Supplier Diversity Video from 1991

This blog has touted supplier diversity before, but an IBM minority supplier by the name of Ray Machine Inc., recently shared with me an old marketing video from 1991. The video was developed by IBM Procurement and it highlights three diverse IBM suppliers and the value and innovation they offered to IBM then, which they continue to bring to IBM 14 years later.

IBM established its supplier diversity program in 1968, but two things particularly struck me about this video. First, it was developed in 1991, at a time when IBM was at its lowest and the company was struggling financially. The fact that with all of the problems we faced that we still took the time to cheerlead the value of supplier diversity says a lot. Secondly, the consistency in what IBM's Terry Lautenbach says about it not being "philanthropy, but good business sense" and it is about finding "innovative ways of doing business" resonates today just as it did then.

Click here to view a 1 minute version of the video , it's originally 16 minutes. It was imported from a VHS tape, so the quality and sound suffered. If you hold down the "shift" key and click on the volume setting in the Quicktime player you can boost the volume up a few more decibels. The audio starts when Terry appears. Leave me a post if you would like me to email you the full version.