Admission Selection Process

PGDM 2022-24

In 2007, IBM launched the Corporate Service Corps (CSC), a global pro bono consulting program.
Over the next ten years, the CSC had grown to be the largest corporate assistance program in the
world, sending nearly 500 IBM employees each year to communities in emerging markets. By the
time it completes its 10th anniversary in 2018, the CSC will have sent approximately 4,000 employees
from over 60 countries to consult on over 1,300 projects in nearly 40 countries. The CSC’s goal was
to provide a triple benefit: leadership training to the best IBMers, brand recognition for IBM in
emerging markets, and improvements in the communities served by the host organizations. As the
program entered its second decade, IBM was considering ways to increase the social impact of the
projects the CSC undertook while preserving the program’s other aspects.

The CSC was created as IBM was aiming to become a more "globally-integrated company." Since its
founding, IBM had had a global footprint. But as the company transformed itself from a hardware and
software company to one that provided services and consulting, IBM was looking to further integrate
its far-flung workforce and introduce its services in new markets. The Corporate Service Corps (CSC)
was created as a tool to open IBMers' minds to the demands and constraints of working in a
globalized world through direct interaction with geographically and functionally diverse teams,
working in resource-constrained environments.

In its ten years of operation, the CSC had evolved considerably. In terms of social impact, IBM was
working on ways to more effectively monitor the performance of its projects and considering
adjustments to program design to improve their benefit to communities. Many program elements
could be adjusted; from the number and choice of implementation partners, to the criteria based on
which IBMers were selected for the program, the type, size, or sectoral approach of the organizations
IBM chose to assist, the duration of deployment, to the activities performed in pre or post deployment,
or the type of partnerships or networks that IBM pursued with the program.

However, before any program changes, CSC’s management had to consider not only the depth and
breadth of CSC's social benefits, but also the program’s other goals. It was a difficult balancing act to
maintain, but one that CSC had to accomplish if the program was to be both effective and sustainable.
Q1. Is there any benefit of starting a pro bono program (professional work taken voluntarily
and done for free)? Do you think the benefits outweigh the cons of such programs? Justify.
Q2. Can you give any example of an Indian firm involved into a pro bono activity and has
gone bankrupt?