Percentage of Tier I Procurement
Budgets Spent with MWBEs
21%
with traditionally underrepresented communities. “MWBEs
have a higher percentage of
diverse employees than other 21%
companies,” explains Steven 18%
Rogers, director of the Levy En- 15%
trepreneur Institute at North-
12%
western University Kellogg
School of Management and an 9%
instructor at Kellogg’s execu- 6%
tive-management program for
3%
diverse suppliers. “So if you’re
an automotive company that 0%
wants to sell cars to underserved communities, doing
business with a diverse supplier
creates more jobs for employees who, in turn, will have the
financial ability to buy more cars.”
Corporate supplier-diversity programs can also
be an effective recruitment and retention tool, since
today’s diversity-minded job seekers gravitate toward
those employers that have earned a reputation as a
Top 10
Supplier
Diversity
Industry Estimates
responsible company. “We
regularly get calls and e-mails
from LGBT MBA students
who ask about a specific
company’s policies, including
supplier diversity,” explains
NGLCC Co-founder and
9% President Justin Nelson.
Conversely, the absence of
a supplier-diversity program
2% can hurt a company’s abil-
ity to attract much-needed
knowledge workers “I person-
National
Average ally know of a highly recruited
Black MBA from an Ivy League
school who elected not to
work for a company because
of its lack of commitment to
supplier diversity,” reveals Moore.
Top 50
2008
BEST-IN-CLASS STRATEGIES
The 2008 DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity® clearly understand the importance
Cargill Partners
With Diverse Suppliers
Even in a tight economy, opportunities abound for minority-and women-owned business enterprises with the capacity to
serve a company such as Minneapolis-based Cargill, says Director of Supplier Diversity Tim Thomas.
“Every day, we look for ways to source from diverse suppliers with the ability to make a difference in our supply chain,”
says Thomas, who adds that Cargill worked with more than
1,900 diverse vendors last year.
Cargill is working to increase the number of diverse suppliers
that can support its agriculture and food-processing businesses, an area that represents the majority of the company’s U.S.
spend. “We coach our diverse suppliers to invest in technology,
to source from emerging markets and to merge with or acquire
other suppliers to increase their capacity,” says Thomas.
In 2005, one of Cargill’s diverse employees decided to go
out on his own and purchase an egg-processing facility in Iowa.
“We entered into a supply agreement to purchase eggs from
that supplier, which are an important raw material for Cargill,”
says Thomas.
That same year, Cargill invested in a
Latina-owned tortilla company that was
losing the co-packer that produced its
tortillas. “We purchased 45 percent of the
tortilla company, which provided the owner
with the capital to build her own plant,” Thoma s
explains. Today, that joint venture has grown from three
to more than 65 employees and from $4 million to more than
$12 million in annual revenues.
Recently, Cargill signed a supply agreement that is enabling
a diverse supplier to build a $95 million chemical plant in Iowa. Once
the facility opens in 2010, Cargill expects to purchase $25 million to
$30 million a year in chemicals from that business.
“Strategic sourcing continues to evolve with corporations
focusing on procurement strategies aimed at supplier consolidation, cost reduction, increasing quality and other factors for a sustainable procurement operation,” Thomas adds. “Despite those
changes, Cargill continues to source from diverse suppliers with
the vision to align their product/service offerings and strategies
with our sourcing needs.”
