It's one thing to talk about the importance of being inclusive, but it's something else to actually make it happen. At Texas Instruments (TI), doing business with minority- and female-owned businesses is working successfully for a couple of important reasons.

For one thing, these relationships are not left to chance. Inclusion is part of TI's formal business plan---complete with specific goals for measuring success. In addition, TI has a dedicated executive assigned to the task, and she is passionately committed to ensuring the plan's success.

Shannon Suber, Ph.D., is director, Minority/Women Business Development. She is charged with maximizing corporate-wide opportunities for minority and women business owners to do business with TI. These opportunities range from providing services to becoming subcontractors.

The company's goal is ambitious. It plans to spend $140 million with minority businesses and an additional $85 million with businesses owned by women this year alone. Wanting to do business with minorities is a smart goal, and finding qualified companies to work with takes determined effort and perseverance.

Finding the Gems

Dr. Suber told USBE&IT during a recent interview that the best way to make contacts with potential business partners is through local minority business organizations and chambers of commerce. "It's absolutely a wise investment of time and money to be active in these organizations," she advised, noting that these organizations also sponsor seminars that help members hone their business skills and teach them how to win corporate contracts.

But just being a minority or a woman is not enough to win business, she warned.

"Businesses hoping to partner with TI have to be qualified. It's all about business. Partner companies must bring value and added benefit to the corporation to get our business. There's a lot of competition," she said.

Trend Towards Partnering

There is a growing trend within corporations to consolidate their suppliers, to bundle contracts. They want suppliers who can solve multiple problems, meet many needs, and leverage buying power to ensure the lowest price for their services. This trend makes good business sense for the corporations, but it's more difficult for small companies to compete.

"This means more partnering and strategic alliances are necessary for small business to get involved," Dr. Suber points out. "This will increase your capacity to do business."

Her advice is straightforward: "Entrepreneurs need to understand their value and what they bring to their clients, and then they need to market themselves to the right customers." She also urges small business owners to consider a broad range of options when trying to find new markets for their services. She says, "Work with other small or medium-sized businesses, don't just strive for huge corporate contracts to start.

"It is increasingly important to grow more minority- and women-owned businesses, because that's where the jobs are being created," Dr. Suber believes. She urges corporations to create environments that enable small and ethnic businesses to prosper. As she explained to us,"This helps spread the wealth and grow the community."

More information about business partnering opportunities at Texas Instruments is available at http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/company/citizen/mwbd