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16 Corporations Attain World-Class Status in Supplier Diversity
The Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) has announced its annual listing of America's Top Corporations for Women's Business Enterprises, the only national award honoring corporations for world-class supplier diversity programs.
The 2006 award recognizes 16 corporations for their companywide programs offering equal access for WBEs in competing for, and winning, corporate contracts for goods and services. The corporations are:
AT&T
Avis Budget Group, Inc.
Bank of America
BellSouth Corporation
Chevron Corporation
The Coca-Cola Company
Exxon Mobil Corporation
IBM Corporation
Johnson & Johnson
Office Depot
PepsiCo, Inc.
Pfizer Inc
Shell Oil Company
TXU Corp.
UPS
Verizon
These companies are leaders in enriching the value chain by working with innovative and highly competitive women's business enterprises, said WBENC Interim President Linda Denny. By leveling the playing field for women's businesses across their organizations, they are rewarded with outstanding products and services that benefit their customers and their shareholders.
The America's Top Corporations for Women's Business Enterprises Breakfast and Awards presentation will take place on Friday, March 30, 2007, in Dallas, Texas. The event will be the culmination of a series of WBENC 10th Anniversary celebrations, including the 2007 Salute to Women's Business Enterprises: The Enterprising Economy and the 2007 WBENC Founders' Dinner on March 28.
TXU Corp., UPS, and the new AT&T(1), including its predecessor companies, have been recognized by WBENC every year since the award was created eight years ago. Avis Budget Group, Inc. and Chevron Corporation, including its predecessor companies, have each won the award seven times. Office Depot and PepsiCo, Inc. have each won six times; and Bank of America and Shell Oil Company have each won five times. IBM Corporation has won four times.
A 2006 benchmarking study commissioned by WBENC and conducted by the Center for Women's Business Research found that women-owned businesses are beating the industry average of keeping and growing corporate contracts. The results revealed that 40 percent of WBENC's corporate members increased their spending by at least 10 percent over the last three years with women-owned firms, compared with 24 percent of corporate members who increased their spending with suppliers overall.
The study found that women's business enterprises were also losing less when budgets are cut or the supply chain tightened. On average, 24.5 percent of corporations decreased their spending with suppliers, but only 14 percent cut contracts with women-owned providers, the study said.
There are 7.7 million majority-women-owned firms, or those with 51 percent ownership by women, employing 7.1 million people and generating $1.1 trillion in sales, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. Over the past two decades, majority-women-owned firms have continued to grow at around two times the rate of all firms.
WBENC will present the nation's largest national conference and business fair, Women in Business 2007: Launching a New Decade, on June 25-28, in Los Angeles.
For more information, contact info@wbenc.org or visit the website at http://www.wbenc.org/.
Source: Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)