Factors Influencing Maquiladora Giving

There are several reasons why companies in general participate in charitable giving, including a desire to be good corporate citizens, to strengthen the company’s image or brand, and to build employee morale. The findings of this study show that maquiladoras along Mexico’s northern border have mixed reasons for undertaking charitable activities. A majority of these companies appear to consider such activities as something that they do for internal purposes – either to demonstrate their philosophy of being a “good citizen” in the community, or to promote community goodwill among their employees. However, given the mixed or low responses for “external benefits,” it appears that maquiladoras do not expect to receive such external benefits for their charitable activities. In fact, nearly 65% saw no relationship between border giving and improving shareholder value (i.e.: using border giving to build goodwill and/or sales for their brand); over 30% felt that brand or corporate image development was one of the “least important” factors for border giving (see table 3). The fact that maquiladora plant managers do not see a benefit for improving shareholder value and/or corporate image development in charitable giving along the border may explain why, in light of this new phase of strategic philanthropy, charitable giving along the border may be low. Here, it is evident from this study’s findings that maquila plant managers perceive, in many cases unfairly, that the vast majority of Mexican border nonprofits cannot offer them a concrete way to strengthen their brand or corporate identity.