November 4, 2016. The U.S. economy continues to improve on the heels of the great recession and that’s good news for the construction industry. Supplier diversity, an important and beneficial business practice, continues to grow as the number of minority-owned organizations increase.
Today, there are more than 2 million minority-owned firms in the U.S., generating more than $205 billion in sales each year, according to the United States Census Bureau. During the past decade, minority-owned organizations have grown at twice the rate of all businesses in the U.S. Our partnership with the National Association of Minority Contractors (NAMC) and its members assists us to support minority-owned businesses in our pursuit of supplier diversity.
At Balfour Beatty, we “Build to Last” by applying lean strategies and safe practices in our work, and being an expert and trusted adviser to our clients and business partners. To this end, supplier diversity is not just a part of our business strategy – it’s a cornerstone to our future prosperity.
Nonetheless, as one of the nation’s leading and most well-respected general contracting firms, we know that achieving a high level of success year-after-year does not come by sheer luck. Our partnerships with diverse and quality suppliers in both the public and private markets allow us to advance the capacity of all our minority subcontracting partners while delivering best-in-class service to our clients. Simply put, clients don’t believe what we say. They believe how we behave and what they see. We have learned from our own efforts and can share some valuable lessons learned along the way.
While we have made significant strides in our own supplier diversity efforts, there is still work to be done. We are working on increasing our overall goals as well as leveraging our purchasing power within the markets we serve.
Driving the supplier diversity philosophy forward in our business and operational practices is a process that is constantly evolving. I believe it is a journey that will continue to move us forward, and it is very apparent that the companies who leverage supplier diversity will have the upper hand. I hope you can join us and make an effort to become industry leaders in supplier diversity. A focus on this movement has the potential to increase the innovation of an entire industry.
Eric Stenman
Balfour Beatty Construction
