A Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public Relations

A comprehensive addition to existing literature, the Handbook of Corporate Communication and

Public Relations provides an excellent overview of corporate communication, clearly positioning

the field’s most current debates. Synthesizing both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary

approaches, it offers readers the in-depth analysis required to truly understand corporate com￾munication, corporate strategy and corporate affairs as well as the relevant public relations

issues. Written by academics based in Europe, Asia and North America, the text is well illus￾trated with contemporary case studies, drawing out the most pertinent best practice outcomes

and theoretically based applications.

Its four parts cover national communication; international communication; image, identity

and reputation management; and the future for corporate communication theory and practice.

With a refreshing new approach to this subject, the authors challenge reductionist views of

corporate communication, providing persuasive evidence for the idea that without an organ￾izational communication strategy, there is no corporate strategy.

The Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public Relations is an essential one-stop refer￾ence for all academics, practitioners and students seeking to understand organizational

communication management and strategic public relations.

Sandra M. Oliver is a corporate communication academic at Thames Valley University,

London, where she founded and also directs the MSc Corporate Communication Programme.

A consultant research practitioner and former industrial PR, she is founding Editor-in-Chief of

Corporate Communication: An International Journal and has written extensively, including Public

Relations Strategy (2001) and Corporate Communication: Principles, Techniques and Strategies

(1997).

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HANDBOOK OF

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

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HANDBOOK OF

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

AND PUBLIC RELATIONS

PURE AND APPLIED

Edited by

Sandra M. Oliver

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

First published 2004

by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada

by Routledge

29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor and Francis Group

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted

or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,

mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter

invented, including photocopying and recording, or in

any information storage or retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from

the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0–415–33419–5

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.

ISBN 0-203-41495-0 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-68057-X (Adobe eReader Format)

(Print Edition)

“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s

collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

List of figures

List of tables

Notes on contributors

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgements

PART I: CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AT NATIONAL LEVEL

1 Diversity programmes in the contemporary corporate environment

Don R. Swanson

2 A best-practice approach to designing a change communication programme

Deborah J. Barrett

3 Knowledge management for best practice

Stephen A. Roberts

4 Corporate and government communication: relationships, opportunities

and tensions

Kevin Moloney

5 Priorities old and new for UK PR practice

Gerald Chan

6 Communication similarities and differences in listed and unlisted

family enterprises

Liam Ó Móráin

7 Strategic challenges for corporate communicators in public service

J. Paulo Kuteev-Moreira and Gregor J. Eglin

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Contents

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

PART II: CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AT INTERNATIONAL LEVEL

8 Communication audits: building world class communication systems

Dennis Tourish and Owen Hargie

9 The Olympic Games: a framework for international public relations

Yvonne Harahousou, Chris Kabitsis, Anna Haviara and Nicholas D. Theodorakis

10 Facets of the global corporate brand

T. C. Melewar and Chris D. McCann

11 Differing corporate communication practice in successful and unsuccessful

companies

Colin Coulson-Thomas

12 Communicating with 1.3 billion people in China

Ying Fan and Wen-Ling Liu

13 Today’s corporate communication function

Michael B. Goodman

14 Assessing integrated corporate communication

David Pickton

15 New technology and the changing face of corporate communication

Martin Sims

PART III: MANAGING IMAGE, IDENTITY AND REPUTATION

16 Reputation and leadership in a public broadcast company

Sandra M. Oliver and Anthony Clive Allen

17 Corporate reputation

Philip Kitchen

18 Communicating a continuity plan: the action stations framework

Sandra M. Oliver

19 Crisis management in the internet mediated era

David Phillips

20 The impact of terrorist attacks on corporate public relations

Donald K. Wright

21 Public relations and democracy: historical reflections and implications

for practice

Jacquie L’Etang

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

PART IV: THE FUTURE IS NOW

22 Visualizing the message: why semiotics is a way forward

Reginald Watts

23 Methodological issues for corporate communication research

Richard J. Varey

24 Communication for creative thinking in a corporate context

Glenda Jacobs

25 Language as a corporate asset

Krishna S. Dhir

26 Arrival of the global village

Michael Morley

27 Ethics and the corporate communicator

Albert S. Atkinson

28 The new frontier for public relations

Richard R. Dolphin

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2.1 Strategic employee communication model

2.2 Three-phased communication strategy plan

2.3 Sample SCT structure

2.4 Scorecard of current employee communication

6.1 Munter communication theory

6.2 Assessment framework

6.3 Ideal structure for CorpCom function model

6.4 Organizational chart of a hypothetical company

7.1 Internal audiences

7.2 A stakeholder environment

10.1 Facets of the global corporate brand

14.1 The wheel of integrated marketing

14.2 Continuum of integrated corporate communication

14.3 Integrated corporate communication assessment profile

14.4 Completed integrated corporate communication assessment profile

15.1 Tomita’s media gap

15.2 The changing face of Coca-Cola

18.1 Monitoring the trust factor

18.2 Information costs and choices

18.3 Likely causes of crises

18.4 A crisis impact model

18.5 Elements of a business continuity plan

18.6 The action stations framework: a co-dependency model

18.7 First Interstate: normal organization

18.8 First Interstate: emergency organization

18.9 Scotiabank’s incident response

18.10 Scotiabank’s approach to emergency management

18.11 Scenario: phases 1 and 2

18.12 Scenario: phases 3 and 4

18.13 Scenario: phase 5

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Figures

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

19.1 Information flows in an organization

19.2 The flow of information to the outside world

19.3 Cisco

19.4 Microsoft

19.5 Tesco

19.6 McDonald’s

19.7 Crisis management plan

22.1 Toyota

26.1 Trust in institutions, 2003

26.2 Brand evaluator: Europe, 2003

26.3 Brand evaluator: United States, 2003

26.4 Strategic decision making

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

2.1 Strategic objectives

5.1 Which are the topics most important and relevant to PR research today?

5.2 Which subjects from the old study should still be included in the new set

of research priorities?

5.3 Which topics from the new list do you consider to be most important?

7.1 Categories of press reports

9.1 Los Angeles 1984

9.2 Seoul 1988

9.3 Barcelona 1992

9.4 Atlanta 1996

9.5 Sydney 2000

12.1 Advertising industry turnover and growth

12.2 Advertising expenditure by product category, 2001

12.3 Advertising expenditure by medium, 1997

12.4 Factors influencing the new name

12.5 Names with potentially negative connotations

12.6 Which is your most used marketing medium?

12.7 What kinds of events would you consider sponsoring or hosting?

12.8 What events have you sponsored in the past three years?

12.9 How did you build an association or link between the sponsored event

and your brand/company?

12.10 How did you integrate the event sponsorship into your marketing mix

or campaign?

12.11 What difficulties have you experienced in reaching the objectives?

12.12 Does event sponsorship offer you an advantage in the following factors

compared to traditional advertising?

12.13 What is your future strategy for event sponsorship?

12.14 What role does event sponsorship play in your integrated marketing mix?

12.15 Comments on the future development of event marketing in China

12.16 Advertisement by branded product information

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Tables

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

13.1 Corporate communication functions

13.2 Meeting the press: some guidelines

15.1 Top 25 US web properties by parent company

15.2 Top 10 UK web properties

17.1 The best corporate reputations in the United States

17.2 Primary industry

17.3 Revenue

17.4 Corporate reputation

18.1 Operational functions of banks

18.2 Differences between routine emergencies and disasters

18.3 International terrorism incidents, 1968–79

18.4 Nine steps to managing BCP performance

18.5 Communication channels

20.1 Responses of senior-level, US PR and corporate communication professionals

to the question: ‘Do you agree the events of September 11, 2001,

changed how your company communicates?’

20.2 Responses of senior-level, US PR and corporate communication professionals

to the question: ‘Do you agree the events of September 11, 2001, have had

any impact on your organization’s public relations and communications

function?’

20.3 Comparing mean scores between responses from October 2001 and

March 2002

20.4 Responses of senior-level, US PR and corporate communication professionals

to additional questions in March 2002

25.1 Functionality offered by language

25.2 Functionality analysis

26.1 The world’s largest PR firms

26.2 Industry sector: healthcare 2001 revenues

26.3 Industry sector: technology 2001 revenues

27.1 Ethics by profession

27.2 Business ethics courses

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

Anthony Clive Allen is attached to the Corporate Communication Directorate at the Royal Air

Force in London, UK.

Albert Atkinson is an active consultant researcher and involved in the affairs of the Library

Board of Trustees and Chamber of Commerce, UK.

Deborah J. Barrett PhD lectures at Jones Graduate School of Management, Rice University,

Texas, USA and directs the MBA communication programme.

Gerald Chan is Public Affairs and Education Officer at the Institute of Public Relations, London,

UK and studying for a master’s degree in public relations.

Colin Coulson-Thomas PhD is author of Transforming the Company (2002, 2nd edn), thirty

other books and reports, and is Chairman of ASK Europe plc.

Krishna S. Dhir PhD is Dean of the Campbell School of Business at Berry College, Georgia, USA;

formerly of CIBA-GEIGY AG in Switzerland and Borg-Warner, USA.

Richard Dolphin lectures at the Northampton Business School, UK and is author of

Fundamentals of Corporate Communication (2000).

Gregor Eglin PhD lectures in strategic management at University of East London, UK with a

particular research interest in public service communication.

Ying Fan PhD lectures and researches at Lincoln School of Management, UK.

Michael Goodman PhD lectures at Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA and is founding direc￾tor of the Corporate Communication Institute at FDU.

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Contributors

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

Yvonne Harahousou, Chris Kabitsis, Anna Haviara and Nicholas D. Theodorakis are

academics based at the University of Thrace, Greece, involved with the Organizing Committee

for the Olympic Games 2004.

Owen Hargie PhD lectures at the School of Communication, University of Ulster, Ireland and is

co-author of Skilled Interpersonal Communication: Research, Theory and Practice (2004).

Glenda Jacobs is a Research Fellow at UNITEC, Auckland, New Zealand, where she also leads

computer-mediated communication courses.

Philip Kitchen PhD holds a professorial research chair and lectures at the University of Hull,

UK.

Paulo Kuteev-Moreira PhD is Director of Communication for a privately managed public

hospital in Portugal and a researcher for a WHO-Europe-affiliated Observatory in Health

Studies.

Jacquie L’Etang PhD lectures and researches at the University of Stirling, Scotland and is an

examiner for the Institute of Public Relations Membership Diploma examinations.

Wen-Ling Liu PhD lectures at Hull University, UK on integrated marketing communication.

Chris McCann is Business Consultant for an energy company in Stockholm, Sweden.

Tengku Melewar PhD lectures at the University of Warwick Business School, UK.

Kevin Moloney PhD lectures at Bournemouth University, UK and is a research specialist in

government communication and pressure groups.

Michael Morley is Special Counsel for Edelman Public Relations, New York, USA and author of

How to Manage Your Reputation (1998).

Sandra M. Oliver PhD, General Editor, is founding Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Communication:

An International Journal; author of Public Relations Strategy (2001) and Corporate Communication:

Principles, Techniques and Strategies (1997); and founding director of the international MSc in

Corporate Communication programme at Thames Valley University, London, UK.

Liam Ó Móráin MSc is founder chairman of Moran Communication, Ireland with eighteen

years consultancy experience of communication and PR management.

David Phillips chaired the UK PR industry Joint Internet Commission and is author of numer￾ous papers including ‘Online Public Relations’ and ‘Managing Reputation in Cyberspace’.

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors

David Pickton lectures and researches at De Montfort University, UK and is co-author of

Integrated Marketing Communication (2001).

Stephen A. Roberts PhD lectures at Thames Valley University, London, UK and directs the MSc

Information Management Programme.

Martin Sims lectures at St Mary’s College, London, UK and is a former BBC journalist who edits

Intermedia, the journal of the International Institute of Communication.

Don Swanson PhD is Chair of the Communication Department at Monmouth University, USA

and former President of the New Jersey Communication Association.

Dennis Tourish PhD is Professor of Communication at Aberdeen Business School, Scotland with

over 50 publications in communication management.

Richard Varey PhD is a Marketing Professor at the Waikato Management School, New Zealand,

who currently researches in managed communication for sustainable business.

Reginald Watts PhD is a consultant and author of four books; formerly CEO of Burson

Marstellar and President of the Institute of Public Relations, London, UK.

Donald Wright PhD is President of the International Public Relations Association and an

academic at the University of South Alabama, USA.

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Excellent corporate communication lies at the

heart of industry, commerce and govern￾ments’ abilities to build a democratic society,

but this critical strategic role in organizational

theory and practice rarely receives the due

commitment required for quality assurance in

organization life today.

A previous handbook published in 19971

assembled the cutting edge views and experi￾ences of leading practitioners of the day with

some solid opinion pieces that have been

helpful to a wide range of audiences and

readers including public relations practition￾ers, opinion formers, media managers, adver￾tising executives and others. It was a source of

information and advice on a vast array of

topics brought together to represent the inter￾disciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of

corporate communication as a core business

discipline for senior executives in large multi￾national companies, small-to-medium size

enterprises (SMEs) and not-for-profit organ￾izations alike.

Now in what philosophers like to call the

post-modern era, we see more clearly how

the new information technologies have

restructured the whole industry sector. Its

impact leads us to challenge what John Milton

calls ‘conventional economic thinking,

redefining how business is done and impact￾ing to varying degrees every worker in the

global market place . . . in a combination of

interconnected phenomena embracing inter

alia, globalization, the transformative impact

of technology on organizational life (indeed

on the very nature of organizations), success￾ful e-business models and the changing nature

of working life’. The new economy, he argues,

is ‘far too recent a phenomenon for any con￾sensus to have emerged yet about what con￾stitutes best practice’ but for corporate

communicators and public relations consult￾ants and practitioners worldwide, there is a

belief that there is a set of best practices and

that adopting them leads to superior organ￾izational performance and competitiveness.

The concept of good practice has to be

addressed in accordance with contingency

theory. No single best practice is universally

applicable to all organizations because of dif￾ferences in strategy, culture, management

style, technology and markets. The challenge

for operators is the inconsistency between the

belief in best practice and the notion of corp￾orate communication as an intangible asset

limiting resource. It is crucial to match corpor￾ate strategy with corporate communication

policy and practice, but given that corporate

communication is as the Institute of Public

Relations states the ears, eyes and voice of the

organization, the in-house practitioner has

a special responsibility for the overview of the

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Foreword

© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;

individual chapters, the contributors