About Supplier Diversity

The Cisco Global Supplier Diversity Business Development (GSDBD) Program was established more than 14 years ago to increase inclusion and diversification of our global suppliers. The GSDBD team identifies potential suppliers and facilitates relationships between them and Cisco representatives who can use their products and services.

Cisco works with a number of suppliers, many of whom are small businesses. Diversity among these suppliers is an important aspect of Cisco's supply chain philosophy. We believe diversity is good for our business in a variety of ways:

• Regional diversity gives us access to worldwide skills and markets, provides business resiliency if disruptions occur in a particular region, and helps reduce transportation costs.
• Culturally diverse suppliers offering different viewpoints and styles of interacting, help develop and market products that fit the needs of the global community.
• Social diversity promotes inclusiveness that benefits communities and local economies.

The GSDBD Program provides equal access to businesses owned by minorities, women, service disabled, and veterans, as well as to companies in historically underutilized business zones (HUB zones). Cisco has an internal goal of awarding 10 percent of our supplier expenditures to such businesses. 

Supplier diversity:

• Enhances Cisco's competitive advantage.
• Positions Cisco to meet the requirements of our customers.
• Helps our customers meet government requirements by procuring a proportion of their goods and services from diverse suppliers.

For the past four years, Cisco has been recognized for our supplier diversity efforts by DiversityBusiness.com. Cisco ranks as one of the top 50 U.S. companies providing multicultural business opportunities, based on feedback received from more than 650,000 women- and minority-owned businesses.