Global and Multicultural Public Relations

Juan-Carlos Molleda, Sarab Kochhar

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781118673928
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Publicité

An overview of the practice of strategic global and multicultural public relations in various sectors

Global and Multicultural Public Relations offers students an expert overview of specific public relations practices, focused on strategic analyses of actual case studies and real-world examples. Emphasizing practice rather than theory, this valuable resource explores innovative communication programs that are designed to address culturally-diverse communities worldwide. The five-step strategic public relations process—formative research, planning, implementation, evaluation, and stewardship—is extensively examined and applied to a variety of scenarios, helping students understand the realty of modern public relations practice.

All aspects of public relations practice, including media relations, government relations, employee communications, and shareholder relations are covered to help students gain solid foundational knowledge. Broad in scope, this textbook identifies and describes the strategy formulation and implementation process in private, government, non-profit, and various other sectors.

Academic and trade articles, book chapters, original case studies, and new primary research offer students a realistic and sophisticated approach to global public relations. Figures, tables, photographs, and charts illustrate each topic, while highlighted learning objectives and key points, discussion questions, and framed sections on ethical considerations and best practices strengthen student comprehension.

• Employs a real-world approach to public relations principles, practices, and strategies
• Focuses on global public relations rather than outdated nation-centered models
• Fills a gap in current literature on multinational and multicultural public relations
• Explains the public relations strategies that are best suited for each sector
• Includes summary sections that contain suggested readings and supplemental online links

Designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, Global and Multicultural Public Relations is an ideal textbook for courses in international public relations, global communication, public relations management, and multinational management, as well as business, political sciences, and public administration.

1
Introduction and Overview of Global and Multicultural Public Relations

Keywords

multilateral organizations; trade groups; professional associations; communication hubs; evolution; transition; clearinghouse; home, host, transnational, and multinational corporations; global agencies; communication conglomerates; growth

Central Themes

• Significant historical events with economic, political, and social implications have determined the evolution, growth, and sophistication of public relations in countries and regions across the world.
• Emergent technologies are dramatically speeding up the development and increasing the reach of organizations, media outlets, citizens, and consumers, facilitating the instantaneous exchange of contents from one location to multiple locations.
• Communication conglomerates, global agencies, and networks of independent agencies are major players and influencers in the public relations industry worldwide.
• Since the 1940s, European and North American professional associations have made significant contributions to modern and strategic public relations as a profession and to the career development of national and international professionals.
• All types of organizations practice global and multicultural public relations, including government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), multilateral organizations, multinational corporations (MNCs), and agencies.
• The complexity of public relations programs increases when organizations operate across borders, because of the existence and dynamism of home, host, and transnational stakeholders and publics.

Introduction

The geographical scope of action and level of specialization of public relations and communications management professionals are expanding rapidly worldwide. All types of organizations face the need to communicate with and engage stakeholders in a multiplicity of national and regional environments. Concerning the need for public relations professionals to spend time overseas, the 2013 Career Guide of PRWeek emphasizes:

This embrace of international experience comes as the industry has become increasingly global. Technology makes it even easier to communicate across the world. The supply chain now stretches across continents; as more companies draw talent, materials, and resources from all corners of the world. These changes require communications pros to speak to a growing range of audiences.

(Palmer 2013, p. 25)

This textbook documents and discusses specific practices used by various business, government, and nongovernment sectors to cultivate relationships and develop corporate reputations among foreign and multicultural stakeholders. Overall, the textbook will cover some main questions, like: What are the skills and knowledge required to practice strategic global and multicultural public relations in a specific sector? What are the implications for practice when managing relationships with home, host, transnational, and multicultural stakeholders? Which strategies are considered best practices in each sector?

Understanding global public relations in multicultural environments is essential in an increasingly interconnected world. Organizations constantly face the emergence, expansion, and contraction of markets; better informed and engaged stakeholders and consumers; greater competition; and the availability of communications and media technologies. Technologic platforms and channels blur geographical boundaries and facilitate the coordination, production, implementation, and evaluation of public relations and communications efforts, with the active participation of agency, in‐house, and outsourcing teams working from several world locations.

Thus, the primary goal of this textbook is to introduce you to the evolving field of global and multicultural public relations, including its infrastructure, issues and opportunities, and strategies and tactics, through illustrations and case studies.

Forces Driving the Growth of the Practice

Historically, the evolution of public relations can be attributed to the result of social pressures on organizations or the empowerment of public opinion demanding social responsibility and organizational transparency, both locally and globally (Sharpe and Pritchard 2004). Historical events have also impacted the evolution of the practice and field of study. The reconstruction of Western European countries after World War II and the subsequent increase in cross‐Atlantic trade led to a significant growth in modern public relations. Similarly, other successive economic, political, social, and sporting events positively impacted the growth and sophistication of public relations and communications management in regions and countries across the world. Examples include the Olympic Games in South Korea in 1988, which stimulated the country's economy and catapulted it on to the world stage as a technology center; the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, which led to new freedoms for Central and Eastern European nations; and the end of apartheid in South Africa and the subsequent election of Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) – the so‐called Father of the New South Africa – as the country's president in 1994, which put into action a reconciliation commission and nation‐building plans to unify segregated populations into one national identity. Strategic public relations has contributed to these countries' and regions' ability to plan and communicate their dynamic economic, political, and social transitions.¹

Previous studies have found at least six major environmental variables affecting the evolution and growth of public relations in many countries.² In no specific order, these are: (i) social culture and traditions; (ii) political systems; (iii) the level of economic development; (iv) news media practices and infrastructure; (v) the nature and types of activism or social movements; and (vi) the laws and regulations directly or indirectly impacting the practice of public relations in a given country. International business scholars Christopher Bartlett and Sumantra Ghoshal (2002) explain how multinational corporations (MNCs) adapt or react to evolving, challenging contexts:

Even within particular industries, worldwide companies have developed very different strategic and organizational responses to changes in their environment. While a few players have prospered by turning environmental turmoil to their advantage, many more are merely surviving – struggling to adjust to complex, often contradictory demands. Some large well‐established worldwide companies have been forced to take large losses or even to abandon businesses.

(Bartlett and Ghoshal 2002, p. 3)

The public relations industry follows historical events closely because such events offer great challenges and opportunities for multinational organizations (MNOs) and the involved societies. For instance, when the outlook is positive, MNCs and global public relations agencies follow the path of economic growth and initiate or expand operations in the growing market. Poland is an example of a Central European country that has benefited from the economic and political changes caused by the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The size and location of the country – next to Germany, surrounded by former Soviet republics, and with a large coast on the Baltic Sea – further contribute to its level of development and geopolitical importance. The middle class has grown, consumers are more demanding, and business competition has increased, which attracts MNCs and public relations agencies to this evolving and expanding market.

Professional Associations

Among the leading players who have catapulted the growth of public relations as a profession are trade groups or professional associations, which continue to build, advocate, and strengthen the profession and to support the career development of professionals. European and North American professional associations have influenced the practice since the 1940s (see Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Pioneering European and North American professional associations.

Professional association	Foundation year
The Netherlands Association for Public Contact, renamed first as the Association for Public Relations in the Netherlands and later as the Dutch Association of Communication	1946
Public Relations Society of America	1947
The Canadian Public Relations Society	1948
UK Institute of Public Relations, named the Chartered Institute of Public Relations after obtaining government recognition	1948, 2005
The Norwegian Public Relations Club, later named the Norwegian Public Relations Association and finally the Norwegian Communication Association	1949, 1972, 2000

The establishment of public relations associations and institutes progressively continued in the 1950s and 1960s, on every continent. In particular, the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) have been influential in the development of trade groups on various continents. Similarly, the International Pu...