Deborah Levine, Editor

An emerging trend in the corporate world takes advantage of the growing number of small diverse businesses with quality products. Many of these programs have already formalized into the corporate culture. Some of these programs are a response to the requirements of government contracts which are increasingly broad and long-term. The system for awarding any government contract with a value of more than $ 500,000.00 includes a mandatory sub-contracting plan that shows sub-contractors that qualify in categories such as small businesses, women-owned businesses, 8 (a) businesses, minority owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses.

“The minority population is the fastest growing segment in the US and will account for a significant share of future consumer growth. Diversity suppliers are one avenue for connecting to emerging market segments.”

3 M Corporation

Diverse Supply Chain Programs are being created by numerous large corporations. These programs are tools for corporate growth, innovation and community-based marketing. Some of the biggest companies are involved in the Billion Dollar Roundtable, investing $1 billion dollars in supply chain diversity. These companies include:

·                     Lockheed Martin Corporation

·                     AT&T Corporation

·                     Ford Motor Company

·                     Procter and Gamble Company

·                     Verizon Communications

·                     Altria Group

·                     IBM

·                     Lucent Technologies

·                     Toyota Motor North America

Diverse business offer many perks to corporations that they can include in their marketing plan.

“Many of our M/WBEs (Minority/Women-Owned Businesses) are small businesses, and as such they can often give us a flexibility that large firms simply can’t provide. We’ve found them to be entrepreneurial, customer-oriented and intently focused on the commitments they make to us . . . In 2004, Boeing placed well over $1 billion with M/WBEs.”

The Boeing Company

Small businesses are a growing part of our economy and should consider their role in Supply Diversity Programs. Here are some statistics about the 23 million small firms in this country:

·                     Represent 99.7 of all employer firms

·                     Employ half of all private sector employees

·                     Pay 45 % of total US private payroll

·                     Supplied more than 23% of value of federal prime contracts in FY 2003

·                     Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large firms

Given the growing number of corporations using supply diversity chains as a growth mechanism, small M/WBEs should position themselves to comply with corporate supplier requirements. These business owners might benefit not only in the immediate future but also long term from an affiliation with large corporations.