Takes place in Chihuahua, one of Mexico's largest and most industrialized states, located in the northeastern region of the country. Despite its relative prosperity, the state faced severe social drawbacks, both in rural and urban areas. Following a natural disaster in 1990, members of the private sector community came together to ask the government to approve an increase in the payroll tax (ISN) that companies paid, as well as the creation of a trust fund that would collect those resources and allocate them to city reconstruction efforts. Over the years, this initiative created by local businessmen to provide an emergency relief for a natural disaster developed into Fundacion del Empresariado Chihuahuense (FECHAC), a civil society organization (CSO) in charge of managing trust fund resources.
In the early 1990s, the Mexican Grupo Bimbo was a leader in the world food industry, operating in 16 countries. In November 1993, Papalote Children's Museum (Papalote Museo del Nino) was created in Mexico City. This civil society organization intended to contribute to children's intellectual and emotional development through interactive and educational games and experiments. Shortly after its creation, the museum entered into a collaborative agreement with Bimbo, and the company agreed to sponsor several exhibitions in exchange for brand exposure on museum premises. Eventually, both parties jointly developed new activities such as the Public School Sponsoring Program, which covered the expenses for low-income children's visits to Papalote Children's Museum. Through sponsorships, the company contributed to several museum programs, such as the "Mobile Papalote"--a traveling version of the museum touring other regions in the country.
Mexico City's Junior League, the Mexican chapter of Junior League International, was a civil society organization founded to promote volunteer work, women's potential, and community enhancement. Tetra Pak was the world's leader in multilayer packaging production. In the mid-1990s, parts of urban waste, such as multilayer packaging containers, were not recycled in Mexico. Every month, Mexico City alone disposed of 35 million containers of this kind, which took 35 years to disintegrate. In 1995, both organizations entered into a partnership to recycle these containers. They jointly launched a program called "Recyclable by Nature" and invited all parties benefiting from multilayer packaging to join, thus sharing the responsibility for their final disposal. The program included manufacturers, marketers, consumers, and even the local administration.
HEB, a family-owned Texan retailer, is the 12th largest supermarket chain in the United States. In expanding its operations into Mexico in 1997, the company transferred not only its products and services but also its social strategy of working with food banks. The Monterrey Food Bank (Banco de Alimentos de Monterrey), one of Caritas's social service programs, began in 1989 with the purpose of providing nutritional assistance to needy families regardless of religious affiliation. The collaboration of HEB with the Monterrey Food Bank enabled this operation to move from basic to world-class level in terms of new storage and handling facilities and administrative systems. The partners perceived significant benefits for each other and the community. Strong leadership and interpersonal relationships contributed to the development of a considerable mutual trust that has fostered a vigorous and growing partnership.