1. Supplier Diversity at John Deere
Welcome to this overview of supplier diversity at John Deere.

2. Supplier diversity benefits John Deere.
John Deere recognizes that a sustainable business relies on a strong, competent supply base that mirrors the diversity of its customers worldwide. We maintain programs to find, qualify, and help develop capable small and diverse suppliers.
What do we consider a diverse supplier?
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

3. We track different classifications of diverse suppliers.
Our goals for industry and customer accounts monitor two types of diverse suppliers. The first type is minority-owned enterprises. A minority-owned enterprise is a company that is at least 51% owned and managed by 1 or more minority group members (Asian, African-American, Hispanic, or Native American).
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

4. We track different classifications of diverse suppliers.
The second type we monitor is women-owned enterprises. A women-owned enterprise is a company at least 51% owned and managed by one or more women.
We track our spending with minority-owned and women-owned suppliers regardless of the size of the company. In addition to these 2 classifications, we also report on our spend with small businesses.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

5. There are subsets of small businesses that we track.
U.S. Veteran-Owned
Disabled Veteran-Owned
A Small Business is defined by the US Small Business Administration. The company must meet size standards of a particular industry group. Typically for manufacturing firms, a business is defined as small if it has less than 500 employees. For non-manufacturing companies, size is based on annual revenue for the industry group. A complete listing of the guidelines to be a small business are listed on sba.gov.
Federal laws require us to track our spend with all small businesses as well as some specific subsets of small businesses. These include: U.S. Veteran-Owned companies; Disabled Veteran-owned companies; HUBZone businesses; Small Disadvantage businesses; and Women-owned businesses.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

6. There are subsets of small businesses that we track.
HUBZone Businesses
Small Disadvantaged Businesses
Women-Owned
HUBZone businesses are located in “historically underutilized business zones” as defined by the Small Business Administration and at least 35% of the employees live in a HUBZone. These business zones represents areas with significantly higher unemployment and lower income that surrounding communities. These economically challenged areas can be urban or rural.
A Small Disadvantaged Business is defined as at least 51% ownership by socially and economically challenged individuals. These business owners are usually minorities with less than $750,000 in Personal Net Worth.
We also measure our spend with Woman-Owned small businesses for our government reporting. This is different than the Woman-Owned classification mentioned previously that included companies of any size.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

7. There are benefits beyond increased sales.
Stimulates innovation
Improves lives
Mirrors customer demographics
Helps John Deere flourish
While it does increase sales of our equipment to our large corporate customers and to U.S. government agencies, supplier diversity is important for several other reasons.
It stimulates innovation, improves lives, mirrors the demographics of our customers, and helps John Deere flourish by demonstrating our commitment to a holistic diversity and inclusion strategy.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

8. Supplier diversity stimulates innovation.
If John Deere is to meet its growth goal, we need to engage more small and diverse suppliers. Research has shown that in the United States, new firms and small businesses consistently produce more innovations and create more jobs than large enterprises throughout the full business cycle.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

9. Supplier diversity improves lives.
Purchasing goods and services from companies that are diverse, small, or located in underserved business zones helps create prosperity for the businesses, the employees, and the communities. At John Deere we are dedicated to human flourishing and helping people live better lives.
Small and diverse firms in the United States stimulate a higher percentage of economic growth. By working with diverse suppliers, we are fostering urban development, increasing employment and broadening our consumer base.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

10. Supplier diversity mirrors the demographics of our customers.
It only makes sense that our supply base should mirror our customers. According to U.S. census data, minority groups – which include Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, and Native peoples — now account for 43 percent of Americans under the age of 20. Current demographic trends suggest that the white majority will drop to less than half of the total U.S. population by 2042.
In the U.S., minority-owned and women-owned businesses have grown in number and capacity, expanding at twice the national average rate in recent decades. They now account for 20 and 30 percent of all U.S. firms, respectively.
Large firms reflect the demographics of the past. The small firms reflect the ethnic and gender diversity of the current population.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

11. Supplier diversity helps our company flourish.
Working with diverse suppliers is one of the key focus areas to help achieve our global diversity and inclusion strategy.
We have found that diversity simply helps our company flourish. Diverse perspectives help us provide richer, deeper, broader conversations and ideas that can strengthen John Deere. Ideally we want diversity in our workforce, in our customers, in our dealers, and in our suppliers.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

12. To find out more about our supplier diversity program, go to JD Supply Network, and click on “Our Suppliers.”
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

13. If you need more information, contact any of the employees at these links.
Supplier Diversity at John Deere

14. Thanks for taking the time to learn more about supplier diversity at John Deere.