Critical Analysis of Corporate Communications Functions - Case Study Example

 Critical Analysis of Corporate Communications Functions Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 1 Executive Summary The success of corporate institutions relates to how effective their communication systems are in coordinating their customers and staff. There is particular emphasis that business units consider designing the communication systems to suit their goals. The report presents a research finding on the communication functions at The Association for Business Communication (ABC). The study explored how effective the company utilizes language in communication and how useful the language used is in relation to the image of the firm to the customers. The report explores theories of communication as well as the marketing strategy with regard to language use. The report identifies ABC as a company that has considerations to the use of language in the advertisements that it makes. Relating to the effect the company creates by advertising through the internet, the firm uses persuasive language to spell out its products for the rest of the competitors. The report highlights the use of incentives like scholarship grants to some of the members. The strategy aims to make them attracted to the services and products that the corporation offers (O'guinn, Allen & Semenik 2009, p. 563). All the language used in the company’s advertising as well as internal communication focuses on attracting the customers with relevance to both the modernization and the dependency theories. The two theories are a perfect combination for the successful use of language in making the company a force in the market. The Niche Strategy defines how the company has the vision of leading the market in offering research, teaching, and consultancy material to the customers (Goldman & Nieuwenhuizen 2006, p. 78). The report proposes that the company considers using different languages to address market demands of more people according the vision of becoming a global firm. About The Company The association for business communication (ABC) commits itself to facilitating international advancement of research in communication in business, practice, and education. The company is also an interdisciplinary firm that works with offices across the whole globe with members sourced from varied fields with examples of speech communication, information systems, marketing, management, English, and linguistics. Membership of the firm also involves other professionals such as corporate practitioners and communication consultants. The institution boasts of established links in the pacific region, Asia, the North America region and the entire Europe. The Vision at ABC The vision of the company is to advance communication for businesses in practice, research, and education (ABC 2014, p.1). The Company Vision ABC is out to be the best firm in terms of promoting business communication through facilitation of activities such as teaching and making more knowledge available in the field of specialization. The business unit also considers adding value to the classes that teach corporate communication so that the students gain more and raising the standards of communication at the places of work. The company prides in its recognition of the usefulness of globalization to keep widening its global recognition and making its international scope of the topics it engages (ABC 2014, p. 1). Strategic Goals of ABC ABC has four strategic objectives it aims to achieve in a five-year period that runs from 2009 to 2014. The firm targets to multiply its membership and start outreach services for member beneficiary. It also targets to make the business communication field active and make sure there is a broad internationalization level in the company (ABC 2014, p. 1). SWOT Analysis of the Communications of ABC Based on a comprehensive analysis of ABC, it is noteworthy that strengths of its communications emanates from the ease of their acquisition. The company advertises and communicates through the website, which has an attractive interphase that the visitors can navigate easily. The attractiveness relates to the existence of interesting photographs that advertise the company, which focuses on the company's achievements and news (Müller 2008, p. 103). A key element of strength in the communication of the enterprise is the level of interaction that designers have. The communication, through the publications of journals and the website, allows the readers to interact with the officials through the member forums, the social media pages, which may include media such as Facebook and Twitter and the discussion zone. The news in the communication of the firm is another factor, which strengthens the connections of ABC. The discussions of the business have two weaknesses, which are the absence of the history of the company to the readers and the lack of language diversity. The main language used for the communication is English, which means the non-speakers will have a hard time comprehending (ABC 2014, p.1). The main opportunities that the communications have are the advantage of the growing number of internet users who will read them within a short while, especially the social media. The opportunity renders dissemination of communication easy and long lasting. The print media, which is the next principal method of distributing the information, forms a channel that can reach more people at a time. This factor bases on the fact that the company also uses The Telegraph, The New York Times and other newspapers to advertise. The prominence of communication in business makes the information that the company is likely to attract more readers in the future, which is another opportunity. The only threat that the messages face is the competitiveness of the firms, especially with the use of the internet to communicate. As much as there is an increase in the numbers of internet users, the numbers of sites to browse for the same information are also on the rise. Consistency of the Communications by ABC The firm majors in delivering a variety of information to the users, but the most prominent is the educative segment, perhaps because it is the objective of the firm. The education segment of the communications focuses on the delivering learning information for the various fields mentioned in the section that describes the firm. The company’s objective is to help incorporate communication in business administration line. This factor makes the company to venture into publishing journals and other material for use in learning and educating the public on the available trends in the field of business and the affiliated topics. ABC publishes journals such as The IJBC and The BPCQ, through, which it gives details on the teaching and learning for the specified fields. Support to the educative segment is also by the use of the conferences that the company advertises through the website as well as the publications. These factors, the company combines with running of teaching and learning resources. Some of the teachings result from research findings as well as the courses for the various topics that the company seeks to improve (ABC 2014, p. 1). Reading the information from the firm’s publications and website also aims at increasing the number of members who use the material for learning. There is communication to all those interested in using the learning resources to join. The company outlines through its messages, the procedures of joining the movement. There are other related communications, but these two standout. Communication of ABC’s Corporate Social Responsibility ABC undertakes to improve the state of knowledge of the users of its resources as well as giving back to society members. This factor, therefore, implies that the company has a social responsibility of giving grants to the community to foster learning. The company communicates this information in the media, on its website and all the publications it prints. There is an element of educating the community in the communication by the advertisements for conferences. The most recent conference advertisement, according to the company’s website is the eightieth annual conference scheduled for Washington. The company uses these two methods coupled with the publications to ensure that it delivers quality information to the community (ABC 2014 p.1). Barriers to Successful Communication and Use of Language ABC Company seeks to be a global business, which means that it has to focus on communicating to the diverse cultures and languages of the world. However, there is no element of language sensitivity in the publications the website for the company. The language of communication is English, which most gives the non-English speakers a hard time to internalize. The communications, therefore, benefit only a section of the people globally who have English proficiency. Evaluation of the Communication Used For Internal Communication and Marketing The communication used for marketing the available in all the publications, and the website of the company is persuasive (Armstrong 2010, p.7). The firm maintains an interactive aspect with the users of the communications and by informing them of the importance to be members of the organization. Among the persuasive aspects of the communication, the messages contain is informing the readers that the company will offer them a chance to access quality research as well improve their learning (Argenti 2007, p.56). To improve the effectiveness of the communications, the messages that the company publishes have professional aspects of the various fields. This factor makes the users of the information from ABC feel satisfied that they have the best out of the researchers. For the commercial purposes, the company uses the information to attract researchers and students who seek the information. Membership for the company is free, which attracts many users to sign up for receiving the publications. However, to use the publications and research finding, the users need to pay a fee. It is the reason for categorizing the members into the income segments. From the ABC website, the membership levels range from those earning below $24, 999 to those who get above $110, 000, annually. The levels of revenues distinguish the levels of the services that each customer will receive. The company also considers students as well as the retirees. The company uses newsletters for both internal and external communications. The newsletters contain information on the activities of the company, mostly from the headquarters in 355 Shanks Hall in Blacksburg VA. The information in the newsletters also gives the most recent grants to available and reminds the members to remain committed to the success of the firm. The messages also used to maintain a commercial touch trough their persuasive approach, which informs the public of the advancements and commitments the company has towards improving their members. Theories Applicable To the Communications of ABC The analysis and interpretation of the communication of the firm bind it to a number of communication theories among them, the modernization theory. The theory, which traces the origin to Europe during the 17th century, explains the use of communication according the social aspects of human life. Using the third wave of the theory, which justifies the use of English for communication and the use of objects such as money and other symbolic aspects, is the backbone of the model. This phase is not the basic proposition of the theory, though, after analysis, it gives the main reason for the company’s choice of English language to communicate. The theory also explains the relevance of tools such as the internet and computer in sending and receiving messages (Inglehart & Welzel 2008, p. 15). The theory narrows down to define the world as fragmented, a stage where each person is on their own, and the fact that the media devices make the fragmented world unified. There are two reasons for proposing the theory, the fact that ABC uses English and the influence of communication through the electronic media. The use of the electronic media makes the company to attract much attention from the world, which solely focuses on improving the turnover. There is an aspect of money, which the company chases by publishing the articles and journals through electronic media and the fact that people conduct individualized research. The research made by one or few other individuals benefits the whole world by using the internet and computer. This aspect of the company justifies the use of the modernization theory for commercial benefits, which makes the fragmented world a global village. The uses of the media to gather information, like what the customers of ABC do bases explanation on the Dependency Theory communication. The main proposition of the theory is the existence of one party upon, which the rest depend on to obtain information (Baran & Davis 2009, p. 273). The information obtained from the respective party is for personal gain, mostly for a specific goal. The users of the information in the media do not have the limitation of using only one channel, but have a number to choose. The media that suits the customers best is the most preferred. Suitability is in terms of giving the users just what they need as well as marinating a period of stability, which gives the users hope that they will still gain from the source. It the context of ABC, the promise that the company will keep providing quality research findings to the customers makes them have the assurance that they will still get information. It is, therefore, worthwhile mentioning that the information planners of the company utilize the aspect of enhancing confidence among users in their communication. The theory emphasizes the existence of one person who is the source of the information. That one person is ABC Company, through the research work and possession of information for the rest, who are the customers. The customers get what they want for their needs, the needs for this case being the academic qualifications. A combination of the modernization and the dependency theory make the firm attain the customers’ accredited trust. ABC Company marketing plan and the type of communication it uses for its commercial attachments relates to the Niche Strategy. The Niche Strategy focuses at making a firm the best in production of one product in the market. An analysis of the marketing language of the firm shows that it focuses on making the customers believe the firm is the best in delivering the learning material to the customers. The information given for the vision of the firm spells out the desire by the company to be the best in offering academic assistance to researchers. The language used for advertising the products and services to the customers is attractive and persuasive. Even those with no knowledge of the firm get attracted at the instance when they read the advertisements. The language of advertising is the center of this work because it defines the profitability of any firm in this competitive age. Recommendations for Improvements To create attraction and effectiveness in the firm's communication, the company should consider using celebrity advertising using one of the beneficiaries of the firm (Ramesh 2009, p. 58). The individuals can be a grant beneficiary or any other who used the material of the company and is now famous with the people. Such people have the effect of creating buzz advertising, which is a current trend on the internet advertising. The firm may also consider using more languages in the media that they print so that they can capture a larger market. Such a consideration caters for the ambition of the company to be multinational. The use of one language narrows their market, which is the disadvantage to the corporate attainments. The last consideration goes to the cost of the communication that the company gives to the customers. The company should consider revising the way it disseminates information to its customers, probably through levying flat rates for the prices. Bibliography Argenti, P. A. (2007). Strategic Corporate Communication. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. Co. Armstrong, J. S. (2010). Persuasive Advertising: Evidence-Based Principles. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Baran, S. J., & Davis, D. K. (2009). Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Goldman, G., & Nieuwenhuizen, C. (2006). Strategy: Sustaining Competitive Advantage in A Globalized Context. Cape Town, Juta. Inglehart, R., & Welzel, C. (2008). Modernization, Cultural Change, and Democracy: The Human Development Sequence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Müller, C. (2008). Metaphors Dead and Alive, Sleeping and Waking a Dynamic View. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. O'guinn, T C., Allen, T., & Semenik, R. J. (2009). Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion. Mason, Ohio, South-Western/Cengage Learning. Ramesh Kumar, S. (2009). Consumer Behavior and Branding Concepts, Readings, and Cases: The Indian Context. Chennai, Pearson Power. The Association for Business Communication (ABC). About ABC. Retrieved on December 16 2014 from http://www.businesscommunication.org/ Read More