Corporate Communication Summary
Chapter 01: Defining corporate communication
• Corporate communication is: “a management function that offers a framework for the
effective coordination of all internal and external communication with an overall purpose of
establishing and maintaining favorable reputations with stakeholder groups upon which the
organization is dependent
• Reputation is everything (reflection of reality)
• Communicative input: advertising, direct experience, (negative) news
• CC, Holistic (company as a whole) and stakeholder presentation
• Management function, internal and external communication for favorable reputation with
stakeholder groups
• Managerial activities (planning, coordinating and counselling CEOs)
• Tactical activities (producing and disseminating messages)
• Corporate design: Bavaria, visual logo inspired by companies values
• Mission (the overriding purpose - who we are)
• Vision (the desired future state – what we want to become)
• Objectives (the overall aims – how we gauge our degree of success)
• Strategies (ways of means – how we will achieve our vision)
• Corporate identity, image (single point in time) and reputation (over time)
• Stakeholder (relevant person/ group) and Market (target group)
• Communication (tactics and media) and Integration (act of coordinating all communication)
• More active stakeholders, empowered by new media (more interactive)
• Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and peer-to-peer influence:
o Challenge and opportunities...media wisdom: credibility
• Trends: communication as tactical support to strategic tool (engagement!!!)
Chapter 02: Corporate Communication in Contemporary Organizations
• Marketing communications: markets and products
• Public relations: public and issues
• Integration: 1980s (Kotler & Mindak)
•
• Drivers for integration
o Organizational: efficiency (less expensive), accountability, positioning (strategic
direction and purpose), overlap between disciplines
o Communication-based: Enormous communication clutter (commercial), message
effectiveness (consistency and reinforcement), complementary and multiplication of
media (cost inflation)
o Market & environment based: transparency, inseparability of internal & external
communication, overlap between stakeholders roles
• Today, communication is a strategic decision: the benefits are weight up to the possible
negative reputations for the organization.
• Communication integration leads to new corporate department and higher (vertical) position
in organization
, o Vertical structure: (mostly big companies) divide into smaller tasks, links CEO to
senior management
o Horizontal structure: respond fast to emergent issues (agile), provide control and
ensure consistent messages, allow for cross-functional teamwork and flexibility and
avoid turf wars/silos
▪ Natural work team (permanent team, ongoing basis)
▪ Taskforce team (for specific projects)
▪ Agile team (flexible (re)grouping, to solve specific problems)
▪ Standardized work process (tools to document work: flow charts, checklists)
▪ Council meetings (discuss strategic issues and collaborate)
▪ Communication guidelines (procedures, house style, brand book)
Chapter 03: Corporate Communication in a Changing Media Environment
• Socia media revolution: Command & control model is no longer relevant
o Now: Communication & community: free-flowing conversation + employees as
corporate communication professionals
• Democratization
o Access: everyone that has access to internet can be a global publisher of content
o Tech: camera leads to citizen journalists
o Social media: user-generated content (UGC) + Web 2.0: shifts in the use of online
technologies
• Blurry boundaries: corporate blogs
o Spokes bloggers: employee maintaining a corporate blog
o Challenges and opportunities
o Nice to corporates to see what’s going on
• Challenges of social media for CC
o Managing and controlling the corporate message
o Stakeholders' higher expectations
o Costs of web care responses to eWOM (reactive or also proactive)
• Opportunities of social media for CC:
o Stronger ties and more engagement
o Marketing and PR more mixed
o Reaffirming corporate image, direct marketing and distribution
o More feedback leading to business improvements
o Stakeholders as potential advocates (they become more supportive)
• Ineffective web care....so stakeholder opposition
Chapter 01: Defining corporate communication
• Corporate communication is: “a management function that offers a framework for the
effective coordination of all internal and external communication with an overall purpose of
establishing and maintaining favorable reputations with stakeholder groups upon which the
organization is dependent
• Reputation is everything (reflection of reality)
• Communicative input: advertising, direct experience, (negative) news
• CC, Holistic (company as a whole) and stakeholder presentation
• Management function, internal and external communication for favorable reputation with
stakeholder groups
• Managerial activities (planning, coordinating and counselling CEOs)
• Tactical activities (producing and disseminating messages)
• Corporate design: Bavaria, visual logo inspired by companies values
• Mission (the overriding purpose - who we are)
• Vision (the desired future state – what we want to become)
• Objectives (the overall aims – how we gauge our degree of success)
• Strategies (ways of means – how we will achieve our vision)
• Corporate identity, image (single point in time) and reputation (over time)
• Stakeholder (relevant person/ group) and Market (target group)
• Communication (tactics and media) and Integration (act of coordinating all communication)
• More active stakeholders, empowered by new media (more interactive)
• Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and peer-to-peer influence:
o Challenge and opportunities...media wisdom: credibility
• Trends: communication as tactical support to strategic tool (engagement!!!)
Chapter 02: Corporate Communication in Contemporary Organizations
• Marketing communications: markets and products
• Public relations: public and issues
• Integration: 1980s (Kotler & Mindak)
•
• Drivers for integration
o Organizational: efficiency (less expensive), accountability, positioning (strategic
direction and purpose), overlap between disciplines
o Communication-based: Enormous communication clutter (commercial), message
effectiveness (consistency and reinforcement), complementary and multiplication of
media (cost inflation)
o Market & environment based: transparency, inseparability of internal & external
communication, overlap between stakeholders roles
• Today, communication is a strategic decision: the benefits are weight up to the possible
negative reputations for the organization.
• Communication integration leads to new corporate department and higher (vertical) position
in organization
, o Vertical structure: (mostly big companies) divide into smaller tasks, links CEO to
senior management
o Horizontal structure: respond fast to emergent issues (agile), provide control and
ensure consistent messages, allow for cross-functional teamwork and flexibility and
avoid turf wars/silos
▪ Natural work team (permanent team, ongoing basis)
▪ Taskforce team (for specific projects)
▪ Agile team (flexible (re)grouping, to solve specific problems)
▪ Standardized work process (tools to document work: flow charts, checklists)
▪ Council meetings (discuss strategic issues and collaborate)
▪ Communication guidelines (procedures, house style, brand book)
Chapter 03: Corporate Communication in a Changing Media Environment
• Socia media revolution: Command & control model is no longer relevant
o Now: Communication & community: free-flowing conversation + employees as
corporate communication professionals
• Democratization
o Access: everyone that has access to internet can be a global publisher of content
o Tech: camera leads to citizen journalists
o Social media: user-generated content (UGC) + Web 2.0: shifts in the use of online
technologies
• Blurry boundaries: corporate blogs
o Spokes bloggers: employee maintaining a corporate blog
o Challenges and opportunities
o Nice to corporates to see what’s going on
• Challenges of social media for CC
o Managing and controlling the corporate message
o Stakeholders' higher expectations
o Costs of web care responses to eWOM (reactive or also proactive)
• Opportunities of social media for CC:
o Stronger ties and more engagement
o Marketing and PR more mixed
o Reaffirming corporate image, direct marketing and distribution
o More feedback leading to business improvements
o Stakeholders as potential advocates (they become more supportive)
• Ineffective web care....so stakeholder opposition
