Peggy Simcic Brønn

Corporate social responsibility and cause-related marketing: an overview

This article looks at the subject of corporate social responsibility and how companies use it in their marketing communication activities, a practice known as cause-related marketing (CRM). According to the definition of Angelidis and Ibrahim (1993), corporate social responsibility is ‘corporate social actions whose purpose is to satisfy social needs’. Corporate social responsibility requires investment and it yields measurable outcomes. It is commonly accepted that cause-related marketing is a communications tool for increasing customer loyalty and building reputation. The expected change in a companys image because of CRM campaigns appears to depend a great deal upon how customers perceive the reasons for a companys involvement in cause-related programmes and the amount of help given to the cause through a companys involvement (Webb and Mohr, 1998). Mohr et al. (1998) suggest that consumers with a high level of scepticism will be less likely to respond positively to CRM campaigns as opposed to consumers with a low level of scepticism.

A reflective stakeholder approach: Co‐orientation as a basis for communication and learning

Organisations are undergoing dramatic changes as stakeholder groups exert an ever‐increasing influence on the place and responsibilities of organisations in society. Important drivers in this process include the environmental movement, the search for total quality management, the concept of sustainable development, ethics and organisational learning. Because the various stakeholders can view these complex issues quite differently from the organisation, it is important that those working with communications are able to understand the underlying complexities of stakeholder relationships. Work in a number of diverse fields has provided an understanding of the factors involved in developing an effective communications strategy. Stakeholder theory is an important contributor in that it provides a means for uncovering the relevant participants in the process. The authors contend that, as part of this process, the co‐orientation model can provide a unifying framework for identifying the nature of the relationships between stakeholders or actors in a communication process. At the heart of this model lies the notion of “mental models” from the organisational learning literature and the recognition that in order for any communication process to be effective these models must be “oriented” properly. The authors build on research from the organisational learning field to gain a deeper understanding of the processes that influence our perceptions of stakeholder groups. Three specific communication skills are identified that enable the communications manager to engage stakeholders in a meaningful dialogue, and thereby enhance the effectiveness of the organisation’s communication efforts. These communication skills are reflection, inquiry and advocacy.

Decision-making Processes Surrounding Sponsorship Activities

ABSTRACT The rationale behind sponsoring is as varied as the definitions of sponsorship itself. A logical approach to sponsorship decision making would dictate that firms should have clear targets and goals for sponsorship. They should also make some attempt to coordinate sponsorship with other communications efforts while measuring its effects or return on investment. This paper describes the findings from a sample of large Norwegian businesses on how they define sponsorship, how much they spend and where, why they sponsor, and how they manage the sponsorship activities. Large-scale sponsorship is relatively new to Norway, but this late start also has provided opportunity for learning from those who have gone before. It is possible to conclude from this research that many firms have a variety of complex goals for their sponsorship efforts but not terribly high-quality management practices when it comes to decision making surrounding sponsorship.

Corporate Citizenship and Managerial Motivation: Implications for Business Legitimacy

In 2000, Business and Society Review published a Special Issue of the journal to explore scholars’ ideas about how the practice of corporate citizenship would evolve in the 21st century. Contributors to the volume predicted a change in business motives for engaging in social initiatives, suggesting that managers would begin to see corporate citizenship as a strategic necessity to preserve organizational legitimacy in the face of changing social values. This article uses data from a study of corporate citizenship practices in over 500 Norwegian companies to explore the validity of the Special Issue predictions. We begin by reviewing the foundations of organizational legitimacy theory and examine recent research documenting the growing importance of corporate citizenship for assessments of business legitimacy. We describe our study methods, present our results, and discuss the implications of our findings in this context.

A reflective approach to uncovering actual identity

Purpose – This paper aims to present a case study of a unique identity‐building process employed in a Scandinavian service firm. As noted by many authors, the concept of corporate identity is probably one of todays most explored areas by both academics and practitioners. Most agree that there is neither one way to define it nor one way to measure it. Some authors suggesting it is a multiple concept further complicates it. One thing is clear; uncovering identity starts internally with individuals and the organization. This article discusses the technique used in a Norwegian collection agency, Conecto, to develop an understanding of their actual identity.Design/methodology/approach – The objective of the case study was to find the core values of the firm defined from an employee perspective, which would then provide an anchor for the firms future work on its identity. The methodology employed is an existential psychotherapeutic framework, combining Socratic dialogue techniques refined by previous research...

Mapping the strategic thinking of public relations managers in a crisis situation: An illustrative example using conjoint analysis

Abstract A great deal of anecdotal and empirical evidence indicates that the public relations function is not well integrated into the strategic decision making of most organizations. Observers suggest that to be part of the strategic decision-making process, managers must demonstrate that they are strategic thinkers, i.e., show that they have “what it takes” to be part of the dominant coalition. However, research on strategic decision making has been dominated by the case study methodology, which has led to calls for quantitative approaches that might verify and supplement these qualitative-based findings. This article illustrates the operationalization of the conjoint analysis multivariate technique for the study of the public relations function within strategic decision making in a crisis situation. Implications for theory development and testing are also discussed. Peggy Simcic Bronn is an assistant professor and Erik Olson is an associate professor in the Department of Market-Oriented Management at the Norwegian School of Management.

How others see us: : leaders' perceptions of communication and communication managers

Purpose – This paper aims to assess other leaders’ perceptions of the importance and contribution of communication to organizational success and the abilities of their communication executives to contribute to strategic decision making. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative approach was used through a questionnaire sent to 5,000 business leaders in small, medium, and large firms across the country of Norway. Findings – Overall results indicate that communication is viewed as not as important to business success as other management disciplines, but leaders rate communication skills as the most important communication discipline. In general, communication executives must improve their strategic orientation if they are to be engaged in decision processes where more than communication is discussed. There is moderate but significant correlation between strategic orientation and involvement in decision making and being invited to the strategic planning process. Research limitations/implications – This re...

Communication managers as strategists? Can they make the grade?

When discussing the role of executives in public relations and their involvement in decision making, much research has focused on the dichotomous roles of technician and manager. From this it is concluded that an executive’s input into an organisation’s strategic decision making depends on how they enact the managerial role. This paper asserts that there is more to being an accepted member of the top management team than role enactment. Enacting the managerial role is, in fact, nothing more than performing high‐level technical activities. A new measurement of is managerial competency is strategic thinking. What this is and how it can be measured is then discussed.

Adapting the PZB service quality model to reputation risk analysis and the implications for CSR communication

Purpose – Organizations put their reputations at risk when they misunderstand what their stakeholders expect from them. People expect specific behavior from an organization regarding societal issues or questions, and when an organization ignores or denigrates issues and in the worst case contributes to making conditions worse, stakeholders will react. The purpose of this paper is to propose the PZB model of service quality as a tool that organizations can use to align expectations and perceptions with organizational behavior and communication.Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides two cases of the use of CSR communication as a marketing mechanism to position an entity as environmentally friendly. In both instances, the messages were declared illegal and had to be removed. The PZB model of service and the co‐orientation model are used to illustrate the principles discussed.Findings – The cases illustrate the need for organizations to not only be more aware of the expectations of their stakeholder...

Intangible Assets and Communication

The premise of the chapter is that there needs to be greater focus by organizations on intangible assets and their application to communication and the communication function. The discussion relies heavily on the work of the IABC 2003 Study on Intangible Assets and Communication, which concluded that human capital provides the basis for competitive advantage through building relational capital. The proposition that communication itself can be an intangible asset is also explored within the following outline.