CHESTNUT HILL, MA – The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College is encouraging companies to resist the one-size fits all approach to stakeholder relations in a new seminar:

Corporate Citizenship in the Context of Local Operations: Sustaining Your Facility’s License to Operate
November 6-7, 2003 - St. Louis, MO

"Companies with multiple operating units and a centralized community relations office should resist the one-size fits all approach to stakeholder relations," says Richard Trabert, former head of public affairs for Merck Manufacturing, who developed and presents the seminar.

Each facility has a unique relationship with its community and the quality of these relationships can affect the facility’s business goals as well as the reputation and success of the company as a whole. Therefore, operating facilities should create their own external relations plans. “Much of external relations is designed to operate corporate-wide. But to paraphrase former Speaker Tip O’Neill who said all politics are local, all relationships are local. If the facility manager doesn’t take that seriously, his business objectives may be threatened,” says Trabert.

The seminar is designed to prepare plant managers to develop and execute their facilities' business plans in the context of the external environment. Designed for anyone with community affairs responsibility at the operational facility level, or for corporate professionals who oversee facility level staff or facility level programs, the program helps companies build a framework to address the interests of diverse community stakeholders.

"Corporate Citizenship in the Context of Local Operations: Sustaining Your Facility’s License to Operate" is one of 14 programs offered by The Center as part of its executive education program. Programs cover planning, strategy, program development, implementation, communications, evaluation, leadership development and competency building. Participants earn credit for attending a program; upon the completion of 10 credits, participants earn a Certificate from the Boston College Carroll School of Management. The Center also offers courses at company sites on request, and can customize its offerings to address companies' specific challenges and needs.

For more information, call The Center at 617.552.4545, or go to The Center’s web site at www.bc.edu/corporatecitizenship.

The Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, part of the Carroll School of Management, provides research, executive education, consultation and convenings on issues of corporate citizenship. The Center has more than 300 corporate members across the globe.

Center for Corporate Citizenship

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