Board Gender Diversity and Buyer-Supplier Relationships

Aral, Karca D. and Giambona, Erasmo and Lopez A., Ricardo and Wang, Ye (2024): Board Gender Diversity and Buyer-Supplier Relationships.

Abstract

Supply chain strategy is one of the main prerogatives of a corporate board. How does corporate board diversity affect buyer-supplier relationships? Following a requirement for California firms to increase board gender diversity, affected buyers consolidated their supply base by reducing suppliers relative to other states’ firms, while retaining long-term, domestic, and innovative suppliers. These changes occur when female directors are better situated to influence corporate decisions. Alternative explanations, such as the coronavirus pandemic, cannot explain our results. Our findings indicate a heightened propensity to build stronger buyer-supplier relationships by firms with diverse boards as an important channel for increased performance.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Corporate diversity, board gender diversity, supply chain base, buyer-supplier relationships, supply risk.
• Subjects: G - Financial Economics > G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance > G31 - Capital Budgeting ; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies ; Capacity; G - Financial Economics > G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance > G32 - Financing Policy ; Financial Risk and Risk Management ; Capital and Ownership Structure ; Value of Firms ; Goodwill; G - Financial Economics > G3 - Corporate Finance and Governance > G33 - Bankruptcy ; Liquidation; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L11 - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure ; Size Distribution of Firms; L - Industrial Organization > L1 - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance > L14 - Transactional Relationships ; Contracts and Reputation ; Networks; L - Industrial Organization > L5 - Regulation and Industrial Policy > L51 - Economics of Regulation; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R3 - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R3 - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location > R30 - General; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R3 - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location > R32 - Other Spatial Production and Pricing Analysis; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R3 - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location > R33 - Nonagricultural and Nonresidential Real Estate Markets; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R4 - Transportation Economics; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R4 - Transportation Economics > R40 - General; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R4 - Transportation Economics > R41 - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion ; Travel Time ; Safety and Accidents ; Transportation Noise

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