Corporate Communication Relevance

“Without credible communication, and a lot of it, employee hearts and minds are never captured.”
John P. Kotter, Leading Change

Some people may doubt the relevance of ‘Corporate Communication’ function in an organization. Apparently they might think that all a corporation has to do is communicate efficiently with the employees. So they think that HR function is sufficient for all its communication need. But as we have seen that the business environment has changed dramatically since last couple of decades. Communication function is no longer confined within the organization. Now companies need to address various constituents in order earn their trust and build image and reputation. If Coca-Cola did not have proper Corporate Communication function then it would have cost more for the company during the pesticide controversy in India in 2003.

Corporate communication has various functions such as corporate advertising, media relations, marketing communications, investor relations, government relations, crisis management etc. the best corporate advertising creates goodwill and enhances reputation by letting constituents in on what the organization is all about. Good media relations help a company to gain advantage during crisis. Company may want to use marketing communication to advertise product or use investor relations to show company’s value to the investors. For example, Bosch India use various corporate communication campaigns such as ‘Innovations’ campaign, environmental campaigns, industry expo, corporate advertisements, in order to build good corporate image and reputation, advertise products and build investor relations.

One of the important functions of corporate communication is crisis management. If a corporation does not have proper crisis management system then the situation may turn into fiasco. Significant crises that involve the loss of human life (Bhopal or Tylenol) pose enormous challenges for companies trying to make whole the damage that has been done and to regain public trust and confidence. Another example of crisis management is the airline industry’s recent work with the government to enhance safety measures post-9/11. Examples also include situations such as Enron, where the post-scandal strategy appeared to be one of closing ranks and attempting to prevent damaging information from leaking into the public domain.

So we can see that “Corporate Communication” function is very important and relevant to today’s business practice. Without proper communication function it is very difficult to survive in the competitive business world.