Extract

The communication role in corporations has changed just as dramatically as the nature of the corporation has changed in response to an 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 was previously, and will only gain in its importance in the information-driven economy. It is tied to the messages created for all audiences—internal and external, paying and non-paying.

Corporate Communication: Critical Business Asset for Strategic Global Change examines, analyzes, and illustrates the practice of corporate communication as a critical business asset in a time of global change. It is a follow-on book to our Corporate Communication: Strategic Adaptation for Global Practice (2010), which looked at the roles of the corporate communication practitioner, key competencies, and core activities in the context of global corporations.

The focus of this book, rather than on the role of the communicator, is on 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, employee engagement. These are all significant value creating, and potentially value destroying, events in which corporate communication, used correctly, functions as a critical and strategic business asset.

To reflect the importance of communication in corporate success, we use this definition: