ABSTRACT The Web facilitates the initiation and development of relationships between firms in a supply chain. This study of Web-based supply chain links examines supplier diversity initiatives on the Web sites of the Fortune 500. It develops a measure of supplier diversity routinization based on innovation diffusion and routinization research. The study finds that few (15.6%) Fortune 500 firms use their public Web site to publicize supplier diversity. Current users of Web-based supplier diversity are categorized by diffusion theory as innovators and early adopters. The sites of the largest firms are most likely to mention supplier diversity. However, among all sites that mention supplier diversity, the degree of routinization--the number of different categories of supplier diversity comments--is relatively low and does not vary by firm size or industry. Thus, Web-based supplier diversity is marked by low levels of adoption and routinization.
