Burke, director of Boston College's Center for Corporate Community Relations, provides an insightful analysis of the contribution businessess make to community well-being....Corporate social responsibility is a significant issue in today's business environment, and thus this book is a timely and important addition to academic and professional business collections.

-- Choice

The book is one that needs to be seriously explored by anyone that needs to be seriously explored by anyone concerned for corporate and community interaction leading to improved quality of life,

-- Global Focus: An International Journal Of Business Economics, and Social Policy

Submitted by Greenwood Publishing Group Web Site, December, 2001

The public environment in which companies operate has changed significantly since the 1970s. Communities, in response to elected officials and community groups, are demanding that companies observe new norms of behavior. They expect companies to respect the environment, respond to the concerns of the community residents, and contribute to the support of community institutions. As Burke illustrates, a company's community reputation also affects the behavior of consumers and employees. Consumers prefer to buy products from companies that are involved in the community. Employees are attracted to companies that have a good community reputation.

Just as successful companies need to be a supplier of choice, an employer of choice, and an investor of choice, they now have to become a neighbor of choice. They have to behave in ways that build a legacy of trust in order to be positioned positively in the community. As Burke shows, to be a neighbor of choice a company has to pursue three strategies: build sustainable and ongoing relationships with key community individuals, groups, and organizations; institute procedures that anticipate and respond to community expectations, concerns, needs, and issues; and focus the company's community programs on ways that promote and strengthen the community's quality of life and which also support the business goals of the company. The strategies developed by Burke will be of great use to community and public affairs managers and general managers of corporations as well as CEOs and other executive officers. Students in courses on corporate strategy and general management will find the book of value, as will students in courses on non-profit management.

Foreword: Why Merck Needs to Be a Neighbor of Choice by Raymond V. Gilmartin
Introduction: The New Expectations for Today's Corporation
The Principle of the Neighbor of Choice
The Psychological Contract
From Balloons and T-Shirts to Neighbor of Choice
How to Achieve a Competitive Advantage
Implementing Neighbor of Choice
The Company Assessment
Who Are the Corporation's Communities?
The "Shadow Constituencies"
The Community Assessment
The Three Strategies
The First Strategy: Building Relationships of Trust
The Second Strategy: Managing Community Issues and Concerns
The Third Strategy: Using Community Programs to Build Trust
...And Achieve a Competitive Advantage
The Social Vision
Shaping a Social Vision: The Value Premise of the Neighbor of Choice
Index