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CHAPTER 28
The new frontier for public relations
Richard R. Dolphin
International public relations (iPR) is recognized as one of the most rapidly growing areas
of public relations but perhaps one of the least understood. In this chapter the author
looks at the issue of international public relations from the perspective of an empirical
study conducted by the author in British organizations focusing on the role of international
public relations within a co-ordinated marketing communication strategy. He
addresses the management of the relationship between organizations and those
audiences overseas who might be considered significant international stakeholders as key
variables in iPR.
Pavlik noted some twenty years ago, that
international public relations (iPR) was one
of the most rapidly growing areas of the profession
– and one of the least understood.
The chairman of one of the largest PR firms
entitled his introduction to the 1999 ICO
summit ‘Public Relations – truly a global business’
(Hehir, 1999). Comor (2001) suggests
that a central pillar in this growth is the recent
explosion of electronic forms of transnational
communications.
Scholars of management are hampered by
the lack of an established body of knowledge
about the fledgeling domain of iPR – and
of practice in different parts of the world
(Krishnamurthy and Dejan, 2001). But, according
to Culbertson and Chen (1996), iPR has
spread rapidly throughout the world; and
Taylor (2001) suggests that for practitioners
the desire for competency in the skills necessary
for the successful execution of iPR grows
yearly. Taylor and Kent (1999) suggest that
further knowledge about iPR is important in
order to explore the assumptions underlying
differing national practices; and to examine
differing practices worldwide.
Although Botan reported in 1992 that 130
articles had been published on iPR, the present
body of scholarly knowledge makes only
cursory reference to the world outside Europe
and to the United States in particular
(Krishnamurthy and Dejan, 2001). Taylor and
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors