CHESTNUT HILL, Mass., March 26, 2002 - Several years ago, Cisco was faced with a series of business challenges. Schools were purchasing networking products but lacked the technical expertise to maintain the technology. At the same time, the high-tech industry was facing a shortage of skilled workers, and the public was becoming increasingly concerned with the "digital divide."
In a corporate-wide effort, Cisco developed a program that would address these multiple concerns. The company leveraged its technology, infrastructure, and relationships to integrate community and workforce development into its fundamental business model. The result is the Cisco Networking Academy Program, a global initiative that educates and prepares students for certifications for Internet technology careers. Here in the US, the Academy has directed attention to nationally designated empowerment zones, bringing high-tech careers to low-income students and adults.
Cisco is among five companies featured in a newly released report and set of case studies by the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College. The study, Business and Community Development: aligning corporate performance with community economic development to achieve win-win impacts, examines initiatives that integrate corporate strategy with community development, bringing economic opportunities to the company and its community stakeholders.
"This research identifies companies that are trailblazers -that are fundamentally changing the way business and communities relate and work together, "said Center Executive Director Bradley K. Googins, Ph.D." The release of this report couldn't be more timely given the state of the economy and the need among Americans to see their business institutions as social and economic assets."
One core commitment of the Cisco Networking Academy Program has been to bring Academies to low-income communities, providing opportunities for transitioning welfare recipients into jobs, retraining displaced workers, and rehabilitating juvenile offenders. The Cisco case study prepared by the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College demonstrates how a company 's effort to incorporate its community values with hard-nosed performance excellence standards helps create economic opportunities for low-income individuals as well as provide businesses with an educated workforce. For Cisco, the Academy program serves as an R&D lab to test e-learning solutions to learn how the Internet can be used for teaching and learning. The Academy Program helps strengthen partnerships and creates new partnerships with government, business and community leaders.
"Companies that link business development with community development create economic and quality of life improvements while generating returns to their own business," said Janet Boguslaw, Ph.D., senior research associate for the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and co-author of the report." By merging business and societal goals, these companies are creating long-term, sustainable collaborations that go well beyond corporate giving."
Business and Community Development, the culmination of two years of research involving interviews with 70 corporations, takes a comprehensive look at the Cisco Networking Academy Program as well as four other corporate business and community development programs, providing guidelines for other businesses to follow. The study was funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation.
The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, part of the Carroll School of Management, provides research, executive education, consultation and convening on issues of corporate citizenship. The Center has more than 300 corporate members across the globe.
For more information, or for a copy of Business and Community Development: aligning corporate performance with community economic development to achieve win-win impacts, please contact Cheryl Kiser at 617-552-8948; or kiserch@bc.edu. You can also view the executive summary and case studies on our web site atwww.bc.edu/corporatecitizenship.
