I am looking to identify the top 5 industries with respect to set-
aside budgets and formal diversity programs for Women Owned
Businesses.  Once the industries are indenified, I am looking for the
name of the top 5 companies within each of those industries, their WOB
budgets and what portion of that budget is set aside for
packaging products

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 01 Aug 2003 09:02 PDT

Hello aschwarz-ga,

I'm not sure what your goal is here, but if the idea is to identify
some leads for a woman-owned business dealing with packaging products,
there are probably other (and better) ways to go about it.

The information you have asked for is so highly specific, I will be
quite surprised if any of the researchers here can provide you with
what you've asked for.

For instance, companies don't generally reveal the internal details of
their budgets, and if they do, certainly not to the extent of
identifying set-asides specifically for packaging products.

Give this some thought, and let us know if there is perhaps another
approach to getting you towards your goal here.

Thanks.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by aschwarz-ga on 01 Aug 2003 09:17 PDT

Hello pafalafa -

I am interested in identifying which industries (ex consumer products)
have formal programs and budgets set aside for WOBs and within those
industries, who are the companies with the largest budgets - I am
assuming these will most likely be publically traded companies and
will have public information available regarding what percentage of
their annual procurement budget is ear- marked for WOBs, if not the
specific categories within those budgets.  I am not so much interested
in identifying leads as I am in sizing the overall opportunity for
WOB's with a particular focus on packaging industry.  thanks

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 02 Aug 2003 16:08 PDT

Hello again,

I've been looking into this a bit more, and have two
questions/comments that I'd appreciate some feedback on:

1.  Most of the companies that mention a commitment or set-aside to
women-owned businesses almost always ALSO include minority-owned
businesses.  Where financial figures are given, they do not usually
distinguish between the two.

A rare exception is JC Penney, which reports:  "DIVERSITY

     "JCPenney has been a corporate member of the National Minority
Supplier
Development Council (NMSDC) since 1972 and continues to invest in the
NMSDC's
Business Consortium Fund, which makes loans to minority-owned
businesses. The
Company is a founding member of the Women's Business Enterprise
National
Council. In 2002, the Company's purchases from minority-owned and
women-owned
businesses totaled $410 million and $263 million, respectively."

I haven't seen any information more detailed than this, and most of
what's available is considerably less detailed in terms of actual
dollar amounts.  However, a fair number of companies do talk in more
general terms about their commitment to purchasing from WOBs.  Would
it be of interest to you to have me compile a list of these companies
-- and provide what limited quantitative information is available --
as an answer to your question?


2.  There are a number of government and private organizations that
focus on assisting WOBs, and who might be able to help you identify
sectors and companies that would be good opprotunities.  If you are
not in touch with them already, I can certainly included information
on contacting these groups as part of an answer to your question.

Let me know if any of this is of interest to you.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by aschwarz-ga on 03 Aug 2003 13:50 PDT

Hi.  Thanks for spending more time thinking about this.  

With respect to your Question No.1, I do have an ad-hoc list of
companies that I have put together (JCP, Ford, Pepsi, Quaker, Sempra
and P&G) but was looking to see if there was a particular trend within
a given industry and if there was, who were the companies leading the
trend.  The value of the complied list you are referring to would
depend upon the comprehensiveness of the list.  It may be possible
that if your list is fairly robust that a trend line will become
apparent.

With respect to your Question No. 2, I am working with NMBC, WBEC and
WBENC.  If there were other agencies that you would recommend, your
recommendation would be appreciated.

Thanks for your continued attention

aschwarz-ga