At first glance, it
seemed there was little that Foster and Smith, a pet
supply company, could do to help in the aftermath of last week's
tragedy, other than joining the efforts to collect blood and
monetary donations to provide some relief to the victims.
But when the company learned that dogs would be used to aid in
rescue attempts, it found a special way to help: Foster and Smith
sent a supply of shoes to strap onto the dogs' paws as they picked
their way through the rubble.
"You want to help in some way, and maybe this is a small piece
[of the rescue effort], but for the police it may be a very
important piece," said Beth Tidball, a senior customer service agent
with FedEx, which helped arrange
the shipment.
Foster and Smith is by no means alone in its desire to pitch in
after Tuesday's devastation. Companies by the thousands are donating
money, organizing blood and clothing drives, offering business
services to firms whose operations have been disrupted, and, in the
saddest cases, providing grief counseling to workers and customers
who lost family, friends and colleagues in the attacks.
The examples are too many to list, but following are a few
instances of companies joining the assistance efforts:
A number of companies, including E.mergent, are offering free
videoconferencing services for families seeking information about
friends and relatives.
IT providers, such as Cervalis, SAP and Gartner, are providing
free technical assistance and consulting services to companies whose
IT operations were disrupted.
Daisytek International, a wholesale distributor of computer
supplies and office products, is donating products to affected
clients.
CosmoCom is offering its contact center software to aid families
seeking information.
Macerich, a shopping mall operator, has organized a number of
drives to assist shoppers who want to participate by signing
condolence cards, creating friendship bracelets for children in New
York City, raising funds and donating blood and clothing.
Thousands of companies are donating money -- in many cases
millions of dollars -- to the Red
Cross, the Salvation
Army and other charities participating in rescue and relief
activities.
Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Home Depot, for example, have
pledged US$1 million each to respective charities. But even smaller
companies that cannot afford such largesse are offering hard cash.
Thursby Software Systems, for instance, announced it was donating
all sales made at its online store during the week of the attacks to
the American Red Cross -- which executives said should total roughly
$25,000.
As William Thursby, president of Thursby Software Systems, put
it, "I felt we had to do something to help."
But the corporate response is also a reflection of a relatively
new trend: Consumers have a growing expectation that the businesses
they patronize not only provide quality goods and services -- what
is normally expected in any consumer transaction -- but also behave
in a manner consistent with "good citizenship."
Simply put, people expect businesses to give back to the
communities in which they operate. Indeed, companies that do not
participate in their communities -- or worse, that are considered
exploiters of labor in overseas markets or despoilers of the
environment -- are punished by consumers, a growing body of evidence
suggests.
In one recent survey of 22,000 consumers, more than half said
they responded negatively to a company perceived as not "socially
responsible." One in five said they had taken actions to punish such
companies, usually by boycotting them.
This is not to suggest that companies that donate time, money and
services to relief efforts following last week's horrific events
have ulterior motives. Clearly, this monumental tragedy has affected
a huge number of people on a visceral level, and the instinctive
response has been to help in any way possible.
Among the very few small consolations rising from this tragedy is
the possibility that a new era of good corporate citizenship is
beginning. "Everything has changed" has been the mantra from news
commentators, political pundits, international affairs professors
and ordinary people watching events unfold. It is reassuring, to a
small degree, that not all of the changes are bad.
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