Summary corporate communication
Chapter 1
Key concepts in corporate communication
CONCEPT DEFINITION
MISSION Overriding purpose in line with the values and
expectations of stakeholders
- Who we are
- What we value
VISION Desired future state: the apsiration of the
organization
- What we want to become
CORPORATE OBJECTIVES Statement of overall aims in line with the
overall purpose
- How we gauge our degree of success in
accomplishing our mission
STRATEGY The ways or means in which the corporate
objectives are tob e achieved and put into
effect
- How we will achieve our vision/
objectives
CORPORATE IDENTITY The profile and values communicated by an
organization
CORPORATE IMAGE The immediate set of associations of an
individual in response to one or more signals or
messages from or about a particular
organization at a single point in time
CORPORATE REPUTATION An individual’s collective representation of past
images of an organization (induced through
either communication or past experiences)
established over time
STAKEHOLDER Any group or individual who can affect or is
affected by the achievement of the
organization’s objectives
- Relevant person/ group of people
MARKET A defined group for whom a product is or may
be in demand (and for whom an organization
creates and maintains products and services)
- Target group
COMMUNICATION The tactics and media that are used to
communicate with internal and external groups
INTEGRATION The act of coordinating all communication so
that the corporate identity is effectively and
consistently communicated to interna land
external groups
Mission- vision – objectives – strategies
Corporate identity – corporate image – corporate reputation
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,Stakeholder – market
Communication – integration
A mission is a general expression of the overriding purpose of the organization, which, ideally, is in
line with the values and expectations of major stakeholders and concerned with the cscope and
boundaries of the organization. Is it often referred to with the simple question, ‘What business are
we in?’. A vision is the desired futre state of the organization. It is an aspirational view of the general
directen that the organization wnats to go in, as formulated by senior management, and that
requires the energies and commitment of memmbers of the organization. Objectives are the more
precise (short-term) statements of direction – in line with the formulated vision – which are tob e
achieved by strategic initiatives or strategies. A strategy involves actions and communications that
are linked to objectives an dare often specified in term of specific organization functiens (e.g.
finance, operations, human resources). Operations strategied for streamlining operations and human
resource strategief for staff support and devolopment are common to every organization as well as,
increasingly, full-scale corporate communication strategies.
Key to having a corporate communication strategy is the notion of a corporate identity: the basic
profile that an organization wants to prject to all its important stakeholder groups and ho wit aims
tob e known by these various gropous in term of its corporate image and reputation. To ensure that
differen stakeholders indeed conceive of an organizaiton in a favourable and broaldy cosistent
manner, and also in line with the projected corporate identity, organizations need to go to great
lenghs to integrate all their communication, form brochures and advertising campaigns to websites,
in tone, themes, visuals and logos.
The stakeholder concepts takes center stage wthin corporate communication rather than considering
the organizational envirenment simply in terms of markets or the general public. Organizations are
increasingly recognizing the need fora n ‘inclusive’ an ‘balanced’ stakeholder management approach
that involves actively communicating with all stakeholder gropus on which the organization depends,
and not just shareholders or customers. Such awareness sstems form high-profile cases where undue
attention to certain stakeholder groups had led to crises for and severe damage tot he organizations
concerned.
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,Key terms
Advocacy activity by an individual or group that aims to
influence decisions within political, economic,
and social institutions.
Authenticity refers to the proven fact that something is
legitimate or real.
Corporate communication - A management function
- That offers a framework fort he
effective coordination of all interna
land external communication
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, - With an overall purpose of establishing
and maintaining favourable reputations
- With stakeholder groups upon which
the organization is dependent
Corporate identity The profile and values communicated by an
organization
Corporate image The immediate set of associations of an
individual in response to one or more signals or
messages form or about a particular
organization at a single point in time
Corporate reputation An individual’s collective representation fo past
images of an organization (induced through
either communication or past experiences)
established over time
Integration Market Market integration occurs when prices among
different locations or related goods follow
similar patterns over a long period of time.
Groups of goods often move proportionally to
each other and when this relation is very clear
among different markets it is said that the
markets are integrated
(a situation in which separate markets for the
same product become one single market,
for example when an import tax in one of
the markets is removed: It has long been
recognized that market integration is far more
efficient than firm integration.)
Mission Overriding purpose in line with the values and
expectations of stakeholders
Stakeholder engagement Stakeholder engagement is the process by
which companies communicate and get to
know their stakeholders. By getting to know
them, companies are able to better understand
what they want, when they want it, how
engaged they are and how the companies'
plans and actions will affect their goals.
Transparency Condition of being transparent, very important
for a company nowadays
Vision Desired future state: the aspiration of the
organization
Chapter 2
Both marketing and public relations emerged as separate ‘external’ communication disciplines in the
twentieth century when organizations realized that in order to prosper they needed to concern
themselves with issues of public concern (i.e. public relations) as well as with ways of effectively
bringing products to market (i.e. marketing). Since those days, both the marketing and public
relations desciplines have gone through considerable professional development, largely in their own
separate ways. Since the 1980’s organizations have increasingly started to bring the two disciplines
together again under the ubrella of a new management function that we now know as corporate
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