Women's Participation in Corporate Supplier Diversity Programs

APPENDIX 9 – Attachment to Notice/Invitation E-Mails

Women’s Participation in Corporate Supplier Diversity Programs

A Research Project of the National Women’s Business Council

OVERVIEW

ABOUT THE NATIONAL WOMEN’S BUSINESS COUNCIL (NWBC)

The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC or Council) is a non-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners. The Council’s mission is to promote initiatives, policies, and programs designed to support women’s business enterprises at all stages of development in the public and private sector marketplaces—from start-up to success.

PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH STUDY

This study will fill a critical gap in currently available information about the opportunities and challenges women-owned businesses have faced in their efforts to access the corporate market; the perceived and actual value corporations gain by offering supplier diversity programs; how corporations intentionally support the success of women-owned businesses; and what factors are most critical to the success of supplier diversity programs—from the perspective of both women entrepreneurs and corporations.

A deeper understanding of how women entrepreneurs can expand their businesses through participation in supplier diversity programs, including access to the lucrative business-to-business marketplace, can assist policy-makers to address structural and other issues that may impede women-owned firms from realizing their full economic potential. NWBC will use information gathered from this data collection to produce recommendations to the President, Congress, and the SBA on policy and program initiatives to facilitate the growth of women-owned businesses. The information will also be used to provide practical guidance to women business owners on how corporate supplier diversity programs can be leveraged to increase opportunities for their companies to gain access to corporate markets.

The study specifically seeks to fill a critical gap in currently available information about:

• the opportunities and challenges women-owned businesses have faced in their efforts to access the corporate market;

• the perceived and actual value corporations gain by offering supplier diversity programs;

• how corporations intentionally support the success of women-owned businesses; and

• what factors are most critical to the success of women in the corporate market—from the perspective of both women entrepreneurs and corporations.

STUDY COMPONENTS AND SCHEDULE

The study will be informed by a review of current literature, a national survey of women business owners, focus groups with women business owners, and interviews with managers of corporate supplier diversity programs. Data will be collected during the first and second quarters of 2015. The study will be published and made available on the NWBC website (www.nwbc.gov) in the fourth quarter of 2015.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Information about participants in the study will be kept private to the extent permitted by law, and reviewed only by consultants of NewPoint Strategies, LLC, the company conducting the research for the NWBC. Reports will only contain aggregated findings and any information collected will not be connected with the names or company names of individual participants.