cover
DEFINING
CORPORATE
COMMUNICATION
1
Chapter Overview
This introductory chapter provides a definition of corporate communication and lays out the themes for the remainder of the book. The chapter starts with a brief discussion of the importance of corporate communication followed by an introduction to key concepts such as corporate identity, corporate image and stakeholders.
INTRODUCTION
There is a widespread belief in the management world that in today’s society the future of any company critically depends on how it is viewed by key stakeholders, such as shareholders and investors, customers and consumers, employees, and members of the community in which the company operates. Globalization, corporate crises and the recent financial crisis have further strengthened this belief. CEOs and senior executives of many large organizations and multinationals nowadays consider protecting their company’s reputation to be ‘critical’ and view it as one of their most important strategic objectives.1 This objective of building, maintaining and protecting the company’s reputation is actually the core task of corporate communication practitioners. However, despite the importance attributed to a company’s reputation, the role and contribution of corporate communication is, in many companies, still far from being fully understood. In such companies, communication practitioners feel undervalued, their strategic input into decision-making is compromised and senior managers and CEOs feel powerless because they simply do not understand the events that are taking place in the
1.1
01-Cornelissen_3E_4175-Ch-01-Part-I.indd 3
24/11/2010 6:23:04 PM
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
4
company’s environment and how these events can affect the company’s operations and profits. There is therefore a lot to gain when communication practitioners and senior managers are able to recognize and diagnose communication-related management problems and understand
CORPORATE
COMMUNICATION
1
Chapter Overview
This introductory chapter provides a definition of corporate communication and lays out the themes for the remainder of the book. The chapter starts with a brief discussion of the importance of corporate communication followed by an introduction to key concepts such as corporate identity, corporate image and stakeholders.
INTRODUCTION
There is a widespread belief in the management world that in today’s society the future of any company critically depends on how it is viewed by key stakeholders, such as shareholders and investors, customers and consumers, employees, and members of the community in which the company operates. Globalization, corporate crises and the recent financial crisis have further strengthened this belief. CEOs and senior executives of many large organizations and multinationals nowadays consider protecting their company’s reputation to be ‘critical’ and view it as one of their most important strategic objectives.1 This objective of building, maintaining and protecting the company’s reputation is actually the core task of corporate communication practitioners. However, despite the importance attributed to a company’s reputation, the role and contribution of corporate communication is, in many companies, still far from being fully understood. In such companies, communication practitioners feel undervalued, their strategic input into decision-making is compromised and senior managers and CEOs feel powerless because they simply do not understand the events that are taking place in the
1.1
01-Cornelissen_3E_4175-Ch-01-Part-I.indd 3
24/11/2010 6:23:04 PM
CORPORATE COMMUNICATION
4
company’s environment and how these events can affect the company’s operations and profits. There is therefore a lot to gain when communication practitioners and senior managers are able to recognize and diagnose communication-related management problems and understand