Future of Sourcing - Competition https://futureofsourcing.com/tags/competition en How Supplier Diversity is Working in the Real World https://futureofsourcing.com/how-supplier-diversity-is-working-in-the-real-world <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Supplier_Diversity_Sarah_Scudder.jpg"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Supplier_Diversity_Sarah_Scudder.jpg" title="How Supplier Diversity is Working in the Real World" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1514-99wt_fMsgKg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Supplier_Diversity_Sarah_Scudder.jpg?itok=p9cXmNVe" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>Supplier diversity has been an important topic on the corporate agenda for most of the past five decades. Formal <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/social-sustainability-making-the-art-of-possible-possible" target="_blank">supplier diversity programs</a> began in the 1960s in response to government programs that were designed to expand economic opportunities for minority-owned businesses. Today, &ldquo;diverse suppliers&rdquo; encompass several additional types of business organizations, including:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Woman-owned business enterprises</li> <li>Veteran-owned businesses</li> <li>Service-disabled veteran-owned businesses</li> <li>Disabled-owned businesses</li> <li>Small business enterprises</li> <li>Historically Underutilized Business Zone (or HUBZone) businesses</li> <li>LGBT-owned businesses</li> </ul> <p>Business leaders have become more focused on supplier diversity during the past few years largely because of changing customer expectations. Research indicates that today&rsquo;s consumers &ndash; especially younger consumers &ndash; are more aware of the &ldquo;social practices&rdquo; of the companies they do business with and are increasingly demanding that companies have good corporate social responsibility records in order to win their business.</p> <div><strong>The State of Supplier Diversity</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>A recent study by CVM Solutions provides several important insights about the current state of supplier diversity programs. The 2018 State of Supplier Diversity Report &ndash; Supplier Diversity Programs was based on a survey of supplier diversity professionals that produced 124 qualified responses. Survey respondents were drawn from companies in 18 industries/sectors and represented companies ranging in size from fewer than 1,000 employees to more than 20,000 employees.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>When survey participants were asked to identify the primary drivers of their supplier diversity programs, the most frequently selected factors were:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>Corporate social responsibility (72.3% of respondents)</li> <li>Alignment with corporate culture and workforce inclusiveness (65.8%)</li> <li>Customer requirements (55.5%)</li> </ul> <div>The CVM research also found that <a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/whats-ahead-for-2019-wrap-up" target="_blank">spending with diverse suppliers is significant</a>. About 47% of the survey respondents reported that 10% or more of their Tier 1 supplier spend is with diverse suppliers. Equally important, more than two-thirds of respondents whose companies have fewer than 1,000 employees said that at least 10% of their Tier 1 spend is with diverse suppliers.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>CVM also found that the perceived effectiveness of supplier diversity programs is increasing. In the 2018 study, 32% of the survey respondents rated their programs as very effective. That was up from 25% in the 2017 version of the survey. Another 40% of respondents in the 2018 survey said their programs are somewhat effective. So in 2018, nearly three-fourths of the respondents in the CVM research were generally satisfied with their supplier diversity efforts.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>A View from the Front Lines</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>I recently spoke with Lamont Robinson, the founder and CEO of <a href="http://rlcdiversity.com/" target="_blank">Robinson LaRueCo Consulting (RLC)</a> to get a perspective from someone who works in the supplier diversity space on a daily basis. RLC helps companies increase diversity in their supply chains by developing and implementing effective and sustainable supplier diversity programs. Lamont Robinson has been a leader in the supplier diversity arena for the past 14 years and was the 2010 recipient of the Corris Boyd Leadership and Diversity award from the Federation of American Hospitals.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Mr. Robinson told me that the impetus for increasing supplier diversity has evolved over the past 50 years. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the primary motivation for improving supplier diversity was compliance with governmental programs that emerged from the U.S. civil rights movement. Later, some enterprises were motivated to launch supplier diversity programs because increasing diversity was viewed as &ldquo;the right thing to do.&rdquo;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Today, Mr. Robinson argues, supplier diversity has become a business imperative. Business leaders increasingly recognize that effective supplier diversity programs can have a significant impact on top-line and bottom-line business performance. As a result, many companies are now linking their supplier diversity efforts to their overall business strategy.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>According to Mr. Robinson, the business case for a supplier diversity program should be based on an evaluation of six related factors, which he calls the &ldquo;Six C&rsquo;s&rdquo; of supplier diversity:</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">1. <em><strong>Community</strong></em> &ndash; An effective supplier diversity program will be embedded in the communities the business serves, which means that the program should reflect the social interests of the community.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">2. <strong><em>Customers</em></strong> &ndash; Research indicates that consumers &ndash; particularly millennials &ndash; now expect the companies they do business with to act in ways that are socially responsible. Therefore, business leaders must consider current and emerging customer expectations when designing supplier diversity programs.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">3. <em><strong>Competition</strong></em> &ndash; Every business operates in an environment where the actions of competitors can affect company performance. So, business leaders must stay aware of what their competitors are doing to improve supplier diversity.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">4. <em><strong>Compliance</strong></em> &ndash; This is a basic but still important factor because federal and state diversity spend mandates continue to pressure some companies to implement supplier diversity programs. The key for companies is to have processes and technologies that enable them to classify diverse suppliers and track spending with those suppliers.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">5. <em><strong>Customization</strong></em> &ndash; One frequently undervalued benefit of supplier diversity is that diverse suppliers can be an important source of innovation for larger enterprises. In many cases, small firms have greater flexibility to innovate, and companies can gain the benefits of this innovation by working with small suppliers.</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">&nbsp;</div> <div style="margin-left: 40px;">6. <em><strong>Costs</strong></em> &ndash; Reducing costs will always be an important priority in most companies, and until recently, managing a large number of small suppliers would add costs to the procurement process. Today, however, digital procurement technologies can enable companies to work with small suppliers without significantly increasing indirect procurement costs. As a result, supplier diversity goals and cost savings goals are no longer necessarily incompatible.</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>As far as the future is concerned, Mr. Robinson believes that supplier diversity will come to be seen as an important source of revenue, not just as a cost center. He also expects supplier diversity efforts to continue to expand on a global basis.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supplier-diversity" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supplier Diversity</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/supplier-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Supplier Management</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/cost" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cost</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/competition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Competition</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/ethical-sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ethical Sourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="How Supplier Diversity is Working in the Real World - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/how-supplier-diversity-is-working-in-the-real-world"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div> Tue, 09 Jul 2019 18:21:46 +0000 Sarah Scudder 1514 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/how-supplier-diversity-is-working-in-the-real-world#comments A few words for the weekend https://futureofsourcing.com/node/738 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>As another working week draws to a close, I thought I&rsquo;d take this opportunity to wave you off into your respective weekends with a couple of announcements&hellip; Those of you who are members of our LinkedIn group may already have seen some of these; those of you who aren&rsquo;t are missing out!&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4557967" target="_blank">Come and join us at the increasingly archaically named &lsquo;Outsource Magazine &ndash; Global Community&rsquo; group</a>&nbsp;&ndash; knock and ye shall be received&hellip;</p> <p>1) Our next Outsource Talks webinar is now just a few days away and I hope as many of you as possible will be joining us to hear from several more titans of the outsourcing space, addressing the usual broad range of compelling topics (I&rsquo;m expecting plenty of Brexit-related chat&hellip;). Outsource Talks #5 is at 3pm UK time (7.30pm India; 10am Eastern; 7am Pacific) Wednesday July 20; for more information and to register,&nbsp;<a href="http://bit.ly/29fLiy1" target="_blank">click here</a>&nbsp;&ndash; I look forward to seeing all of you there and to putting your questions to the panel.</p> <p>2) Our writing competition is of course still open &ndash; and I thought I should give you another chance to see how you could WIN a seat at&nbsp;<a href="http://siguniversity.org/" target="_blank">SIG University</a>&nbsp;worth over $3,000! For details&nbsp;<a href="http://outsourcemag.com/enter-our-writing-competition-to-win-a-place-at-sig-university/" target="_blank">click here</a>&nbsp;&ndash; please, though, make sure you read the rules: I had to reject a submission earlier this month because the author had written a fantastic article on a completely different topic! (All&rsquo;s well that ends well: you&rsquo;ll be reading that feature later this year&hellip;.)</p> <p>3) On the subject of articles: I&rsquo;m still looking for input into a feature I announced last month (but which I then had to put on the back burner) about some of the techniques people have developed to ensure success for themselves and their teams. I&rsquo;d really love responses (of up to 250 words per question &ndash; you do NOT need to answer all the questions) from all of you to the following:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>What has been the most successful measure you&rsquo;ve seen put in place &ndash; or have implemented yourself &ndash; to improve communication within and between teams involved in an outsourcing project</li> <li>What in your opinion is the secret of successful change management, and can you share an example of this in practice?</li> <li>What&rsquo;s the best example you can give of the development of a genuine team spirit and culture during an outsourcing transition?</li> <li>Can you share an example of world-class leadership in outsourcing, and why did this matter?</li> <li>Can you nominate an unsung hero from your career, and say why this person deserves recognition?</li> </ul> <p>Thanks to those of you who have already submitted responses; the rest of you are more than welcome to join that happy band by getting your own answers to me at <a href="mailto:jliddell@sig.org">jliddell@sig.org</a>&hellip;</p> <p>4) Registration is now open for our GBS Roadmap events in association with KPMG, in Zurich, Switzerland (October 4-5) and Copenhagen, Denmark (November 15-16). For more information see my recent column &lsquo;<a href="http://outsourcemag.com/putting-the-g-into-gbs/" target="_blank">Putting the &ldquo;G&rdquo; into &ldquo;GBS&rdquo;</a>&lsquo; or check out the series website at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.gbsroadmap.com/" target="_blank">www.gbsroadmap.com</a>&nbsp;&ndash; these will be fantastic conferences and we hope to see a veritable host of you at one or the other (or indeed both!) later this year.</p> <p>There&rsquo;s plenty more I could add but I&rsquo;ve crammed enough into this article&nbsp;already, I feel, so I&rsquo;ll leave you in peace for now &ndash; but not without thanking all of you for your kind attention and your ongoing support of Outsource, and reiterating that my inbox is always open &ndash; again, at <a href="mailto:jliddell@sig.org">jliddell@sig.org</a> &ndash; to anyone interested in submitting content, offering feedback, sharing news and views or discussing anything else relating to Outsource or the industry. As always, I look forward to hearing from as many of you as possible. Meanwhile, have a great weekend!</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/change-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Change Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/communication" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Communication</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/competition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Competition</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/brexit" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Brexit</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="A few words for the weekend - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/node/738"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div> Sat, 16 Jul 2016 02:23:06 +0000 Jamie Liddell 738 at https://futureofsourcing.com Enter our writing competition to win a place at SIG University! https://futureofsourcing.com/node/952 <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Are you a budding thought leader? Do you hunger for fame and glory &ndash; in the form of exposure on the world&rsquo;s leading outsourcing publication? And do you want a FREE chance to enroll in&nbsp;<a href="http://siguniversity.org/" target="_blank">SIG University</a>&rsquo;s Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) course (for yourself or a colleague)?</p> <p>That&rsquo;s right: a SIG U certification AND coverage in Outsource could be yours, thanks to our new writing competition in collaboration with SIG University&hellip;</p> <p>Here at Outsource we&rsquo;re always on the lookout for great content, from any and every corner of the sourcing, outsourcing and business transformation community &ndash; and we know there are countless great potential thought leaders out there who&rsquo;ve yet to grace our hallowed pages. So, we thought we should take steps to connect with as many of you as possible &ndash; and what better way than through the time-honoured medium of a writing competition, to sort the truly exceptional from the merely utterly wonderful?</p> <p>Moreover, if the chance of making it into Outsource wasn&rsquo;t incentive enough, we&rsquo;ve partnered with SIG University to offer our winner a place in the next semester of the Certified Sourcing Professional course. If the winner doesn&rsquo;t satisfy SIG U&rsquo;s entrance criteria, he or she can transfer the prize to someone within his or her organisation who does, thus earning priceless kudos internally (which never hurts&hellip;).</p> <p>In launching this unique competition with Outsource, SIG U&rsquo;s Vice President Mark Pollack says: &ldquo;This is an exciting competition where we hope to find Sourcing&rsquo;s Next Top Talent and follow their journey into SIG University and beyond. We are confident that this global competition will bring forward a host of creative writers and innovative industry experts, and give them the very best global platform from which to showcase their cutting-edge thinking. We are proud to be co-sponsors of this event with Outsource, and look forward to hearing from and getting to know the budding thought leaders who will help redefine sourcing and governance.&rdquo;</p> <p>So, what do you have to do? It&rsquo;s simple&hellip;we&rsquo;re looking for an article of 1,000 &ndash; 2,000 words that answers the following question:</p> <p><strong>&ldquo;What will be the most important drivers of change in the global sourcing arena over the next decade, and why?&rdquo;</strong></p> <p>Entries must be in English, supplied (in Microsoft Word format) to me at <a href="mailto:jliddell@sig.org">jliddell@sig.org</a>, with the subject line &ldquo;WRITING COMPETITION ENTRY&rdquo; by no later than midnight UK time on July 31st. Entries must include a photo and 100-word (exclusive of the total word count for the article) bio of the author. Crucially, nobody who&rsquo;s already been published on <a href="http://www.outsourcemag.com">www.outsourcemag.com</a> before can apply: this competition seeks to find and spotlight new talent, not those who&rsquo;ve already made a name for themselves. Articles must be vendor-neutral, non-promotional and absolutely original: no article that&rsquo;s already been published anywhere else online or in any other format will be accepted.</p> <p>All valid entries will be judged by our panel and a selection of the best will be published on the Outsource site prior to the announcement of the winning entry towards the end of August. (For full terms and conditions, see below.)</p> <p>We&rsquo;ll be promoting all published articles heavily on this site and throughout our social media channels &ndash; and there&rsquo;s even the chance of the winner appearing on an Outsource Talks webinar later in the year. What greater exposure could there be for any aspiring sourcing thought leader?</p> <p>So, what are you waiting for? Editorial immortality awaits! Get your thinking caps on and, when you&rsquo;re ready to tackle that deliciously appetising question, start writing: a headline spot in Outsource and a place in SIG U&rsquo;s CSP course could be only a couple of thousand words away&hellip;</p> <p><strong>About SIG University</strong></p> <p>SIG University was developed by and for sourcing and outsourcing professionals and academics to supplement real-world experience with the knowledge seen as lacking in the industry today. Based on the theory of Vested relationships, SIG University is designed to give you the soft and hard skills necessary for today&rsquo;s sourcing professional.</p> <p>SIG U is transforming business one student at a time. Recognising that companies are desperate for innovative, analytical, transparent and customer-centric sourcing professionals, SIG U has taken guidance from the preeminent leaders in sourcing and created a curriculum that meets the needs of today&rsquo;s workforce for tomorrow&rsquo;s expectations.</p> <p><em>For more information please see <a href="http://www.siguniversity.org">www.siguniversity.org</a> or contact Mark Pollack at <a href="mailto:mpollack@sig.org">mpollack@sig.org</a> or on +1 904 304 6154.</em></p> <hr style="clear:both;" /> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><em><strong>Terms &amp; Conditions</strong></em></p> <p><em>1. This competition is not open to employees of Sourcing Industry Group, Sourcing International Group, SIG University or their relatives; nor to anybody who has previously been published by Outsource in any format and/or medium whatsoever.</em><br /><em>2. The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence shall be entered into.&nbsp;</em><br /><em>3. To qualify for the competition, all entries must be received no later than midnight UK time on July 31st 2016.&nbsp;</em><br /><em>4. Submissions must be supplied in Microsoft Word format, in English, by email to <a href="mailto:jliddell@sig.org">jliddell@sig.org</a> with the subject line &ldquo;WRITING COMPETITION ENTRY&rdquo;; each entry must be accompanied by a photo of the author in .jpeg format. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.&nbsp;</em><br /><em>5. Submissions must be between 1,000 and 2,000 words in length including all annotations but excluding the author&rsquo;s biography of no more than 100 words which must accompany, in the same document, the article being submitted.</em><br /><em>6. All submissions must be completely original; no entry shall be deemed valid if it has previously been published in whole or in part anywhere in the world, in any medium whatsoever.</em><br /><em>7. Articles must not contain graphs, diagrams or any other type of illustration; no images other than the photo of the author will be published.</em><br /><em>8. All submitting authors will identify themselves and assert in the act of their submission that they are the sole authors of the article being submitted and that no other authors&rsquo; rights are being infringed in any way. Sourcing Industry Group/Sourcing International Group will not be held liable in any way for any copyright infringement resulting from the publication of any article submitted to this competition.</em><br /><em>9. All submitting authors will in the act of their submission transfer in perpetuity to Outsource and Sourcing Industry Group/Sourcing International Group the full ownership of the article being submitted and all rights to publish the article, along with or without the image of the author supplied as part of the submission, anywhere in the world, in any medium. Outsource and Sourcing Industry Group/Sourcing International Group will acknowledge the authorship of the article as and when it is published on every occasion. The Outsource editor reserves the right to edit any submission in any way he sees fit.</em><br /><em>10. The prize of one enrollment in SIG University&rsquo;s Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP) course will be awarded to the author of the winning entry, who may take the course him/herself or, if s/he does not meet the criteria for eligibility, may transfer the prize to a colleague meeting those criteria. Eligibility shall be decided solely by Mark Pollack, Vice President of SIG University, and no substitute prize shall be given in its stead should the winner and/or any other proposed recipient of the award be deemed ineligible. Any winner deemed eligible and subsequently taking the CSP course shall be subject to the usual SIG University Terms &amp; Conditions.</em><br /><em>11. This prize has no cash value.&nbsp;</em><br /><em>12. This competition shall be held according to the laws of England and Wales.<br />13. All entrants will automatically be subscribed to the Outsource mailing list and their information may be shared with Sourcing Industry Group, SIG University and associated organisations.&nbsp;</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/certified-sourcing-professional-csp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Certified Sourcing Professional (CSP)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/education" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Education</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/competition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Competition</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/training" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Training</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Sourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Enter our writing competition to win a place at SIG University! - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/node/952"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 03 Jun 2016 12:51:57 +0000 Jamie Liddell 952 at https://futureofsourcing.com Stewart and Plotkin, the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Generous Strategies https://futureofsourcing.com/stewart-and-plotkin-the-prisoner%E2%80%99s-dilemma-and-generous-strategies <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FOS%20Digital_Kate%20Vitasek_Slider%20Graphic%20%281%29%20%281%29_88.png"><a href="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/FOS%20Digital_Kate%20Vitasek_Slider%20Graphic%20%281%29%20%281%29_88.png" title="Stewart and Plotkin, the Prisoner’s Dilemma and Generous Strategies" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1115-99wt_fMsgKg"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/FOS%20Digital_Kate%20Vitasek_Slider%20Graphic%20%281%29%20%281%29_88.png?itok=BurllpEw" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>I&rsquo;ve been a game theory fan for many years, particularly as it relates to showing that cooperative behavior indeed creates true &ldquo;win-win&rdquo; situations. So I was excited to read a work of University of Pennsylvania professors Alexander J. Stewart and Joshua B. Plotkin, &lsquo;<a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/08/28/1306246110.full.pdf" target="_blank">From Extortion to Generosity, Evolution in the Iterated Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma</a>&lsquo;,&nbsp;published recently in the&nbsp;<em>Proceedings of the National Academy of Science</em>&nbsp;(PNAS).</p> <p>I was even more excited by their findings, which underscores (once again) that the evolution and validity of cooperation is a better approach than using the power of extortion to gain cooperation. It is definitely an academic study worthy of &ldquo;unpacking.&rdquo;</p> <p>The Stewart and Plotkin study sheds some a new light on a classic question concerning human behaviour: is it better to gain a lot at the expense of another person, or to gain slightly less while simultaneously promoting the other&rsquo;s wellbeing? They explore this question through the application of a spin on the classic&nbsp;<a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/PrisonersDilemma.html" target="_blank">Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma</a>&nbsp;game. A Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma is a situation, common in society and business, where the short-term self-interest of each party conflicts with the parties&rsquo; long-term interests. Research has shown that over the long term, people (or organisations) are better off if they cooperate. I wrote about the Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma for this column in May, 2011,&nbsp;<a href="http://outsourcemag.com/john-nash-robert-axelrod-game-theory-and-the-art-of-playing-nice/" target="_blank">&lsquo;John Nash, Robert Axelrod, Game Theory and the art of playing nice&rsquo;</a>.</p> <p>Stewart and Plotkin&rsquo;s work is full of rather dense mathematical equations and Venn diagrams that looks at what they reference as &ldquo;zero determinant (ZD) strategies.&rdquo; They write: &ldquo;Recent work has uncovered a remarkable class of extortion strategies that provide one player a disproportionate payoff when facing an unwitting opponent.&rdquo; This is what is called the zero determinant (ZD) and is typified by a solution where one party &ldquo;wins&rdquo; at a much higher rate than the opponent. They identify ZD, as &ldquo;a new class of probabilistic and conditional strategies&rdquo; that unilaterally set the expected payoff of an opponent in iterated plays of the Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma no matter the opponent&rsquo;s strategy, or else determines the ratio between a ZD player&rsquo;s and their opponent&rsquo;s expected payoff.</p> <p>While the math is impressive, it&rsquo;s their conclusion that excites me. Simply put, they find (like all the other research!) that cooperation and generosity are better modes of behaviour than obstinance and self-interest when it comes to thriving within a society.</p> <p>While extortion strategies &ldquo;perform very well in head-to-head competitions,&rdquo; at least for a brief period of time, Stewart and Plotkin write, &ldquo;they fare poorly in large, evolving populations.&rdquo;</p> <p>Common sense &ndash; right?</p> <p>What is maybe not so common sense is that Stewart and Plotkin look beyond ZD extortion strategies to something they refer to as &ldquo;generous ZD strategies.&rdquo; The generous ZD strategy subset involves active cooperation with others and the forgiveness of defection, thus replacing the extortionists.</p> <p>In general, Stewart and Plotkin continue, &ldquo;Extortion and ZD strategies are disfavored by evolution in populations. This has led to the view that ZD strategies are of importance only in the setting of classical two-player game theory, and not in evolving populations.&rdquo;</p> <p>Their conclusion: when the various Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma strategies are in play, generous strategies are &ldquo;disproportionately favoured&rdquo; over extortion strategies. That&rsquo;s because they &ldquo;stabilise cooperative behaviour.&rdquo;</p> <p>Stewart and Plotkin&rsquo;s results underscore the value of collaboration and cooperation &ndash; major tenets of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.vestedway.com/" target="_blank">Vested</a>model &ndash; and help explain the evolution of cooperation in the Prisoner&rsquo;s Dilemma scenario.</p> <p>Of course &ndash; it makes sense to me. Be nice and cooperate and you will win much more often than not. Be generous and you will really win friends and influence others, which will come back in positive ways in the future. While some would call this good karma, others need the underlying math and science to prove common sense. So I am thankful Stewart and Plotkin took the time to do the math and &ndash; yet once again &ndash; prove you can indeed win more with a &ldquo;what&rsquo;s-in-it-for-we&rdquo; (WIIFWe) mindset!</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/competition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Competition</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/cooperation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Cooperation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/negotiation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Negotiation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/partnership" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Partnership</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/vested-outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vested Outsourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Stewart and Plotkin, the Prisoner&amp;rsquo;s Dilemma and Generous Strategies - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://futureofsourcing.com/stewart-and-plotkin-the-prisoner%E2%80%99s-dilemma-and-generous-strategies"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 16 Oct 2013 01:01:59 +0000 Kate Vitasek 1115 at https://futureofsourcing.com https://futureofsourcing.com/stewart-and-plotkin-the-prisoner%E2%80%99s-dilemma-and-generous-strategies#comments