Strategic Corporate Philanthropy: Addressing Frontline Talent Needs Through an Educational Giving Program

Strategic Corporate Philanthropy:

Addressing Frontline Talent Needs

Through an Educational Giving

ProgramJoe M. Ricks Jr.

Jacqueline A. Williams

ABSTRACT. Corporate philanthropy describes the ac-

tion when a corporation voluntarily donates a portion of

its resources to a societal cause. Although the thought of

philanthropy invokes feelings of altruism, there are many

objectives for corporate giving beyond altruism. Meeting

strategic corporate objectives can be an important if not

primary goal of philanthropy. The purpose of this paper is

to share insights from a strategic corporate philanthropic

initiative aimed at increasing the pool of frontline cus-

tomer contact employees who are performance-ready,

while supporting curriculum development and infra-

structure improvement for selected university business

programs, creating a win-win situation for the company

and the universities. This paper will address three objec-

tives. First, we will examine the evolution of strategic

philanthropy from the traditional view to its current

position as a strategic option. Second, we will address the

recruitment of front line talent needs (customer facing

jobs in sales, customer service, and marketing) based on

the profit maximization model of strategic philanthropy.

Finally, we will offer conclusions and issues for future

research.

KEY WORDS: CRM, frontline development, intern-

ships, recruiting talent, sales, strategic philanthropy

Introduction

Corporate philanthropy describes the action when a

corporation voluntarily donates a portion of its

resources to a societal cause. Although the thought

of philanthropy invokes feelings of altruism, there

are many objectives for corporate giving beyond

altruism. Some of the objectives for corporate

philanthropy are increased visibility, enhancing

corporate image, and thwarting negative publicity

(Varadarajan and Menon, 1988). Thus, meeting

strategic objectives can be an important if not pri-

mary goal of philanthropy. Executives see them-

selves in situations where there are increasing societal

demands for social responsibility and investor pres-

sure for short term profits (Porter and Kramer,

2002). Because of these conflicting stakeholder

interests, the ability to tie corporate giving to stra-

tegic objectives has grown in importance. Addi-

tionally, when philanthropic activity directly benefits

all parties, including the sponsoring organization, it

is likely to be more sustainable, and less likely to be

one of the first things cut during downturns.

The dilemma, according to Porter and Kramer

(2002), is that what most organizations are describing

as ‘‘strategic philanthropy’’ is not strategic at all. The

implication of the strategic label in corporate giving is

that there is some connection to corporate objectives,

Dr. Joe Ricks is an Assistant Professor and Associate Chair of

the Department of Business at Xavier University of Louisi-

ana. Dr. Ricks has published in the Journal of Consumer

Marketing, Journal of Business Research, and Journal of

Vocational Behavior. Dr. Ricks has also been a faculty intern

at 3M Company, and a visiting faculty at McIlhenny

(Tabasco) Company and Young & Rubican.

Dr. Jacqueline Williams is an Associate Professor of Marketing

in the Department of Business Administration at North

Carolina A&T State University. Dr. Williams has pub-

lished in the Journal of Services Marketing, the Advances in

Business Management Forecasting, the Academy of Mar-

keting Science Review, and the Journal of Consumer Satis-

faction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior. She is a

member of Beta Gamma Sigma and a Florida Education

Fund McKnight Scholar.

Journal of Business Ethics (2005) 60: 147–157 � Springer 2005

DOI 10.1007/s10551-005-1175-3

but those connections are often loose and vague, if

they are connected at all. This type of philanthropy

describes corporate giving guided by a philosophy of

enlightened self-interest. To move from enlightened

self-interest to strategic corporate philanthropy, cor-

porate giving must be designed to produce a specific,

measurable benefit in an identifiable time period

(Mescon and Tilson, 1987; Stendardi 1992).

This paper will address three objectives. First, we

will examine the evolution of strategic philanthropy

in the U.S., from the traditional view to its current

position as a strategic option. Second, we will

present a model using strategic philanthropy to

address the recruitment of frontline talent for

customer facing positions. Finally we will offer

conclusions and issues for future research.

The evolution of strategic corporate

philanthropy

The traditional view

Strategic corporate philanthropy, where organiza-

tions use philanthropic activity to meet marketing

and other business related objectives, has evolved

over the past century. Philanthropy has been an

important part of American society since the 17th

century. However, prior to the 1950s individuals,

and not companies, conducted this activity. Legal

restrictions and unwritten rules restricted companies

from meddling in social affairs (Smith, 1994). The

legal restrictions were removed in a 1954 Supreme

Court ruling, the Smith Manufacturing Company

versus Barlow Case, involving a stockholder’s suit

against Smith Manufacturing for a contribution it

made to Princeton University. With this ruling, the

court established the ‘‘business judgment rule.’’ Prior

to Smith versus Barlow, organizations were only

allowed to make contributions that were directly

related to their shareholders’ best interest. The ruling

in the Smith case freed managers to make contri-

butions that in their judgment would promote the

company’s best interest (Stendardi, 1992).

Prior to the 1960s, when organizations were

pressured to demonstrate their social responsibility,

the unwritten rule was that business, government,

and nonprofits should do what each does best

without intrusion into one another’s territory. This

industrial style philanthropic approach is based on

the argument that the firm’s primary responsibility is

to increase its shareholders wealth through increased

profits. If the shareholders wish to support a

charitable cause they should do so as individuals;

managers ought not make these decisions for them.

Furthermore, if the philanthropic activity decreases

profits then the manager is spending the shareholders

money and if the activity increases prices then the

manager is spending the consumer’s money

(Stendardi, 1992).

The pressure on organizations to demonstrate their

social responsibility brought about the contrasting

argument for philanthropy as a valid corporate

activity. This argument is based on the belief that

successful organizations must become stakeholder

focused, maintaining good relationships with all of

their key stakeholders, while recognizing that

shareholders are only one stakeholder group. Others

include customers, employees, government, the

communities in which they do business, and society

in general. Additionally, it is thought that if society

views a significant incongruence between business’

activities and society’s needs, then actions will be

taken by society to limit the rights and activities of

business. The positioning of philanthropic activity as

enlightened self-interest emerged as an attempt to

bring together these two competing views of

philanthropy as a corporate activity.

Enlightened self-interest

According to Smith (1994), although it was not the

first to talk about self-interest when discussing

philanthropic activity, the AT&T Foundation was

the first to articulate tenets of a new philanthropic

paradigm where it was suggested that the founda-

tion’s endowed funds should not be ‘a thing apart’

from business. In fact, the foundations activities

should be tied to business functions, and advance

business interest through strategic alliances with key

stakeholder groups. In return, the benefiting business

units should support philanthropic activities with all

their resources, thus producing initiatives that will

benefit society as much as possible.

The key premise underlying enlightened self-

interest is the belief that the organization will benefit

at some point in the future from its philanthropic

148 Joe M. Ricks Jr. and Jacqueline A. Williams

activity, and this will motivate employees to work

for the firm and customers will be motivated to

purchase the firm’s brands. A second premise is that a

healthy company cannot survive in a sick commu-

nity; therefore, companies that use a portion of their

resources to address social problems are helping

secure their own long-term survival. The final

attribute regarding enlightened self-interest is that

the anticipated future benefits were neither imme-

diate, certain, nor quantifiable.

Organizations today, however, are seeking to

move beyond enlightened self-interest by attempting

to tie their philanthropic activity to corporate strat-

egy (McAlister and Ferrell, 2002; Porter and

Kramer, 2002). The London Benchmarking Group

(LBG) has developed the LBG Model for corporate

community involvement. The LBG Model includes

a matrix designed to track inputs, which are the

monetary value of philanthropic activity, including

charitable gifts, community investments, and com-

mercial initiatives in a community. Benefits to the

served community and company, as well as outcome

conditions that can be leveraged are identified as

outputs (London Benchmarking Group, 2004). The

explicit linking of philanthropy to strategic business

outcomes is what differentiates enlightened self-

interest from strategic corporate philanthropy.

Strategic corporate philanthropy

The role of philanthropic activity as a part of

corporate strategy is still evolving. While not all

companies have fully integrated philanthropy into

their overall corporate strategy most recognize its

strategic importance (Smith, 1994; Tokarski, 1999).

Environmental conditions such as downsizing,

decreased domestic profit margins, and Wall Street’s

short-term focus, have created an evolutionary shift

from enlightened self-interest to a similar but more

strategic form of philanthropy that is designed to

produce a specific, measurable benefit in an identi-

fiable time period (Mescon and Tilson, 1987;

Stendardi, 1992).

Strategic corporate philanthropy is defined as an

activity of a firm that involves choosing how it will

voluntarily allocate resources to charitable or social

service activities in order to reach marketing and

other business related objectives for which there are

no clear social expectations as to how the firm

should perform (Ricks, 2002). There are a number

of objectives that can be achieved through strategic

corporate philanthropy including: increasing sales,

enhancing corporate image, thwarting negative

publicity, customer pacification, facilitating market

entry, and increasing trade merchandising activity

(Varadarajan and Menon, 1988). Strategic corporate

philanthropy explicitly links its philanthropic strat-

egy to a corporate objective.

Strategic corporate philanthropy comes in many

forms beyond, and inclusive of, monetary gifts.

Organizations with the goal of being viewed as a

good corporate citizen are heavily promoting their

gifts to make consumers aware that they are putting

money back into the communities that support

them. Other forms of strategic philanthropic activity

help companies and their brands meet image and

exposure objectives. These activities include: spon-

soring local and national special events, sponsoring

cultural and arts programs, and sports sponsorships

(Mescon and Tilson, 1987).

The following section presents a model using

strategic philanthropy to address the recruitment of

frontline talent for customer facing positions, such as

sales, customer service, and marketing. This model is

based on the profit maximization model of philan-

thropy (Sanchez, 2000). The profit maximization

model provides a strategic explanation for philan-

thropic activity, where corporate philanthropy is

designed to directly or indirectly produce economic

gain. Corporate philanthropy provides direct eco-

nomic gain when the activity itself results in an

economic increase. Indirect economic gain occurs

when the philanthropic activity supports a project

that creates an economic climate that may produce

an economic gain. Indirectly, a company may sup-

port a community project that management believes

will increase demand for their products or support a

university that management believes will increase its

labor supply. The 3M Company has given over one

million dollars in financial and other in-kind support

to its partner universities in the Frontline Initiative.

The Frontline Initiative is collaboration between 3M

and nine universities designed to develop perfor-

mance ready frontline or customer touching talent

from their undergraduate student population. The

nine partner universities are a diverse group of

institutions that include large research universities,

Strategic Corporate Philanthropy 149

smaller state universities, as well as public and private

minority and women’s universities.

According to Porter and Kramer (2002) the

availability of high quality human resource inputs is

one of the key factor conditions defining the com-

petitive context of an organization and serves as a

potential indirect economic gain in the context of

strategic philanthropy. Implementation of the

Frontline Initiative has allowed 3M to tie educational

giving directly to the strategic business need for high

quality frontline talent, and to develop requirements

that maintain the connection. The Frontline Initia-

tive is designed, in part, to reduce training time and

cost associated with new-hire productivity goals such

that students at the participating institutions are

‘‘performance ready’’ and aware of high impact,

customer contact activities. Specifically, the goal is to

reduce by 50%, the time it takes for a newly hired

frontline employee to be rated by his or her supervisor

as productive. For example, if it usually takes year for

an employee to receive a productive rating by his

supervisor, the goal of this program is to reduce that

time to six months. This is the type of specific,

measurable outcome that differentiates philanthropy

based on enlightened self-interest and strategic cor-

porate philanthropy that leads to a potential com-

petitive advantage.

It is also the mission of the initiative to increase

awareness of opportunities in frontline positions and

to promote the frontline as an attractive, honorable

and rewarding career path. These goals, though

important, are more vague; thus, they would qualify

as outcomes based on enlightened self-interest, and

not strategic corporate philanthropy. Using the LBG

Matrix as a framework, the goal of reducing the cycle

time for new-hire productivity would be a business

benefit, while the goals of increased awareness and

promotion of frontline careers would be leverage

outputs. The leverage outputs and the financial

benefits to the university, community benefits as

defined by LBG, are consistent with the view that

there are long-term benefits tied to these outcomes;

which by definition, is philanthropy motivated by

enlightened self-interest. Conceptually, the leverage

outputs could be strategic only if the benefits, specific

to 3M, of increased awareness and the promotion of

frontline careers could be measured and explicitly

linked to project activities. Evaluations have shown

that symposia conducted by one of the partner

universities have increased favorable attitudes toward

sales careers. Specifically, over the past three years

approximately 80% of students that reported that they

never considered starting their career in sales or any

other frontline position, stated that they would con-

sider a frontline position after hearing from former

student interns and other frontline professionals.

These results are obviously beneficial to 3M and to all

other companies looking to hire frontline talent.

However, the direct benefit to 3M is immeasurable,

therefore not strategic. The direct business benefit of

reduced cycle time is the measurable outcome that

makes 3M’s support to the universities strategic. The

following sections describe the key components of

the Frontline Initiative model.

Frontline talent needs

Frontline workers have become increasingly

important in strategic positions within firms and as a

proportion of the workforce. Frenkel et al. (1999)

report that the increased percentage of the labor

force is likely to be higher for frontline works than

other categories of work in the United States,

Australia, and Japan. They classify occupations

within the frontline community into three major

groups – Customer Service Representatives, Sales

Representatives, and other Knowledge Workers

with direct customer–client interface, such as con-

sultants. These employees are often the first and only

representation of the firm outside the product or

service offered. Their attitudes, behaviors, and skills

influence customers’ perception of the company,

customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty.

The roles and responsibilities of frontline customer

contact employees are changing as many organiza-

tions place serious emphasis on long-term customer

relationships. Customer Relationship Marketing/

Management (CRM&M) is a philosophy and strat-

egy adopted to achieve growth by building and

nurturing high-value relationships with carefully se-

lected groups of customers (Hartline et al., 2000;

Swift, 2001). Through these enduring relationships

both the customer and the company benefit. The

contributions of frontline workers are further

recognized by company reorganizations that elevate

the positions vital to building strong customer

relationships (Bhote, 1996).


Although the organizational structure and pro-

cesses play an important role in implementing an

effective customer relationship strategy, the beliefs,

attitudes, and behaviors of employees in direct

contact with external customers are paramount to

relationship building efforts (Crosby and Johnson,

2002; Heskett et al., 1997). Therefore the issue of

business students embracing a customer-orientation

is especially important to meet the demands of

executives for increased relevant capabilities and

business savvy in university graduates (Walker and

Black, 2000). To better prepare university students

for placements in strategic customer facing positions,

a strategic corporate philanthropic initiative was

initiated between the 3M Company and several

universities.

Searching for future leaders, the 3M Company

initiated strategic partnerships with these universities

to develop performance ready talent for key frontline

positions within the company from their under-

graduate business programs. When looking for talent

to fill customer contact positions, the company

recruiters found that most universities address the

need for frontline training with traditional marketing

textbooks and courses (i.e., principles of marketing,

consumer behavior, marketing research, and in some

instances, a professional sales course). The textbooks

and course offerings provide an opportunity for

interested students to learn and practice standard

marketing concepts. However, the company

discovered that significant post-employment training

was required before new hires were productive in

customer-contact roles. In response, the company

initiated partnerships with universities to help attract,

train, and recruit talent for strategic frontline posi-

tions in professional sales and customer service, while

providing resources for curriculum development and

infrastructure specifically for the development of

frontline talent. Thus, developing a corporate giving

program directly tied into the important strategic

objective of reducing the cycle time for new frontline

employees to become productive by reducing the

amount of post-employment training.

Frontline talent initiative

Historically, recruiting high potential students to

fill frontline positions has proven to be difficult.

On many university campuses, students may not

apply for jobs in customer service and/or sales

because they simply do not fully appreciate the

career opportunities in these customer contact

positions. The frontline work that most university

students are familiar with is likely routine, low

skilled, hourly, or temporary positions in call

centers or retail sales. Some students may have

part-time work experience as frontline employees

while working toward their degree and they may

perceive all frontline work as low status or ‘‘tem-

porary’’ jobs. Thus, the initiative is designed to

attract high potential students to frontline positions

and to include responsibilities for both university

and practitioner constituents (see Table I). The

sponsoring organization is required to build

awareness of the program within the organization

so that management and employees understand the

projected outcomes. The sponsoring organization is

also responsible for identifying strategic faculty and

student internship assignments. The appropriate

environment must be provided for faculty and

student internship success by committing time,

resources, personnel, and facilities. Ideally, the

practitioner should have a presence on campus and

participate in on-going university and classroom

activities aimed toward education and awareness

and synergistic training for students, faculty, and

university administrators.

Faculty and university administrators are

responsible for meeting with the sponsoring orga-

nization to coordinate and develop a common set

of goals, discuss program direction and develop-

ment, and ways to improve the partnerships. Fac-

ulty members serve as mentors and coordinators of

student internships. The universities provide peri-

odic written assessments of the program status to

the sponsoring organization and host the Frontline

Customer Contact Conference, which is an annual

research conference in sales and CRM&M prac-

tices and education. Faculty and students actively

support and participate in conferences hosted by

partnering schools where the partners exchange

ideas, best practices, and challenges in imple-

menting the program. Students are required to

complete frontline coursework, a frontline intern-

ship, and a report detailing various experiential

learning activities engaging them in CRM&M

education.


Frontline curriculum

Based on existing management and marketing lit-

erature and a collection of corporate documents

regarding the skills and competencies needed for

effective frontline employees, a CRM&M relevant

curriculum is developed. The curriculum builds on

the recommended core undergraduate business

program and standard marketing curriculum

approved by an accreditation body for business

schools. The curriculum includes professional selling

pedagogy and content on CRM&M technologies

and processes that enable companies to initiate and

cultivate more advanced relationships with their

customers and suppliers. The 3M Company lends its

expertise to the curriculum through providing

speakers, conducting symposia, sponsoring faculty

internships, as well as underwriting and actively

participating in the Frontline Conference, by

attending and co-authoring papers.

Curriculum content is recommended to foster

student competency in technologies that enable

companies to initiate and cultivate more advanced

relationships and interactions with their customers

and suppliers. Students need to be introduced to key

vendors supporting customer knowledge software

such as Siebel Systems, a developer of enterprise

software for sales, marketing, and customer service

(Longwell, 2001). Future frontline employees must

understand that the focus will no longer be on

completing an individual transaction. Instead,

customer contact history will provide a rich source

of information for a variety of people across the

company to access and nurture the customer rela-

tionship with the understanding that customers have

a ‘‘lifetime value’’, not just the value of a single sale.

Industry often criticizes business schools for

teaching in functional ‘‘silos’’ – without recognizing

that well-managed enterprises operate more effi-

ciently as integrated units through cross-functional

teamwork (Walker and Black, 2000). The integrated

work environment results in less discrete functional

boundaries in organizations and creates career paths

that often cross disciplines as managerial skills and

expertise are developed. For example, the Frontline

Initiative views the frontline as an integration of

various customer ‘‘touch-points’’ and functions

throughout the company (see Figure 1), such as Sales,

Marketing, Customer Service, and E-business/

e-commerce Processes. Business processes, software,

TABLE I

The frontline academic-practitioner CRM&M partnership program

Responsibilities for Participants

Sponsoring partner participation

Identify specific expectations for faculty to be integrated into the organization and a project for faculty to complete

and provide recommendations to executives

Communicate and organize within the organization so that management and employees are aware of the program and

its projected outcomes

Provide appropriate environment through commitment of time, resources, personnel, and facilities as a contribution to

the faculty learning experience

Participate in on-going university and classroom activities aimed toward education and awareness and synergistic

training for students, faculty, and university administrators

Faculty and administrator participation

Meet periodically with sponsoring organization to coordinate and develop a common measurable set of goals

Serve as mentor and student internship coordinates for undergraduate assignments

Provide periodic written assessments of program status to the sponsoring

Actively support and participate in education and awareness conferences hosted by partnering schools

Student participation

Complete 12 hours of CRM&M coursework

Complete a 3-hour CRM&M internship and submit concluding paper detailing experiential learning activities

Actively engage in extra-curricular CRM&M campus, regional, and national activities


and technology are linked across the company to

prioritize customer service and retention. As Sautter

et al. (1999) argue, students need an appreciation of

the cumulative efforts of the total enterprise so that

they do not to interpret customer service as the sole

responsibility of any single functional area or channel

participant.

Students must also understand that a customer

orientation requires business processes driven by the

customer (Pisharodi et al., 1990). For example, the

corporate sponsor of the initiative repositioned

customer service from a ‘‘back-end’’ logistics oper-

ations focused on order processing to a front-end

customer touch point operation. Prior to the

restructuring, policies and procedures prioritized

what was best or easiest for company with less regard

for customer requirements and business processes.

The customer service representative entered the

order received via phone, fax or mail and then

followed the order through the system as needed.

Today, frontline employees are required to have an

understanding of the customer’s business processes as

well as the company’s business processes.

Process provides solutions and can be defined as

collections of tasks and activities that transform

inputs into outputs (Garvin, 1998). In a CRM&M

Marketinge-Business

SalesCustomer Service

Inbound Customer ResponseOrder and Product Support

Technical Support and ServiceComplaint Management

Lead ManagementInbound/Outbound TeleSales

Internet/Extranet/Intranet ResponseLiterature Communication/Fulfillment

Figure 1. CRM&M vision of integrated sales, customer service, marketing, and e-Business.


business process modeling course, exercises in

process mapping where students develop flow charts

of action steps, decision points, and sequences that

constitute the overall job or service to be completed

are recommended. The graphic helps process

participants understand the flow of work across

functional boundaries and channel partners, and

identifies points through which process refinement

can be accomplished. The ability to tie corporate

giving to curriculum development that addresses

specific company needs prevents the dilemma of

vague goals or a total disconnect between strategic

organizational goals and philanthropic activities.

Frontline experiential learning

The Frontline initiative supports field experience

through internships for both students and faculty.

These internships are twelve-week summer assign-

ments that include corporate training and divisional

placement. Faculty interns should work with area

managers to develop a specific research-oriented

assignment. For example, a faculty intern spent the

summer of 2001 at corporate headquarters and

reported to the manager of the Corporate Customer

Contact Center (C4). The faculty intern toured the

operations of the company and interviewed man-

agement and frontline employees to understand the

skills and competencies required for future genera-

tions of frontline employees. The findings were

presented to an executive council at the completion

of the internship. During the fall of 2001, input was

sought from the faculty to develop the student

internship training program and job descriptions for

the following summer.

During the summer of 2002 a faculty member

from another partner university interned with the

C4 organization. Based on this internship experi-

ence, the faculty member designed two courses for

the sales and marketing program at his university.

One course, Multivariate Analysis, was developed

based on the observation that the organization was

collecting a great deal of data but did not have en-

ough employees with sufficient expertise to analyze

it. The second was a course in CRM&M that fo-

cuses on the current thinking in CRM&M and the

technologies used in the field in general and by 3M

particularly, thus reducing training time. Here the

faculty member used funding from 3M to develop

courses that would directly benefit 3M and give all

of his undergraduate students a skill set that will give

them a competitive advantage at any company.

Students work directly with division managers

and other employees and participate in activities that

provide a comprehensive understanding about

customer and other stakeholder relationships.

Student interns take on the life of professionals as

they gain day-to-day hands-on field experience. In

addition, student interns should have the added

responsibility of accomplishing a team goal with

fellow interns meeting the same challenges at other

corporate locations throughout the country. Thus,

they will have the experience of accomplishing

something with people within the company who are

not physically located in the same place – a common

occurrence for frontline employees.

Several conditions must be met for students to

fulfill the internship requirement. First, the student

must be registered at the university during the off-

campus assignment. Second, the student must spend a

minimum of ten weeks in the off-campus experience.

Third, the student should be required to present a

written report and/or other evaluation criterion that

will be submitted to the supervising instructor. Both

faculty and student interns must participate in a formal

performance evaluation process and should be

required to present a summary of their project/

internship experience during the last week of the

internship to an audience of peers, managers, and top

executives. Appendix A provides an example of a

student internship assignment. As with the curriculum,

the experiential learning component maintains the

strategic connection between educational giving and

the company’s strategic objectives.

Frontline initiative merits and challenges

The Frontline Talent Initiative curriculum builds on

the curriculum recommendations of the accredita-

tion body for business schools and offers a unique

learning experience that enables students to gain the

competencies needed to understand and apply cus-

tomer relationship management business models and

tools. The curriculum is not only appropriate for

business or marketing majors, it is also appropriate

for individuals with career interests in other func-

tional areas (e.g., engineering, technology, health


and physical sciences) that interface closely with sales

and customer service.

Successful outcomes for students participating in

this program include increasing their performance

readiness through a blend of academic and work

experience. In addition, students can get intimate

knowledge of potential employers. Successful

outcomes for faculty participants include research

opportunities and current examples to use in the

classroom. There are three specific outcomes for

3M. First, a reduction in new-hire training costs.

Second, significant projects are assigned to both

student and faculty interns providing an immediate

return. Finally, the organization gains intimate

knowledge of prospective new-hires. Through the

corporate giving component of the initiative, partner

schools receive funding and in-kind support for

operational and infrastructure resources that have

uses beyond the CRM&M curriculum.

Entry-level marketing and market research posi-

tions, although difficult to obtain, are likely to be

held in higher esteem than frontline work. Students

may not apply for customer facing jobs because they

simply do not fully appreciate the frontline career

path. The experience of most university students

may be with low status frontline jobs as opposed to

high impact entry-level positions. Negative percep-

tions of sales and customer service jobs may also have

originated with parents (Comer et al. 1998).

Upwardly mobile parents do not encourage their

children to seek careers in sales or customer service;

rather they direct their aspirations toward high status

professions such as medicine, law, and engineering.

To promote frontline customer contact positions

as an honorable and viable career option, faculty and

administrators across the university must also come

to appreciate the opportunities in frontline work.

The university placement office, along with other

business school faculty, may be reluctant to promote

frontline careers because of a generally negative

image or limited appreciation of career opportuni-

ties. Thus, additional energies are needed in the area

of frontline awareness and education that target

faculty and administrators.

Conclusion and future research

Through the Frontline Initiative, students and faculty

gain exposure to a strategic view of the frontline

customer contact roles. As part of the academic

community one gets to see how CRM&M, as a

boardroom issue, becomes a guiding philosophy in

strategic decision making and resolving operational

issues. It is crucial for prospective frontline employees

to have business savvy, creativity, and critical think-

ing skills to sustain long-term enterprise profitability.

The implementation of the Frontline Initiative

overcomes some of the criticism that academic

courses are not relevant to the knowledge, compe-

tencies, and skills employers expect of business school

graduates and meets the demand for relevant

curricula. This model helps guide the activities of the

educational institutions such that most of the

resources provided by 3M go toward meeting the

company’s strategic need. Approximately 55% of the

budgeted funds for the partner schools goes toward

program related expenses, which include curriculum

development, faculty development activities, and

equipment explicitly for the sales and CRM&M

courses. Ensuring that most of the funding goes

toward program and curriculum development

maintains the strategic focus of the initiative while

providing financial and infrastructural benefits to the

business school. For example, one partner university

received $80,000 over a two year period to develop

curricula, host the Frontline research conference,

hire student assistants, scholarship support, and

purchase equipment. Another partner university

received $350,000.00 over a three year period to

develop and administer an undergraduate certificate

program in CRM&M. The CRM&M certificate

offers unique learning experiences for students

to develop and apply the competencies needed to

manage relationships (with customers, employees,

business partners, and other stakeholders) in collab-

orative endeavors using a variety of relationship

networks that span the traditional request for

proposals to the emerging electronic commerce

arrangements. The certification is also appropriate for

individuals with career interests in other functional

areas (such as engineering, health, physical sciences)

that interface closely with marketing functions such

as sales and customer service.

Implementation of Frontline Initiative has allowed

3M to strategically tie part of its’ philanthropic

activity directly to its’ business need for high quality

human resource inputs (Porter and Kramer, 2002).

While contributing over $1,000,000.00 in cash and


in-kind support to the partner universities since 1997,

3M has created a program that converts 60% of its

internship participants into hires, and converts 85% of

those that actually receive offers. Interviews with 3M

line managers as well as human resource mangers

confirm that students that are hired through the

Frontline Talent Initiative are rated productive by

their supervisors in less than half the time it takes new

graduates that did not come through the initiative.

While meeting specific goals, 3M also benefits from

increased exposure and an elevated corporate image

on the campuses and in the communities where the

campuses are located. These image factors or repu-

tation assets are also potential sources of competitive

advantage (Hess et al., 2002). The partner universi-

ties benefit from the numerous resources and student

employment opportunities provided by 3M. The

Frontline Initiative demonstrates the indirect benefit

profit maximization model of strategic corporate

philanthropy leading to potential competitive

advantages in human resources and reputation assets.

It also addresses the criticism of corporate giving not

being explicitly tide to a strategic objective.

Appendix A

2002 Summer Customer Service Internship

Program

Position: Customer Service Intern

Business Unit Assignment: TCM’s Vehicle Safety

Registration and Identification (VSR&I)

Business Summary: Traffic Control Materials

Division is the dominant supplier of retro-reflective

sheeting used for motor vehicle license plates and

validation stickers throughout the world. The

reflective sheeting is used to add greater visibility

and legibility for license plates as identification/

registration devices of motor vehicles. In virtually

all regions of the world, motor vehicles use public

roadways requiring them to be properly identified

and to pay the necessary registration fees and taxes

for motor vehicles. There are approximately 700

million motor vehicles throughout the world and

more than 550 million of them utilize fully

reflective license plates. Sales revenue and income is

derived from the turnover in vehicle registration

devices associated with: the turnover in motor

vehicle population, new motor vehicle registrations

and the periodic replacement of license plates. Li-

cense plates and registration stickers and forms have

traditionally been manufactured in prison industry

programs in the US market. The company has

supplied these prison industry programs with the

reflective sheeting, inks and equipment used in the

manufacturing process. The motor vehicle depart-

ments distribute the finished plates. This is chang-

ing. Many motor vehicle departments are interested

in electronically ordering their license plates and

registration forms and stickers. This has created an

opportunity to provide digital printing of license

plates and registration forms and stickers. In some

instances, DMV’s are assuming the responsibility of

the manufacturing process themselves. The com-

pany is well positioned to serve its core customer

base, the DMV’s or through market channels such

as the Prison Industry programs. The company is

currently transforming its position in the market-

place from being a materials supplier to becoming a

system and services provider.

Internship Job Summary: Job responsibilities

fall into two separate but related categories

(1) Represent the company in communicating

with external customers and related company

divisions and departments in the following

logistical matters:

(a) Assumes shared responsibility for handling

varied customer transactions regarding or-

der entry, order status, (promise and ship-

ping dates) inquiries, back orders, proof of

delivery, freight claims, payment deduc-

tions or discrepancies, and other related

policies and procedures,

(b) Under supervision prepares quotes, bids,

or proposals. Makes product recommen-

dations and exercises judgement when

identifying and resolving customer issues.

(2) Assist the VSR&I business unit in managing

customer relationships by leading and com-

pleting a customer requirements research

project aimed at identifying and building an

electronic file that contains the following:

Market Profile

Company Product Offerings

Company Market Position


Note: The finished result will be of great value to

the Marketing and Customer Service Departments

of the TCM VSR&I Business Unit.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Jimmiee Gaulden

and Ben Nieters of 3M Company for their helpful

comments and for facilitating the authors’ collabo-

ration on this project. This research was funded in

part by the 3M Company.

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Joe M. Ricks Jr.

Department of Business,

Xavier University of Louisiana,

New Orleans, LA 70128

E-mail: [email protected]

Jacqueline A. Williams

Department of Business Administration,

North Carolina A&T State University,

Greensboro, NC 27411,

E-mail: [email protected]


Documents

Strategic Corporate Philanthropy: Addressing Frontline Talent Needs Through an Educational Giving Program