A Seminar Report On

Building a corporate community

Faculty Guide :Dr .Richa Banerjee Submitted By :jitendra singh kushwah Manish yaday Nobat singh kushwah

DECLARATION
We, jitendra singh kushwah, Manish yadav, and nobat singh kushwah students of MBA 1st semester 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 Place: Gwalior

Jitendra Singh Kushwah Manish Yadav Nobat Singh kushwah (MBA 1st Sem)

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that students jitendra singh kushwah, Manish yadav, and Nobat singh kushwah of MBA 1st Semester of Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior have successfully completed their Seminar Report. They have prepared this Seminar Report entitled Building a corporate community under my direct supervision and guidance.

Date: 30/11/2012 Place: Gwalior

Dr .Richa Banerjee

( Faculty Guide )

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 Place : Gwalior

Jitendra Singh Kushwah Manish Yadav Nobat Singh Kushwah (MBA 1st Sem)

INDEX
Sr no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 INTRODUCTION FIVE TYPES OF CORPORATE GIVEING CORPORATE IMAGE IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE IMAGE THEORY OF CORPORATE IMAGE CORPORATE IDENTITY CORPORATE COMMUNICATION BUILDING A CORPORATE COMMUNITY CASE STUDY: UNILEVER CASE STUDY: PHILIPS CASE STUDY: AHOLD CASE STUDY: CORUS CASE STUDY: AKZO NOBEL CONCLUSION

Headings

Page no. 1 2 5 7 7 8 9 10 12 14 15 16 17 18

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 book Building 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 partly on 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.

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 USAs 2011 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 charitable giving 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 grants Companies create an incentive for employees to organize joint team building / volunteer events. In these cases, companies offer a monetary donation to nonprofits where the team volunteers. For example, through Kohls Associates in Action program, w hen a group of five or more employees volunteer together for three consecutive hours at a nonprofit organization, the nonprofit receives a $500 volunteer grant.

Individual volunteer grants These are grants that individual employees earn for a nonprofit after 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 your organization 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
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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 any strategies, ideas, or resources to share with other nonprofits?

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, these agencies 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

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.

IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE IMAGE

Several factors have contributed to the increasing importance of corporate image in recent years. For example, the business climate in the United States has become one of environmental complexity and change. This has forced many business enterprises to significantly alter their strategies to better compete and survive. The acceleration of product life cycles is another vital dimension of the turbulent business

environment. Globalization has been still another catalyst in the rise of corporate image programs, as companies have sought ways to spread their reputations to distant markets. A related factor is that as a corporation expands its operations internationally, or even domestically, through acquisitions, there is a danger that its geographically dispersed business units will project dissimilar or contrary images to the detriment of corporate synergy. A final factor stimulating the current interest in corporate image is society's growing expectation that corporations be socially responsible. Many of today's consumers consider the environmental and social image of firms in making their purchasing decisions. Some companies have recognized this reality and reaped tremendous benefits by conducting themselves in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Some of these companies act out of genuine altruism, while others act out of a simple recognition of the business benefits of such behavior.

THEORY OF CORPORATE IMAGE

In the process of managing corporate image, the fundamental variables are: corporate identity, corporate communication, corporate image, and feedback. Corporate identity is the reality of the corporation the unique, individual personality of the company that differentiates it from other companies. Corporate communication is the aggregate of sources, messages, and media by which the corporation conveys its uniqueness or brand to its various audiences. Corporate image is in the eye of the beholderthe impression of the overall corporation held by its several audiences. The objective in managing corporate image is to communicate the company's identity to those audiences or constituencies that are important to the firm, in such a way that they develop and maintain a favorable view of the company. This process involves fashioning a positive identity, communicating this identity to significant audiences, and obtaining feedback from the audiences to be sure that the message is interpreted positively. An unsatisfactory image can be improved by modifying corporate communication, re-shaping the corporate identity, or both.
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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 of staff 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.

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.

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 like Knowledge 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
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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.

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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 turns out 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.

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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-andacquisition 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.

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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 personto-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 very different 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.

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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 is important 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 KM implementation. 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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