A Chance to Shine
In the U.S., DaimlerChrysler provides systematic support and mentoring to suppliers whose owners are members of ethnic minorities.
42°N/83°W A petite woman sits at an imposing desk, her gold earrings, bracelets, and necklace accessorizing a black velvet suit. Native American feather crafts adorn the walls, along with landscape paintings in gilt frames, while armchairs and sofas beckon invitingly on every side. At first glance, you might think she sells antiques. But Sharon Cannarsa makes her living with camshafts, engine blocks, and differential cases.
The President and CEO of the auto industry supplier Systrand Manufacturing in Brownstown, near Detroit, is an exception in more ways than one: She is a woman in a male-dominated industry, and an entrepreneur with Native American roots. Her mother is a member of the Mohawk tribe. With her husband, Cannarsa founded Camco Tool, making oil couplings for the drilling industry. When that business faltered, a second attempt was made with the founding of Systrand – successfully. In just 25 years, Systrand has become a company with 320 employees, a factory in South Korea, a joint venture with ThyssenKrupp, and annual revenues of around US$55 million. | ||||||||||
DaimlerChrysler’s purchasing power
Innerhalb von 25 Jahren hat es Cannarsa zu einem Unternehmen mit 320 Mitarbeitern, einer Tochterfabrik in Südkorea, einem Joint Venture mit ThyssenKrupp und einem Jahresumsatz von rund 55 Millionen US-Dollar gebracht. Solche Erfolgsgeschichten kennt Jethro Joseph viele. Der Leiter der Abteilung Diversity Supplier Management ist damit betraut, Zulieferern, deren Eigentümer und Geschäftsführer Minderheiten angehören, den Zugang zu DaimlerChrysler zu verschaffen. Man könnte Jethro Joseph und seine sieben Mitarbeiter auch als Kommunikatoren im Sonderauftrag bezeichnen: Sie besuchen mindestens zwei Dutzend Messen im Jahr, sitzen in den Gremien zahlreicher Verbände und organisieren „Matchmaker“. | ||||||||||
Of those firms, 40 are mentored by DaimlerChrysler procurement executives and are also provided courses and seminars focused on quality management and financial consulting. “We see ourselves as advocates for these companies and their employees,” Joseph says. “We don’t want them just to sell us their products and services. We want them to share in our continuous improvement and growth.” In the end, the goal is to ensure that minorities get their “piece of the pie.”
“At the end of the day, what counts is achievement” Anthony Cannarsa, Jr.
That piece of pie is increasingly hefty: In the last eight years alone, DaimlerChrysler has more than doubled its purchasing from minority suppliers, to US$3.9 billion. In 2006, the company disbursed 13.5 percent of its purchasing budget to minority-owned businesses. In total, those businesses have earned more than US$34 billion since the program began in 1983. Approximately US$15 million per year go for camshafts and other metal engine and transmission components to Systrand in Brownstown. The most astounding aspect of the partnership is how quickly it developed: The first contact occurred at a DaimlerChrysler Matchmaker event less than three years ago. Now the German-American carmaker accounts for more than a quarter of Systrand’s total revenues. “It was decisive for us that we got the opportunity, as a relatively small company, to compete against much larger companies,” Systrand President and CEO Cannarsa says. | ||||||||||
Playing in the big leagues
In their rivalry with major players in the industry, Systrand was able to exploit its strengths as a compact, fast-reacting, family-owned company. “We have built up a motivated, educated team. We acquired some of our large clients for the long term by accepting urgent orders that others were unable or unwilling to fill,” says Anthony Cannarsa, Jr., Sharon’s son and Executive Vice President.
In Brownstown, 85 percent of the plant’s 200 employees are Hispanic. The Director of Human Resources was born in Mexico, the Director of Quality in China. Signage is bilingual, and employees who wish to improve their English can attend courses at the company’s expense. For its part, Systrand covers 8 percent of its needs with minority suppliers. “At the end of the day,” Anthony Cannarsa emphasizes, “what counts is our achievement with regard to quality, technology, cost, and supply. DaimlerChrysler isn’t giving us any presents.”
At the carmaker, choosing suppliers remains the task of purchasing. They see their support for minorities as a marketing effort. Kevin R. Galvin, Director Exterior Quality and Supplier Management, Procurement and Supply, says: “As a company, we need to mirror our customer base, which is very diverse. Our employees, suppliers, and dealers are also a very diverse group that reflects our society. It may be difficult to quantify, but I’m confident it pays off in terms of the image we present to the community, the country and our potential customers.”
No one knows that better then Donald A. Coleman. Diversity is the business model of his Detroit advertising agency, Global Hue. An African American, Coleman resolved early in his career to specialize in advertising directed to that market segment, becoming its number one agency. Later, he united his agency with the fourth-largest Hispanic agency and the second-largest agency marketing to Asians to form Global Hue, with 150 employees “the largest minority owned marketing communications company dedicated to strategically addressing multicultural consumer audiences” in the U.S., he says.
Don Coleman is a tall, imposing figure. The road to the executive suite began when he was still a linebacker in the NFL, playing four seasons with the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets before knee injuries sidelined him permanently in 1977. It appears that all the energy of a professional athlete has been redirected into the agency. High above Detroit, he sits at a 16th-floor conference table and says, “We are the market. We are the most diverse ad agency in the country. My people always have a foot in their original culture and that’s the key to communication. You’ve got to understand the culture, the lifestyle.” Global Hue’s Chairman and CEO points out that minority populations are growing at seven times the rate of other groups. “Diverse populations now represent 39 percent of the U.S. total. By the year 2050, minorities are expected to be the majority. They have gigantic purchasing power.” | ||||||||||
Global Hue sells its sophistication about this huge, but fragmented target audience to large companies from American Airlines to Wal-Mart. Its first customer, in 1994, was DaimlerChrysler. “We were a small company. Our relationship with Chrysler catapulted us into a different arena,” Coleman says. His employees have put together countless ad campaigns for Chrysler, Jeep®, and Dodge, with print, radio, TV, Internet, and promotional events tailored to meet the needs of multicultural and urban markets. “We feel we have a seat at the table. It was Diversity Supplier Development that made all that possible.”
Jethro Joseph and his group are accustomed to such high praise. It has been spelled out in dozens of newspaper articles. In the form of cut-glass trophies, it decorates Joseph’s office in Auburn Hills, Michigan. DaimlerChrysler has been recognized as the nation’s foremost supporter of minority-owned suppliers four times and as the best in Michigan six times. A recent addition was the recognition as “Company of the Year” by the Canadian Aboriginal Minority Supplier Council. “I’ve been with the company for 36 years,” Joseph says, “and in my hierarchy of needs, doing something to help somebody else is right at the top.” He is not yet ready to say all his goals have been attained. “Minorities are 39 percent of the U.S. population, but they own only 15 percent of the companies and make up only 4 percent of total purchasing volume.” He pauses, then adds, “There’s still a lot left for us to do.”
