NMSDC: Delivering Results

In October 2007, the National Minority Supplier Development Council recognized United Parcel Service Inc. with its prestigious Corporation of the Year Award at the 35th anniversary Awards Gala capping its annual conference.

Regarded as the most significant honor to a major corporation for the utilization of Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American suppliers, the Corporation of the Year Award draws attention to firms like UPS who demonstrate exceptional strength in areas critical to maintaining a solid minority supplier development process.

Understandably, UPS is honored and grateful to the National Minority Supplier Development Council for recognizing it as the Corporation of the Year, explains Supplier Diversity Coordinator Fritz Valsaint. “UPS is pleased to be associated with NMSDC and the work it does to link corporate America to minorityowned businesses, and we look forward to continuing this relationship,” he said. “UPS is particularly grateful to our own diverse suppliers for their continued commitment to help us meet our customers’ expectations.”

Drawing the map

In part, the NMSDC recognition stems from UPS’ strong commitment to expanding its minority spend. For instance, in 2006, UPS increased its spend with minority businesses to $341 million, an 82 percent increase over its 2005 spend. During the year, the company contracted with 1,342 certified first-tier MBEs. Additionally, UPS unbundled large contracts to provide more opportunities for minority businesses and increased business opportunities in nontraditional areas such as asset management.

UPS has a comprehensive minority supplier development process that is certainly worthy of being modeled by other corporations, explained NMSDC President Harriet R. Michel. “The real key is having executive support for the process, which is evident at UPS,” she said. “When the top levels of a corporation support minority business development, implementation of a minority supplier development process becomes part of the organization’s mission. Their efforts consistently address the full spectrum of supplier development and are worthy of being modeled by others.”

Staying the course

According to Michel, UPS was named Corporation of the Year for its exemplary achievement in minority business development. “The company was very effective in implementing NMSDC’s best practices to create a very comprehensive minority supplier development process,” she said. “At a time when many corporations were cutting back on the number of minority suppliers by bundling contracts, UPS was unbundling contracts, thereby providing more suppliers with the opportunity to do business with the company.”

For instance, UPS demonstrated an executive-level commitment to minority supplier development by participating in activities to develop minority businesses including sponsoring MBEs to participate in executive education programs like the one NMSDC holds at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. UPS has also dedicated time and resources to mentoring MBEs by participating in NMSDC’s Centers of Excellence program, which helps corporations improve their supplier development process.

Road ahead

While UPS is pleased to be recognized for its efforts to date, the company continuously remains committed to creating even greater opportunities to diversify its supply chain globally. “This award is just the beginning. We continue to establish internal goals for supplier diversity and push ourselves to not just achieve them, but to exceed them,” said Kurt Kuehn, UPS chief financial officer, in acceptance of the award.

One of the core attributes driving action within the UPS culture is a concept known as constructive dissatisfaction, explained Valsaint. “This means that we constantly seek ways to improve on our past success — and that is certainly true of our supplier diversity programs.”

With this spirit in mind, the UPS program is dedicated to achieving global expansion of supplier diversity, the continued investment of capital to grow diverse suppliers through developing special programs as well as continued efforts designed to add suppliers in nontraditional areas. In recognition that all success comes as a result of team actions, the supplier diversity team will also continue the training and development of internal stakeholders and key suppliers while also creating more strategic alliances and joint ventures.

“One of the secrets to our hundred-year success is our ability to transform our business when necessary and to stay relevant to our customers,” Kuehn said. “More than simply transforming our own business, we’re also constantly working to help our customers achieve their individual business plans … to transform their domestic businesses into global enterprises.”