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Samenvatting Corporate Communication, ISBN: 9781526491978 Public Relations & Reputation Management (PRM)
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Public relationship managementCornelissen – Ch. 1
An important factor in the corporate world is how the company is viewed by stakeholders. This has
been amplified by globalization, corporate crises, and the financial crisis. The aim of corporate
communication is to build, maintain, and protect the company’s reputation. In the 70s “relationship
management” became public because of the increase in stakeholder variations (e.g., normal civilians
with stock shares). This form of communication focuses on the organization as a whole and how it is
presented to stockholders, both on internal and external matters.
The given definition for corporate communication by the book is as followed: “Corporate
communication is a management function that offers a framework for the effective coordination of
all internal and external communication with the overall purpose of establishing and maintaining
favourable reputations with stakeholder groups upon which the organization is depended.”
Note that corporate communication tends to be complex in nature due to the widespread
products/services it entails. It will therefore need an integrated approach, meaning, it needs to
harness the strategic interests of the organization at large.
As an introduction to the book and guideline for the course, look at the descriptions of the following
terms:
Mission: “Overriding purpose in line with the values and expectations of stakeholders.”
Vision: “Desired future state: the aspiration of the organization.”
Corporate objectives: “Statement of overall aims in line with the overall purpose.”
Strategy: “The ways or means in which the corporate objectives are to be achieved and put
into effect.”
Corporate identity: “The profile and values communicated by an organization.”
Corporate image: “The immediate set of associations of an individual in response to one or
more signals or messages from or about a particular organization at a single point in time.”
Corporate reputation: “An individual’s collective representation of past images of an
organization (induced through either communication or past experiences) established over
time.”
Stakeholder: “Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of
the organization’s objectives.”
Market: “A defined group for whom a product is or may be in demand (and for whom an
organization creates and maintains products and services.”
Communication: “The tactics and media that are used to communicate with internal and
external groups.”
Integration: “The act of coordinating all communication so that the corporate identity is
effectively and consistently communicated to internal and external groups.”
Business and management communication are more technical and applied and their focus is largely
restricted to interpersonal communication such as dyads and small groups within the organization.
In the 80s the communication branch was split within organizations. You had different departments
for media relations, sales promotion, etc. However, this fragmentation was not optimal at all levels
they soon came to realize. Namely, the sub-departments would perform adequately or above
adequately but the corporate communication was incoherent as a whole. In the 90s this type of
communication became “strategic” and in the 00s the “corporate identity”, “corporate reputation”,
and “corporate branding” were born. Rather than a flat, ‘conduit’ model, communication became a
joint activity. Interacting with the company and the stakeholders simultaneously. New forms of
,communication have gifted stakeholders more platforms to (directly) voice their opinion. This works
both ways, as companies now have more ways to “engage” their audience.
Lecture 1
Public relations is not just managing corporate/commercial companies, you to can manage your
public relations. For example, your Instagram could be seen as a way of how you manage your
relationships. It negotiates points of views & bridging interest to develop relationships and create
mutual understanding. Future communication is then based on existing relations.
When the two sides don’t have mutual understanding, the time to change/improve the reputation is
wasted. Reputation looks at the overall assessment by the stakeholders, its emotional reaction
towards this, and this can be applied on multiple dimensions.
Both the mutual understanding and the reputation can be found in the definition of corporate
communication. This is all (both internal and external) communication involving the company.
The origin of public relations is connected to political propaganda. During the industrial revolution
one saw the first signs of corporate communication, after all, you can't manage a product that does
not exist. Edward Bernays is considered to be the founding father of public relations. He started the
first firm and proved that the send message has a psychological effect on people. Also, he introduced
‘focus groups’ that are still used nowadays.
In the 1980s PR was transitioned into the core activities of a company due to the restructuring trend
(looking at all department critically to assess if they were still needed). Companies realised that
professionals should handle the communication with stakeholders and that they should get their
own department.
In the 1990s PR turned into the question “How can we use PR to look better than our competitors?”.
Thus, there was a focus on branding. PR became strategic, thinking products can be pushed on
people.
In the 2000s the focus turned to stakeholders due to the realization who the stakeholders are
exactly. It was an intermediate time due to the traces of strategic PR. However, companies got the
ability to bind their stakeholders so much to the brand that they didn’t need to “sell” anything.
Around this time social responsibility became important.
Nowadays, it is complex and diverse due to technological changes. It is not just about commercial
cooperation anymore, political parties, charities, and internal PR are now in need of PR as well. Also,
due to the diversification of technology, different platforms will need different approaches.
Cornelissen – Ch. 4
This chapter will discuss how stakeholder management came to be and how certain communication
strategies can be applied. The origin of stakeholder management lies in the transition from a neo-
classical economic environment to a socio-economic environment. The neo-classical perspective was
one where it was believed that the purpose of a business was to make profit, its accountability
towards its shareholders revolved around this profit. The socio-economic perspective believes that
corporations also have an accountability towards other people in this world besides the
shareholders.
,The difference between these two streams of thought can be found in the two figures below:
There is a difference between these models when it comes to prioritizing; the socio-economic model
doesn’t prioritize one actor above another while the neo-classical one does. The socio-economic
model doesn’t believe that the cooperation is immune to external factors such as the government.
Rather, it believes in interdependency. As a result, the socio-economic model is more complex and
dynamic.
Another important difference is that the strategic management model believes that an organization
should be seen as ‘legitimate’ by both the market and the non-market stakeholders. It therefor
interacts with stakeholders for instrumental reasons rather than for normative reasons. The profit
from the strategic management model might be higher but the societies’ engagement is lower.
However, the stakeholder model isn’t as innocent as it might seem as companies often start with the
right intentions but end up choosing profit over “doing good”.
The standard definition for a stakeholder is as followed: “Any group or individual who can affect or is
affected by the achievement of the organization’s purpose and objectives.” The “stake” part in this
word can be defined as: “An interest or a share in undertaking that can range from simply an interest
in to an undertaking at one extreme to a legal claim of ownership at another extreme.” Different
groups have different needs from the company. Shareholders would pressure for profit whereas
interest groups could pressure for more corporate sustainability for example.
Freeman considered three types of stakes: equity stakes, economic/market stakes, and influencer
stakes. Equity stakes are the stakes that are held by those who have a direct ‘ownership’ of the
company (directors, shareholders). The economic stakes are those who have an economic interest in
the company but who don’t have an ownership interest (employees, suppliers, competitors).
Influencer stakes are those who neither have an economic interest nor an ownership interest but do
have a consumer/environmental interest.
Clarkson believed in primary and secondary group stakeholders. The primary group was the group
that were financially needed for the company to survive. The secondary group was the group that
affected or was affected by the company. They have a normative interest in the company. Charkham
divided the stakeholders into group by looking at the (in)formal agreement between the company
and the stakeholder. Contractual stakeholders were those bound to the company by a contract of
sorts (customers, employees) while community stakeholders were those who are bound to the
company by non-contractual and more diffuse reasons (media, government).
When it comes to stakeholder communication it is important to give enough and the right
information to the right stakeholders. Some basic questions to help guide this are:
Who are the organization’s stakeholders?
What are their stakes?
What opportunities and challenges are presented in the organization in relation to these
stakeholders?
What responsibilities (economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic) does the organization
have to all its stakeholders?
, In what way can the organization best communicate with and respond to these stakeholders
and address these stakeholder challenges and opportunities?
There are two ways of mapping the stakeholders and their influence on the company: the
stakeholder salience model and the power-interest matrix model. First, the stakeholder salience
model, here, the stakeholders are classified by their salience to the company. How visible or
prominent is the stakeholder based on one or more of the following three attributes: power,
legitimacy, and urgency. The more salient the stakeholder is, the more the company should
communicate with it. The first step is to categorize the stakeholders based on the three attributes.
This will result in seven types of stakeholders:
1. Dormant stakeholders – power
These stakeholders have the power to put their will down purely based on the power they
have. For example, those with a lot of money or those who can easily attract the attention of
the media. They also have the potential to attract one or both of the other attributes.
2. Discretionary stakeholders – legitimate
They have interactions with the company that are not power based nor urgent. Recipients of
corporate charities for example.
3. Demanding stakeholders – urgent
This group can be irritating; they don’t have power nor legitimate stakes. They can bring
shame to the company. An example could be the lone protestor in front of a building.
4. Dominant stakeholders – power and legitimate
They have a strong influence on the company because they interact with it often. An
example are the customers and employees. They have power because they can withhold
their money or labour for example
5. Dangerous stakeholders – power and urgency
They have power and urgency which makes them dangerous. In extreme cases they will turn
to violence in order to get the feeling that they are heard. An example is therefore terrorism.
6. Dependent stakeholders – legitimate and urgency
This group miss power, if they want to accomplish something they need to rely on the power
of someone else. An example of this group are the local residents around the company who
rely on lobbyist to get anything done.
7. Definitive stakeholders – power, urgency, and legitimate
This group has it all and is therefore important to communicate with often.
A figurative example of this model is shown below:
Based on the classification of this model, companies can decide who they need to communicate with
at what time.
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