• AT&T
• The Boeing Company
• Chrysler Corporation
• Ford Motor Corporation
• General Motors Corporation
• IBM Corporation
• Johnson Controls, Inc.
• The Kroger Co.
• Lockheed Martin Corporation
• Procter and Gamble Company
• Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
• Verizon Communications, Inc.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Billion Dollar Roundtable

Participant 2006 Survey Comments

Initiatives that led to the success of Supplier Diversity Programs:

• Close integration with sourcing organization
• Partnership with Advocacy Groups
• Annual objectives coupled with quarterly reports
• Mentoring
• Supplier information sessions
• Increasing support of Tier 1 suppliers in Tier 2 purchasing activities through focused relationship-building activities
• Expanding reach of performance metrics to increase accountability among team members
• Opportunity exchange, a valuable forum delivering business opportunities to MBEs
• Introduction of Supplier Diversity Champions throughout the organization
• The employment of a consultant in the early stages of program development
• Executive leadership support and involvement – the CEO is very  supportive and vocal about the program
• The employment of a 3rd party I/T company to accurately identify our true minority spend
• Internal awareness programs
• Company wide implementation of NMSDC Supplier Diversity Best Practices
• Enhanced accountability tools/metrics
• In Tech Services, which is our largest area of spend, all Tier 1 contracts have a 25% diverse supplier utilization clause.  Even small business suppliers which are generally exempt, have a 15% diverse supplier utilization clause.
• Requiring all large prime suppliers to become national members of NMSDC and WBENC to ensure the Tier 1 suppliers we do business with foster the same beliefs as we do
• Utilization of corporate policy to drive supplier diversity
• Establishment of supplier diversity within global purchasing
• Appropriate allocation of headcount and funding for operating purposes
• Accountability for achieving year over year supplier diversity objectives at all levels of the purchasing organization
• Frequent review of supplier diversity performance against objectives
• Canadian Aboriginal Minority Supplier Council member
• Minority Entrepreneur Initiative
• Senior management leadership involvement

Challenges facing the Supplier Diversity Program:

• Government adoption of multi-tier reporting process
• Increased emphasis on service disabled veterans
• Industry (automotive) conditions placing financial stress on supply chain
• identifying and/or developing M/WBEs in non traditional areas
• Identifying smaller opportunities to introduce suppliers that are not yet at capacity for larger projects
•  Identification of minority suppliers in the electrical commodity
• Identification of WBEs with automotive capabilities that match potential opportunities
• Supplier consolidation related to company merger and strategic sourcing reduces supplier base
• Prime supplier reliance on contract manufacturing and other forms of outsourcing impacts second tier
• Internal Education
• Pressures to consolidate suppliers to cut costs in sluggish economy
• Buyer’s challenge to grow their direct import spend
• Large number of supplier inquiries versus our capacity to handle them adequately internally
• Customer enforcement of their second tier requirements
• Developing US suppliers quick enough to participate in our low cost country sourcing strategies
• Consolidation of the supply chain and impacts of telecom and I/T manufacturers outsourcing and off shoring
• Intense competitive pressures to continually lower costs is most challenging for smaller companies
• Expansion of Second Tier program
• Expansion of Supplier Diversity Program in the non-US Region
• Sourcing requirements and decision making authority moving outside the US
• Company rightsizing impacting resources available for supplier diversity operation
• Globalization, consolidation, and rationalization of supply chain reducing opportunities for MBEs that lack scale, are in commodities with high labor content, and have not developed an offshore presence
• No visible succession plans or exit strategies for founders of first generation MBE suppliers
• Enhancing MBE stature in the value chain
• Connecting opportunities for traditional MBEs with opportunities outside of the industry group
• Global sourcing

Procurement Data

Corporation size range- $315 billion to $28 Billion

Combined purchases in excess of $1.0 billion

Diversity spend averaged 8.2%

WBE spend 2.2%