We continued to track support announcements from companies during the summer and wish to share three main observations from this period as we wrap up the microsite:
1- In Turkey, the variety and number of support initiatives to sustain SMEs increased considerably. Public-private sector collaborations were formed to provide SMEs education to enhance their online sales execution capacity, as well as logistics, financing, and marketing related support. Examples:
Amazon Turkey: https://webrazzi.com/2020/05/18/ticaret-bakanligi-ve-amazon-turkiye-den-avrupa-ozelinde-ucretsiz-e-ihracat-egitimi/
Hepsiburada: https://www.haberturk.com/hepsiburada-dan-hazir-giyime-destek-haberler-2684223-ekonomi
Yemeksepeti: http://foodinlife.com/yemeksepetinden-10-bin-restorana-can-suyu-kazandiran-restoran-destek-ceki/
Metro: https://www.marketingturkiye.com.tr/haberler/metro-turkiyeden-kucuk-isletmelere-5-bin-tllik-destek/
2- In the US, companies ramped up their support of local, national, and international civil society organizations. We did not observe a similar trend in Turkey. Examples from the US:
Google is offering an additional $200 million in advertising grants to non-profit organizations fighting the pandemic.
Walmart committed $35 million in cash and in-kind donations to non-profit organizations in and outside the US, primarily focused on food safety.
Citi committed $100 million for Covid-19 community relief and economic recovery efforts.
https://www.citigroup.com/citi/news/2020/200629a.htm
Estée Lauder supports non-profits providing front-line health care services to underprivileged communities.
3- The US companies we tracked provided noteworthy examples in corporate communication, through their practice of detailed, transparent, and systematic data sharing on company websites: