What is a crisis?

Organizations can face two kinds of crises; those that can not be avoided (fro example natural disasters) and those who can (human error, negligence or malicious intent). Human-included crisis can be further divided into cases where the company is at fault (negligence) and where it is not (crime) Negligence is an example for a company’s fault, whereas crime is an example of no fault by the company.
While all crises are different they still have some same crisis characteristics:

1. The element of surprise: leads to a loss of control, which makes the crises very difficult to handle
   
2. Insufficient information
   
3. Quick pace of events
   
4. Intense scrutiny

The Online Face of Crises

With the new millennium a new type of crisis appeared namely online crises. Serious business crimes are for example data theft, or damaging the computer system with a virus. The internet can also be used to create anticorporate, antibrand “communities. Additionally a company image can be seriously damaged through web logs and online reviews of the company’s products. A recommendation for companies is to build u their own online presence, through online pages, and build a good connection to the online world.
How to prepare for crises
First it is essential for every company to understand that it can find itself involved in crises, no exceptions. There are certain steps, how to prepare for a crisis.

1. Access the risk for your organization. Make a plan for potential crisis-situation and determine the effects on your constituencies.
2. Set communication objectives for potential crises
3. Analyze channel choice
4. Assign a different team to each crisis
5. Plan for centralization
6. What to include in a formal plan?
7. Communicating during crisis

An 8 steps plan helps you to communicate during crisis situation.

1. Get control of the situation by defining the real problem and set communication objectives. 
   
2. Gather as much information as possible
   
3. Set up a centralized crisis management center
   
4. Communicate early and often
   
5. Understand the media’s mission in a crisis
   
6. Communicate directly with affected constituents
   
7. Remember that business must continue
   
8. Make plans to avoid another crisis immediately

Conclusion

Crises are times of instability, where it depends on the leadership activity and decision making the outcome of the situation. In some cases companies can emerge even more respected out of a crisis, if they handled it well.

“I work in a French company during six months last year as a derivatives sales and they are now famous because a trader has lost around 5 billion euros during the last months. I was very aware about this story because I worked with this trader during 6 months. I called him everyday but I did not like him too much because he took usually long time to answer me and was not so cool with me. I was just a trainee. When the news was published I understood better why he was so busy. During the two last month of my internship, I had to come to work 1 hour before the regular time because this employee did not do his job properly. During this crisis time, the media was very interesting in this story and communication for both company and trader was very important. This is a description of the communication crisis in this case.
On January 24, financial markets around the world shook: a rogue trader of Société Générale had cost his employer 4.9 billion euros. The bank rushed to sell the trader’s assets before setting up a crisis communication team to manage the fallout. Their task: to deal with journalists’ requests and the anger of partners, shareholders and clients. Under communication director Hughes Le Bret’s leadership, the bank called two companies specialising in crisis management: Image 7 and Harrison & Wolf. The latter agency has an impressive track record, having already managed the Erika tanker shipwreck for French petroleum giant Total and the explosion of the AZF chemical factory in Toulouse in September, 2001. In less than 24 hours, the team set up its base and prepared a communications strategy and Daniel Bouton, Société Générale’s chairman, prepared himself for a press conference. “Increasingly, companies have had to call upon consulting firms specializing in communications in crisis situations,” explains Ludovic François, risk management professor associated with the Parisian business school HEC. “They can no longer use the press service departments with which they have good relations. Electronic media now means that anybody can give their opinion,” adding that “in a crisis, a PR agency’s role is to downplay an extraordinary event-quite the opposite of classic communications work, which is to play up a rather ordinary event.” One of these experts, Christophe Reille, is now managing Kerviel’s communication strategy. “It’s a rare situation,” says François. “A crisis communications expert costs 1,000 to 2,000 euros per day on average.” Reille, who recently opened his own agency, told FRANCE 24 he was approached by the trader’s lawyers. “They wanted me to take care of media relations because they had neither the time nor the inclination to do so.” Reille is a specialist of communications when under legal pressure. In other words, his role is to “intervene when companies struggle to communicate at a time when the law (…) does not let them express themselves as freely as when they are trying to sell a product or launch an advertisement campaign. Our role is to help them react to an atypical situation and help them adapt to a situation they can neither predict nor anticipate.”
Reille chose a low-profile strategy for Jérôme Kerviel, “favouring communication with the judges – and explaining events to the media later.” He also organised a photo shoot with an AFP photographer. The snapshots show a gentleman, one who can be seen in the role of “scapegoat” for Société Générale and who is “not trying to flee,” but rather cooperating with justice. François believes this is a good approach. “The photos personalised him. Kerviel looks like a nice guy. In a film, he’d be played by Tom Cruise. The fact that he is taking responsibility for his acts gives him credibility.” Maurice Botbol, chief editor of the strategy and intelligence information publication Intelligence Online, agrees, saying that Société Générale’s communication strategy is “less effective,” even if the company’s first reaction, to “cry fraud and demonise Jérôme Kerviel during the outcry, was a shrewd one.” “They implied that he had lined his pockets in the process,” he says.
According to François, “this stance helped contain the first shockwave, but it’s difficult to maintain over the longterm.” Their choice contradicted the main principles of crisis communications: “transparency, truth and goodwill.”Even Bouton’s proposal to forsake six months’ salary was “clumsy,” Botbol believes. “The amount is negligible compared to the sum lost, and what’s more, his salary is only a small part of his overall income.” Now, it seems that Société Générale’s crisis team is avoiding questions from the press, with Harrison & Wolf’s Alquier-who frequently uses public opinion to influence the course of events-refusing to comment. “An investigation is under way. Let the law do its job,” he told FRANCE 24. It’s a stance that surprises François, the analyst adding that it is “difficult to draw quick conclusions on crisis communication strategy. Influencing public opinion is a complex endeavour. The result does not really depend on the strategy. A bad crisis management tactic can still lead to good results.”

Jerome Kerviel, 797,000 results on google

Jerome Kerviel on CNBC

Leave Jerome Kerviel alone

Stephen P. Borgatti identifies five trends in the 21st century regarding organizations. These trends are Globalization, Diversity, Flexibility, Flatness, and Networking. Connected with these trends, there are also implications for communication.

Globalization

Due to globalization you have to deal with people from different countries and their language and culture may be totally different from ours. Therefore it is necessary to inform one about the different cultures, as you have to be able to work with them. First of all you have to agree to one language in which you want to communicate. Additionally you should also pay attention to nonverbal communication, as it is different in some countries. Another impact that globalization has on communication, is the need for new communication methods, as communication has to travel a long distance (e-mail, video conferencing…)

Diversity

Diversity in companies is not only based on different home countries, but also individual differences. Therefore one has not only to deal with cultural differences but also with more heterogeneous individuals. Resulting from this, communication problems are more likely to occur and more than ever, a good communication strategy as well as good communication skills become necessary.

Flexibility / Flatness

Due to the fact, that companies have to be more flexible nowadays, employees have often more power and have to show more initiative. They also gain more power due to the trend of flat organizations. Management levels are eliminated and the employees’ responsibility is increasing. This results in more and maybe even more difficult communication for the individual in the company.

Networked

Even though companies’ structures are becoming more flat, networking is one of the key points, to stay competitive. Direct communications across unit and firm boundaries and cross unit team structures are typical for the 21^st century. Outsourcing and strategic alliances make a good network necessary, as well as the fast changing customer needs.

“During this communication class, I was fully in the globalization trends. Indeed, during my teamwork I had to work with Indian people on topics that were taught by American citizens. It was a really good experience for me to work with them. Moreover, in IUP, I had to work with multicultural teammates and we tried to use a mix of our capabilities to do the best job. For example, I worked with an American Soldier, an Indian engineer and a Korean born in Japan that has spent 5 years in Canada and 1 year in France. That was a really melting pot team and we had good result and lot of fun to discover the difference way to work. But in India, it was different because I was the only foreigner and I had to adapt their working methods.  And this is really a different approach. You could not impose your method to 4 others people who almost have the same one. I am not used to stay silent if I am not agree but in this case, I had to sometimes. In a teamwork project, I think that if you are always against what the others propose it does not work. You should do concession and try to intervene when you think that it is really important.

Thus, the experience of the globalization during this MBA, was a very good experience to develop my team working skills. During my master in my French Business School, I really did not like to work with a team. I preferred work alone but this opportunity to meet different culture and different working method changed my mind and my interest for the team working. Now, I can say that I like this kind of assignment maybe more than personal one and I could imagine myself working in a team at the beginning of my career.”

Video on Globalization, Noam Chomsky

The World is Flat, Friedman

For a long time managers concentrated more on the company’s external communication, especially with customers. However, they have begun to realize that also internal communication is very important, recognizing, that employees have more to do with the company’s success than any other constituency.

Implementing an Effective Internal Communication Program

Seven steps for implementing an effective internal communication program are described.

1. Communicate up and down
2. Make time for face-to-face meetings. Regular meetings ensure that employees have access to the management (share company results with the employees and ]responsiveness to employee feedback).
3. Communicate online. Since the 1990´s Intranets are used in firms to communicate inside the company.
4. Create employee-oriented publications (monthly newsletters or magazines).
5. Communicate visually
6. Focus on internal branding
7. Consider the company grapevine. Communication does not only occur over formal channels, in fact most of the communication is informal talking.

Management’s Role in internal communications

It is very important that CEO’s and senior leaders of companies understand the importance of internal communication. Especially because they are the “culture carriers” and visionaries within a company, they need to set a good example.

Conclusion

Basically it all comes down to one conclusion: managers need to get out from behind their desks and go out and get to know the people who are working for them. Even with all the technology available to communicate with employees, the most important factor of internal communication begins with the manager.

“I experienced the importance of internal communication during one of my internships. I worked as a Back Office member of a Private Banking and I had to communicate everyday with the sales and trader of the front office. This people earned a lot of money and the bank earned also a lot of money thank to them but their internal communication skills were generally very bad. They were very busy people, under pressure and the work of the back office was really not their priority. However, we had to work with them to check their deals. And back office is a vital part of the working process in the investment Institution. For example, when I checked their deals and how they registered them in the Information System I scope several mistakes that could have huge impacts on the financial results. And they are paid according to these financial results because the main part of their income comes from bonuses. Thus, they should be interesting in having good relationship with people who “work for them” everyday. However, it was not the case at all. The communication between the two departments was so bad that some of my team member did not want to work with some sales people and do not their job properly because of this no communication. When you worked in the Back Office, you are dependant of people who work in the Front Office and you need them sometimes as they need you. But in this company, when you try to call them the answer was usually that they have no time to spend with you, that you were boring them and they were losing their time with you. This feeling of inferiority was really not good for the company and manager of each department try to change this relationship by organizing dinners and parties.

At this time, I would like working as a sales in the financial market and I promise me to be careful on how to communicate with middle and back office because I knew how they could be useful”

See the video of a French bank Front office. That’s a stress job!

Media relations are very important for a company since it is not only a constituency but also acts as a transmitter. Investors, suppliers, and consumers as well, receive news and information about an organization through the media.

The news media

Since 1970’s and certain events, like the oil embargo or environmental problems, people has realized that business organizations had a huge effect on their lives and business news have became popular. Another change was the increased use of other communication channels, than newspapers and magazines, to communicate business news. Television and later the Internet became very popular communication channels. Today, the growth of business coverage in the media is still growing and companies have to pay carefully attention to their media relations.

Building better relations with the media

The most important point in dealing with the media is trying to establish a good relationship with the right people. There are four steps, which should be done, to do it:

1. Target the media with a good research. After determining which objective a company has for a certain story, research should be done about the right place to pitch the story. 
2. Respond to all media calls and let a person respond that is trained at dealing with the media.
3. Prepare person which will be interviewed needs to be prepared for the media interview. If possible a media relation professional should attend the interview.
4. Measure media relationships.
5. Maintain ongoing relationships with the relevant media persons. A recommendation is to meet regularly with reporters working in the company’s business area.

Developing an online media strategy

Today not only a few reporters have the potential to influence the public’s opinion about a company, but every single individual with an Internet access. Resulting from this the need for a good online media strategy, to response to consumer’s opinions, reviews, and ratings in the internet, becomes obvious. Additionally it is recommendable for companies to extend their media relations strategy to the blogsphere.

“ In class we discussed a real world example of media relations with the case study about the Adolph Coors Company. The Coors Company faced serious image problems in the 1970´s. They had been accused of discrimination against gays, blacks, Hispanics and woman. Additionally they were blamed of human rights violations as well as union busting. As a result the Coors Company was boycotted. We discussed how the Company handled this problem and whether the open door policy was the better choice over the no comment policy. Coors followed the invitation by Mike Wallace, to attend his Television show “60 minutes.” The Coors Company did a really good research about the interviewer and the show. Joe and Bill Coors were well prepared and were not overdressed. The 60 minutes report showed a different way of the whole story and the discrimination accusations appeared to be wrong. With the well prepared interview and its open door policy the Coors Company changed its image in the public. This case is a good example for the power of the media and how companies can influence the public’s opinion with good media reports.”

The 60 minutes is still a show that could have big impact on communication. In this video, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy left the show and this bad image for him was shown in lots of countries worldwide.

One of the easiest and fastest ways to communicate an organization’s identity is through advertisement.

What is corporate advertising?

Corporate advertising can be defined as “paid use of media that seeks to benefit the image of the corporation as a whole rather than its products or services alone.” A major difference between corporate and product advertising is, who is paying for it (marketing department for product against CEO office for corporate advertising).

There are three categories of corporate advertisement: Image advertisement, financial advertisement and issue advocacy.

Who uses corporate advertising and why?

Over half of the largest companies in the USA do have corporate advertising programs. Companies in controversial industries (e.g. cigarettes industry) are more likely to create corporate advertising programs, to enhance their reputation. The reasons for companies to invest in corporate advertisement campaigns are to increase sales, to create a stronger reputation, and/or to recruit and retain employees.

Conclusion

Corporate advertising helps a company to communicate its messages to its constituencies. it is a quick and efficient way of communication but unfortunately at very high costs. The high costs combined with the difficulties in measuring the effects of corporate advertising will shy away some managers. 

“On the web, a growing number of corporate blog have appeared durning the last years. To be successful a blog has to be realized carefully. According to Kevin O’Keefe, from the Northeastern University, five criterias must be respected to achieve this goal: 

1. Culture- If you’ve got culture traits that are interesting to people (think Google) or if you’ve got culture problems (think Dell or Microsoft), showing what your company’s culture is really like is a great reason to blog. With the Google scenario, you’re giving customers a glimpse into a fascinating company, and giving behind-the-scenes info on a universally loved brand. On the other hand, when you’re dealing with consumer distrust or bad PR, blogging (if done correctly) can help repair a tainted reputation.
2. Transparency- Blog readers want to read authors they can trust. They don’t want to read blog posts by a company that is trying to take a thinly veiled approach at hawking their products. It really is a balancing act. Sure, your company’s blog can help sell products/services. But at the same time, you don’t want to seem like like you’ve got too much of an agenda.
3. Time- It takes time and research to write a worthwhile blog.
4. Dialogue- You’ve got to talk with your audience. You’ve read the cliche “Blogs are a conversation.” Well, they are. And successful blogs are conversations between the audience and the writer(s).
5. Entertaining writing- When the blogger brings a unique style to the blog, it makes the blog so much more interesting.

Best Corporate Blogs

Daewoo Motor Corporate ad

How to differ identity and image?

According to Paul A. Argenti, “a company’s identity is the visual manifestation of thecompany’s reality conveyed through the organization’s name, logo, motto, products, services, buildings, stationary, uniforms, and all other tangible pieces of evidence created by the organization and communicated to a variety of constituents” and the image is then the reflection of the organization’s identity. The identity program is a success, when these images accurately reflect the company’s reality. In an intensive competition, companies should pay more attention to their identity and image and make them more powerful.

Why to create an Identity? How to create and control identity?

There are several things that will contribute positively in creating an organization’s identity. First a company should think about an inspirational corporate vision, which includes the company’s core values, philosophies, standards and goals. Secondly, the company’s name and logo also shape a company’s identity and differentiates them in the marketplace. This allows the consumer to recognize a product of a certain company very quickly and effortlessly. Last, consistency is very important for a company’s identity. The organization’s vision should manifest itself throughout all identity elements, including names and logos.

A method that has been used successfully to create or change a company’s identity, includes six steps:

1. Conduct an identity audit / How is your current image respectively reputation?
2. Set identity Objectives
3. Develop designs and names
4. Develop prototypes
5. Launch and communicate the new identity to the public
6. Implement the program

The identity-building can be controlled and managed by an organization, in contrast to the image part of reputation.

How to build a solid reputation?

For a good reputation the organization’s identity and image have to be aligned. Therefore it should be a goal to first shape a unique identity, and second to project a coherent and consistent set of images to the public. A good reputation is favorable because it can give companies a competitive advantage by attracting and retaining the best talent, loyal customers, and business partners. Employees can be a good starting point to build a strong reputation, as they need to have the company’s vision and value in mind when acting with customers. Philanthropy and Social Responsibility could offer visibility and importance in the eyes of many constituencies.

“The example of General Electric slogan change in 2003 illustrates perfectly how it could be difficult and dangerous to modify the identity of a company, Indeed, The change was a long process but we know today that it had given very good results. This is a summary of a newspaper article just before the launching of the new slogan.

After almost a quarter-century, General Electric will no longer ”bring good things to life.” It is taking the risky step of replacing the familiar corporate slogan with one meant to laud its innovations in areas far a field from prosaic products like refrigerators and night-lights.

On Sunday, the New York office of BBDO Worldwide, the General Electric agency since 1920, will introduce the theme ”Imagination at work.” The campaign presented offbeat examples of imagination’s aftermath, like what would have happened had a modern-day G.E. jet engine been strapped onto the airplane the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, N.C., in 1903.

The goal of the aggressive overhaul, to be supported with more than $100 million worth of television, print and online advertising, is to play up the conglomerate’s efforts in realms like medical technology, robotics, media and financial services.

”We bring good things to life” first appeared in 1979, predating the appointment of Mr. Immelt’s high-profile predecessor, John F. Welch Jr., under whom G.E. flourished until hitting some rough waters in 2001.

” ‘We bring good things to life’ is a great line and speaks to the benefits we bring, and I was hesitant to move away from it,” said Ms. Hu, general manager for corporate advertising and marketing communications. ”But we needed a new articulation that is part mission, part vision and part strategy.” Research among consumers showed that the slogan being retired primarily invoked lighting and appliances, she added. Those areas now account for only 6 percent to 7 percent of the revenue of G.E., according to the company.

Analysts and corporate identity consultants were divided on the wisdom of relegating ”We bring good things to life”. Some worried that General Electric was abandoning decades of building its corporate brand image, a foolhardy endeavor at a time consumers are bombarded with more advertising than ever. ”I’m surprised they felt they couldn’t breathe new life into the current theme when ‘Imagination at work’ seems to be a less differentiating way of saying the same thing,” said John Lister, chairman of Lister Butler in New York, a corporate- identity-consulting company. Michael Watrous, president and chief executive at Straightline International in New York, another consultant on corporate and brand identities, said G.E.’s top executives ”were going down the wrong road.” ”We know there has been a change of management and we know the company wants to move on,” Mr. Watrous said. ”But it’s our feeling the equity G.E. has in ‘We bring good things to life’ is very solid, and there’s an opportunity to build on what the company already has.”

Some analysts and consultants agreed. ”Most advertisers change campaigns more often than you or I change underwear,” said Gary Stibel, principal at the New England Consulting Group in Westport, Conn., ”and that’s why more advertising is not as effective as it was before.” ‘Imagination at work’ is certainly something G.E. has a right to say,” he added, ”but it has mighty big shoes to fill.’ “G.E., for the first time in many years, is being questioned,” Mr. Stibel said. ”So perhaps it’s time to make a dramatic move, without walking away from its legacy.”

The fate of ”Imagination at work” is important not just for G.E., but for BBDO as well, because two top executives who were recently promoted to new responsibilities at the agency were involved in its creation and development. 

GE Imagination at work ad

Organizations need several communication technologies for internal and external use. These communication technologies have rapidly evolved over the past 10 years. Especially with the internet, the communication possibilities increased significantly. First of all, the E-Mail system is probably the mostly used internal and external communication technology. It is a lot faster and cheaper than sending letters. Today companies can communicate with their constituents more issues, a lot faster, and in particular cheaper over the Internet. Most companies do have their own web sites, and company representatives also have their own blogs. The constituents, therefore, have access to a lot more information about the company, and have the possibility to exchange their opinion about for example the products and the quality, etc. Consequently the internet is a very important field of advertisement and external corporate communication.

Another very useful development in communication technologies is Voice over IP (VoIP). Major advantages of VoIP are that it is not dependent on a location, and it is mostly offered as a free service. An example for VoIP is Skype.

However not only the internet made communication easier and cheaper, but also the rapid developments in the cell phone market since 1990. Telephone calls over the cell phone became much cheaper and popular. Consequently you are not anymore tight to your office to make a phone call and flexibility increases significantly.

New technologies made communication a lot easier and cheaper, but it also increased complexity. Since there are now a lot more communication channels to choose from, it is not that easy anymore to pick always the appropriate communication channel for a certain situation. 

“Even if new technologies could be useful there may have a bad side of this evolution in internal communication. Indeed, face-to-face communication does not be ignored.

During one of my working experience, the email was so important than I can have a discussion with my desk neighbor only by using this mean of communication. I worked for different employees and they send me my works through the email. The main part of my job was to hierarchy the huge amount of works I had to do. However, it could very difficult to give priority when your mission is stated by email. Moreover, it is very impersonal to have no oral communication with your colleagues. Sometimes, a day may be very long when you have no interaction and you cannot speak. However, it was a part of this department culture and everybody did it. There were good sides because I do not like to be disturbed every five minutes when I am working but I think that the absence of feedback and explanation could be alarming for a company. In my opinion, before to be an employee, you are human who need to share experience and relationship with colleagues in the workplace. In this case, the extreme use of new technologies had negative effects on the interpersonal communication.”

Technology increases workplace stress, BNET

Blog of JY Films: The negative effects of technology in workplace

In 1948, Lasswell’s model depicted a linear model. The model says that the speaker sends a message through a communication channel to a listener or an audience to achieve an effect. This model could be basically formulated by asking the question “Who says what to whom in what channel with what effect.”

Then, Shannon & Weaver’s drawn a liner communication model in 1949. This model included a “noise source”, which has the effect of disturbing the transmission of the message. Shannon is known as the father of information theory.

The theorist Schramm built three models during the 1950s. After included the concept of en- and decoding in the first model and added the ideas of a common field for partner communication in the second, he developed the idea of feedback in his third model. Moreover, for the first time, the communication model became circular process.

The communication model of Westley and MacLean includes different media sources that they name in their model “events.” Interestingly this model does not have a feedback possibility for the message receiving party.

Finally, Kincaid’s 1979 Convergence Model shows communication as a process, and not a single event, where information is shared to reach a level of mutual understanding. Communication is depicted as dynamic and cyclical.

To sum up, communication models have been developed from liner to cyclical and dynamic models and also changed to be adapted to mass communications methods.

“I personally experienced, what Schramm describes with his second model, that the sender and the receiver of a message need to have a common expertise in the topic discussed. Otherwise the message will not be understood. The same expertise does not even have to be a difficult topic, it can simply be a difference in the language spoken. For example, my roommates in America were German. Since I am French and I can not speak German at all and they could not speak French. Thus, we have to agree upon a language that we both speak, which would be English even if it were difficult sometimes because of the accent. Moreover, it is interesting to see the growing place that the English hold as the universal language. Now, if you go abroad you need to speak English. I experienced the main problem that people meets if they do not speak during my last holiday with my childhood friends in Spain. They do not speak English because they have not been lucky like me and they left the school very early. It was very difficult to them to speak and meet other people because of this communication barrier. This is one of the main problem of the French educational system. Before going in United States, I have never spoken English. Of course, I learned it and I was not so bad in class graduation but the oral skills are really not developed at school. That is why French people have the reputation to be bad in English and it could be very dangerous for our business development. Moreover, the context of free trade in Europe and globalization get worse this situation and our lack of English speaking.”

Communication theories, wikipedia

Glossary of Communication Theories

The Communication Theory

The critical method for using a coherent communication strategy depends on thinking carefully about the same three parts that Aristotle, thousands of years ago, used to describe the components of speech:

1. Instead of a speaker, the first component in a corporate communication strategy is the organization
2. The second component, in place of Aristotle’s person…. To whom the end or object of the speech refers is the constituency
3. The final component, which Aristotle describes as “the subject of which he threats” will be referred to as messages. 

How to Develop Corporate Communication Strategies?

There are four steps for developing a good corporate communication strategy:

1. Setting an effective organization strategy: The three subsets of an organization strategy must best done in the following order. First determine the organizations objectives. Second decide what resources (money, times and Human Resources) are available. The final step is diagnosing the organization’s reputation.
2. Analyzing constituencies:
3. Delivering messages appropriately
4. Expressing a constituency response

“ When I worked as a sales and marketing assistant for a French bank, I used several means of communication to retain customers and reach potential one. Our target customers were private investors and we tried to sell them our Derivatives and Semi Derivatives products. In the past, this range of product was created for professional investors who had close personal relationships with the sales force. With these new products, everybody could invest on Derivatives easily by using standardized products. Thus, we had to reach the maximum number of customers to succeed in this business because they could not invest huge amount of money. And we could not have personal contact with everybody. We had to find other way of communication to them.

In this bank, we used several means to communicate with customers and experts in each type of communication composed the department. As a trainee, I have to work with each of them. Thus, one person had to develop and maintain the website sgbourse.com that we used principally to give instant prices of our thousands of product and to accurately describe them. Then, another person was responsible for organizing all the events such as financial salons or customer meetings everywhere in France.  Moreover, another woman had to manage the call centers, the email questions and she also organize the publication of marketing brochures and newspapers. Finally, the last person was in charge of the media relations. This department was organized attract a huge number of potential customers through different means communication.

It was a really good experience for me for two main reasons. I had to work and help all these employees and I could have a best knowledge of all these ways of communication and marketing strategies. And moreover, I had to well manage my time because I worked for several people on different projects at the same time.”

How to plan communication strategically?

The first chapter of the book “Corporate Communication” written by Paul A. Argenti relates the place hold by communication in context of the Business major change.

Attitudes toward American business through the years

Business has never had a completely positive image for different reasons. During the 1860s, the bad working conditions (for example during the transcontinental rail systems building) and the effect of the following industrial revolution on women and children miserable conditions cause this image. Then, the burst of the stock market bubble that creates the Great Depression got worse the situation.

Fortunately, the golden age between 1940 and the beginning of the 1970s had good consequences on Business popular feelings.

However, the 1970s incidences such as Watergate, Vietnam War or Oil Embargo turned the American attitudes toward business. Up to today the image of business never turned really positive again, even though the 80s and 90s constituted the final economic boom of the 20^th century. Moreover, the stock market crash in 2000 and several scandals such as the famous Enron in 2002 create a important lack of confidence in big companies. Finally, today, the growing gap pay between senior company executive and ordinary workers (with an average of 411 times more) could also explain this image.

Hollywood: A window on Main Street and Wall Street

The negative image of business today may also result from be the negative portrait of businessman in TV-shows and Hollywood films. Indeed, in two-thirds of the TV shows business people are portrayed negatively. And TV held a more and more important place in life because, according to a research, American people spend 40 to 50 hours per week in front of a TV (more than they spend time in a classroom).

Films also contribute to negative Business image. Movie such as Wall Street or Erin Brockovich dramatized the bad example of real life that TV news present.

Global Village

Today’s globalization could be illustrated by this data: on the 100 world economies, there are more companies (51) than countries). Last years, improvements in technology let the world become a “Global Village”, especially the Internet helped to virtually “eliminate” national borders and time frames, coupled with liberalization of trade and finance. To remain competitive, company could not avoid operating in countries with fragile economies, weak democratic systems and overburdened infrastructures neither save jobs in traditional economies (according to a Goldman Sachs study estimated that 300,000 to 500,000 jobs were lost between 2001 and 2003 to go overseas and that as 6 millions jobs could move overseas by 2013).

However, this trend has more and more opponents and companies have to face the anti-globalization movement. People joining this movement believe for example that globalization will destroy individual national cultures and national workstations. In addition they protest against exploitation of poorer countries (e.g. child labor).

Finally, business Leader today must prepared not only to handle the international media spotlight but also negative news about them from reaching individuals virtually with Internet

How to compete in a changing environment

Attacks against Gillette because of testing on animal, against Nike for children working or against Fast Food with Super Size Me

1. Recognize changing Environment: Managers need to be aware of the changing environment, which is sometimes just not the case because of short-term orientation.
2. Adapt to the environment without compromising principles: Customers will recognize this change and will switch to products of another company if they disagree with the change.
3. Do not assume problems will magically disappear: Most managers think that Am public has a short memory about problems companies gets into. Boycotts of companies such as Coors, Wall Mart, Nike, Shell and Texaco are proofs of the contrary.
4. Keep corporate communication connected to strategy

Conclusion

The constantly and fast changing business environment demands for strategically communication. To have success in 21^st century someone has to pay attention to the way he communicates for example behavior, changes and future plans of the company.

“ I have a professional experience that I could certainly never do anymore because of changes in business and the globalization. Two years ago, I worked as a Back Office member of a French Private Banking in Luxembourg.

During this internship, I had to support the trading and selling activities (recordkeeping, trade confirmation, trade settlement…) on Futures, Currency Option and Structured Products. Working in a small entity in this little country, I was lucky that the Information System of the company was not so advanced. Indeed, I had to perform some “manual” works that allow me to best understand and dissect these complicated products that I did not know well before. For example, if I had worked for the same group but in Paris for the Investment Banking, I would only have to push one button to realize my operation. Thus, the low level of the IT system development offered to me a more interesting mission that do not exist anymore. 

Moreover, during this experience, I had to contact regularly Back Office of counterparts in order to “reconcile” the results. This part of my job was my first working experience of globalization. Indeed, some Back Office of European banks was in India. And I remember this experience when my poor English fully disappeared as soon as an Indian accent answer me whereas I was calling an Dutch bank. Today, this trend is growing and back offices are loosing lots of jobs in developed countries. That’s why I think also that I could certainly never do it anymore.

During this internship, I have really experienced what the term of globalization means. When I think to the business model of the bank, it is unbelievable. The traditional operation could be the following. A private client of Dubai call a French sales who worked in Luxembourg to buy a product indexed on Brent Oil in London or NYC or on Japanese Index Nikkei for example. Then, to cover his position, the sales buy the same product to a Dutch Bank. And finally, I call the Back Office of the Dutch Bank in India to confirm this operation. I think that a good example of changing environment in business. Each stakeholder takes profit of this evolution except my company that maintain a back office in Luxembourg. But it will not last for a long time”  

See this AntiGlobalization French Rap Video (English Subtitle)