ABSTRACT
Why does civic and public commitment thrive in some communities and wither in others? Why has Minneapolis-St. Paul come to be known for the civic spirit of its populace, whereas Silicon Valley has cultivated an identity as the home of the “cyber stingy?” In this chapter we propose that local corporations and nonprofits play an essential role in the development and maintenance of such community identities and reputations and that once developed, these intertwined processes have a self-reinforcing function. Communities become known for being more or less desirable places, which serves as an internal signal to shape the behaviors of existing corporations, and further, an external signal to attract new firms and residents (Marquis, Glynn, & Davis, 2007). Having a positive identity and reputation yields many benefits, yet because these processes are complex and durable, community identity and reputation may be resistant to purposeful change. In this chapter we discuss how geographical communities and their identities and reputation still matter in a globalized corporate world, focusing on some of the organizational mechanisms underlying positive community processes.
