In our experience, the traditional company/academic membership model (which is usually little more than a discount for bulk membership), is not especially effective in securing long term, durable relationships and income streams from the company/academic entity and its employee members.
The nature of the affiliation means that the company/academic organisation tends to view it essentially as a route to discounts, whilst the member's perspective is that their "membership" is actually part of their employment package and not personal, or indeed migratable.
The key factors driving the company/academic partnerships that we routinely help our clients to develop are:
The company/academic organisation sees the partnership with the membership body as delivering value in it’s own right (and is prepared to pay for that).
The company/academic partner sees real and measurable benefit as a consequence of its employees becoming members (discounted membership is a facilitator, not the reason).
The member feels a sense of belonging, sees their membership as personal to them, of value to them, and something that they will maintain beyond their tenure with that particular employer.