Question #2: Market research to promote inclusion within supply chains and staff

[Jamie Holbrook]

This is a question for everyone to respond to, including experts and participants:

What are some examples of using market research to promote inclusion within business operations, such as integrating women, youth, or other traditionally excluded groups into supply chains or as staff? How was research helpful or important to this process?

Looking forward to the conversation!

[Gloria Enwema]

Thanks Jamie!

From most of my work in supply chain, market research is a critical component of promoting inclusion within business operations that helps to provide insights into the specific needs, preferences, and barriers that underrepresented groups such as women, youth, etc. face. This research however, provides a foundation for developing effective strategies that can promote inclusion. By using market research to promote inclusion within business operations, businesses can create a more diverse and inclusive workplace, improve their reputation, and gain a competitive advantage.

Some of the examples of using market research to promote inclusion within business operations are:

1. Identifying barriers to inclusion: Market research can be used to identify the specific barriers that prevent inclusion in business operations or supply chains. This can include understanding the cultural, social, or economic factors that prevent women or youth from accessing certain opportunities or roles. For example, while we were onboarding fruit farmers into our supply chain (ReelFruit's farmers' development program in 2021 - 2022) we had a goal to reach up to 35% women and youth respectively, we observed that we couldn't exactly achieve this 35% women in every of our fruit sector because there were some communities where women couldn't fully have key ownership of certain family assets - especially inheriting farmland and also, having women lead in the farm management activities. This was a cultural barrier we were faced with and it was through our assessment research we identified the likely challenges we had to tackle with some adjustments in our strategies.
2. Building partnerships with local organizations: Market research can be used to identify local organizations that work with underrepresented groups and that can help businesses to promote inclusion within their operations. Businesses can partner with these organizations to identify opportunities for collaboration and to share resources and expertise. Some of what we deployed during our fruit farmer onboarding and support program was to partner with local fruit associations in some of the communities where we could identify easily, youths and women to support.
3. Understanding the needs and preferences of these underrepresented groups: Conducting market research/assessment can help businesses to tailor their products or services to better meet the needs of these groups. A perfect example was we deploying design thinking approach in creating our snack product for kids to support working moms.

Looking to hear more insights.

[kvh...@googlemail.com]

Hi all, 

Here are some examples of Inclusive Market Research in action - often this is in the shape of a conversation and convening so might not look like traditional market research - 

This podcast with Cargill and CARE examining the benefits of working in partnerships across sector to bring in strengths and societal understanding a business might not have - https://businessfightspoverty.org/gender-parity-in-farming/

This research we did with over 1,200 young people from around the world on financial inclusion might be interesting - where we worked with Standard Chartered Bank’s Futuremakers initiative: https://businessfightspoverty.org/report/futuremakers-research-2022/

And take a look at some of our open access events we run for the global Business Fights Poverty community - where anyone, anywhere can take an active role, free of charge: https://businessfightspoverty.org/events/ for the January session and https://businessfightspoverty.org/events-timeline/ for others past, present and future,

[Ydun]

Great content and resources shared so far! To complement those, I would add two somewhat higher-level comments around data and transparency and their importance to inclusive business processes.  

• Data: Quality data on business operations is a necessary input into research processes. Businesses should ask themselves if they have the information they need to know whether or not their current operations are inclusive and address any identified data gaps. Data baselines are necessary for companies to start setting realistic targets for more inclusive business operations, such as identifying challenges, imagining solutions, and building strategic pilot programs. 

• 
  

• Transparency: Guided by data, businesses can report on targets, metrics, and progress, such as their commitment to diversify the workforce, strengthen an inclusive culture, and/or advance equity within the organization. Consumers increasingly demand such transparency as well. Goals, whether aspirational or realistic, should be informed by extensive analysis and market trends. Transparency and accountability of the organization to its goals come in the form of regular public reporting or even internal reporting to all employees (e.g., DEI reports). Reporting is also an opportunity to share business 'wins' to a larger audience; after all, a diverse and inclusive corporate environment has proven benefits: it establishes a sense of belonging among employees and when employees feel more connected at work, they tend to work harder and smarter, producing gains in the form of business results, innovation, and decision-making.