Conclusion
by
Charles Lamson
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| Public Relations Practice and a Worldview
PR in Practice
Every organization depends on mutually beneficial relationships with its key publics in order to meet its business objectives. For multinational corporations seeking to do business outside their home countries, especially in less-developed regions of the world, establishing and maintaining those relationships often requires overcoming a perception that foreign companies are investing in developing countries just to make a quick profit. This challenge is particularly significant in Latin America, a region characterized by large socioeconomic differences, mistrust of large institutions and corruption both in government and the private sector. Companies have learned that for them to be successful in this environment they must be socially responsible corporate citizens. Only when their key publics see them as socially responsible entities that listen to their publics, will their publics be ready to listen to and trust them. As a foreign investor, a large multinational corporation and a relative newcomer doing business in Latin America, BellSouth needed to develop a public relations strategy for the region that would allow it to overcome the cultural challenges of the business environment, and position itself as a socially responsible company interested in the long-term well being of the countries in which it operated. BellSouth needed to find a way to give a soul to its corporate brand by demonstrating a commitment to local communities stretching from Guatemala to Nicaragua in Central America to Chile at the tip of South America. BellSouth is strongly associated with community involvement in the USA, emphasizing innovative educational projects. But research indicated that merely stating that the company had a proven track record of community involvement back home would not be enough. The company needed to create a regional community relations program for Latin America that was consistent with the focus on education that characterized its corporate giving in the USA.  Many worthy causes were considered for possible sponsorship: popular sports, mental health issues, drug abuse and the arts. Eventually, BellSouth decided to focus on the education of Latin America's working children. As many as 29 million children from 3 to 4 years old, up into their teens, were working and could not attend school at all because they were needed to help their families by working full time selling flowers and gum in the streets, shining shoes, working in the fields or serving as full-time domestic help. They entered adulthood without a basic education and typically sent their own children to work rather than to school perpetuating the cycle of poverty and illiteracy. BellSouth research showed that the plight of working children was an "orphan issue": an issue not yet adopted for assistance or solution by any government body or non-government organization (NGO). BellSouth's program, BellSouth Pronino, was simple: provide small scholorships - enough to cover tuition, uniform, school supplies, tutoring, transportation, tutoring and extra-curricular activities - so children could go to school. The company made a $6 million commitment over a five-year period to the program, half of it coming from BellSouth's 10 Latin American operations and half from the BellSouth foundation. To give the program greater credibility, BellSouth partnered with a local NGO in each of the 10 countries to administer the awarding of the scholarships. The BellSouth public relations manager/director in each of the ten countries managed by BellSouth Pronino. The first scholarship grants were made in 2001, and over a period of four years BellSouth made awards to more than 9,000 children. BellSouth sold its Latin American operations at the end at the end of 2004 to Telefonica of Spain. Telefonica liked the Pronino program so much it agreed to continue and support it.  BellSouth's Pronino program met the company's overall goal of positioning itself as a socially responsible investor in Latin America and a partner in the long-term development of the countries in which it operated. Especially valuable were the relationships it was able to establish with the region's new generation of leaders who welcomed initiatives from the private sector to help them address the needs of their countries' underpriviliged groups. The program also proved a useful public relations tool offering many opportunities to reach the company's publics through events, press conferences, meetings with opinion leaders and visits to schools. And most important of all, the program strengthened the relationship with one of BellSouth's most important publics, its own employees. Employees were not only proud of working for a socially responsible company but also stepped forward to volunteer time and money to BellSouth Pronino. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Don James Tilson and Maria Schnabel, "The Social Role of Public Relations in Latin America: A 10-Country Community Relations Program Becomes an Effective Public Relations Tool for a US Multinational," in The Evolution of Public Relations in Transition, 2nd ed - 2004
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