No company can succeed in fostering community among its customers unless it fosters community within. This permiable practice is much simpler to implement in small businesses than in large corporations, though the insinuation of sociability in enterprise is becoming irresistable. How can huge, multinational corporations - especailly ones with deep historic roots - change their internal cultures to meet their customers on common ground? Evidently, it begins with expressions of attitude matched with action.
One of our corporate sponsors in the Social Media Today group is Siemens AG, a multinational entity based in Germany. They serve many markets with a wide range of technical products, and they are one of the planet's largest businesses. For that reason alone, it's a good sign that they publicly profess to be aware of the importance of having a social consciousness.
In this brief interview published on the Interbrand site, Michael Rossa - head of Market Communications in the Corporate Communications Center of Siemens in Munich - says some things that we'd love to hear from his peers in other multinationals. For example:
"Our CSR activities-education in science and technology, humanitarian relief, arts and culture and environmental protection-seek to strengthen local economies on the basis of a shared sense of responsibility."
and
"We see our role in finding an expression for our brand that is true to the inner self of the company. Fully applied, a brand becomes unique when it is being true to its inner self and the sense of purpose of the people who create value under the umbrella of the brand."
Yes, there's still a social firewall between Siemens and the world beyond, but it's promising to hear language that includes "inner self" and "a shared sense of responsibility" coming from within such a huge corporation.