Corporate communication in the 21st century
The product that each corporation provides to the customer can be differentiated on the guidelines of innovation, price, distribution and so on.The real differentiates will be the service that the corporate provides and it is this area that has to be communicated well by the corporate.There has to be a corporate communication tactics that will be giving a differentiation image to the corporate.
This paper will focus on discussing several factors that will eventually contribute to the successes of corporate communication in terms of local and international business.(e.g., Internal and employee communication, Investor Media relations, language and training, International communication Public Diplomacy, Trust and integrity, etc.).This paper will be also highlighting the following points 1) Understanding cultural differences.2) Understanding the art of communicating and basic human nature. 3) Utilizing new communication trends (i.e. social media platforms).
Understanding the culture differences
The culture of the organization could determine the success of the organization.Communication among human beings can be termed successful if the message has been well understood by the receiver.Other wise we can safely conclude that the speaker has failed to convey the message clearly.Globalization and cross mergers has resulted in a situation in which there is more importance to cross-cultural communication.Multi-cultural projects has become the norm and there has to be change in the ways people will behave and think.The most common barriers that will be happening inside the company will be the language barriers, time difference, difference in economic conditions, difference in religious sentiments.
When doing business with American companies time has been considered as the most important factor.The other main important factors are how Americans will be giving importance to the individual assignments and for example the Americans will be giving importance to resume.Arab culture cannot be considered as a bad when they give importance to a relative over an individual.
There is nothing wrong in Arab culture to ask personal questions directly.That means there is nothing wrong from the point of boss to ask how many children you have and so on.In Western culture personal family questions will be considered rude. Giving a handshake to women is not considered rude in Western culture but this will be considered as a rude in Eastern culture.
The symbol for victory in America is the V symbol using hand and this when done in Australia would mean sexual meaning.Arab culture will be encouraging women to work in Purdah while in Western culture, there is no problem in wearing shirt and skirts.
There has been change in the relative authority with countries like Israel encouraging a consensus mode when it comes to decision making.Counties like France has been encouraging an authority model of decision making.
The developing countries may be giving more importance to the salaries while business companies in America will be encouraging more challenging works.In Japanese culture ,it will be considered rude to say good thing about individuals role in performance while ignoring other team members performance.In American culture ,it will be considered as a stimulus for other team members to perform to their potential.
There has been a religious difference in how they see the things.For example.in the areas of North America peoples will be more interested in improving the technology that has been used rather than blaming the circumstances.In Asian region it can be more of circumstances that will blamed like trying to build a road through mountainous area.
There has been different brand images that has been highlighted like the American culture that has been considered a more of masculine while countries like Chile has been considered as a feminine image.Japanese culture will be giving more importance to visiting card that displays the address and this has been considered as a trust building mechanism.This when done in American culture will mean a firm handshake by looking in the eye.
The example of a good culture guiding the company can be said of Johnson and Johnson.In the year 1982,Tylenol cynadie poison had led to death of seven people.There has been swift recall of more than ten to thousand bottles from the store shelves across the country.There has been swift visit by Johnson and Johnson employees to the hospitals increasing the care .The principle of credo has been the guiding factor in Johnson and Johnson and this document had stated clearly that in moment of crisis, Johnson and Johnson has to support their customers first.Johnson and Johnson has been able to end the crisis mainly because they had spoken in one voice.KPMG has been accused in the year 2003 by the US government.The company had damaged the reputation by withholding and delaying the release of documents.KPMG should have prepared a crisis management.KPMG had obstructed a IRS investigation and had damaged their credentials .The company should have taken an integrated communication approach likes the Johnson and Johnson.
Internal and employee communication
The most important thing in work place is to understand the diversity and there would be different demographic cultural values that has to be understood in detail.There would be norms in culture that would be making an individual to behave in a certain manner.The success of an organization will be dependant on the culture of the organization.
To improve the internal communication in an organization , the mission statement of the corporate should be encouraged to be understood by the employee (Winski 30).The senior management will be able to highlight the values and that will be spreading to the junior management.The internal communication will be improved if the fresh employees will be given an induction process and that will highlight how the culture will be spread across.
Investor Media relations
The first building block of a company will be the performance and the second building block will be the perception of the shareholder (Clark,69).A business that generates a positive flow of cash year by year has to rely on the managing of perception to get a strong brand value.There has been change in the valuation of assets and intangible assets has been gaining more importance than tangible assets.The credibility of the balance sheet numbers are of prime concern to investors.In the year 1988,GE has faced an ironical problem.Their marketing tactics were not keeping pace with the shareholders price.There has been marked criticism from the analyst stating that the group did not know where to go.GE had over several decades tried to persuade the business diversity of GE.The financial community at the start had a thinking that GE had no idea of its own.GE market capitalization had increased to 250 in 1998.GE had admitted that there has been a communication failure to the investors and media people.There has been companies that feel disclosing to investors would be like to disclose to competitors (Chandler 15).GE has been an exception to this.Investor relations has been more than a financial exercise and companies has to teach investors about the business and financing targets and investors has to be updated about the progress that has been made by the company.There has to be clear marketing communication that has to be aimed at the investors.Investor relations has started becoming more web based and there has been increased use of corporate websites, e-mails and web casting.Investor communication is not just creating an user friendly interactive web site but also creating a place where feedback is accepted.
Retail giant Wal-Mart had to face problems by not addressing the media issue very well.Wal-Mart has been attacked many times by the media for its labor policies and it took years for the company to react to this allegations.There has been accusation of using foreign workers to clean the floor and Wal-Mart had reacted very slowly to this and company came out saying that the department was under the supervision of sub contractors.That had caused reputation mismanagement and organizations having cross functional communication team can takes measures to prevent the damage before it happens.
When there is clarity of message within internally and externally, there has been good reaction to the crisis.In 2003,a junior reporter at the New York Times, Jayson Blair had admitted to plagiarism.He also said that he had fabricated the stories and got it published in the Times.The company had been quick enough to respond to the charges and there has been an effort to include all employees of the Times to prevent further break of the scandal.There has been a report that had been prepared to safeguard the Times journalism.The report had been published in the company website and has been also shown in the company news board.There was no turning away from the hard questions that had been put at Times and there was coordinated efforts from all sections of Times.Times benefit has been that it has been able to speak in one voice.There has been full support from the top management.
International communication and public diplomacy
There has to be understanding of cultures that has to be addressed.A french personality will offended if any one addresses their first name.The thumbs up sign in Australia is considered as offending.There has been an uproar in China when Japanese Nippon paint showed a dragon failing to hold the paint.This was too much for Chinese people as the dragons were considered as sacred and failing to foreign countries like Japan was too much.Japanese company had been forced to withdraw the ad by Chinese authorities (httpnews.bbc.co.uk2hiasia-pacific4072203.stm).
Master Card had successfully ran the campaign of its card in 39 countries without uttering a word by showing the 39 nationalities people.This was run in the year 2006 World cup football.
The popular brand from the Asian region has been the Red Bull.Red Bull has been readily available in more than 100 countries and Red Bull has been adapted from traditional Thai tonic syrup called Kratingdaeng.The company has been headquartered from Austria and the company has been able to become a major player in global business thanks to its innovative ad marketing tactics.The marketing promotion has been that Red Bull has been stimulating the body and mind of the user along with Red Bull has been giving wings has added to the charm of corporate communication.Red Bull has been giving a new twist to the corporate communications by sponsoring endurance has driven sports events like Stunt flying and Formula One.
Air Asia has been the first Asian airliner to introduce the budget airlines in Asia.There has been an attachment of tag line called now everyone can fly and that has helped the company to grow within a period of four years.The corporate communication of the plane has been promoting an enjoyable journey with the airline and there has been example of Nissan company promoting the Shift the future tag and there has been more importance attached to the word Shift.The term Shift has been that the users of the brand should be able to think or see the car in new look, the users should be able to shift the way drivers feel about driving.shift the way consumers think of the way the greener nature of the company, shift the way consumers think of the way cars is expected to last, and there has been a shift in the way the company has been perceived by the end user.
There has been a perception in the mind of user that Samsung has been a company that has been promoting low quality products.The corporate communication of Samsung has been able to send a strong message that no company will be able to build a strong brand with low quality products.Samsung has been a world class leader in the front of TV and VCR and LCD market.Samsung electronics has been having a diverse portfolio of products like home appliances, multimedia, semi conductors , information and telecommunication range.
There has been another company in the name of Lucky Gold Star that had changed their brand name to LG.The new tag line that has been given Life is good.The corporate communication has been trying to increase the share of heart and voice.
Haier a domestic product in China has changed their communication tactics to get a foothold in the American market.The traditional way of manufacturing cheaply the products in China has been avoided and Haier has been willing to develop manufacturing bases all around America.There has been labeling of products Made from USA and that has helped the company to gain foothold globally.The company corporate communication tactics has been to focus on quality, design , innovates and niche product segment.The niche products that has been targeted has been the compact refrigerator, wine cellar and beer dispenser.Haier has grown to the top to become the five manufacturers of white goods in US.
Language and training
Language will be normally considered under two parameters in corporate communications.One is language is considered as a barrier in corporate communications.For example if a predominant English speaking company has a minor Spanish speaking people ,then the manual will has to be published in both English and Spanish.Other wise only English speaking people will understand it.
Language will be considered as a source of power with corporations finding an universal language for it .In every situations the language that will be discussed for English and there will be training programs for the corporate people to converse in English and do business in English.But that does not mean that English will be the only language that will be taught.In Arab country, there is a FM channel called the Arabian Radio Network situated in Dubai Media City.This offers genre related content creation and the Fm radio has been able to reach the big Indian community using English and Malayalam.The Fm radio has been offering services in local Arabic language also.There has been report that Middle East has been taking measures to improve the communications in English so that business with Western counterparts will be improved.Satellite channels like Al Jazeera has been able to make an impact in Middle Eastern areas and they has started their English version to attract the Western counterparts.
China has been growing faster and corporate communications from China has been not in Chinese language but also in English.Companies planning to set up offices in China has been willing to train their employees Chinese language.
There will be importance to language in advertising also.The advertising world has seen many cross cultural blunders.Ford had introduced Pinto car model in Brazil.The sales has not been impressive and market research team was put in service.The main reason the team has found out that the word Pinto meant male genitals.The sales of the car increased dramatically when the car was renamed as Corcel which meant horse.Language should be also analyzed for understanding the understanding the art of communicating and basic human nature.The computer games manufacturer EA sports had given the title Challenge everything is not accepted throughout.Kentucky Fried chicken entered Chinese market with the famous slogan titled finger licking goodand that was accepted by Chinese people as eat your finger off and the slogan had to be changed.General Motors also faced the same problem with their car titled Nova in Spain.The meaning of word nova in Spanish was that it wont go.That was the main reason behind the failure of the product in Spain.The sales of car increased when the car was reintroduced with new word Caribe.Parker Pen had a tough time in Mexico when they tried to sell ball point pen in Mexico.The ads were supposed to say that it wont leak in your pocket and embrass you.It was in this intention that Spanish word was introduced but the translation meaning was that it wont leak in the pocket and make you pregnant.Kinki Nippon Tourist company had a tough time when they entered English market.There was calls for sex tours and the reason that was attributed was the name of the company.The company had to change the name of the company.
Understanding the art of communicating and basic human nature.
There has been difference in communication styles with USA giving more importance to explicit communication styles (Barkema 430).The Japan culture would be giving more importance to implicit communication styles.Implicit communication style would mean that the consumers are well informed about the subject and there will be less definition.USA will be giving more importance to the explicit communication styles.
There are some cultures that will be giving more importance to colors.For example China has been giving more importance to red color while countries like Japan considers black as unlucky color.Green has been considered as a special color in Islam religion and some color has been associated with tribal of South Africa.There are many hotels in US and UK not having a 13th room or 13th floor (Kopec 26).There has been another interesting culture in Nippon Airways operating in Japan.The airlines does not have the seat number 4 and seat number 9.There is no problem of creating signpost or billboard with girls in bikinis in London.If this image is taken to Middle East, there will be outrage and the product sales will be affected.There are cultures that will be giving importance to team work and any ad that will be stressing the individual work will be attracting more trouble.China considers 8 as their lucky number and this can be best illustrated by the summer Olympics in Beijing that opened in 8808 at 8 pm.
There is one transmitter who will be sending the message as verbal or non verbal.There will be one receiver who will be getting the message.The message will be any form either tangible or intangible and there should be knowledge of how the message is transmitted.There should be feedback that has to be taken to ensure that the message that has been flown.There has to be understanding of the intent of the communication.The basic human nature is that will be less listening skills to the communication.The business skill will be enhanced if people tend to listen more and talk less.If the business manager is willing to listen to salesmen, the business manager will be able to get new ideas that will help the company to move forward.Good listening will be dependant on the content and there has to be understanding of what is being said and how is said.There has to be improvement in listening skills by taking notes.
Utilizing new communication trends (i.e. social media platforms).
Web Blogs
Web blogs are journals that will be published online and the journal entries will be made by an individual or corporate.There will be creation of forums through which the customers will be encouraged to express heir opinions.Blogs has been considered as one of the best marketing medium and that has been considered as the best for promoting a product .Public relation persons in the company has been setting up internal and external communications.There has been surveys that has found out that CEO or top management is slow in making full use of blogs.
does your organization encourages the employees to send e-mail as a communication
The other type of communication has been the buzz marketing and the task of retaining consumers has been increasing.That has led to the arrival of the concept of viral marketing and through this buzz marketing has been working.There has been instances in which the customers who has met a new product or service has been willing to extend that experience to the social network.This has been termed the uncodifed buzz.The normal channels that has been used for uncodified buzz has been e-mails, blogs, list services, personal websites and chat groups.There has been use of customer communities that has helped the process of codified buzz forward.The normal procedure has been use of customer communities, chat rooms that has been hosted by corporate, affiliate programs of corporate, referral programs by corporate, concept of new marketing called experimental marketing, and many other programs.The corporate has been hiring promotional agencies to promote a sense of pseudo buzz .The ultimate buzz will be happening the moment when the customer thinks that company has met the expectations as promised in the advertisement .
Mobile
SMS has been seen as a marketing tool and there has been a new set of opportunities that has been presented by the company.Assume that a bank has been sending an account status update of a customer and it can have a scroll down message about the latest loan products that has been offered by the company.There could be a time period in which the customer can make full use of the discount of the services that has been offered.This has been termed a style of corporate communications.The type of messages that would be working more will be in the local market segment.
There has been change in the communication style of companies and this can be termed a example. Medical stores in India has started selling medical and personal accident covers and this has been a marked change in India.
Twitter has been used by many companies to create a buzz .It can be termed a micro marketing blog tool in which the character limit will be restricted to 140.Some of the prominent web users in twitter
Twitter AccountFounderuser of companycomcastcaresComcastMarvelMarvel ComicscoldfusionAdobe cold fusionciscoitCisco ITevCo founder of twitter ,Ev Williamskevinrose Founder of Diggappleinc Founder of Apple IncMultilingual Website
Internet has grown and business companies has to use Internet very well to become truly global (Foss 855).Multilingual website will help to tap the non English users and users who has been more aged.Surveys has shown that there has been increase in the Internet users in the region of Japan and France when compared with USA.There has been cost effective marketing tool as multilingual website.There would be potential increase in the sales if the web site is translated into German, Spanish, Italian and many other languages.countries like China and Japan does not hold Google and Yahoo as the default search engine. Home grown search engines are fast growing in these areas and having a website in multilingual language will be the best option.Google has developed the capacity to run search in foreign languages .
Facebook and corporate communication sites
Unilever has understood the value of You Tube and FaceBook and there has been targeting the younger generation more with this attitude.Unilever has encouraged their staff to use more the social networks .Ben Jerrys ice-cream has been one successful company that had used the Facebook well.
Conclusion
Corporate communication tactics in the 21st century will be enabling anything to be produced and that can be branded.Innovation is necessary but that is not the only one that will be ensuring success.Corporate communication has helped the brand to evolve much faster.The aim of the corporate tactics will be not to hide the quality but promote the quality.There has steps that has to be taken to ensure that growth through acquisition will be ensuring organizational cultures.
The paper highlights the point that there has to be understanding of belief, norms and practice of a culture so that clear understanding is done.There has to be clear understanding of a market and culture before entering it.