Connecting with big business is not all that easy, some 30 small business owners were told at the first in a series of programs aimed at linking their products and services with the needs of Westchester”™s large corporations.
Called Big Business Connection and sponsored by The Business Council of Westchester”™s Small Business Council, the event at Westchester One in White Plains brought together operators of a wide range of businesses, from advertising and marketing to Web design and IT security and risk management, with senior managers from Kraft Foods Inc. and Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc. Some in the audience said they were discouraged by what they heard.  Â
“Because Kraft is a large company, most of our procurement, most of our sourcing is scaled” and centralized at Kraft headquarters in suburban Chicago, said Marigrace Lalli, senior director for new product development at the Kraft beverage unit in Tarrytown. “To work outside of that scale is not impossible, but is a little difficult, I have to say”¦In Chicago, there are many more opportunities for local businesses than there are here, I”™m sorry to say.”?In Tarrytown, where Kraft employs 600 of its approximately 100,000 employees worldwide, Lalli said she does buy from local suppliers when “I”™m on a very short fuse” and wants to avoid bureaucratic delays. “Usually in order to go that route I first have to deplete the corporate route,” she said.
“We do have a lot of red tape as far as qualifying suppliers,” said Michael Bilotta, associate purchasing director for Kraft”™s beverages unit. With 80,000 suppliers worldwide, the company is looking for “alliances” with innovative strategic partners to streamline its purchasing system.
Lalli and Bilotta said a business is most likely to get with Kraft through their new product development. For creative products, such as the writing produced by several public relations and communications firms at the gathering, samples first should be sent, she said. And all suppliers must sign confidentiality agreements with Kraft.
At Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc. headquarters in White Plains, Sam Davis said he should be contacted by businesses looking to do business at the company”™s Indian Point power plant in Buchanan. “You need folks like me,” he advised, to avoid the roadblocks that truck drivers and other suppliers encounter when trying to enter “a highly secure situation.”
“When you try to come onto a nuclear facility, it”™s not easy and you can expect to have your privacy violated,” he warned.
Susan Marocco, owner of Susan Marocco Interiors in Bedford, said she works with smaller-sized companies, such as law firms. She was not entirely discouraged by what she heard from scale-minded Kraft.
“If Kraft were to need an interior designer, because my firm is small, I have the flexibility to assist them in a pinch and could turn around with a small project faster than a large organization. So I see that as my foot in the door.”
“A new employee needs a desk ”“ or three chairs break ”“ the rug wears out,” said Marocco, imagining scenarios for her business opportunity.
