company
Supplier Diversity Plan
"Three-Level" Approach to Mentoring
World Wide Technology (WWT) believes that a critical component of the strength of a community is the commitment that its resident businesses show towards that community. This belief is the foundation of our proactive involvement in our community. Nowhere is that commitment better demonstrated than in our efforts to develop women, minority, and disabled veterans (MWDV/BE) businesses.
The advantages are clear. When we contribute to the success of women, minority, and disabled veterans businesses, we derive multiple benefits. Not only do we invest in the health and stability of our communities, but also our business enterprise benefits directly from a broader selection of competitively priced goods and services. Our customers benefit from the ability to take advantage of the tremendous value-added services of truly creative and responsive new business providers. In addition, the customer gains the added benefit of reporting the (second level) Supplier Diversity dollars we spend with these companies. The community obviously benefits because as we grow in these MWDVBE relationships, so does the opportunity for creating jobs and improving the area's general quality of life.
The World Wide Technology - Supplier Diversity Plan (SDP) is our corporate commitment to help train, refer and integrate qualified and certified suppliers into the provisioning of products and services to our customers. We will utilize a "three-level" approach to developing relationships that will allow suppliers participating in our SDP to engage in business opportunities in several ways:
Direct referrals to our customer-base for non-competitive service/product offerings.
- Mentoring relationships, which will help, strengthen and enable MWDV/BE companies.
- Collaborative business ventures with WWT.
- WWT Supplier Diversity
"Three-Level" Approach to Mentoring
We see a number of ways in which the future of Supplier Diversity can be enhanced through effective mentoring relationships. We define mentoring as that effort to identify, qualify and train MWDV/BE companies resulting in the enhancement of their ability to secure business relationships either directly with end-user customers or indirectly through collaborative relationships with other successful companies such as WWT. We envision this mentoring taking on one of three distinct relationship levels: CONNECTING, COACHING and COLLABORATION.
LEVEL 1 Mentoring - CONNECTING:
Identifying and pre-qualifying various MWDV/BE companies which provide services or products which do not relate directly to WWT's specific service provisioning and are thus non-competitive in nature to our business. Once qualified, we actively seek to make referrals to our customer-base recommending these companies for direct service/product engagements with those companies.
Ex. Company ABC produces high-quality stationery products. WWT identifies the company, does some preliminary screening and pre-qualification of the company. Once satisfied with the company's credentials and ability, WWT contacts various customers within it's customer-base and recommends the company for review by that customer.
LEVEL 2 Mentoring - COACHING:
Identifying and pre-qualifying various MWDV/BE companies which provide services or products which do not relate directly to WWT's specific service provisioning and are thus non-competitive in nature to our businesses. Once qualified, we will actively (upon request of the MWDV/BE company) begin a "coaching" relationship - sharing certain intellectual and business knowledge, which will allow the company to better grow and develop in its quest for success in the business world. These intellectual properties may include, but are not limited to, advice in operations strategies, marketing, financial development, IT infrastructure, successful bids and proposals preparation, training techniques, etc.
Ex. Company XYZ provides expert job-referral and employment placement services. WWT identifies the company, does some preliminary screening and pre-qualification of the company. Company XYZ has demonstrated talent and skill in the disciplines of their service offering but lack certain marketing and financial development skills to compete effectively in the marketplace. Upon request by XYZ, WWT elects to offer some form of high-level training in generic marketing expertise and advise on developing contacts and methodology for securing financial assistance.
Within the scope of this coaching relationship, our SDP may include evaluations and growth expectations for the selected MBEs, assessing progress in the mentored areas.
LEVEL 3 Mentoring - COLLABORATION:
Identifying and pre-qualifying various MWDV/BE companies which provide services or products which are directly related and thus complementary to WWT's strategic business objectives. This may encompass products or services which contribute to the companies' general day-to-day infrastructure (internal procurement needs) or to the contribution of services and/or products necessary to satisfy direct customer relationships (i.e., WWT or Telcobuy's customer-base). Once qualified, we will actively engage those companies in either sub-contracted (2nd Tier MWDV/BE to our customer-base) relationships or through direct product/service relationships with our companies (internal procurement).
Company AAA produces a unique wiring harness, which may be used as a sub-assembly in an assembly line in Telcobuy's Contract Manufacturing unit. After verification of the credentials and qualifications of the company, Telcobuy elects to engage Company AAA as a sub-contractor in the production of the end product for its end customer, Universal Bell (a service provider who has contracted Telcobuy). Universal Bell then receives Tier 2 MWDV/BE credits for dollars procured through Telcobuy on behalf of the customer's program.
Company BBB is a pre-certified installation contractor in the operating region of Global Info Tech Co. (a service provider who has contracted WWT as a prime for some service provisioning) WWT identifies the company as a certified MWDV/BE company and following our normal verification of the company's capabilities, WWT elects to sub-contract that company to perform, under our immediate supervision and oversight, the install function of the provisioning cycle.
Two important notes should be considered regarding this last type of "collaborative" relationship. First, the extent to which WWT can engage other MWDV/BE companies in programs which provide significant Supplier Diversity spend, is proportional to the comprehensive and multi-faceted engagements in which WWT is able to participate with our end-customers and OEM partners. Secondly, WWT's consideration of qualified diverse suppliers shall always have as its main priority, the selection of business partners who will ensure a stronger value proposition both to WWT and ultimately to our customer base. We will continue to be guided by the focus of making business decisions based solely on that, which is consistent with our core strategies, mission and best business practices.
With these three levels of supplier engagement, we believe we can realistically strive for continual participation in advancing the cause of Supplier Diversity, not just at the final "dollars in the till" stage, but at every critical milestone that leads to that point.
Leadership Commitment
Our Executive Management Team is committed to our SDP as demonstrated by the following goals:
- The inclusion of WWT's SDP goals in the company's Employee Handbook. Placement of this SDP on our web site that will include our Diversity Policy and a means for interested companies to inquire about our program.
- Our commitment to a nondiscriminatory policy with regards to qualified suppliers.
- Articles published in our company on-line newsletter linking our SDP plan to our customers' success.
- Seeking feedback from customers on our SDP.
- Networking with other companies involved in supplier diversity to get ideas on plan development.
- Identify and train all levels of management personnel on our SDP.
- Periodic reviews with executive management team to evaluate current SDP progress and proactively seek ways to improve results.
Program Administrator
Robert Wells, Director - Program Management/Supplier Diversity, has overall responsibility for the WWT's SDP. He will ensure the successful performance and tracking of plan objectives. He will also handle the monitoring of numbers and the performance and tracking of plan requirements and overall corporate goals.
Program Administrator Goals
- Oversee WWT's efforts to aggressively pursue the IT, Telecommunications and Automotive industries' challenges for MWDV/BE participation.
- Facilitate WWT's continuing commitment to working with all our customers to ensure support of their ongoing diverse supplier strategies, objectives and goals.
- Oversee WWT's administrative SDP process of identifying, classifying and data tracking the results our MWDV/BE suppliers.
- Ensure WWT's continuing participation in outreach activities enabling the company to seek potential mentoring relationships with diverse business partners at all three levels of our SDP program.
On-Going Activities of the sdp
For currently engaged MWDV/BE's suppliers:
- Continue monitoring performance, quality and responsiveness of suppliers providing feedback regarding results.
- Determine the gross amount of first tier dollars spent by WWT with each supplier.
- Upon request, provide updates to our MWDV/BE stakeholders (customers/vendor partners, Diverse Supplier Agencies).
- Validate minority certification through State and National organizationss. (WWT annually maintains its own Minority Certifications through local and national certifying agencies such as the NMSDC, California PUC Clearinghouse, etc.)
- Identify and implement initiatives to broaden the scope of opportunities for MWDV/BE'ss
- Gather data from Finance Department relative to our total spend..
- Provide results, reports and updates to customer-base as requested..
For potential MWDV/BE's suppliers:
- Make Supplier Questionnaire available to potential suppliers
- Collect the Questionnaire responses and determine which suppliers match requirements for MWDV/BE status
- Examine our product and services requirements for opportunities to include MWDV/BE companies at any of the three SDP mentoring levels
- If mentoring relationships develop to the collaborative level, track the ensuing financial results
In summary, WWT is committed to making Supplier Diversity an integral part of our day to day business operation planning. We understand that as we engage with creative, responsive and qualified MBE partners we will improve our own internal organization which ultimately enhances WWT's value proposition such that we are better positioned to meet, and even exceed, our end customer's needs in a "beyond all expectations" manner.
Community Organizations
To demonstrate our companies' continued involvement in our community, in ways not normally measured through traditional MWDV/BE metrics, WWT Chairman, Dave Steward addresses the issue of support of various community organizations.
World Wide Technology is dedicated to supporting our community, both locally as well as throughout the country. Our goal is to bring positive change by supporting these organizations and providing leadership through employee involvement and developing long-term relationships in these organizations
WWT's contribution decisions are based on the individual merits of the particular project or organization. We are most attracted to projects that benefit and support the youth of our community. We focus on supporting the work of quality, effective, goal-oriented organizations that address human needs and services.
WWT is committed to organizations that bring together diverse groups with common concerns while building new approaches and focusing on key issues in the community. We want to improve the education process by broadening opportunities and increasing the potential for all individuals.
David L. Steward, Chairman - World Wide Technology Holding, Inc