The Wall Street Journal reports today that Apple is one of 26 companies – others include Coca-Cola and IBM – who have signed on for President Barack Obama’s soon to be announced “SupplierPay” program, designed to aid small businesses.
The program intends to send money down the supply chain and help strengthen contractors and smaller businesses by giving them access to lower-cost capital and thereby opening up opportunities for hiring more workers. This, the White House hopes, will increase investments at the small business level as well.
This should lead to Apple paying its component suppliers in a more timely manner, as the program is designed to make sure the contractors are paid within 15 days of being invoiced. The program hope to lessen smaller businesses’ reliance on borrowing money to aid cash flow.
The program is intended to be a private-sector counterpart to the already existing “QuickPay” initiative which is designed to ensure that federal employers pay contractors in a timely manner.
