Corporate Communication

Corporate Communication
Tactical Guidelines for Strategic Practice
Michael B. Goodman and Peter B. Hirsch

Corporate Communication: Tactical Guidelines for Strategic Practice Copyright Michael B. Goodman and Peter B. Hirsch, 2012. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the authors. First published in 2012 by Business Expert Press, LLC 222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017 www.businessexpertpress.com ISBN-13: 978-160649-308-3 (paperback) ISBN-13: 978-160649-309-0 (e-book) DOI 10.4128/9781606493090 A publication in the Business Expert Press Corporate Communication collection Collection ISSN: 2156-8162 (print) Collection ISSN: 2156-8170 (electronic) Cover design by Jonathan Pennell Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India First edition: 2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America.

Abstract
The communication professional in a Fortune 500, multi-national corporation today faces the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy, a revolution in communication channels fueled by the Internet, and a substantially transformed understanding of what a 21st century corporation stands for. This book investigates these forces and the specific communication challenges that they pose for the global corporation. Examining these forces and how they are interrelated should offer insights and strategies for students of the corporate communication discipline and business leaders to help them deploy effective communication as a strategic business asset in the contemporary global economy. This book focuses on the process of communication in a corporate context; and explores, analyzes, integrates, and applies the theory, practice, and functions of corporate communication. The combination of a theoretical framework for understanding how these forces influence corporate communication with practical guidelines for effective communication within this framework will also be of value to practitioners as well as students of the communication discipline. Designed for the professional whose position requires the creation and management of an organizations communications, this book applies strategic approaches to tactical written and oral communication, and includes a particular emphasis on problem solving and analytical techniques appropriate to global corporate environments. Essential to effective communication in corporate and organizational environments is the ability to understand and apply the concepts of corporate communication as strategic management functions.

Keywords
Corporate communication, crisis communication, corporate citizenship, media relations, investor relations, reputation management, communication strategy, communication policy, corporate culture, employee engagement, social media, corporate blogging. external communication tools and techniques, communication metrics, communication measurement, corporate communication skill set

Contents
Introduction ..........................................................................................ix Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Corporate Communication: Adapting to Change .......................................................1 Corporate Communication and Contemporary Business Challenges................................7 Understanding the Business Environment, Linking with Its History...............................................13 Strategic and Tactical Models for Corporate Communication Practice: A Workshop Approach for Strategic Planning and Tactical Performance...............................35 Tools and Techniques for Internal Corporate Communication.............................53 Tools and Techniques for External Corporate Communication ............................81 Metrics: Measures that Determine the Success of Communication ........................................123 Research and Resources ..............................................133

Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

Notes..................................................................................................139 References ...........................................................................................141 Index .................................................................................................143

Introduction
This book puts into action the concepts that are articulated at length in Corporate Communication: Strategic Adaptation for Global Practice.1 Fundamental changes in the practice of corporate communication arise from the confluence of three forces: Globalizationa quantitative shift in the globalization of the world economy that has created a qualitative change in how businesses need to communicate; Web 2.0a transformation in the adoption, use, and consumption of information technology; Corporate Business ModelThe Networked Enterprisean evolution in the nature and purpose of the public corporation that is both influenced by, and at the same time, influences the other two forces at work. Communication professionals in small and multinational corporations face the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy, a revolution in media fueled by dramatic democratization of the Internet, and a substantially transformed concept of the 21st-century corporation. This book is designed to help communication professionals understand these forces and the specific challenges that they have thrown at businesses the world over. In examining these forces and how they are interwoven, we offer insights for business leaders who understand the enormous importance of effective communication in todays global economy. The conceptual framework for this book is intended to: Give corporate and organizational professionals around the world a way to triage evolving issues to help identify points of threat and opportunity, Provide them with insights into how the leading practices in corporate communication can help their organizations manage in this state of strategic adaptation.

INTRODUCTION

At the same time, we aim to provide concrete and specific recommendations for how to organize and execute effective communication for the contemporary practitioner working in the communication field. The combination of a theoretical framework for understanding how these forces influence corporate communication with practical guidelines for effective communication within this framework will also be valuable to students of the communication discipline. Effective corporate communication is essential to meeting the challenges of these contemporary issues. Corporate Communication: Tactical Guidelines for Strategic Practice offers eight areas for discussion. Chapter 1 describes the environment of contemporary business and its impact on the transformation in communication practice in small and multinational corporations. Chapter 2 explores the strategic goals of the corporate communication function in the contemporary corporation, as well as the skills individuals and their companies need to thrive in this environment of constant and rapid change. Chapter 3 outlines the three major forces that have transformed the discipline of corporate communication, and provides lessons for the future by connecting current practice with the history of communication in corporations. Chapter 4 offers a workshop for the exploration of strategic and tactical practice. Chapter 5 discusses internal communication tools and techniques, exploring seven major practices from strategy and policy to corporate culture, from employee engagement to social media and corporate blogging. Chapter 6 discusses external communication tools and techniques from crisis communication to corporate citizenship, from media and investor relations to reputation management. Chapter 7 offers a discussion of the measures commonly used to determine successful performance of corporate communication functions. And finally, Chapter 8 provides readings and links to Internet resources for continued professional development.

CHAPTER 1

Corporate Communication: Adapting to Change

Faced with the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy, a revolution in media fueled by dramatic democratization of the Internet, and a substantially transformed concept of the 21st-century corporation, communication professionals in small and multinational corporations have adapted their practices to meet these challenges. Exploring the environment of contemporary business and its impact on the transformation in communication practice in small and multinational corporations helps communication professionals understand these forces and the specific challenges that they have thrown at businesses the world over. Examining these forces and how they are interwoven offers insights for business leaders who understand the enormous importance of effective communication in todays global economy. At the same time, it is necessary to explore the strategic goals of the corporate communication function in the contemporary corporation, as well as the skills individuals and their companies need to thrive in this environment of constant and rapid change. Such an exploration can provide concrete and specific models for how to organize and execute effective communication for the contemporary practitioner working in the communication field. The combination of a theoretical framework for understanding how these forces influence corporate communication with practical guidelines for effective communication is also valuable to students of the communication discipline. The need for greater understanding of communication in business is a direct result of the confluence of three forces: Globalizationa quantitative shift in the globalization of the world economy that has created a qualitative change in how businesses need to communicate;

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Web 2.0a transformation in the adoption, use, and consumption of information technology; Corporate Business ModelThe Networked Enterprisean evolution in the nature and purpose of the public corporation that is both influenced by, and at the same time, influences the other two forces at work. Because corporations and organizations have been profoundly transformed, the power and authority of many key institutionsfrom global corporations, to the governmental and intra-governmental organizations that regulate themhave been eroded. Observers from a wide variety of perspectives question the efficacy of current regulatory frameworks to render the appropriate balance between the rights of the individual investor, a fair return to institutions funded by private capital that stimulate economic growth, and the protection of human and natural resources around the world. In this skeptical environment, the twin impacts of military conflict and economic turmoil have created international trade and regulatory disputes that drive the worlds economies apart in ways not seen, perhaps, since the world-wide Depression of the 1930s. This global anxiety will persist, resulting in a thousand shocks that inhibit normal operations permanently. In this volatile state, corporations and other leading organizations need to make fundamental changes and move toward a state of strategic adaptation. This means: Identifying and managing new global risks, rather than relying on passive compliance models for familiar and established risks Engaging in active dialog with all public stakeholders in a transparent way to influence rather than control information in order to demonstrate value and assure corporations an uninterrupted license to operate Constructing business operating models that can cope with sudden market, trade, and regulatory shifts to protect against threats and seize opportunities

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION: ADAPTING TO CHANGE

This state of strategic adaptation applies not only to corporations, but also to governmental and non-profit organizations. Organizations all over the world need to create the means of dealing pragmatically with this new reality and their leaders need to understand what shifts in the external environment produce new threats, as well as opportunities. This conceptual framework accomplishes two main goals: to give corporate and organizational professionals around the world a way to triage evolving issues to help identify points of threat and opportunity, to provide them with insights into how the leading practices in corporate communication can help their organizations manage in this state of strategic adaptation. Indeed, people and their organizations can shape the world substantially. Yet powerful, often subtle, forces have an enormity that must be clearly understood in order to use them productively, and not be overwhelmed by them. Corporate communicators, to be effective in this environment, need a useful way of describing what is different for businesses. They also need to explore, and communicate to their stakeholders, what individuals and organizations can do differently in the face of these changes. We offer a way to think about a constantly changing global environment that is intended to help understand and to act on the information constantly streaming at you. These three concepts should provide a path to this way of thinking: Change causes communication to be even more important than it has ever been The size and scale of global corporations, institutions, and the interconnected business environment present new challenges and opportunities The hyper-connected communication environment has created relationships, challenges, and opportunities that never existed before.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

The confluence of the forces of globalization, Web 2.0, and the corporate business modelthe networked enterprise has produced an environment in which past communication practices have become ineffective and outmoded, if not unintentionally destructive. A clear and comprehensive reinvention of the discipline is necessary to ensure that an organization can have relationships with its stakeholders, old and new, that will create loyal and enthusiastic consumers, shareholders, communities, and employees, while persuading NGOs and governmental actors that it has earned and deserves an unquestioned license to operate.

A Corporate Communication Vision for the Future

These three wordshow, authenticity, adaptationinform the vision of a sustainable, global practice of corporate communication. The book titled How by Dov Seidman, CEO of LRN appeared in 2007, with the subtitle, Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everythingin Business (and in Life).1 Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World is Flat2 and Hot, Flat, and Crowded,3 praised the book when it was published, as well as in his New York Times op-ed column Why How Matters.4 Seidman argues that in our hyperconnected and transparent world, how you do things matters more than ever, because so many more people can now see how you do things, be affected by how you do things and tell others how you do things on the Internet anytime, for no cost and without restraint. In a connected world, according to Seidman, countries, governments and companies also have character, and their characterhow they do what they do, how they keep promises, how they make decisions, how things really happen inside, how they connect and collaborate, how they engender trust, how they relate to their customers, to the environment and to the communities in which they operateis now their fate. The changes corporate communicators face can be overwhelming, or they can sharpen our focus and resolve. And the capability for adaptation is essential to survival. It is important to think long-term, as well as survive short-term. Consider the issues raised in these questions: What is corporate communication? What are the challenges that corporations face in the 21st century?

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION: ADAPTING TO CHANGE

What is the contemporary business environment? What drives value for contemporary businesses? What are the skills needed to meet these challenges? What are the strategic functional areas of corporate communication identified by the Corporate Communication International (CCI) studies? What are some successful behaviors that speak to how to engage with people inside and outside of your company to meet the sometimes overwhelming challenges of our time? The following chapters should help you begin to answer these questions, as well as help you to respond positively in this new environment of rapid change and uncertainty.

Index
A Adaptation, 4 complex and changing business environment, 1618 Affiliate Relations, 7678 Age of Betrayal: The Triumph of Money in America, 18651900, 19 American Management Association, 134 American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), 22 Association for Business Communication (ABC), 135 Auditors Report, 110 B Blogs, 78 Brookings Institution, 137 Business communication, 12 Business leadership, 9 C Chicago Sun Times, 32 Colorado Fuel and Iron (CFI), 22 Committee on Public Information (CPI), 2426 Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), 137138 Communication functions, 5455 Communication leadership, 5657 Community investing, 89 Compensation Discussion & Analysis (CD&A), 111 Contemporary business environment forces, 1415 strategic functional areas, 17 Contemporary corporate communication foundations, 20 historical precedents, 3334 Corporate blogs, 9496 Corporate business model, 2 Corporate Communication International (CCI), 16, 7677 Corporate communicator capabilities, 1011 skill sets, 10 Corporate culture artifacts, 61 assumptions, 62 beliefs and values, 6162 challenges, 59 corporate tribes, 6264 patterns of behavior, 61 sustainable, 6467 Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, 60 Corporate message, 111 Corporate reputation measurement, 127131 Corporate tribes, 6264 Crisis communication definition, 82 issues mapping and planning, 8284 mid-crisis response, 8586 onset level, 8485 recovery level, 8687 Criteria for Evaluating the Presentations, 5051 D Disclosure documents, 113114 E Economic disparity, 1314 Electronic media, 7879 Employee relations content and medium, 7072 feedback, 7273 integration, 6869 sequencing, 6970 Entrainment, 93 Executive relationship management (ERM), 6566, 105

144

INDEX

eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL), 114115 External corporate communication corporate citizenship and sustainability, 8790 crisis communication, 8287 investor relations, 106112 media relations, 9092 reputation management, 97100 social media and corporate blogging, 9297 thought leadership, 100105 transaction communication, 119122 transparency and disclosure, 112119 Externally networked organizations, 79 F Facilitator, 4042 Free media, 90 Fully networked enterprises, 79 G Geo-location services, 78 Global business environment, 1011 Globalization, 1 Global relations, 7376 Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), 136 H Hidden Persuaders, 28 House Committee on Financial Services, 138 I Industry sector environment, 10 Institutional Review Boards (IRB), 125126 Intangibles, 132 Internal corporate communication affiliate relations, 7678 corporate culture, 5767 electronic media, 7879 employee relations, 6873 global relations, 7376 strategy and policy, 5357

Internally networked organizations, 79 International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), 135 Internet, 131132 Investor relations and the Annual Report, 109112 definition, 106 plan, 106107 Sample Investor Fact Sheet, 107109 L LinkedIn, 97 M Management Discussion & Analysis (MD&A), 110 Market knowledge, 9 Mash-ups, 78 Material information, 112 McClures Magazine, 21 Methodological Approaches for Studying Organizational Cultures, 61 Metrics corporate reputation measurement, 127131 Internet and measurement, 131132 outcomes, 126 outgrowths, 127 outputs, 124125 outtakes, 125126 Microblogging, 78 Multimedia blogging, 78 N National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), 106, 138 Networked organizations, 79 O Outcomes measurement, 126 Outgrowths measurement, 127 Outputs measurement, 124125 Outtakes measurement, 125126 Owned media, 92 Oxford Metrica, 131132

INDEX

145

P Page principles, 7 Paid media, 92 Pew Research Center, 137 Podcasts, 78 Prediction markets, 78 Product knowledge, 9 Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), 135 R Railroads on Trial: How Railroads Make Public Opinion, 21 Rating tools, 78 Really Simple Syndication (RSS), 78 Reputation equity management (REM), 131 Reputation management, 10 campaigns, 99100 criteria, 99 defensive, 98 measurement systems, 100101 stakeholder audience, 98 S Sample Disclosure Policy, 115117 Sample Investor Fact Sheet, 107109 Shareowner advocacy, 8889 Silent Spring, 2829 Social and environmental screening, 88 Social networking, 78 Social venture capital, 89 Software tagging, 79 Stockholder information, 112 Strategic adaptation definition, 2 goals, 3 Strategic management function in authentic enterprise, 8 core competencies, 910 corporate communication, 89 Strategic planning accountability, 42 aligning the enterprise, 4142 elements, 36 gap analysis, 39 market opportunity, 3940 measurement, 42 message platform, 4041

sources, 3637 strategy summit, 37 workshop flow, 3739 Sustainable corporate culture affiliates, 65 communities, 67 employees, 6465 partners, 6667 thought leaders, 6566 T Tactical performance, 4350 Technical skills, 9 The Authentic Enterprise, 2007 Arthur W. Page Society report, 78 The Commission on Public Relations Education, 8 The Corporate Library, 137 The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), 138 The New York Times, 3031 The Power Elite, 28 The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 138 Thought leadership, 6566, 100105 Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., 21 Transaction communication, 66 definition, 119 guidelines, 120121 preparation, 119120 review process, 121122 Twitter, 96 U United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), 2223 United States Environmental Protection Agency, 29 V Value measurement, 131 W Web 2.0, 2, 7879 Wikis, 79 Y YouTube, 9697