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The communication role in organizations has changed, just as the nature of organizations has changed in response to the explosion of new communication technologies as well as global networks within organizations. Communication is more complex, strategic, and vital to the health of the organization than it used to be, and it will become increasingly important in the information-driven economy. This book builds upon the authors’ 2010 book, Corporate Communication: Strategic Adaptation for Global Practice, which focused on the role of the communicator. This volume examines, analyzes, and illustrates the practice of corporate communication as a critical business asset in a time of global change. It looks at the major communication needs in the lifecycle of organizations: M&A (mergers and acquisitions), structural change, culture change, innovation, new leadership, downsizing, global expansion, competition, ethical decision-making, political action, and employee engagement. These are all significant value-creating, and potentially value-destroying, events in which corporate communication, if used correctly, functions as a critical and strategic business asset.

The forces of uncertainty, globalization, the networked enterprise, Web 2.0, privacy, "big data," and shifting demographics have dramatically transformed corporate communication strategy and practice. Now more than ever, it is more complex, strategic, and essential to the organization’s survival. Corporate Communication: Transformation of Strategy and Practice examines, analyzes, and illustrates the practice of corporate communication as it changes in response to increasing global changes. It builds on the authors’ 2010 Corporate Communication: Strategic Adaptation for Global Practice, as well as their 2015 Corporate Communication: Critical Business Asset for Strategic Global Change.

This book analyzes and illuminates the major communication needs in rapidly evolving organizations: the contemporary communication environment; the importance and impact of intangibles—corporate sustainability, identity, culture, valuation, crisis prevention; the transformation of the media environment; the transformation of the concept of decision-making; the importance of demographics and multigenerational audiences; and technical, geopolitical, economic, and socio-cultural uncertainty. These are significant forces that can potentially augment or diminish an organization’s value.

The chief communication officer at a Fortune 500 multinational corporation today faces the challenges of a rapidly changing global economy, a revolution in communications channels fueled by the Internet, and a substantially transformed understanding of what a 21st-century corporation stands for. This book provides an accessible framework for describing these forces and the specific communication challenges that they have thrown at the global corporation.
The text reviews the evolution of society’s response to the development of the modern company and the corporate communication practices that grew up in response to it, as well as examining the impact of globalization, Web 2.0 and the networked enterprise on current corporate relationships with key stakeholders such as customers, employees, shareholders, communities and regulators. In examining these forces and how they are interwoven, the authors offer insights and strategies for deploying effective communication as a strategic business asset in today’s global economy. Designed for the advanced student of corporate communication, the book contains updated guidelines for the management of investor relations, community relations and other corporate relationships in the age of social media. Specific recommendations for how to organize and execute effective communication for the contemporary practitioner working in the communication field are also provided.