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must be co-ordinated across nation states.
Kitchen and Wheeler (1999) suggest that
Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Levi’s are exemplars
of the new global philosophy – corporations
who operate with resolute constancy as
if the world was a single large identical entity.
The question is especially important for multinational
organizations (Grunig et al., 1995);
but Budd (2001) reports that even Coca-Cola,
pinup of a global brand, now advises think
local, act local, versus its old slogan, think
global, act local.
Issues management
Tixier (2000), in a survey of large Australian
corporations, noted a major change facing
communication specialists, the growing internationalization
of issues identification. Budd
(2001) notes that the velocity of events suggests
the creation of an internal directorate
charged with monitoring, assessing and
reporting on trends in those parts of the world
pivotal to the company’s interests.
Ethics
Taylor (2001) suggests that issues of ethics
have growing importance in international
situations. Kruckeberg (1996) proposed that
(as between a third world country and one in
the west) corresponding PR ethics in (say) the
Middle East, would be substantially different
from those embraced in a first world country.
Of course, ethics and legal issues need to be
considered in the context of Islamic theory
and Arabic law.
The research
Twenty-four organizations were approached
through personal contact or by written
request. Twenty-one (87.5 per cent) agreed to
participate in the research. 5 Of those organizations
interviewed only 45 per cent were
involved in iPR; so the findings of this initial
investigation are indicative. The findings suggest
that more research is needed; but are not
conclusive. Of those communicators involved
with iPR some are not engaged all the time;
for example, the bank spokesman commented
I deal with iPR when it touches on corporate
reputation.
However, 100 per cent of those who do
practise iPR use the same techniques to communicate
with audiences overseas as they use
at home; none adopted a specific set of communication
techniques for an overseas constituency.
The communication executive at the
tobacco company noted that the techniques
are the same.
All respondents – whether they were
involved in iPR or not – agreed that globalization
is one of the big communication issues
today; one likely to impact increasingly on
communication practice. The consensus is that
the approach (suggested by Anderson, 1989)
that iPR involves communication customized
for each culture is probably the way ahead.
The communicator for the pharmaceutical
organization (with satellite organizations
worldwide) remarked we communicate subtly
different messages to our companies around the
world: while the rubber company spokesman
commented we have to translate into four languages.
The recommendation from Grunig et al.
(1995) that localized approaches are necessary
was confirmed by 75 per cent of respondents;
a drugs company spokesman noted
that he spent a lot of time ensuring the consistency
of the messages – orchestrating them
– making sure that they all work together internationally.
This remark was made in the context
of responsibility for a wide range of
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors