Cisco Case Study

Introduction Five U.S. companies in September 2009 joined together and formed the partnership for Lebanon (PFL) and the bequest of then President George Bush. These five companies include: Cisco Systems, Intel Corporation, Ghafari Inc., Occidental Petroleum, and Microsoft. The intent was for these companies to “help in the relief and reconstruction efforts in Lebanon” (Jamali, 2011). Soon thereafter, these companies concluded that to achieve the objective that five specific issues needed to be address. Leveraging each company’s core competency, the end game was to bring relief and reconstruction to the country. The five objectives that the PFL identified to achieve the mission was emergency relief, job creation in the private sector, improve the information and communication technology infrastructure, provide training and educating the workforce, and connect the communities. To the extent that each of these objectives are, in and of themselves, a large undertaking, the combined mission of the PFL seems almost impossible. In order to achieve the mission set forth, the PFL not only needed funds but large amounts of human resources. Cisco turned inward and selected key individuals who had the skills necessary of which, Salam Yamout was appointed as the project manager. Cisco’s vision, mission, and culture made the company a great fit for the PFL. Founded in a culture that fosters “open communication, frugality, innovation, giving back to the community, collaboration, trust, integrity, and inclusion,” Cisco has been recognized as the “best in the world, best for the world” (Jamali, 2011). This culture drives corporate social responsibility (CSR). “Giving back to the community is a core differentiating principle of Cisco’s culture; hence, CSR was and still is accorded close attention by the CEO and the whole corporation” states George Akiki (Jamali, 2011). Since the inception of the PFL, these five companies worked towards achieving the five initiatives. Many

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