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- Tania Ellis
- July 20, 2011
WIN-WIN-WIN
IBM uses its volunteer program – Corporate Service Corps – to realize the company’s vision of creating a “globally integrated enterprise”. Since 2008, IBM has dedicated 1,000 of its top management prospects from over 50 countries to bring professional and social competences to development projects in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
Through their voluntary work, IBM’s high performers are exposed to essential learning in fields crucial to any global corporation: markets under development, cultural diversity, global teams, beyond-the-office thinking and public expectations to responsible and sustainable business practices.
There is, in other words, a “triple benefit”: leadership development for the IBMers, a philanthropic contribution to the communities, and greater knowledge and enhanced reputation in the growth markets for IBM.
As IBM’s Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs, Stanley Litow puts it: “It’s not just philanthropy, it’s leadership development and business development, and it helps build economic development in the emerging world.”