Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

the collective and the planned towards the
singular and the autonomous. This altered
paradigm for the UK political economy has
resulted in business and pro-market interests
predominating over their ideological and
material competitors. Collectivism and corporatism
have waned while individualism and
ideas of small government have waxed.
Mainstream political parties vie to be more
business-friendly. Competition is proclaimed
over monopoly; public policy favours consumers
rather than producers; markets seesaw
where the plan once stabilized; low tax
rates privilege private wealth over public
goods. As a result, there is now in the United
Kingdom a pronounced commercial pluralism.
This is the condition where market and
business values, ideas and practices prevail
over substantial challenges from non-business
or anti-business groups. Without it, accelerated
pluralism would not affect the lives of all
the UK population. Tens of millions are
affected by personal and civic value changes:
all are affected by market and business
changes. This commercial pluralism speaks
when we hear calls for the abolition of farm
subsidies; when the gaming industry lobbies
for the use of credit cards in casinos, and
when construction companies want to invest
in NHS hospitals.
Overall, the increased emphases on different
values and personal behaviours, on voluntary
associations for their promotion and
defence (civic pluralism), and on the marketable,
the entrepreneurial, and the profitable
(commercial pluralism) have combined to
create a sustained pressure for change in private
and public life. In liberal, market economies,
popularly elected governments react
to change in civil society (voluntary associations
outside the family and government) and
in the political economy (the wealth creation
nexus in society).
Implications for corporate
communication
The conditions are now set for a more varied,
competitive, argumentative and commercialized
public life. It is an outcome which encourages
communicative activity as a means to
secure advantages for interest and cause
groups, for businesses, for public and voluntary
sector institutions: and for government
to communicate acceptance or rejection of
change. It may seem a category mistake at first
to have public sector organizations as communicators
with government. Are they not
part of government Statutorily they are, but
they have executive government as their
policy overlord and paymaster and they have
to compete against civil service advice, party
factions, hostile stakeholders and the treasury
for policy and administrative advantages, and
for resources.
Accelerated pluralism (both civic and commercial)
is an incubator of corporate and
government communication. What do these
trends tell us about the modern context in
which corporate communication flourish
Pluralism is a competitive condition concerning
groups of individuals in society. It is a condition
in which the ‘one’ has to compete for
survival amongst the ‘many’. Corporate communication
are the symbolic and expressive
component of this competition and should be
seen as competitive activity by transmitters
and receivers. The aim of the competition is
the search for organizational advantage. It is
usually the case that only marginal advantage
is available. Exxon is most unlikely to cause
the destruction of Greenpeace but it may be
able to win more public support over its rival
in a particular campaign, e.g. the French
courts upheld Exxon’s opinion that some
environmentalists have amended its logo
to give it a similarity with the symbol of
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors