Business Case Studies & Business Publications

Wendy Chan and Accenture's Upwardly Glob...

Hernandez, Morela,...

Case

Wendy Chan and Accenture's Upwardly Global Partnership

Hernandez, Morela; Frank, Mary Margaret

OB-1285 | Published April 17, 2019 | 9 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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Wendy Chan, a manager in strategy at Accenture, a global professional services company, was offered the opportunity to help build and formalize a partnership between Accenture and a nonprofit called Upwardly Global. The nonprofit provided job coaching services to work-authorized, college-educated immigrants, refugees, and asylees, helping them rebuild their careers in the United States and fully contribute their talents to the US workforce and economy. The two companies had already been partnering on a small scale, and Chan had been providing pro bono consulting to Upwardly Global on strategies to grow its impact. Chan was personally passionate about Upwardly Global's work, and she believed a partnership would be beneficial to both companies. At the same time, she worried about the career consequences of focusing on a nonprofit; she was unsure how Accenture's executives would react to her proposal; and she was excited but nervous about the possibility of executing a strategy she herself had designed, if the partnership went through. How would a partnership affect each company? What would success look like for the potential partnership? What would success look like for Chan?