Diversified dollars: 7 corporate programs

"The automotive industry is considered to be the grandparents of supplier diversity because they were the first," says Michael Tobolski, Marriott's senior director of diversity initiatives. "But while the typical automotive manufacturer has 300 or less suppliers, Marriot has over 130,000 to consider."

To help facilitate its diversification efforts, Marriott merged six different finance systems into one platform - and in doing so, was able to set up flags for identifying diverse suppliers. Last year, Marriott spent 13.6% of its contracting dollars with businesses led by minority, female, gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual, disabled or service-disabled veteran owners - the latter three of which were formally added as categories last year.

In 2005, the company set a diversification goal of $1 billion in spending over the next five years. It hit that target in late 2007 - three years ahead of schedule.

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