On the IR Front
Financials - Not Technology - Tops Corp. Comms. Concerns
Corporate financial health will be the reigning concern for corporate communicators in the next several years, with issues as pressing as corporate Internet and intranet use taking a second seat to financial performance, according to findings in a survey released in Northwestern University's Journal of Integrated Communications.
The survey (an abbreviated version of a larger study released last year by Edelman PR, Northwestern University, The Medill School of Journalism Department of Integrated Marketing Communications and the Opinion Research Corp. published in the journal) was based on responses from about 250 individuals from a wide span of professional genres, including academia, PR agencies and corporations. (Journal of Integrated Communications, 847/491-5051)
...And on the Customer Front
Customers: 'Can't Get No Satisfaction'?
Newly circulated data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index shows there's been a drop in how satisfied customers are with the goods and services they buy.
ACSI, which is sponsored by the Milwaukee-based American Society for Quality and the University of Michigan Business School, said that the aggregate 1997 rating (tracked via a national scale first conceived by ACSI three years ago) is 71.1 percent. But in 1994, when the ranking began, it was 74.5 percent. It's no secret that shoddy customer service can impact a company's overall PR imprint. (ASQ, 800/248-1946)
Global Perspective
Corporate Image Varies According to Culture
Companies can't ride on the same corporate attributes - providing the best products and services; being a profitable company; or being concerned about social and environmental needs - when they're trying to reach consumers worldwide, according to Wirthlin Worldwide, a market research firm based in McLean, Va.
The Wirthlin study shows that companies are perceived differently in various global markets: for instance, customers in Japan place more importance on caring about the country's social/environmental needs while those in Germany and Thailand rated anticipating and responding to customers' needs as highest.
That doesn't mean, however, that corporations should acquiesce to meager performance in any of these areas. (Wirthinlin Worldwide, 703/556-0001)
What Will Have An Impact?
The importance of current issues/trends in terms of impact on the practice of corporate communications over the next 2 to 3 years on a 1-to-5 scale (5 being very important):
| 4.9 | corporate financial performance |
| 4.3 | corporate Internet use corporate intranet use measurement |
| 4.2 | communications integration |
| 3.9 | work/life issues corporate values |
| 3.8 | employee loyalty integrated global identity |
| 3.7 | mobile workforce workplace diversity |
| 3.6 | corporate downsizing employee turnover economic value added (EVA) |
| 3.4 | agency/corporate relationships |
| 3.2 | total quality management (TQM) |
| 2.8 | union activities |