses in the state; in 2021, the average was around 5 percent. — JON CHESTO