building a corporate community

8/13/2019 Building a Corporate Community

1/24

A

Seminar Report

On

Building a corporate

community

Faculty Guide :- Submitted By :-

Dr .Richa Banerjee jitendra singh kushwah

Manish yaday

Nobat singh kushwah


2/24

DECLARATION

We, jitendra singh kushwah, Manish yadav, and nobat singh kushwah students of MBA 1stsemester of Prestige

Institute of Management Gwalior, hereby declare that the seminar report entitled Building a corporate

community is submitted by us in the line of partial fulfillment of course objective for the Masters of

Business Administration Degree. We assure that this seminar report is the result of our own efforts.

Date: 30/11/2012 Jitendra Singh Kushwah

Place: Gwalior Manish Yadav

Nobat Singh kushwah

(MBA 1stSem)


3/24


4/24

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We, express our sincere jitendra singh kushwah, Manish yadav, and Nobat singh kushwah Gratitude to

Dr .Richa Banerjee for giving us the opportunity to work under his guidance on the Seminar report

entitled Building a corporate community We also acknowledge and convey thanks to the library

staff for their kind and valuable support.

Date : 30/11/2012 Jitendra Singh Kushwah

Place : Gwalior Manish Yadav

Nobat Singh Kushwah

(MBA 1

st

Sem)


5/24

INDEX

Sr no. Headings Page no.

1 INTRODUCTION 1

2 FIVE TYPES OF CORPORATE GIVEING 2

3 CORPORATE IMAGE 5

4 IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE IMAGE 7

5 THEORY OF CORPORATE IMAGE 7

6 CORPORATE IDENTITY 8

7 CORPORATE COMMUNICATION 9

8 BUILDING A CORPORATE COMMUNITY 10

9 CASE STUDY: UNILEVER 12

10 CASE STUDY: PHILIPS 14

11 CASE STUDY: AHOLD 15

12 CASE STUDY: CORUS 16

13 CASE STUDY: AKZO NOBEL 17

14 CONCLUSION 18


6/24

1

INTRODUCTION

Corporate image, or reputation, describes the manner in which a company, its activities, and its products or

services are perceived by outsiders. In a competitive business climate, many businesses actively work to create

and communicate a positive image to their customers, shareholders, the financial community, and the general

public. A company that mismanages or ignores its image is likely to encounter a variety of problems.

"Reputation problems grow like weeds in a garden," Davis Young wrote in his bookBuilding Your Company's

Good Name. "Direct and indirect costs escalate geometrically."

Some of the warning signs that a business might have an image problem include high employee turnover, the

disappearance of major customers, a drop in stock value, and poor relationships with vendors or government

officials. If an image problem is left unaddressed, a company might find many of its costs of doing business

rising dramatically, including the costs of product development, sales support, employee wages, and

shareholder dividends. In addition, since the majority of consumers base their purchase decisions at least partlyon trust, current and future sales levels are likely to suffer as well.

In businesses of all sizes, it is vital that managers recognize the importance of creating and maintaining a

strong image, and that they also make employees aware of it. Corporate image begins within the offices of a

company's managers. It should be based on the development of good company policies, rather than on

controlling the damage caused by bad company policies. Young recommends that business owners and

managers take the following steps toward improving their companies' image: focus on the firm's long-term

reputation; base actions on substantive policies; insist on candor in all business dealings; and uphold the

stakeholders' right to know. After all, he notes, a good corporate image can take years to build and only

moments to destroy.


7/24

2

Five types of corporate giving

Does your nonprofit take advantage of the variety of corporate giving programs that exist? If not,

your organization is missing out! In 2010, U.S. corporations gave over $15.5 billion worth of cash

and products to nonprofits (Source:Giving USAs2011 annual Report on Philanthropy for 2010).

Get in on the action by exploring the different programs that are available.Here the top five most prevalent types of corporate giving programs:

1. Community Grants

Most large corporations have either created a foundation to handle their charitable giving

programs or handle them internally. Through community grant programs, companies are able to

support the needs of their local communities by providing funding to support organizations that

work to improve the lives of employees, customers, and local neighborhoods. Eligible

organizations can apply for community grants by submitting a grant request that explains how the

funds will be used.

In most cases, these grants are restricted to organizations where companies have a physical

presence. For instance, Wal-Mart offers community grants to local organizations. The amount of

each grant typically ranges from $250$5,000 and is awarded by a team of associates who work

at each store.

2. Employee Volunteer Grants

There are two types of volunteer grants: Volunteer grant programs, also known as Dollars for

Doers programs, are charitablegiving programs created by corporations in which the company

provides a monetary donation to eligible nonprofits as a way to recognize employees who

volunteer.

Team volunteer grantsCompanies create an incentive for employees to organize joint teambuilding / volunteer events. In these cases, companies offer a monetary donation to nonprofits

where the team volunteers. For example, through Kohls Associates in Action program, when a

group of five or more employees volunteer together for three consecutive hours at a nonprofit

organization, the nonprofit receives a $500 volunteer grant.
http://www.givingusareports.org/http://www.givingusareports.org/http://www.givingusareports.org/http://www.givingusareports.org/


8/24

3

Individual volunteer grantsThese are grants that individual employees earn for a nonprofitafter meeting certain volunteer thresholds. For instance, Dell awards $150 grants for every 10

hours that employees volunteer. In many cases, companies also offer programs where they

recognize a few employees each year who really exemplify corporate volunteerism and award

larger grants in the range of $5,000$15,000 to organizations where those employees

volunteer.

3. Employee Matching Gifts

Corporate matching gift programs are charitable giving programs created by corporations in which

the company matches donations made by employees to eligible nonprofit organizations. For

instance, Gecko matches each employees charitable donations up to $5,000 annually. The

company matches to all schools, health and human service organizations, arts and cultural

organizations, community organizations, and many other nonprofits.Over 65% of Fortune 500 corporations offer this benefit to employees, so make sure your donors

are taking advantage of their employers matching gift program. (Source: Double The Donations

2012 Review of Matching Gift Programs)

4. Corporate Sponsorships

Corporate sponsorships are a form of advertising in which companies pay to be associated with

certain events or attractions. Do you have a charity event coming up? Make sure youre creating a

variety of sponsorship opportunities so the companies can get something of value in return for the

sponsorship.

And dont forget about creating partnership opportunities with local companies! For example, Gigi

Brady, a small Atlanta, Georgia CPA Firm, sponsors the Golden Lion Tamarind at the Atlanta

Zoo.

5. Non-cash contributions

Non-cash contributions consist of donations such as equipment, supplies, or time. These can

include old computers, furniture, office supplies, or services. One of the best ways yourorganization can benefit from non-cash contributions is by partnering with companies that have

some sort of expertise.

Are you looking to revamp your computer systems? Why not approach a company which has a

large internal IT team and ask for their assistance? Do you need graphic design help for an

upcoming fundraising campaign? Seek out a local company which does a great job with its email


9/24

4

marketing. You might be surprised to find that theyre more than willing to help and can do higher

quality design work than your organization could internally!

If you start exploring the programs offered by companies, youll see that your organization

probably qualifies for support from many local and nationwide corporations.

Has your organization had success receiving donations from corporations? Do you have anystrategies, ideas, or resources to share with other nonprofits?


10/24

5

CORPORATE IMAGE

Corporate image is the reputation of the firm with the various audiences that are important to it. These groups

that have a stake in the company are known as stakeholders. Stakeholders are affected by the actions of the

company and, in turn, their actions can affect the company. Consequently, its image in the eyes of its

stakeholders is important to the company. The principal stakeholders with which most large corporations must

be concerned are: customers, distributors and retailers, financial institutions and analysts, shareholders,

government regulatory agencies, social action organizations, the general public, and employees.

The image that stakeholders have of the company will influence their willingness to either provide or withhold

support. Thus, if customers develop a negative perception of a company or its products, its sales and profits

assuredly will decline. Government regulatory lottery agencies, another important set of stakeholders, are

required by law to monitor and regulate firms for specific, publicly defined purposes. Nevertheless, theseagencies have considerable discretion in how they interpret and apply the law. Where they have a positive

perception of the firm, they are likely to be much less censorious.

Obviously, each of the various stakeholder groups is likely to have a somewhat different perception of the

corporation because each is concerned primarily with a different facet of its operation. Thus, consumers are

principally interested in the price, quality, and reliability of the company's products and services. Financial

institutions are concerned with financial structure and performance. Employees are mainly concerned with

wages, working conditions, and personnel policies. Logically, then, a company should tailor its communication

to each stakeholder group individually to address the special concerns of that group.

However, maintaining a consistent image among the several stakeholder groups is also vital. Although it is

prudent to stress different facets of the firm's identity to its various publics, the firm should avoid projecting an

inconsistent image, because the concerns and memberships of different stakeholder groups often overlap. For

instance, the financial community and the shareholders would have many of the same financial and strategic

concerns about the company. In fact, many shareholders rely heavily on the advice of experts from financial

institutions. Similarly, both employees and the general public have an interest in the overall prestige of the firm

and the reputation of its products. A social action group's criticism, whether economically effective or not, is

bound to influence some customers and affect the company's public reputation. A regulatory agency such as


11/24

6

OSHA would focus narrowly on the firm's safety record and policies, but the company's employees and their

labor unions also have a stake in these matters.


12/24


13/24

8

CORPORATE IDENTITY

Corporate identitythe reality and uniqueness of the organizationmay be broken down into four component

parts: corporate strategy, corporate culture, organizational design, and operations. Strategy is the overall plan

that determines the company's product/market scope and the policies and programs it chooses to compete in its

chosen markets. Corporate culture is the shared values and beliefs that the organization's members hold in

common as they relate to each other, their jobs, and the organization. It defines what the firm's personnel

believe is important and unimportant, and explains to a large degree why the organization behaves the way it

does.

Organizational design refers to the fundamental choices top managers make in developing the pattern of

organizational relationships. It encompasses issues such as whether basic tasks should be organized by

function or product division, the company's overall configuration, the degree of decentralization, the number ofstaff personnel, the design of jobs, and the internal systems and procedures. Operations, the fourth and final

component of corporate identity, is the aggregate of activities the firm engages in to effect its strategy. These

activities become part of the reality of the corporation and can influence its identity in a wide variety of ways.


14/24

9

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Corporate communication provides the link between corporate identity and corporate image. It

should be defined in the broadest possible sense, because companies communicate identities in

many different ways. Communication can include almost anything the company does, from the

way telephones are answered to the involvement of company employees in community affairs.

Some of the principal sources of corporate communication include company and product names

and logos, formal statements (mission statements, credos, codes of ethics, annual reports,

advertising copy, and company slogans), and behavior during important events. These events

encompass scheduled events such as open houses and anniversary sales as well as unscheduled

events such as lawsuits or negative press coverage.


15/24

10

Building a corporate KM community

We all know that one of the most important reasons for attending knowledge-management conferences is the

opportunity to meet peers and to learn about the latest developments in the field, and to gain insights into the

practical aspects of our work in the area. Typically, we are all struggling with questions like:

How can senior management be convinced that an investment in KM is worthwhile? What technology should we use? What are the low-hanging fruits? How do we measure the benefits of com[any ? What are the lessons learnt? What are the best practices?

Typically, organizations are reluctant to share the details of their strategic projects. However, when every

participant in a community is willing to share with, and learn from, others, all parties can benefit from the

exchange of ideas and experiences. In fact, this is the core benefit that a community of practice (CoP) can

deliver to its members.

In practice, organizations do learn from each other indirectly, via case studies in magazines likeKnowledge

Management, conferences, books and, most of all, through the use of consultants. The objective of this

article is not to suggest that consultants should no longer be used, but we do believe that companies can

learn from each other in a non-threatening, efficient, effective and economic way. Which is why we

decided to create the Dutch KM Open, a community of practice (what you preach) to support our activities

in the area of knowledge management.

Currently, the members of the community are large, multinational organizations with a strong Dutch

background: ABN Amro Bank, Ahold, Akzo Nobel, Baan, Corus, DSM, Heineken, Philips, Shell and

Unilever. Each of these companies has different strategic objectives for KM and focuses on different areas

within the discipline. Furthermore, each company is at a different position on the KM maturity curve. Yet

these differences, both in approach and in objectives, have turned out to be extremely important for the

learning experience of the companies in the group as a whole.

The community meets on a regular basis at the site of one of the participating companies. This helps to put

the case studies in their proper context, and to illustrate the differences between organizations. The settings


16/24

11

vary from a visit to the Steel-production unit of Corus to a meeting room with a view over ABN Amros

dealing room. After a number of visits and an increasing number of bilateral contacts, we decided to

develop a virtual meeting place, which is being facilitated by Philips. So far, the face-to-face meetings have

proven themselves to be the most valuable, although this is well documented in KM literature. ICT tools

can act as enabler and to support communication between the members of communities, but the

bandwidth available during physical meetings cannot be matched by any existing form of online

communication.


17/24

12

CASE STUDY: UNILEVER

To help Unilever to become a learning organization, the company has developed a number of initiatives. To

identify what is known and not known, knowledge workshops are held in all key areas of the business.

Debriefings follow all critical projects, and are used to capture and share learnings. Communities of

practice empower experts and practitioners to develop and roll out best practices and innovation. In recent

years over 75 workshops have been held, involving more than 1,000 key employees. In addition, a number

of strategic communities of practice are active globally. The learning organization is a key concept in the

integration of business units, and in Unilevers ongoing strategy to continue as a focused, efficient and

entrepreneurial multi-local multinational.

Knowledge management has been regarded as a mature discipline since May 2001, and the Unilever

Knowledge Management Group provides KM consultancy and solutions to Unilever worldwide.

Topics that we have discussed within the community so far include:

People finders/Yellow-Pages systems for the identification of experts within the organization It turnsout that most of the companies involved in the community have had some experience with this type of

tool. We have found that such tools require a lot of work and excellent communication to make them

work. The real challenge is to motivate people to develop and maintain their own personal profiles. We

concluded that common reasons for failure include:

Not being able to answer the question, whats in it for me? It is difficult for people to tell others what they know; People dont use the tool (because they dont know how to, because the information it contains

is incorrect, etc);

The system is not user friendly; There is not enough support from senior management;

We have also shared a number of more favorable experiences, however. It is clear from our collective

experience that good communication, a good strategy, a user-friendly tool and user support are key success

factors. Some companies are in the process of implementing more advanced systems, for instance those that

are more closely integrated with other company systems, such as e-mail, online collaboration, search

engines, and so on. Furthermore, a number of more interactive applications are being studied, where the

expert receives more feedback on the knowledge that they share.


18/24

13

CASE STUDY: PHILIPS

Philips has developed a Yellow-Pages application that enables people to locate colleagues who have the

right experience to help them with a problem. The system is built on the principle that you can find any

information and any experience with the help of your colleagues. It allows for sharing pockets of

knowledge (contributions) in the form of best practices and links. For those who are not able to find

information directly, there is the option of posing an open question. Other members can then respond

directly. Members can subscribe to all open questions from various categories. The application is highly

personalized (with a personal homepage) and information is included according to an individuals needs.

All contributions are linked to a two-level taxonomy, which reflects the companys main areas of activity.

Members are able to forward, rate and comment on any contribution in the system. The system has over

13,000 members and has 3,500 hits per week.

The link between strategy and KM. In some organizations, KM is used to support merger-and-acquisition processes. By facilitating the exchange of knowledge between the various parts of the

organization, synergies can be identified and economies of scale realized. Of course, this is not only

true for companies that have just merged, but is also important for all companies that consist of

different entities, especially in a multinational context.

Another strategic issue that most companies face is the need to become more customer-oriented. This often

means a transition from a product-oriented approach to a customer-driven one. To help achieve this change,

knowledge exchange between commercial units and product units is of vital importance. The community as

a whole has also discussed the use of customer-relationship-management tools to capture and leverage

knowledge from and about customers.


19/24

14

CASE STUDY: AHOLD

Aholds long-term success depends on the companys ability to capture opportunities for horizontal value

creation on a global and regional scale. Ahold Networking is an initiative targeted at enabling precisely

this. The primary objective is to identify, share and apply best practices. To achieve this, 14 key knowledge

areas have been identified (such as logistics, category management, real estate, IT, and so on) which are

controlled by individual managers and facilitated by coordinators. Within the knowledge areas, networking

groups are formed that work on clearly set objectives (orchestrated networking). Furthermore

spontaneous networking is stimulated, so that people proactively seek and share knowledge on a person-

to-person basis. A tool has been developed that supports the various Ahold Networking-related activities,

including team rooms, a knowledge library and a people database with profiles of the Ahold Networking

participants (in total about 6,000 people).

The importance of culture and leadership. Though the companies involved are operating in verydifferent sectors and have varying organizational profiles, we can learn a lot from each other in the area

of change management, (KM) leadership and culture. The consensus is that, at least in the Netherlands,

a combination of a bottom-up and a top-down approach works best. We have exchanged best practices

and lessons learnt in this area, in particular how to get buy-in from the various levels within the

organization. We all shared the realization that, while broad objectives are fine, it is important to start

with relatively small but successful projects that generate interest and enthusiasm, and on which one

can build.


20/24

15

CASE STUDY: CORUS

Corus was formed in October 1999 through the merger of British Steel and Hoogovens, both leading

companies in the metals industry. This sector has always been capital intensive and dependent on a skilled

and experienced labor force. It is an environment in which the transfer of good practice can lead to

considerable benefits. At Corus, the KM team is working to make this happen. Knowledge communities

were introduced as a way of working to share best practices in the company. An expert finder, Trace,

helps to identify knowledgeable colleagues, facilitating peer-to-peer learning. New business needs drive the

development of new KM instruments, always with an integrated approach to content, process, tools,

organization and culture.

Measuring the benefits of KM. To justify continued investment in knowledge management, it isimportant that some kind of return on investment can be demonstrated. Within the community, we have

discussed various approaches that are being, or could be, used to measure the value of KMimplementation. We have reached the conclusion that, although some interesting efforts in this area

have been made, it is extremely difficult to identify an approach that delivers quantifiable and

unambiguous results that can be used to convince skeptical decision makers. For communication and

marketing purposes, it is important to at least collect anecdotal evidence of the added value that KM

brings. Key performance indicators that link KM efforts to business results are also useful in this

respect.


21/24

16

CASE STUDY: ABN AMRO CORPORATE FINANCE

ABN Amro has decided to become an important player in the international corporate-finance business. In

order to achieve this, the franchise needs to build, capture, share and leverage knowledge. A knowledge

map was created and a knowledge base developed. Knowledge owners (corporate-finance professionals)

identify and capture best practices in the form of transaction manuals and valuations models. They also

develop and maintain supporting content, such as checklists, standard presentation templates, and so on.

Furthermore, so-called exposure plans are being made to support the personal and professional

development of staff. Other tools, such as various forms of knowledge sessions, job rotation, coaching and

after-action reviews, are being deployed to stimulate learning and create the conditions necessary for the

firm to become a top player in a highly competitive and knowledge-intensive area of the banking business.

Other topics discussed include:

New technology, such as portals, search engines and e-learning;

The development and facilitation of knowledge communities; Issues around sharing of knowledge and information (such as privacy and anti-terrorism); The organization of KM (do you need a separate department or a CKO?) The relationship between KM, HR and training and development; The relationship between KM and e-business.


22/24

17

CASE STUDY: AKZO NOBEL

The sharing of knowledge between the strongly autonomous units of Akzo Nobel is crucial. As CEO Cees

van Lede says, The real added value of Akzo Nobel as a focused hybrid lies in the optimum use of our

collective know-how.

To facilitate this, the Coatings Group and the Chemicals Group jointly developed a people-finder system.

This intranet-based whos who is used around 200 times a month to pose questions to people with specific

expertise. Furthermore, thousands of people use the system each month as a directory.

Multi-disciplinary best-practice workshops represent a second tool to stimulate the exchange of

knowledge between business units. These are organized around specific themes. For example, a workshop

was organized recently around working capital (stock) control. The ultimate aim is that successful

workshops evolve into their own communities of practice.


23/24

18

Conclusion

We believe that the Dutch KM Open is a valuable platform for the KM professionals involved and the

companies they represent. We have shown that it is possible to build inter-company relationships, which over

time have evolved into relationships of trust and friendship. Based on these associations and the genuine desire

to openly share knowledge for mutual advantage, we have been able to take part in value-adding discussions

that have allowed us to benchmark ourselves against our peers and to pick up new ideas. This community of

practice offers us both an efficient and an enjoyable way of improving our individual and organisational skills

in the area of knowledge management. We believe that the Dutch culture, which is open but business-focused,

has been a significant enabler for the spontaneous development of the community, and we fully expect that the

relationships that have been forged between those involved will continue to grow in the future.


24/24

19

building a corporate community

Documents