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Beyond providing increased opportunities to underrepresented businesses for participating in the procurement process, supplier-diversity initiatives offer substantive financial benefits to the buyer organization. However, significant challenges may be associated with designing, implementing, and evaluating the socioeconomic impact of supplier-diversity initiatives. This technical note is designed to introduce the concept of supplier diversity in supply chains and develops the socioeconomic and financial case for sourcing from diverse suppliers. It then describes a set of actions that professionals can undertake to source from diverse suppliers and discusses the challenges associated with managing supplier-diversity initiatives in supply chains. This technical note would be an appropriate addition to any operations and supply chain management class, particularly in a module focused on strategic sourcing and procurement.

Dell Technologies Inc. was founded in 1984 in Austin, Texas, and became a global company that designed, developed, and manufactured personal computers and a variety of computer-related products. In 2016, it merged with EMC Corporation to create the largest privately-controlled technology company with the most comprehensive end-to-end solutions portfolio in the industry. In March 2018, the company formed an internal strategic group named Dell Global Operations and tasked its senior vice-president of strategy with planning the digital transformation of the company’s supply chain. in 2018, the Dell Global Operations group had to consider the intrinsic challenges of a giant and diverse enterprise. How would the company ensure that key actors were aligned with its digital vision? Which levers were needed to establish a digital vision that matched business strategy and priorities with supply chain operations? How could an actionable roadmap be developed to achieve the digital transformation of such a complex supply chain? What actions or goals should be prioritized?

Burlap & Barrel was an upcoming and successful public benefit corporation based in the Queens borough of New York City that imported spices from foreign farms and sold them to restaurants, gourmet food stores, home cooks, and other food services in the United States and other markets. In March 2020, when COVID-19 gripped the world and forced most food establishments to close down temporarily, the two co-founders of Burlap & Barrel saw an instant drop in their revenues because half of their sales volume normally came from restaurants. To stay afloat in the pandemic, they changed their focus from wholesale channels to a direct-to-consumer business model. Media coverage in major outlets helped demand increase, but the shift from wholesale to direct-to-consumer raised many supply chain inefficiencies in sourcing, storing, packaging, and transportation. In early 2021, as restaurants began gradually reopening, the two B&B co-founders became concerned about meeting the growing demand from both direct-to-consumer and restaurant orders while retaining their core ethical, environmental, and business values.

Dell Technologies Inc. was founded in 1984 in Austin, Texas, and became a global company that designed, developed, and manufactured personal computers and a variety of computer-related products. In 2016, it merged with EMC Corporation to create the largest privately-controlled technology company with the most comprehensive end-to-end solutions portfolio in the industry. In March 2018, the company formed an internal strategic group named Dell Global Operations and tasked its senior vice-president of strategy with planning the digital transformation of the company's supply chain. in 2018, the Dell Global Operations group had to consider the intrinsic challenges of a giant and diverse enterprise. How would the company ensure that key actors were aligned with its digital vision? Which levers were needed to establish a digital vision that matched business strategy and priorities with supply chain operations? How could an actionable roadmap be developed to achieve the digital transformation of such a complex supply chain? What actions or goals should be prioritized?

Godrej Appliances Division (GAD) of Godrej & Boyce manufacturing company limited - which had been around for more than 60 years and was the first company to manufacture refrigerators in India - began to face intense competition in the early to late 2000s due to the entry of multinational companies (MNCs), such as LG and Samsung, after liberalization of the Indian economy. GAD had been among the top-3 players in the industry until the entry of the MNCs, and subsequently, their market share fell by half to 13% in the late 1990s and further decreased to 6% by 2010. To improve their competitiveness, to benchmark with industry best practices, and to get feedback from the assessment process, GAD chose to participate in the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) Business Excellence (BE) award, modeled after EFQM, from 2011 onward. The objective was to use this feedback to identify their internal gaps vis-à-vis the competition and improve the respective processes in order to regain their market share. The case describes how GAD made use of the EFQM philosophy and the award criteria to completely revamp their processes and bridge gaps with the competition. They focused on the five enablers: (1) Leadership (2) Strategy (3) People (4) Partnerships & Resources and (5) Processes, Products & Services, to improve their business and organizational processes. These efforts paid off, and GAD progressively improved their products and processes during the next several years, finally achieving the CII-BE award in 2019. The case A ends with a list of operational capabilities that GAD acquired in the process and how they can exploit them, just when COVID-19 pandemic hit India. Case B then goes on to describe how GAD made use of these capabilities to quickly develop and introduce new products that were urgently needed in the country, to address the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Godrej Appliances Division (GAD) of Godrej & Boyce manufacturing company limited - which had been around for more than 60 years and was the first company to manufacture refrigerators in India - began to face intense competition in the early to late 2000s due to the entry of multinational companies (MNCs), such as LG and Samsung, after liberalization of the Indian economy. GAD had been among the top-3 players in the industry until the entry of the MNCs, and subsequently, their market share fell by half to 13% in the late 1990s and further decreased to 6% by 2010. To improve their competitiveness, to benchmark with industry best practices, and to get feedback from the assessment process, GAD chose to participate in the Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) Business Excellence (BE) award, modeled after EFQM, from 2011 onward. The objective was to use this feedback to identify their internal gaps vis-à-vis the competition and improve the respective processes in order to regain their market share. The case describes how GAD made use of the EFQM philosophy and the award criteria to completely revamp their processes and bridge gaps with the competition. They focused on the five enablers: (1) Leadership (2) Strategy (3) People (4) Partnerships & Resources and (5) Processes, Products & Services, to improve their business and organizational processes. These efforts paid off, and GAD progressively improved their products and processes during the next several years, finally achieving the CII-BE award in 2019. The case A ends with a list of operational capabilities that GAD acquired in the process and how they can exploit them, just when COVID-19 pandemic hit India. Case B then goes on to describe how GAD made use of these capabilities to quickly develop and introduce new products that were urgently needed in the country, to address the challenges posed by the pandemic.

In October 2021, Miles Arnone, CEO of Re:Build Manufacturing (Re:Build), was thinking about Re:Build's next acquisition. Arnone contemplated the pros and cons of each of three candidate companies as he prepared for a discussion with his colleagues. His associate had synthesized the results of a screening assessment for the three potential acquisitions, one element of Re:Build's acquisition decision-making process. Arnone and others had launched Re:Build in 2020 to help rejuvenate the US industrial base. The vision entailed acquiring and scaling manufacturing and engineering businesses into a tightly integrated portfolio to leverage technical capabilities across the enterprise. Adding a company to the Re:Build stable was no small decision, and getting it right would be another step forward in creating a "new" type of conglomerate-one where each company worked together to share technology, knowledge, and ideas. Which company (if any) offered the best fit with the overarching strategy? This partially disguised field-based case includes discussion of Re:Build's company structure, decision-making process, and acquisition criteria, as well as data about its current companies and the three under consideration for acquisition. This case is taught in "Operations Strategy," a Darden School of Business elective MBA course. It could also be used in other MBA courses and Executive Education programs that address entrepreneurship, private equity, and general strategy.

This two-part case looks at flowcasting at Princess Auto, going beyond a simple presentation. Case A describes the challenges of implementing this system and its impact on the accountabilities of employees who are responsible for store replenishment, while Case B describes situations that are specific to Princess Auto, such as stocking surplus items (a unique strategy to attract customers to its stores) and the challenges of e-commerce.

This two-part case looks at flowcasting at Princess Auto, going beyond a simple presentation. Case A describes the challenges of implementing this system and its impact on the accountabilities of employees who are responsible for store replenishment, while Case B describes situations that are specific to Princess Auto, such as stocking surplus items (a unique strategy to attract customers to its stores) and the challenges of e-commerce.

One of the first local manufacturers of screw caps in Chile, INESA expanded rapidly in the region. By 2015, the company had achieved almost 55% market share in the domestic wine sector and 21% in South America, focusing on Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. After more than 40 years in screw cap manufacturing and technical customer support, INESA was acquired in 2017 by RMD Group, which forged a new path to consolidation in the international market. Inspiral was established in 2018 to represent the company's strategy regarding innovation and internationalization. Along with Ramondin (an RMD Group capsule manufacturing brand), Inspiral was a specialist in designing, manufacturing, and packaging a complete portfolio of fastening products for wine, champagne, and spirits bottles. By the end of that first year, two challenges confronted Inspiral: (1) Rapid expansion in the national wine market had seen a similar rising need for quality and low-cost screw caps. As a leading manufacturer of screw caps in Latin America, Inspiral had to create additional value through its strategic positioning and operational excellence. (2) Although Inspiral had the dominant market share, its position was threatened by the possible entry of the Polish company Zakretka, a major international player, into Chile, Inspiral's home market. The case study asks students to compare the competitive and operating strategies of the company and its rivals. In addition, it requires a competitive trade-off analysis of the two companies and the specific operational changes Inspiral needs to remain competitive in the international market.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case KE1199

The case describes the problems in agricultural practices in the north-western states of India and the efforts of a non-governmental organization, CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CESD) and CII Foundation (CIIF), to address those problems. Through the journey of the CIIF team in learning about the problem and piloting the solutions, the case describes the nature and scale of the problem of crop residue burning (CRB) after harvesting the paddy crop. The case explains the decision-making pattern of farmers and the factors that compel them to adopt the unsustainable practice of CRB. The case sensitizes students to the adverse impact of such unsustainable agriculture practice not just in the local ecology but also in the air quality of the nearby region of Delhi NCR. The students can not only learn about the various technical solutions but also about non-technical aspects such as how successful collaborations between various governmental and non-governmental stakeholders can help address the problem of crop residue management (CRM). The pilots on a smaller scale (select villages) by CIIF also generated valuable data about the key considerations of farmers in choosing CRB over the eco-friendly alternative CRM solutions. The students are expected to use this data to objectively arrive at the CRM option best suited for a particular farmer. The data presented in the case allows for the learning and application of various multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques such as analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and decision tree analysis.

Supplement to case IMB893.

This case set focuses on a health system undergoing transformation and change. In 2015, Mary Washington Healthcare is the latest health care organization to plan to upgrade its electronic health record (EHR) system. The new CEO, Mike McDermott, MD, is considering which vendor to choose: Cerner Corporation or Epic Systems Corporation. This A case includes a brief history of EHR systems, including new regulations, their impact on demand, the state of the market, and the myriad benefits and challenges associated with implementing EHR systems. Students have the opportunity to evaluate the business case for two different EHR systems, as well as to consider the decision's effect on different stakeholders, such as the board, practitioners, and patients.

This case set focuses on a health system undergoing transformation and change. In 2015, Mary Washington Healthcare (Mary Washington) is the latest health care organization to plan to upgrade its electronic health record system. The new CEO, Mike McDermott, MD, is considering which vendor to choose: Cerner Corporation or Epic Systems Corporation. In this B case, students discover which vendor Mary Washington chose. Now, the challenge is to decide how to implement the transition, aiming to make it a positive and seamless experience for all.

Launched in 2011, Kermit PPI helped hospitals save money on expensive orthopedic implants and devices by enabling them to renegotiate their contracts with device manufacturers and better monitor compliance. In 2021, as they look to grow, they are entertaining two options: recruiting new customers and expanding their service offerings.

Spreadsheet supplement to case 621097.

In 2015, the lean transformation of the University of Chicago Medicine medical centre encompassed substantial renovation of its internal supply chain. This included moving from a centralized warehouse-based system managed largely by clinical teams to a lean, decentralized, just-in-time system managed by supply chain professionals. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to the University of Chicago Medicine’s supply chain. Accommodating for the COVID-19 pandemic required making numerous changes to the physical supply chain, which could potentially affect actions and decisions at the level of operations on the hospital floors. Amid so many changes, how would the supply chain team members on the hospital floor address daily issues while maintaining efforts to improve the system? How would they remain aligned to the hospital’s mission and goals?

In 2015, the lean transformation of the University of Chicago Medicine medical centre encompassed substantial renovation of its internal supply chain. This included moving from a centralized warehouse-based system managed largely by clinical teams to a lean, decentralized, just-in-time system managed by supply chain professionals. In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought new challenges to the University of Chicago Medicine's supply chain. Accommodating for the COVID-19 pandemic required making numerous changes to the physical supply chain, which could potentially affect actions and decisions at the level of operations on the hospital floors. Amid so many changes, how would the supply chain team members on the hospital floor address daily issues while maintaining efforts to improve the system? How would they remain aligned to the hospital's mission and goals?

Greenturn Idea Factory (GIF) was a start-up based in Kerala, India, that manufactured and marketed green energy products. Greeniee, a wireless device for monitoring electricity consumption, was GIF’s flagship product in the portfolio. Other products included rooftop solar panels and waste-to-energy conversion devices. Sajil Peethambaran, chief technology officer of GIF, was deliberating on a strategy to servitize Greeniee for potential market segments, either as an augmented product or by bundling it with other offerings.