Corporate supplier diversity programs have increased utilization of MWBEs in supply chains, but it seems like there are two steps forward and one back. Even as large corporations promote their supplier diversity programs, they are increasingly awarding big contracts to large non-diverse suppliers, like they did before supplier diversity became a corporate value. There are a lot of reasons, but corporations naturally tend to award contracts based on simplicity, past supplier experiences and price. Simplicity refers to giving a single contract to a single supplier or to suppliers who have formed partnerships and operate as one unit.

Large non-diverse suppliers know how to network an....