Moore Business Spring 2005
Sonoco's gift of $3 million names international business department
Onward and Upward
On Oct. 12, 2004, Harris E. DeLoach, Jr., President and CEO of Sonoco, announced an historic gift of $3 million from the company to name the Sonoco International Business Department of the Moore School of Business.
A $3 million gift from Sonoco to name the international business department of the Moore School represents the largest single corporate cash gift ever given to the University to establish an endowed fund. The gift also marks a major milestone in the school’s capital campaign to improve its facilities and enhance its programs.
Dean Joel A. Smith III called the gift a “dramatic demonstration of the faith placed in the future success of the Moore School of Business and the University of South Carolina.” The Sonoco gift is the first such donation designated to name a department in a proposed new graduate studies building, plans for which are under way. Major work on the new Moore School facility should begin in fall 2006.
Sonoco is a leading international manufacturer of packaging products with operations on five continents and in 38 countries. The company began in South Carolina as Southern Novelty Company 105 years ago and is still headquartered in Hartsville, South Carolina. The company has supported the USC business school for decades. Charles W. Coker, Sr., grandson of the company founder and then-president of Sonoco, served as a trustee of the USC-Business Partnership Foundation from 1970-1975, and Sonoco established a graduate fellowship in his name in 1976. A $1 million gift from the company in 1999 established the Sonoco Distinguished Visiting Professorship in International Business.
The company has enjoyed a “mutually beneficial” relationship with the Moore School over the years, says Sonoco President and CEO Harris E. DeLoach, Jr. “Sonoco has relied on the international business department’s expertise and knowledge for a long time. The global operating strategies that the talented faculty has helped us develop and implement have been critical to Sonoco’s ability to successfully conduct business across national boundaries and diverse cultures.”
Moore School students have held internships with Sonoco and experienced a “real-world lab,” says DeLoach, as they have engaged with Sonoco management and Moore School faculty to develop business solutions for the company. And, graduates have found jobs with Sonoco. “Go to any geographical area of the world,” says DeLoach, “and you will find someone [with Sonoco] who’s been to the Moore School.”
DeLoach himself is a 1966 graduate of the school with a degree in business administration, and he earned his J.D. degree from the USC School of Law in 1969. He received a Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1998. He has served on the USC-Business Partnership Foundation Board since 1999 and is the current chairman.
Why this gift at this time? “Sonoco has long held a philosophy of giving back to communities, and I would say over the last number of years, education has been the biggest beneficiary of our philanthropy,” DeLoach says. “We are a South Carolina company, we are headquartered here… and we think we need to take a leadership role.
“It’s a win-win; we are investing in the future generations of businesspeople coming out [of this school] to help perpetuate Sonoco and keep it competitive going forward. Clearly this world today is much more global than when I started my business career at Sonoco 20 years ago, and what happens in Asia one morning generally affects us in the United States the next afternoon. We have new competitors every day. And the time to market is quicker. Just the speed with which things happen today is incredible compared to some years ago, and knowing how to compete in this global environment is absolutely critical.
“So to be competitive in this global environment means that you’ve got to have the best people, and I think this [the international business] program really does educate and graduate some very bright and talented people, and we continue to do everything to perpetuate that.”
—Gail Crouch