Importance Of Internal And External Communication Strategies - Essay Example

Importance Of Internal And External Communication Strategies Introduction For facilitating growth of any multinational company, the communication strategy that is developed constitutes the most important aspect. The communication strategy includes internal branding, through which the company communicates its brand directions and goals to employees. This also establishes company’s position among prospective consumers and the general population. The first means of corporate communication is the corporate report released by most multinationals. Along with the report, multinationals have also started publishing major developments in products as well as corporate responsibility achievements and initiatives over their various websites. The subsequent reports of multinationals have been based on this strategy, as per which the report is available online and can be printed on demand. Role of communication in Multinationals The communication reporting is also based on the communication strategy of multinationals. The managers, at all global locations, report to the product manager at global headquarters. Multinationals maintain a very strict and comprehensive labour policy, which is maintained in all their factories and stores (Alvesson and Karreman, 2000). The contract employees working with major multinationals have a set of policies pertaining to them, which is followed accordingly. Employees can directly report to location or regional human resource managers, who in turn communicate to managers at global headquarters, in case of any issues with respect to labour policies (Andriof, Waddock and Rahman, 2002). Multinationals also come out with a newsletter periodically, which mentions their achievements in terms of sales, innovation, community building or accolades received. The newsletter also contains important announcements about decisions taken by management of the companies (Ansoff, Portner and Radosevich, 2001). The newsletter is circulated to all locations, where the companies have offices, so that employees at all levels can be aware of organizational activities and changes as well as can stay connected with decisions taken at the headquarters. The newsletter is originally sent to all stakeholders in online format, which can be downloaded or printed at will. Most of the reporting or communication at a particular location is done face-to-face. The following sections of the paper elaborately discuss the essence of internal and external communication in multinationals, its implication on global marketing and role of managers in the same. Internal communication Most multinationals have an internal communication policy, which aims at marketing company’s products, services and sometime the company itself so that employees understand its significance (Bronn, 2001). Internal communication is a very important component in international marketing and an essential part of multinationals that is far more vital compared to domestic organisations. Internal communication serves different functions in an organisation such as, expressive function, informative function, social function and control function. It further helps the company to support and strengthen its employee morale to carry out their task. There are certain factors that help in determining the effectiveness of communication strategy a corporation implements. These factors include number of employee the message is intended for, their relationship, nature of the message and channel and the effectiveness of the feedback system. An essential aspect of internal communication is it should be concentrated as well as coordinated so that the message is well communicated and different managers and employees can be reached through this. Moreover it must be consequent in nature and continuously transmitted. Internal communication can be further classified as work, control, change, culture and news communication. This classification segregates the nature of information and makes it more defined. Together all these kind of communication creates an integrated system of internal communication (Kalla, 2005). The strategies that has been employed by multinationals to improve internal communication are electronic communication through e-mail, integrated chat platform, video-conferencing and social networks. Employees of a multinational company are encouraged to be part of different network groups within the organization (Luo and Shenkar, 2006). This helps them in understanding culture aspects of their global counterparts, gaining insight of their professional achievements and learning through knowledge sharing and transfer (Phene and Almeida, 2008). The multinationals are also active in social media circles, where employees are encouraged to participate (McDougall and Oviatt, 2000). The employees communicate with the media, corporate and public at large through social media platform. This helps to maintain a proper and balanced communication with mainstream media, in general (Feely and Harzing, 2003). External communication strategy and its implications o in global marketing initiatives The external communication strategy of a multinational company plays an important role in defining its global marketing initiatives. Informing brand details to prospective customers helps them to understand worth of the brand (Kim, Park and Prescott, 2003). The value proposition of the multinational companies needs to be in line with actual needs and wants of the local people. These needs and wants of the customers are guided by native culture, customs and tastes. So, the communication strategy should also be based on local customs (Rugman and Verbeke, 2001). This implies that multinationals must have separate communication strategy and marketing plan in terms of promotion and advertisements, for different countries. For operating successfully in a foreign nation, the multinational should focus on understanding preferences of people, economic scenario of the country, standardized products and integrated communication strategies. In international marketing, different managers apply different communication strategies but it does not mean that all of them are appropriate for a particular location. Numerous example are there where communication strategy of a multinational failed or was not accepted by consumers as it was against their culture and/or economic conditions. The strategy must be framed in such a way that it integrates social, legal, economic and political factors (Melewar and Saunders, 2000). For example, often cetain words in certain language are pronounced in such a way that it may sound offensive. Moreover, the value proposition of same product can be different in different countries. For instance, in America toothpaste is a necessity to curb down cavity while in United Kingdom toothpaste is a measure for breath control (Birnik and Bowman, 2007). There are several other examples where neglecting social, legal and economic issues in communication strategies have made companies suffer huge loss. Hence, while selling the same product in different countries the company need to redesign its communication strategies as per the various requirements of the country (Nakata and Sivakumar, 2001). Recommendations for managers The communication strategy of any organization needs to be in line with product and services that are produced. The strategy should communicate mission of the organization along with its value and objectives to the customers and internal employees (Okazaki and Rivas, 2002). Internal branding and communication between employees is as important as communication with external customers as employees are the one who build the brand and communicate qualities of the product or service to customers (Rugman and Verbeke, 2003). Multinationals like, Nike, have incorporated the values of sports like, teamwork and perseverance, adopting them into the company culture. Emotions are infused in daily functioning of the employees so that they remain competitive in order to keep alive the spirit of sportsmanship in them. Hence, each employee can identify himself as a part of the team; called Nike Inc. Organizational communication strategies should be designed in such a way that the organization feels connected to the product and services, where manager is the main link of the connection. It is the function of the manager that the employees are made aware of the organisational activities and its purpose. Alongside, they should be made a part of the external strategies exercised by the company in its different locations. Considering the example of Nike, all employees are expected to foster the essence of sports management in their regular activities. Nike is endorsed by athletes who have a reputation for winning and a passion for the sport they play. This is the point where the company’s internal and external strategies are in unison, helping in reshaping company’s value delivery mechanism as well building brand and public image of the product (Frost, 2001). On the external front, managers need to take initiatives to keep a track of cultural, social and legal compliances of the country the company is intending to enter. Such information will help in shaping the promotion and advertising strategies of the country. In countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan, discussion of sex publicly is considered a taboo so the brand manager must ensure that no promotion strategy of their product is offensive to general public. Managers need to understand that an integrated communication system is extremely important for overall success of the company. As the Internal communication improves the delivery mechanism of value while external communication helps in improving brand image along with increasing company’s earnings (Andersen and Foss, 2005). Conclusion The communication strategy is very important to form customer perception regarding a multinational company. Through this study, it can be concluded that communication strategy and marketing bear a very close relationship. The communication between the top management and employees is equally important as this helps in internal branding and employees understanding values propagated by the multinational company. In context of multinational companies, it is important that the communication strategy tweaked according to local tastes and customs, keeping the value proposition same throughout the world. The implications of communication strategy on global marketing initiatives were identified. Through this study, some of the initiatives that marketing managers can consider in order to improve the communication strategy have also been devised. These recommendations basically deal with designing both the internal and internal communication based on product and services produced by the company, so that customers can identify with all process of the organization and employees are also able to interpret customers’ mindsets. Therefore, a successful multinational firm needs to have a good communications strategy based on values of the brand, which can be effectively communicated to employees and customers. Reference List Alvesson, M. and Karreman, D., 2000. Taking the linguistic turn in organizational research: challenges, responses, consequences. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 36(2), pp. 136-58. Andersen, T. J. and Foss, N. J., 2005. Strategic opportunity and economic performance in multinational enterprises: The role and effects of information and communication technology. Journal of International Management, 11(2), pp. 293-310. Andriof, J., Waddock, S. and Rahman, S.S., 2002. Unfolding Stakeholder Thinking: Theory. 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