Sample Solutions

Increasingly, powerful economic forces are changing the traditional roles of the three sectors (public, private and non-profit). These pressures create risk and uncertainty, but they also create new opportunities for those organizations, corporations and communities that are willing to adapt and create new structures, partnerships and alliances.

There are a number of innovative ways in which corporate communities can be constructed to meet bottomline goals.

The corporate community can be defined by geography, for example, a city or region. Public-Private partnerships and municipal marketing have become powerful engines for community economic development while being a source of competitive advantage for corporate contributors.
The corporate community may be a "community of interest" around a company or a brand. Consumers are likely to become passionate advocates of a brand or a company when they are motivated by a particular cause that is visibly supported by that brand. Therefore the corporate community is built around a cause. That’s why cause branding can be such a powerful marketing tool.
In some circumstances, the corporate community may, and perhaps should, be a new structure or coalition that includes competitors, complementary firms, suppliers and representative stakeholders from many different non-government organizations, or NGOs.

I	Competitive Advantage through Community Investment Community Leadership by a Supplier Challenge: Increase corporate profits for a local distributor despite penetration into local markets by global competitors. Corporate Community Solution: Strengthen relationships with current and potential customers by developing a common cause around which customers, suppliers, prospects and complementary partners could ‘cooperate and collaborate,’ in this case a series of specific community economic development projects. Read More Procter & Gamble: GAIN Cause branding for a food manufacturer through an alliance committed to improving global nutrition. Read More
II	Competitors Joining Forces for Shared Profits An Industry Research Corporate Community Challenge: Improve corporate profits and long-term return on investment while enhancing government and stakeholder relations. Corporate Community Solution: Create a new non-profit organization to more effectively link pharmaceutical manufacturers, their customers, and stakeholders while attracting public and private sector investment to build the industry. Read More An Industry-Based Corporate Community Turn an industry association from a lobbying group into a profitable, growth-oriented industry coalition of public and private sector partners. Read More
III	Community Economic Development Municipal Community Economic Development Model Challenge: Create a corporate community to fuel an economic engine that will drive bottom line profits. Improve the momentum, performance and perception of a city’s economic development efforts. Corporate Community Solution: Created a new overarching structure with participation from public sector, corporations and community groups/not-for-profits for a mid-size municipality that was attempting to enhance their economic development efforts while strengthening their capability to deliver social services. Read More
IV	Increased Sales through Vendor-Customer Corporate Communities Vendor-Client Communities in a Multi-Client Firm (e.g. An Advertising, Consulting, PR, Law or Accounting Firm) Challenge: Strengthen bonds with current customer companies while building relationships with potential customer companies. Corporate Community Solution: Use multiple causes to create corporate communities among your customers and among your customers' customers that generate increased revenues at all levels of this hierarchy of corporate communities. Read More

Sample Solutions

I

Competitive Advantage through Community Investment

Community Leadership by a Supplier

Procter & Gamble: GAIN

II

Competitors Joining Forces for Shared Profits

An Industry Research Corporate Community

An Industry-Based Corporate Community

III

Community Economic Development

Municipal Community Economic Development Model

IV

Increased Sales through Vendor-Customer Corporate Communities

Vendor-Client Communities in a Multi-Client Firm (e.g. An Advertising, Consulting, PR, Law or Accounting Firm)

Vendor-Client Communities in a Multi-Client Firm
(e.g. An Advertising, Consulting, PR, Law or Accounting Firm)