Supplier Diversity

Baxter works to develop mutually beneficial relationships with small and diverse suppliers, and strives to continue to expand the diversity of its supplier base. This is a key aspect of the company's broader commitment to inclusion and diversity. Baxter also uses its annual supplier sustainability survey and contracting process to assess the supplier diversity programs of its own suppliers.

Baxter has been a corporate sponsor of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) for more than 20 years, and in 2006 joined the NMSDC Health Care Industry Group. Baxter is also a corporate partner of the Women’s Economic Development Organization. The company participates regularly in vendor fairs to promote supplier diversity, and maintains an online database that enables small and diverse businesses in the United States to share their capabilities with Baxter procurement representatives.

Since 2008, Baxter has included supplier diversity information in its supplier agreement summary sheets approved by senior management. These checklists include questions such as: How many diverse suppliers were included in the sourcing process? What classification were those suppliers? Was the selected supplier diverse? If not, why?

2010 Supplier Diversity Performance

In 2010, Baxter spent approximately $491 million with small businesses in the United States and Puerto Rico, which was approximately 20% of Baxter's total supplier spending of $2.4 billion in those markets during the year. The company spent approximately $97 million with women-owned businesses and $34 million with minority-owned firms in the United States and Puerto Rico. Veteran-owned, service-disabled veteran-owned, small disadvantaged and HUBZone-certified businesses represented approximately $6.6 million, $0.5 million, $13 million and $3.4 million of Baxter's spending, respectively.