"Dow Corning is among a growing number of large corporations—including PepsiCo Inc., FedEx Corp., Intel Corp. and Pfizer Inc.—that are sending small teams of employees to developing countries such as India, Ghana, Brazil and Nigeria to provide free consulting services to nonprofits and other organizations. A major goal: to scope out business opportunities in hot emerging markets," the report read.

Shortly after the Dow Corning employees returned from their month-long stint in Ujire, India, Kathryn Messner, who worked with the Selco group installing solar panels
at homes with no electricity, said the experience helped open her up to
a new way of thinking.

“Just being there helped us to identify insights for future developments
at Dow Corning,” Messner said. “We started looking at their unmet
needs, some of which Dow Corning already had a solution for or a
solution we knew the company could find.”

The Wall Street Journal report said about 27 Fortune 500 companies currently operate programs like the one at Dow Corning, up from 21 in April and six in 2006, according to a survey by CDC Development Solutions, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that designs and manages these programs.

"At a cost of $5,000 to over $20,000 per employee, the programs require a significant investment," the report read.