bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aspects of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM): conceptual framework and empirical example
Authors: Svensson Göran
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to describe and illustrate aspects of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM).

Design/methodology/approach

The terms of first‐, second‐ and n‐order supply chains are introduced. A first‐order supply chain denotes that a substantial part of it is based on the use of non‐renewable and non‐recycled resources, while the following n‐order ones (e.g. second‐order) are based on a larger share of renewable and/or recycled resources. The conceptual discussion goes across industries, but the empirical example is limited to the clothing industry.

Findings

One aspect addressed is that first‐order supply chains of brand new clothing go beyond the traditional point of consumption. Another aspect raised is that second‐ and n‐order supply chains should be considered in business practices from the point of origin in the first‐order supply chains in order to enhance corporate efforts of SSCM.

Research limitations/implications

The dilemma with most of the current research and literature in the field of SCM is that they overlook the connection between first‐, second‐ and n‐order supply chains. The author argues that it is not enough to simply match the supply and demand between the points of consumption and origin in first‐order supply chains in efforts of SSCM, but that an explicit extension of the boundaries towards second‐ and n‐order supply chains will be necessary in the future.

Practical implications

The scarce non‐renewable resources that businesses are confronted with nowadays, and the increasing scarcity of these resources in the future, will strengthen the need to search for renewable and recycled resources from other first‐, second‐ and n‐order supply chains in order to address genuine aspects of SSCM.

Originality/value

The author contends that the aspects of SSCM described and illustrated in this paper make a contribution to theory, and assist in expanding the boundaries of theory in SCM. The author also launches a quest for further conceptual descriptions and empirical illustrations to develop theoretical frameworks of SSCM.
The effect of a buyer's market orientation on attitudinal loyalty toward a supplier: is dependence a moderator?
Authors: José Sanzo María , Leticia Santos María , Álvarez Luis I. , Vázquez Rodolfo
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The aim of this study is to analyze in depth the possible influence of a firm's market orientation on its own attitudinal loyalty toward a supplier.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study was carried out through two structured surveys of 141 industrial firms. Data were compiled in two stages (with a time lag of one year). The time lag instituted between the collection of market orientation data and the other model constructs alleviates the common method problem.

Findings

The results show that the direct influence of the buyer's market orientation on attitudinal loyalty is negative but that an indirect positive effect also exists through communication, conflict, satisfaction, and trust. The research also reveals that these results are not contingent on the buyer's dependence on the supplier.

Research limitations/implications

This study's main contribution consists of shedding new light on the intense marketing debate about the effects of market orientation.

Practical implications

Practitioners can use the findings of this research to segment their customer base and develop specific programs adapted to each target.

Originality/value

The present work is the first to directly address the influence of a firm's market orientation on its attitudinal loyalty toward its strategic suppliers. Structured academic research on this topic is lacking, even though more firms are market‐oriented because of increasing competition, which means that the interest of suppliers in the effects of this orientation will become more pronounced.
Becoming a 100 per cent e‐corporation: benefits of pursuing an e‐supply chain strategy
Authors: Sammon David , Hanley Paul
Published: June 2007

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to present a case study of an organisation in pursuit of becoming a 100 per cent e‐corporation.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory research case study documents the deployment of two e‐supply chain initiatives undertaken by the organisation, highlighting the benefits of these initiatives to the organisation.

Findings

The findings of this study suggest that, while benefits can be realised from creating an e‐supply chain, an organisation needs to ensure a common understanding and definition of what it is striving to achieve in undertaking an e‐supply chain initiative in an effort to become a 100 per cent e‐corporation.

Research limitations/implications

A limitation of this study relates to the fact that Intel's suppliers were not interviewed as part of this research, although available supplier‐related documentation was analysed.

Practical implications

Intel is identified as being quite a distance from achieving its ultimate goal of becoming a “100 per cent e‐corporation”. This paper highlights the fact that a shared understanding throughout the entire organisation of what a “100 per cent e‐corporation” means is a key requirement for any organisation undertaking such an initiative.

Originality/value

The principal contribution of this paper is the fact that it refers to a previously unused term – “100 per cent e‐corporation”. The exact meaning of this term has many interpretations within the case studied in this paper, and indeed this will also be true in all organisations pursuing such an e‐supply chain strategy.
Time compression and supply chain management ‐ a guided tour
Authors: Towill Denis R.
Published: June 2007

Modern supply chains are expected to respond rapidly, effectively and efficiently to changes in the marketplace. Simultaneously there is the drive to achieve world class customer service levels coupled with minimum reasonable inventory (MRI). We thus have the classic conflict of interests between marketing, production and materials management. Marketing wants the complete product range available off‐the‐shelf; production is still, all too often, looking to manufacture in economic batch quantities so as to achieve economies of scale; and materials management is trying to minimize storage and distribution costs which, in turn, requires that a total systems MRI policy be adopted. Time compression at all stages in the chain is seen as the way to respond to these challenges. The ground rules for effective supply chain design were co‐incidentally established in 1961, when Jay Forrester showed that medium period demand amplification was a system dynamics phenomenon which could be tackled by reducing and eliminating delays and the proper design of feedback loops. In the same year, via his “five rules to avoid bankruptcy” directed at smoothing material flow, Burbidge showed that short period demand amplification was due to multi‐phased, multi‐period ordering policies. Confirms that, on the basis of industrial studies, collapsing cycle times drive the business into a more competitive scenario. This means that time compression strategies based on model simulation may be confidently used to predict improvements in supply chain performance.
Efficient consumer response: managing the supply chain for “ultimate” consumer satisfaction
Authors: Pearce A.M.
Published: June 2007

Presents a case study of the marketing strategy of Birds Eye Wall’s and its focus on functional and service‐related aspects of its trading relationships. Stresses the importance of the efficient consumer response process towards achieving both customer satisfaction and business efficiency and success. Details the use of extensive research and data analysis to forecast, measure, model and review category performance, and the introduction of cross‐country working groups ‐ bringing together experts across the supply interface ‐ in order to achieve the goal of continual improvement and innovation.
Opting out and opting in: understanding the complexities of women's career transitions
Authors: Cabrera Elizabeth F.
Published: June 2007

Purpose

This study aims to explore the reasons why women are leaving the workplace. Are they opting out of the workforce to stay at home with their children as current media reports suggest, or are the reasons more complex as the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) suggests? A second objective is to examine whether or not women's primary career motives change over time as predicted by the KCM. Lastly, the potential barriers or boundaries faced by women pursuing boundaryless careers will be identified.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was sent to 2,000 randomly selected women graduates of an international business school located in the USA. The response rate was 25 percent, or 497 women.

Findings

The results revealed that 47 percent of the women surveyed had stopped working at some point in their career. Numerous reasons were cited for leaving. Only 35 percent of the women who stopped working cited rearing children as their sole reason for opting out. Sixty‐two percent of the women reported that their career focus had changed. In line with the KCM predictions, mid‐career women were most interested in finding balance in their lives and the desire for authenticity increased across the lifespan. Finally, 70 percent of the women who left eventually returned to work, debunking the myth that women opt out and do not return to the workforce. Our findings show that there are barriers that make it difficult to move across organizations, especially if time is taken off between jobs.

Research limitations/implications

All of the respondents in this study have a graduate degree in international business; thus, the results may have limited generalizability to other populations. Nonetheless, this study provides valuable data that helps us to better understand the complexities of women's career paths.

Originality/value

This study makes contributions to two different areas of career theory. First, it provides one of the first empirical tests of the KCM. In addition to showing that women are leaving companies for more complex reasons than for family reasons alone, it also shows that women's primary career motives shift over time in the manner predicted by the KCM. Second, the study contributes to the literature on boundaryless careers by showing that there are in fact barriers or boundaries faced by women attempting to pursue careers across organizations.
Security in an insecure world
Authors: Sue Love Mary
Published: June 2007

Purpose

An exploratory empirical examination was conducted to determine if collectivists experienced a higher psychological sense of community at work than individualists.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were obtained from 264 non‐supervisory respondents. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to examine the relationship among individualism‐collectivism and psychological sense of community at work, while controlling for age, gender, marital status, education, and position.

Findings

Results showed that while controlling for demographic and job related variables, collectivists experience higher levels of psychological sense of community at work than individualists.

Research limitations/implications

Because this investigation was a cross‐sectional research design, causality cannot be determined although reverse causality is unlikely due to individualism‐collectivism being a relatively stable individual difference variable.

Practical implications

In the uncertainty of our current economic and labor landscape, collectivists may feel more secure and ride the waves better than individualists. Organizations should work to communicate values that encourage building a sense of community among their employees. Managers should include relationship building with subordinates among their many daily tasks.

Originality/value

The paper examines an under‐researched area by incorporating concepts from the field of community psychology to examine individualism‐collectivism as one predictor of which individuals may better navigate the turbulent nature of the current job landscape.
Innovation, research and development in professional service firms: A comparison of management and public relations consultancies, drawing implications for public relations practice
Authors: White Jon
Published: June 2007

This paper examines the arrangements made for innovation, research and development in professional service firms, particularly management and public relations consultancies. The paper compares arrangements made in management and public relations consultancies, drawing on the experience of international management consultancies and public relations consultancies in the UK. The paper outlines some of the principles by which the processes of innovation, research and development are managed in professional service firms, and draws conclusions relating to practice development in public relations.
International public relations and the Internet: Diffusion and linkages
Authors: Verčič Dejan , Razpet Aleš , Dekleva Samo , Šlenc Mitja
Published: June 2007

The World Wide Web may be worldwide in its potential consumption, but hardly in its production. It demonstrates that globalisation is not a general state of affairs of the world, but a process of uneven development even, or maybe even more so, in the field of new technologies. The same can be said of public relations – its supply and demand are unevenly distributed around the world. This exploratory study investigates the global supply of public relations industry services and the supply of Internet services for public relations purposes in the USA, Austria and Slovenia.
Activism and the Internet: From e‐mail to new political movement
Authors: Blood Robert
Published: June 2007

Large‐scale street protests such as the demonstration against the World Trade Organization (WTO) intergovernmental conference in Seattle in November 1999 have pushed issue activism to a new level of political consciousness. They have also drawn attention to a new consequence of the Internet, which appears to enable activist groups to become more effective
and more powerful than ever before. This paper tests this assumption by analysing how the Internet is actually being used by activist groups. It concludes that while it has greatly increased the effectiveness of activist groups in many ways, the Internet is also changing the political basis of activism by stimulating the emergence of a new kind of activist. As such groups proliferate and influence the media’s view of activism, the centre of gravity of the non‐governmental organisation (NGO) movement as a whole is being shifted to a more radical and more overtly anti‐capitalist position.
Blazing Netshine on the value network: The processes of Internet public relations management
Authors: Phillips David
Published: June 2007

The Internet is a multi‐channel distributor of data, information and knowledge. Information has value. It is becoming a separate entity to people and artefacts and is taking on the mantle of a commodity. Information affects the value chain and, in the network of networks known as the Internet, information management is an important corporate function. The value of information will decline as the volume of it increases, and it will gain added advantage when endorsed by trusted channels. Without valued information, the value of products is low to non‐existent. Ethics in the provision, management and protection of information is now an important, if not pivotal, management function.
Intranets and employee communication: PR behind the firewall
Authors: Murgolo‐Poore Marie , Pitt Leyland
Published: June 2007

The new economy, or knowledge‐based era, not only brings with it additional challenges to the employee communication process, but also inspired solutions. Historically, employee communication has been constrained by the limitations of traditional media. The choice of media for the dissemination of information has increased over the years but none has had the potential to galvanise broad‐sweeping changes to the process as have intranets. To maximise the benefits for their organisations, communicators must become comfortable working with the new technology, progress up the technology‐adoption curve, learn to balance tech with touch, and be prepared to deconstruct previously held models of communication.
The planning, implementation and evaluation of an online marketing campaign
Authors: Spencer Claire , Giles Nick
Published: June 2007

“We’re watching the wiring of the cerebral cortex of society”, said Jay Walker, founder and vice‐chairman of priceline.com, of the new Internet revolution. “It is dramatically transforming communication and marketing models; it is providing marketers with a new set of capabilities.” But with new capabilities come casualties; Jay Walker cautions that advertising will disappear on the Net, “It may take two or ten years, but it will disappear.” Walker’s hypothesis is borne out by the latest research findings from Roper Starch. In its latest report it identifies the “The advertising‐free zone brought to you by (fill in the
brand)” phenomenon. Roper Starch predict “ad‐free zones will be popping up on the Internet soon, a reflection of consumers’ increasing antipathy towards advertising”. This paper examines the opportunities for effective online marketing that go beyond the now omnipresent banner advertisements, and provides guidelines for marketers as to how to harness the “new set of capabilities” through planning and evaluation. The paper has relevance to those involved with public relations in a marketing context (often called marketing PR), and those interested in planning and evaluating online communications campaigns.
Public relations is the navigator of the new media economy
Authors: Edelman Richard
Published: June 2007

The media have changed forever. Potential audiences are now dispersed among a plethora of media, extremely segmented, and much harder to pin down for extended periods. Information must now be tailored, rather than “one size fits all”. Audiences are interrelated as never before. Information is moving unpredictably and without true source credibility. In this brave new world where the economy is driven by information, the public relations (PR) industry is the navigator, the primary communications opportunity, having bumped advertising from its long‐held position. To win the race, PR now has to earn the trust of end users and deliver on its promise to be the arbiter among multiple stake‐holders, a purveyor of credible information and the facilitator of interactive dialogue.
The dynamics of corporate identity: A review of a process model
Authors: Melewar T.C. , Wooldridge Adrian R.
Published: June 2007

This paper seeks to understand the founding of the five main constructs of corporate identity proposed by Schmidt. Wider literature review has revealed some elements that need further consideration regarding their inclusion in the corporate identity model. Subsequently, a model is proposed. The BP Amoco company is used as an illustrative case to illuminate the proposed model’s intended explanatory power and value.
The complexities of communicating to customers in emerging markets
Authors: Fletcher Richard , Melewar T.C.
Published: June 2007

This paper explores the differences between communicating with consumers in emerging economies compared with those in more developed economies. The nature of emerging markets is discussed in order to highlight differences that may impact on communication with buyers in those markets. One of the critical differences is that of culture and a comparison is undertaken between developed and emerging markets in respect of the variables highlighted by both Trompenaars and Hampden‐Turner and Hofstede. Other differences discussed relate to political and legal, economic, infrastructural and educational factors. Then a typical communications model used in international marketing is discussed in terms of its applicability to emerging markets. Finally, a future research direction is proposed.
The question of coherency in corporate branding – over time and across stakeholders
Authors: Morsing Mette , Kristensen Jan
Published: June 2007

The paper investigates the successful establishment of a strong corporate brand with a particular emphasis on analysing the corporate branding literature’s assumptions about coherency. Successful corporate branding is claimed to imply a shared set of coherent statements about the company’s values towards its external and internal stakeholders over time. An empirical test is applied to the coherency assumption. First, the coherency of a corporate brand over time is investigated as it develops in the media. Secondly, the coherency between two stakeholders’ perceptions of the corporate brand, organisational members and the media is investigated. This research suggests there are three distinct types of coherencies in corporate branding strategies over time: statement coherency, interpretation coherency and uniqueness coherency. On the one hand, a strong corporate brand is characterised by tight coherency, as top management’s statements about values remain the same over time and towards different stakeholders, ie statement coherency. On the other hand, a strong corporate brand is simultaneously characterised by a loose, or even absent, coherency between stakeholders’ interpretations of top management’s statements as well as a lack of coherency in stakeholders’ interpretations of the corporate brand over time, ie interpretation coherency. Finally, a third coherency phenomenon is observed, ie stakeholders’ emphasis on changing topics over time, which they relate to the corporate brand. Stakeholders agree that these themes are unique features and hence the company is considered unique, ie the uniqueness coherency. The implications of multiple interpretations are discussed as well as changing interpretations in corporate branding. It is argued that statement coherency is a necessary element in successful corporate branding, and the viability of the ambition to develop interpretation coherency over time and across stakeholders in corporate branding is discussed from the point of view of allowing room for interpretation incoherency. Finally, the question of maintaining uniqueness coherency is discussed: for how long can a company represent “newness” in the eyes of its stakeholders – including itself? Implications for management are discussed.
The communicating company
Authors: Clutterbuck David
Published: June 2007

Research on behalf of the IABC into the potential links between business success and communication competence has suggested strongly that the communication function(s) can only contribute significantly to short‐ or long‐term business goals if it is focused on improving the communication competence of the organisation as opposed to that of the function itself. The implications of this research are considerable and have led researchers to begin to develop a body of theory, upon which further research will be based, around the concept of the communicating company. The communicating company is defined as “an organisation that actively integrates communication systems and processes across and between all its significant activities, with the intention of achieving competitive advantage”. This paper aims to explore: what the communicating company might look like and how it differs from today’s organisations; what structures and systems might underlie the communicating company and help it achieve/sustain competitive advantage; how the debate around this emerging topic and the future of the communication function might be progressed.
Evaluating content counts
Authors: Phillips David
Published: June 2007

This paper explores content and media evaluation applications for public relations research, and identifies the difference between advertising measures of value and public relations value. In discussing this concept, it also seeks to offer research which shows that press as well as the broader activities of public relations have a powerful ally in semiotics and reception analysis, one that can aid understanding of work in all aspects of PR practice. It argues that public relations is effective when it works in the cultural context and that measurement, research and evaluation have to feed from robust methodologies to be at their most effective.
International public relations: A framework for future research
Authors: Sriramesh Krishnamurthy , Verčič Dejan
Published: June 2007

As a profession, public relations has become a global enterprise. Public relations education is only now beginning to catch up with the global nature of the profession. It is quite widely acknowledged that as far as public relations education is concerned, the USA is the leader in the number of universities that offer public relations courses as well as in the breadth and depth of the public relations curriculum. In its October 1999 report on the status of education in the USA, the Commission on Public Relations Education constituted by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), called for curricula that prepared students to be effective communicators in the “age of global interdependence”. This paper argues that educators around the world are being hampered by the lack of an established body of knowledge (based on empirical evidence) about public relations practices in different parts of the world. This lack of evidence is preventing educators from preparing their students to become useful professionals who can meet the challenges of the “age of global interdependence”. The paper reviews literature identifying environmental variables that should help one understand public relations practices in different given countries. Based on this review, the paper operationalises these environmental variables as a next step towards cross‐national research. The paper also stresses the need to gather appropriate case studies in international public relations. Future researchers should be able to use this framework for conducting crossnational comparisons of public relations, thereby providing educators with the necessary empirical evidence to prepare the public relations professionals of the future.
Re‐examining the manager’s role in public relations: What management and public relations research teaches us
Authors: Moss Danny , Green Rob
Published: June 2007

This paper examines critically how the manager’s role in public relations has been conceptualised, comparing how the work of managers has been defined from a public relations and management perspective. Here the paper provides a critical review of the relevant public relations and management literatures, pointing to the relative weaknesses in the public relations literature. The paper concludes by examining a particular case study to illustrate some of the weaknesses in current practitioner role models to conceptualise the weaknesses in the public relations manager’s role.
Re‐evaluating the role of rhetoric in public relations theory and in strategies of corporate discourse
Authors: Skerlep Andrej
Published: June 2007

The paper criticises the dominant paradigm of public relations theory for lack of interest in discursive and rhetorical dimensions of public relations. An alternative theoretical approach to public relations is identified that does treat discursive and rhetorical dimensions of public relations, but it is indicated that at present it has not been sufficiently integrated into dominant public relations theory. The paper explores the points of convergence between rhetoric and public relations. The narrow and broad conceptions of rhetoric are presented, the first characterising rhetoric with persuasive and argumentative discourse, the second with different types of discourse. It is suggested that elements of the broad conception of rhetoric could provide heuristics for analysing public relations techniques as “genre repertoire” of public relations discourse. In the second part, an enquiry into the narrow conception of rhetoric as persuasive and argumentative discourse is made. Positivistic understanding of “truth” and “objectivity” as normative criteria of public relations discourse is criticised on the basis of the so‐called “rhetoric as epistemic” view. It is argued that in corporate discourse, especially in situations of confrontation with active publics, key managerial decisions have to be justified in argumentation. In the last part of the paper, Toulmin’s model of argumentation is suggested as especially suitable for analysis of the argumentative nature of corporate discourse.
An examination of possible obstacles to management acceptance of public relations’ contribution to decision making, planning and organisation functioning
Authors: White Jon , Verčič Dejan
Published: June 2007

Public relations practitioners continue to lament the fact that their contribution to management is not taken seriously nor given sufficient weight. This paper examines some of the obstacles to management acceptance of public relations’ contribution to important management tasks. The paper focuses on the possibility that managers may not value public relations’ contribution because their preparation for the management role does not give them the perspective that would enable them to see its value. The paper suggests that this perspective is one which enables the complexity of the external world, the world external to the organisation and in which the organisation functions, to be imagined and incorporated into decision making. This perspective has not been developed in the present generation of senior and middle managers. The paper reviews literature relating to this suggestion, before going on to examine programmes aimed at preparing managers for their roles at business and management schools in the USA and Europe. The paper concludes that unless changes are made to the ways in which managers are prepared for their roles, they are unlikely to develop an appreciation of the perspective which underlies public relations practice, or to make full use of the potential contribution of public relations.
Why do many otherwise smart CEOs mismanage the reputation asset of their company?
Authors: Schreiber Elliot S.
Published: June 2007

This paper, examines why CEOs often misunderstand and therefore mismanage the reputations of their companies. The paper describes the way corporate reputations are built, maintained and enhanced and suggests that a good reputation needs several elements: (1) that it be part of the corporate strategy, not just a public relations or advertising slogan; and (2) that it be built from differentiating, sustaining activities of the company. The author couples his own experience with the literature on corporate strategy, noting that reputation is part of the corporate positioning process, which has long been considered the core element in strategy. Fortune magazine’s “Most admired companies” and research conducted by the author are used to highlight the variables of corporate reputation and how perceptions of reputation differ internationally. Using these variables, companies can maintain consistency in their reputation globally, while at the same time allowing regions and countries to customise to meet local needs. The paper argues that companies often fail to achieve their desired reputations because of two primary factors: (1) the failure to identify a clear core competency, relying instead on claims of superiority that have little value to the intended audience; and/or (2) “active inertia”, or continuing to do the same things that made the company successful, despite the fact that these things are no longer relevant to the current situation. Examples of companies that have done a good job at building their corporate reputation and examples of some who have had problems are provided, along with a check list of “warning signs” that a company’s reputation is in trouble, along with some suggested actions.
How companies can find renewed focus during uncertain times
Authors: MacDonald Maril
Published: June 2007

Amid periods of churn and uncertainty, companies more than ever need their leaders and employees to stay focused, but how? In this paper, the author proposes that companies can regain momentum during uncertain times by creating a renewed sense of community based on aligning what makes employees tick with a company’s business strategy in order to get results.
Measuring public relationships among students and administrators at the University of Florida
Authors: Hon Linda , Brunner Brigitta
Published: June 2007

A survey of 463 students examined how they perceive their relationship with the University of Florida. Overall, students described the relationship as one characterised by trust and satisfaction and they tended to feel more neutral about control mutuality, commitment and an exchange relationship. Items measuring a communal relationship were the weakest relationship indicators. Data from interviews with nine administrators further validated the relationship outcomes measured in the survey.
Dropping a loaded gun: using topical transformation to explain how Smith & Wesson failed to influence the influential
Authors: Rawlins Brad , Stoker Kevin
Published: June 2007

Smith & Wesson negotiated a settlement that signified changes in its gun marketing and manufacturing practices. An opportunity to lead the industry in public safety resulted in a public relations blunder. “Topical transformation”, a concept that applies structuration theory to explain the importance of signification, is used to illustrate that S&W failed to show its actions as significant for its stakeholders, resulting in isolation from its peers, consumers and supporters.
Examining how the 11th September, 2001 terrorist attacks precipitated a paradigm shift advancing communications and public relations into a more significant role in corporate America
Authors: Wright Donald K.
Published: June 2007

This paper explores how corporate communications and public relations were
affected by the 11th September, 2001 terrorism attacks on the USA.
Evaluation: An opportunity to raise the standing of PR
Authors: Fairchild Michael
Published: June 2007

Theory and exhortation about planning, research and evaluation (PRE) in PR still outweighs best practice. The tools exist to enable PRE to be used as a means of demonstrating PR effectiveness. Yet research continues to demonstrate that PR is either not validated or the methodologies used are considered suspect. Behind the lack of PRE usage are weaknesses in PR training and reluctance to do the obvious, such as tap into existing sources of research. While it is important to prove the effectiveness of PR through PRE, there is a bigger prize: to demonstrate the strategic role that PR can play in organisations and to raise the standing of PR. With growing recessionary pressure and the threat of competition from other service providers such as management consultants, the PR profession should seize on PRE as a means of putting PR on to a higher plane.
Freelancing: Issues and trends for public relations practice
Authors: Tench Ralph , Fawkes Johanna , Palihawadana Dayan
Published: June 2007

This paper describes a research project that involved an in‐depth investigation into freelancing in the public relations industry with data collected from both freelancers and their employers. The analysis of these data highlighted the complexity of issues for those working in and employing people in this sector of public relations practice. The research project produced data on themes relating to freelance practitioners’ status, skills and experience, but this paper aims to focus specifically on trends and issues for the future. The key findings under this theme are that the freelance sector has grown. A majority of clients claim an increased use of freelancers in the last year and this was linked to a “need for flexibility” and “new business development”. Also the majority of freelancers are happy and do not want to change their employment status and some respondents stated “nothing” would make them return to permanent employment. Freelance public relations appears to be meeting a trend since the early 1990s for companies to “downsize” and “outsource” workers and for employees to seek a work/lifestyle balance. Regarding patterns of work almost half of freelancers claimed to be more productive when freelancing with the key factors being that they have “fewer interruptions” and fewer “unnecessary meetings”. Of relevance to national institutes and debates about professionalisation and reputation, it was interesting that the majority of the sample were not members of a professional body. The research and its findings have implications for human resources managers employing public relations staff, public relations managers and directors who commission freelance practitioners and the freelancers themselves.
The effects of a divisionalised and decentralised organisational structure on a formal internal communication function in a South African organisation
Authors: Holtzhausen Derina
Published: June 2007

Little research exists on the effects of organisational structure on the public relations function. This study focuses on the effects of structural changes on an internal communication function in a large South African organisation. In this organisation internal communication consultants were appointed at divisional level. They had to oversee the election of a communication champion in each cost centre in the division. Survey research conducted 18 months after the process implementation found the structural changes led to improved information flow and face‐to‐face communication. Employees made better use of organisational media and relied less on the grapevine. Although the process made employees less fearful to speak truthfully and improved employee‐supervisor communication, these effects were less pronounced. The research confirmed the important link between public relations strategy and organisational structure, particularly for communication managers and internal communication practitioners in large organisations.
Leadership communication: A status report
Authors: Clutterbuck David , Hirst Sheila
Published: June 2007

Although management is often viewed as distinct from, and sometimes inferior to, leadership, the two share a number of core competencies. Communication is central to the main four management competencies outlined by Warren Bennis: the management of attention, meaning, trust and self. To be truly effective, both leaders and managers must develop their self‐awareness, become role models for communication in the organisation, and learn to encourage and manage constructive dissent. An important part of the communication professional’s role is to support the organisation’s leaders and managers in developing their communication competence.
Public relations and communication management: Suitable subjects for management education?
Authors: Murray Leo
Published: June 2007

This paper confirms the importance of the various aspects of public relations as necessary skills for senior managers, both in the profession and in organisations, and the need to raise the level of management skills among practitioners. It argues that a specialist MBA in public relations (PR) is not necessarily the most appropriate way of meeting those objectives and suggests that more needs to be done to encourage public relations and corporate communication practitioners to take part in general management education and to develop their professional knowledge and qualifications. At the same time, the business and management schools could make explicit the extent to which management education already covers areas of interest to practitioners in these fields and collaborate with the profession to develop qualifications, teaching programmes and materials.
The dire need for multiculturalism in public relations education: An Asian perspective
Authors: Sriramesh Krishnamurthy
Published: June 2007

Public relations (PR) education has not kept pace with the rapid globalisation that has occurred since 1992. The existing PR body of knowledge, and PR curricula around the world, have a US bias. In order to prepare PR students in various parts of the world to become effective multicultural professionals it is essential for experiences and perspectives from other continents to be integrated into PR education. The complexities of societal factors such as culture, political systems and media systems make Asia a challenging place to conduct strategic PR. It is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals.
Talent, diversity and growing expectations
Authors: Sykes Sally
Published: June 2007

This paper examines the growth of the public relations (PR) discipline in the UK with reference to some of the possible business drivers behind growth and the changing strategic role of communications in companies. Some of the factors at play are discussed, with particular reference to corporate social responsibility, transparency, stakeholder relationships and reputation management and the role of PR in creating the “employer brand” for those companies competing for the scare resource of new corporate talent. The paper also discusses the role of PR education in the UK in preparing aspirants to the profession for the working life of a PR practitioner and considers the expectations of companies for strategic PR management and whether the supply of practitioners meets the need and demand. Finally, the author draws upon experience in having undertaken a course of further formal PR education at Masters degree level and comments on the practical and strategic communications benefits to be gained from framing experience of PR in action within the growing body of PR and communications theory encountered during academic study.
Public relations: The integrated communication tool in the launch of a new software operating system – A case study
Authors: Lawler Ava , Tourelle Gabrielle
Published: June 2007

This paper examines how PR can be used effectively to educate and excite a market prior to the launch of a new product by showcasing the launch of Microsoft’s new software operating system Microsoft1 Windows1 XP, in Australia and New Zealand. It discusses the importance of a clearly‐defined role for PR within a broader marketing campaign and outlines how PR can complement and enhance other marketing efforts. Insight into how to reach new audiences is also provided along with some tips and examples of using a variety of PR tactics from celebrities to competitions to get people to take notice of your product.
Public relations orientation: Development, empirical testing and implications for managers
Authors: Black Leeora D. , Härtel Charmine E.J.
Published: June 2007

This study proposes a new construct and a measure for understanding the embeddedness of public relations capability at the organisation level. The public relations orientation measure assesses the degree to which organisations (1) pursue both behavioural and symbolic relationships with publics, (2) set public relations goals to support organisational goals and facilitate effective use of public relations information within the organisation, (3) provide adequate resources for public relations, and (4) engage in dialogue with the publics on whom their success or failure depends. Suggestions are given for how public relations orientation (PRO) can be used as a diagnostic and benchmarking tool in organisations.
Strategic ambiguity in communicating public sector change
Authors: Leitch Shirley , Davenport Sally
Published: June 2007

This paper applies Eisenberg’s theory of strategic ambiguity to stakeholder relationship management during a period of significant change within a public sector organisation. Public sector organisations generally have a wider range of stakeholders than private sector organisations and must discharge their statutory responsibilities within the highly charged environment of the political arena. This paper will contend that communication professionals may deploy strategic ambiguity to manage the competing demands of public sector stakeholders and also to stimulate a diversity of actions and creative responses in the stakeholder community. The paper draws upon an extensive case study of the major science‐funding agency in New Zealand – the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) – to illustrate the potential value of and identify some limits to the use of strategic ambiguity.
The relationship between corporate identity structures and communication structures
Authors: Körver Frank , van Ruler Betteke
Published: June 2007

Organisations differ in the ways that they organise their communication disciplines. Contemporary literature features contributions from a number of noted authors, all focusing on the centralisation of communication. Scant attention, however, is paid to factors that are potentially capable of identifying the differences to be found in practice. This paper describes the results of a qualitative research project involving 16 major companies in the Netherlands. This project was initiated by Bennis Porter Novelli and designed to investigate the influence of corporate identity structure on the organisation’s communication structure. The research clearly shows that organisations with monolithic, branded and endorsed identity structures differ in the way they structure and coordinate their external communication disciplines.
Global internal communication: A model
Authors: Mounter Pamela
Published: June 2007

Communication with people from different cultures, yet who may well speak English, requires sensitive listening skills and a strategic understanding of the organisation’s needs. The communication manager must win the confidence of senior managers to help them deliver business objectives in a multicultural environment.
A reflective stakeholder approach: Co‐orientation as a basis for communication and learning
Authors: Simcic Brønn Peggy , Brønn Carl
Published: June 2007

Organisations are undergoing dramatic changes as stakeholder groups exert an ever‐increasing influence on the place and responsibilities of organisations in society. Important drivers in this process include the environmental movement, the search for total quality management, the concept of sustainable development, ethics and organisational learning. Because the various stakeholders can view these complex issues quite differently from the organisation, it is important that those working with communications are able to understand the underlying complexities of stakeholder relationships. Work in a number of diverse fields has provided an understanding of the factors involved in developing an effective communications strategy. Stakeholder theory is an important contributor in that it provides a means for uncovering the relevant participants in the process. The authors contend that, as part of this process, the co‐orientation model can provide a unifying framework for identifying the nature of the relationships between stakeholders or actors in a communication process. At the heart of this model lies the notion of “mental models” from the organisational learning literature and the recognition that in order for any communication process to be effective these models must be “oriented” properly. The authors build on research from the organisational learning field to gain a deeper understanding of the processes that influence our perceptions of stakeholder groups. Three specific communication skills are identified that enable the communications manager to engage stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue, and thereby enhance the effectiveness of the organisation’s communication efforts. These communication skills are reflection, inquiry and advocacy.