We source from a range of suppliers that reflect the diversity of our customers and consumers. This is in keeping with our founding value of fair dealing, and increases the skills and expertise available to us. In the U.S., supply chain diversity is a condition of dealing with government and many of our corporate customers.

In the United States, our goal is for 5 percent of our spending to be with minority-owned suppliers and another 5 percent with women-owned suppliers by the end of 2010. In 2007, our spending with these groups was 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively. This represents a 40 percent increase in spending with minority-owned suppliers since 2006, and a 17 percent increase in spending with women-owned suppliers. Most of this growth is the result of increasing our business with existing diverse suppliers.