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Locating Marketing within the Corporate Communication Managing System Dr Richard J Varey Director BNFL Corporate Communications Unit The Management School University of Salford Salford M5 4WT Tel 0161 295 5884 Fax 0161 295 5442 [email protected] Dr Richard Varey heads a research and teaching programme in the emerging field of Corporate Communication, and is conducting research in a number of related areas. He has an MSc in Management Sciences and a PhD in Management from Manchester School of Management, previously worked as a freelance management consultant, and has lectured in marketing management at Sheffield Business School. Keywords: Corporate Communication, Public Relations, Marketing, Integration, Total Communication System Locating Marketing within the Corporate Communication Managing System Abstract Where does expertise and responsibility for strategic business communication lie? Marketing and Public Relations vie for supremacy since both groups specialise in communication, using managed communications to pursue their respective objectives. Convincing arguments for one being subsumed by the other abound. A clarifying discussion of the often-confused vocabulary is the starting point for a review of the nature and role of marketing and public relations and how they are portrayed in respective textbooks. The emerging total management system of Corporate Communication and its relationship to marketing and public relations is placed in a framework for the integration of corporate strategy, organisational development, human resource management, and marketing. Corporate communication has a dominant role in achieving organisational growth, by being concerned with learning, showing the corporation to itself, and as a mode of organisation for both external and internal environments. Considerable attention has been afforded in the academic literature to debating the nature of the relationship between marketing and public relations. This paper deals with their respective roles within a Corporate Communication function and presents and supports an argument for the integration of marketing and public relations with strategic management as part of a disciplined corporate communications management strategy. This requires moving beyond traditional domain boundaries. Introduction: Revisiting Terminology & Territory Marketing and public relations are essential and distinct functions of business organisation. The past 30 years has been witness to a considerable number of attempts at shifting the provincial boundaries of the domains of marketing and public relations, both in practice and in theoretical development. The terminology has not been fully clarified and neither have the arguments over “imperialism and encroachment” (Lauzen, 1991) by either party. Responsibilities assigned to marketing and public relations are often unclear and in practice overlap and may even be in conflict. Current literature carries arguments for marketing being subsumed under public relations, and for public relations being part of marketing communications. For example, Broom et al (1991) concluded that public relations and marketing use the same techniques to build and maintain relationships, but that these relationships are different. Kreps (1990) sees distinctions made among these external communication activities as driven and perpetuated more by organisational design precedents and internal competition for influence and resources than on major differences in their function. Indeed, they perform complementary and interdependent (but not the same) functions of organisation. Public relations and marketing professionals must therefore work together to achieve organisational goals, but they draw on fundamentally different philosophies to achieve their different business missions. The two functions draw on two differing models of the social environment and the complex communicating systems through which institutions interact (Ehling et al, 1992). The respective perspectives on marketing and public relations are now considered. Public Relations and Marketing Business enterprises must operate in a volatile and often hostile environment. There are many problems of employment (strikes, morale, absenteeism, contract negotiation, inter-department rivalry, for example), litigation, legislation, confrontation with activist groups, and so on, that are outside the field of marketing. Drucker (1980) has stressed the political nature of institutions in a pluralist society, in which every institution is defined by its constituencies. These groups can impede by vetoing the decisions of the institution, offering a real threat to the capacity to realise goals and even to survive. Drucker urges managers to think politically. Public relations thus presupposes that a corporate body will be multi-purpose in its commitment to serve several constituencies. These may not be friendly and any one may come into conflict with the corporation and impede its performance. Thus managers are presented with a range of non-marketing problems. Public relations is an administrative function that deals with a class of problems that clearly lie outside the domain of marketing management (Ehling et al, 1992). The focus is social conflict (dispute, disagreement controversy, and confrontation) and co-operation. Co-operation and co-ordination do not occur easily, and various mediating strategies are required to resolve differences, reconcile interests, minimise discord, and reach workable agreements. Communication is required for negotiation and bargaining in a process of abandonment of old coalitions and alliances, and the creation of new ones. Public relations theory and practice are different. There is a distinction between the specialised staff function that serves other functions, and public relations as an operating concept of administration. According to the Institute of Public Relations, public relations: “is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics” (in Hart, 1995, p. 24). Yet, managers, and even some academics, see public relations as press relations, i.e. publicity (“free advertising”) to supplement personal selling and advertising in sales promotion. A more strategic view has public relations as: “the discipline which looks after reputation with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour” (Beard in Hart, p. xviii). “..... public relations is the function which builds reputation or corporate image .....” (Hart, 1995, p. 42). According to Jefkins (1984) the public relations task is: “to present untreated credible facts in order to overcome misunderstanding and the resulting hostility, prejudice, apathy, and ignorance”. White (1991) sees public relations to be as much part of management as are human resource management or financial management - the management of relationships between the corporation and its various ‘publics’: employees, shareholders, customers, and other ‘key groups’ on which the corporation depends for support and/or understanding. The 1978 ‘Mexican Statement’ from an international gathering of public relations societies provides a broader and more precise description of the role of public relations: “Public relations practice is the art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organisation leaders, and implementing planned programmes of action which will serve both the organisation’s and the public interest” (In Jefkins, 1990, p. 181). Strategic public relations identifies and anticipates issues likely to affect key relationships and responds for the development of those relationships. Thus public relations contributes to planning, cohesion and effectiveness through managed communication with a range of key groups. If only more practice were like this! This attention to all of the members of the web of relationships may result in organisational change if current or intended activities, policies, and plans, do not fit with the needs and expectations of other parties. We also need to distinguish between public relations and publicity. Publicity is generally considered a component of marketing communications. And yet Kotler (1994) also places public relations with publicity as part of the marketing communications mix, aimed at “promoting and/or protecting a company’s image or its individual products “ (p. 596). The tools of public relations are then listed as: press kits, speeches, seminars, annual reports, charitable donations, sponsorships, publications, community relations, lobbying, identity media, company magazine, and events. Kotler points out that not all public relations departments have objectives that support marketing objectives. Stanton et al (1991) see public relations and publicity as neglected, ill-defined parts of the marketing promotion mix with a ‘bad press’ amongst consumers. They state that publicity is a form of public relations as well as “any promotional communication about an organisation or its products that is presented by the media but is not paid for by the organisation” (p. 472). It is helpful to distinguish corporate public relations from marketing public relations, the latter of which, like financial public relations and community public relations, serves a specific group - in this case, the marketing department. Kotler sees marketing public relations as a development of ‘publicity’ which moves beyond ‘editorial column inches’ to assistance in product launches, repositioning mature products, promoting product categories, influencing target groups, defending products under threat, and building corporate image – i.e. creating an effect, and not just output. Bradley (1995) defines public relations as “any non-personal communication in the form of news about the company or its products which is carried by the mass media”. In a book of some 990 pages, public relations gets little more than 3 pages. This is disappointing for a book with such an alluring title! What Bradley describes is closer to marketing public relations (MPR), but it should be pointed out that MPR is not all ‘non-personal’ communication, nor is it only about promotion. Fill (1995) appears to present marketing communications are part of organisational communication. Cutlip et al (1985) distinguish corporate public relations as: “a function of management seeking to identify, establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and the various publics on whom its success and failure depend”, whereas marketing public relations is: “not only concerned with organisational success and failure but also with specific publics: customers, consumers, and clients with whom exchange transactions take place”. Mercer (1992) sees public relations as the means by which the various significant ‘publics’ of the corporation are identified and communicated with, to the advantage of the corporation, through personal and impersonal media. This publicises a positive image of the company’s achievements and leads to a good reputation. Mercer feels that publicity is the dominant form of public relations activity in practice. Others have argued that public relations is merely a form of consumer-oriented sales promotion. Then, marketing public relations is simply part of sales promotion – an information dissemination activity. Generally, observes Kotler, marketing managers are concerned with contribution to profits, whereas public relations specialists are likely to be more concerned with producing communications and creating ‘image’. Riel (1995) provides evidence that corporate identity and corporate image are often confused, and suggests that the formation, in the minds of key group members, of the latter is strongly influenced by communication of the former. Whilst marketing communication is tied to product promotion and brand image, public relations is broader and more strategic, being concerned with corporate image. They can use exactly the same channels of communication, with the essential differences being in the purpose and thus target audiences and messages. Public relations is clearly portrayed differently by public relations and marketing specialists. It is proposed here that we consider that public relations and marketing can have a common objective - both aim to increase the prosperity of the corporation by improving its reputation. Public relations takes a wider view of the place of the corporation in its community and economic, political, and technological environment, although moves towards ‘social marketing’ (sometimes termed macro-marketing) have even blurred this distinction. Public relations can advise marketing strategy and methods by providing intelligence on important issues that impact on the business. Public relations can also be a major marketing tool for building relationships. White and Mazur (1994) propose that public relations is “about creating a more favourable environment in which marketing activities can be more successful”. To do this adequately, the public relations specialist needs adequate general knowledge of the corporation’s business and the corporation’s role and identity, detailed knowledge of all plans with a public relations impact and/or responsibility, and very clearly defined ‘publics’ (a better term is key groups). Then the Public Relations department can be a provider of professional support for the corporation’s various internal and external communications programmes. We can clarify the situation considerably by thinking of public relations as organisational communication (van Riel, 1995). This view has also been expressed by Jefkins (1984): “public relations is concerned with disseminating knowledge in order to create understanding of an organisation and its Products and services. It is not about creating favourable images or persuading people to buy. It deals with the real world where things are not always favourable, and it leaves Promotion to the advertising experts”. “every function of a business, from top to bottom, is involved in communications. Public relations is not limited to the marketing function”. Broom et al (1991) see public relations as “the management process whose goal is to attain and maintain accord and positive behaviours among social groupings on which an organisation depends in order to achieve its mission. Its fundamental responsibility is to build and maintain a hospitable environment for an organisation” (p. 223). Daniels et al (1997) show that traditional public relations has been concerned with image building, whereas the new strategic public relations is concerned with issues management. Marketing and Public Relations Marketing is a special grouping of human communication activities which aims to adapt the company’s offering to the customer’s needs and wants, and then to communicate that this has been done so as to create an economic exchange. Marketing can be premised on dyadic exchange (Bagozzi, 1978) as two-way transactional relations between sellers and buyers in which the outcomes depend on bargaining, negotiation, the balance of power, and the sources of conflict between the parties (Day and Wensley, 1983). This rather counters the argument of Ehling et al, but does illustrate the relative narrowness of the marketing textbooks upon which they pour considerable criticism. Broom et al (1991) see marketing as: “the management process whose goal is to attract and satisfy customers ..... on a long-term basis in order to achieve an organisation’s economic objectives. Its fundamental responsibility is to build and maintain a market for an organisation’s products and services” (p. 223-4). For Jefkins (1990) marketing communications consists of every form of communication relevant to marketing and “requires attention to every aspect of the marketing strategy where communication occurs”. Grunig (1992) supports the view that whilst strategic public relations is a two-way form of communication, much of marketing communications in practice is one-way, with little or no feedback or interaction. Most textbooks use the term promotion to describe a communication process that is mostly one-way, thus much of marketing communications is about promotion of both the corporation and its offerings. Marketing communications has the role of converting prospects into customers and retaining existing customers – it is thus primarily promotional in nature and intent. Thus it includes all communications channels and media that can help to move a potential customer from ignorance to decision and purchase, and inform and remind existing customers. In its widest sense, marketing communications can be employed as the process by which: Persuasive information is transmitted Participative decision-making is fostered Programmes are co-ordinated Power is exercised Commitment and loyalty to each other are encouraged. Marketing communication contributes to business profit objectives by creating sales and market share through creating awareness and changing perceptions. Users of the promotion concept (Shimp, 1993) attempt to adapt the customer to the marketer’s needs and wants through persuasive communications (messages designed to enhance the customer’s impressions of the basic offer, delivered via advertising, publicity, and personal selling - ‘promotion’ comes from the Latin promovere meaning to move forward (Shimp, 1993, p. 8)) and promotional inducements (free samples, discounts, etc.). Most marketers therefore need to use both the marketing concept and the promotion concept to achieve their aims. Barich and Kotler (1991) introduced the notion of ‘marketing image’ in an attempt to deal with the apparent conflict of interest between marketers and public relations specialists. This provides the marketer with a role in managing the corporate identity in order to foster the desired corporate image. Kotler (1986) argued that public relations should be part of 'megamarketing' (social marketing), along with power - the 6 Ps! The marketer takes responsibility for the supply of benefits to parties other than target consumers, for example, government, unions, or other interested third-parties, who may act as gatekeepers. It is sometimes necessary to arrange additional incentives, inducements or sanctions to gain desired responses from groups other than customers. This approach is the strategically co-ordinated application of economic, psychological, political, and public relations skills to gain the cooperation of a number of parties in order to enter and/or operate in a given ‘protected’ market. This approach requires co-operation and co-ordination between marketers, company officers, public relations and public affairs specialists, and legal specialists in the corporation. But public relations is seen as primarily a communication tool for influencing attitudes, whereas marketing aims to elicit specific behaviours and includes not only communication but needs assessment, product development, price setting, and the creation of distribution channels (Ehling et al, 1992, p. 378). Thus, public relations is not seen as involved in defining the goals of the corporation, but merely in making it easier to sell products and services. White (1991) disagrees, arguing that public relations is a central management concern which complements marketing communications, and is firmly strategic, forward-looking, and co-ordinating in scope and nature. Most advocates of relationship marketing readily recognise the centrality of 'good communication', but may be less clear on how this is constituted. It is mostly seen as promotion of a product or service that has already been developed (Crosier in Baker, 1991, p. 348). Marketing channel problems are caused primarily by communication difficulties. Calls for "more communication", "improved communication", and "open communication" are simplistic and may be inappropriate in building a stronger relationship, for example if threats or other forms of coercive power are conveyed. Rarely do marketing texts really deal with the 'what' and 'how' of human relationships. Frequency, direction, medium, and content are important facets of communication in both communications theory and organisation theory. ‘Communication strategy’ (Mohr and Nevin, 1990) to refers to a particular combination of these facets and suggest that the appropriate strategy for a relational situation would be: High frequency (the amount of contact that is required to conduct activities adequately) Highly bi-directional (flowing both upward and downward between the parties, who may differ in their relative power - and laterally) Highly indirect (designed to change the target's beliefs and attitudes about the desirability of an intended behaviour, rather than implying or requesting a specific action that the source wants the target to take - a Promise or recommendation is an example of a direct communication strategy) Highly informal (perceived as spontaneous and non-regularised, rather than regularised and structured). This combination of facets has been called 'collaborative' communication strategy, and is contrasted with 'autonomous' communication strategy. This collaborative communication strategy is expected to produce enhanced outcomes, initially in terms of satisfaction, then impacting on quantitative measures such as performance, when relational rather than market structures are present. This may be associated with supportive climates and symmetrical power conditions. There is an enlightened view! Shimp (1993) states that “marketing communications represents the collection of all elements in an organisation’s marketing mix that facilitates exchanges by establishing shared meaning with the organisation’s customers .....” (p. 8) (emphasis added). “Whereas promotion management is restricted to communications undertaken by the subset of mechanisms catalogued under the promotion variable in the marketing mix, marketing communications is a general concept that encompasses communications via all of the marketing mix variables” e.g. product, price, placement, as well as promotion (p. 9). But even the Chartered Institute of Marketing has confused communication and promotion and taken a mechanistic perspective: “communication is a critical part of marketing and the promotional tools are the heart of the marketer’s toolbox” (Marketing Success examination guide, 1993). Much of the problem of distinguishing market and public relations is exacerbated by the focus on marketing as defined by the popular textbooks. This trap was sprung even in a critique of marketing thinking (Ehling et al, 1992) which narrowly criticises Kotler’s perspective on public relations. There is a considerable body of theory that lies outside the managerialist version of marketing. This shows that marketing can have a social collectivity focus (see Sheth et al, 1988, for example, for a meta-analysis of literature which reveals twelve broad schools of thought categorised as non-interactive/interactive and economic/non-economic). Consideration of a wider vista of marketing may help to narrow the apparent chasm of thinking between the two functions. The Corporate Communication Managing System Communication is an essential aspect of organising and management. It can be argued that organisation is simply a process of structured communication and that responsibility lies with management for constructing and maintaining clear communication channels (Barnard, 1938). Clearly, this is not a new idea - it just hasn’t been mindfully adopted (Langer, 1989). The total configuration of the organisation undoubtedly exerts a strong influence on the characteristics of communication within it. Fisher (1993, p. 3) goes further: "To a large extent, an organisation is communication". So what are the communication needs of a business enterprise? They are essentially centred on decision-making (making choices), relationships (social fabric) and learning (updating mental models). Thayer (1968) summarises the functions of communication as informing, command & control, persuasion & influence, and integration. Information, in the form of interpreted data (‘facts’), and peoples’ ideas, feelings, attitudes, and beliefs, must flow within and between co-operating groups, and across the boundary between the internal and external operating environments. The leader is an innovator and communicator, whose primary role is boundary spanning between zones of meaning (Heath, 1994). Thus the function of managing corporate communication is essentially to drive the negotiation of meaning between differing zones of meaning (groups, departments, etc.) into sufficient alignment for constructive co-ordinated action. Internal communication is the sharing of messages within the transformation processes of the enterprise, and includes giving and taking orders and directives; generation, dissemination, and interpretation of performance data; and task instruction. In external communication messages are shared between members and representatives of the environment in the form of promotional messages via mass communication media, and inward in the form of market information (news, market research, etc.) about the microenvironment, and economic information (about the macro-environment). Information, generated by interpretation of data from the external and internal environments, is a raw material in the business corporation that enables ‘managers’ to make choices in the areas of strategy, resource utilisation, resource procurement, administration, innovation, and relationships. These are the essential areas for decisions according to Dawson (1992), and are often identified with particular groups of specialists within the corporation, but are also influenced by information and opinion from other interested parties. The two domains of communication are interdependent co-ordinating functions, and must themselves be co-ordinated. Members must be able to access and use both to maintain a productive balance between innovation and stability (Kreps, 1990). Riel’s definition of the field of corporate communication (1995) locates public relations within organisational communication and publicity within marketing communications. Importantly, corporate communication is defined as: “an instrument of management by means of which all consciously used forms of internal and external communication are harmonised as effectively and efficiently as possible, so as to create a favourable basis for relationships with groups on which the company is dependent” (Riel, 1995, p. 26). Kreps (1990) places marketing and public relations are part of organisational communication, whereas Daniels et al (1997) do not mention either and focus only on ‘internal’ communication. Corporate communication is a management process or strategy - the glue that binds together the organisation’s parts in pursuit of an enterprise – providing a focus on the communicative aspects of organising. Goodman (1994) describes corporate communication as the total managed corporate effort (discipline) to communicate effectively and profitably in a co-ordinated, structured, skilled manner with a clear policy and capability enhancement focus, using a wide variety of management activities to make information accessible and to involve stakeholders in mutually beneficial activities. The concept of corporate communications management as a system of planned, measured communication efforts is akin to the creation of a ‘corporate intelligence’, and is uncannily comparable with Kelley’s (1968) proposals for the introduction of a marketing intelligence system, with major benefits, which include: Help in expanding time horizons in decision-making and planning Recognises and responds to increasing complexity in decision-making as known and unknown factors and their interdependent relationships multiply Handles the proliferation of data in the ‘Information Age’ Protects management from specialists’ distortions, filtering, etc. Offsets the tendency for top management to become divorced from reality Opens up new and better sources of information Allows creative intelligence functions Provides responsibility for communication and aids the corporation in its communication. Gayeski (1993) has defined corporate communications as: "the professional practice of developing and implementing communication rules and tools in order to enhance the dissemination, comprehension, acceptance, and application of information in ways that will help to achieve an organisation's goals". This is a much broader and deeper view than the traditional view of the business communication field. The professional communicator of the future will necessarily have to master the deployment of complex techniques and technologies of internal and external communication in order to become a ‘knowledge manager’ (Jensen, 1994) if their corporation is to succeed. The idea of managed corporate communications with policy and responsibility is a recognition of the need to co-ordinate organisational communications, educational technology, organisation development, telecommunications systems, technical writing and publications, information science, public relations, and the mass media. Information exchange is increasing in demand, importance, and specialisation. Many areas of communication are clearly beyond the boundaries of customer groups: public affairs, employee communications, training & development, documentation, IT, corporate media, advertising & marketing, policies & procedures, and library & information systems. Corporate communications management sets out and drives formal, official systems and practices for communication, allows for informal networks of communication, and is concerned with co-ordinating all managed communication in interdependent relationships to contribute strategically to overall corporate performance and capability enhancement. The Marketer’s Contribution to Corporate Communication Marketers should recognise that joining the Corporate Communication fold is a major opportunity for them to achieve a central role for marketing management. There is still the problem that whilst marketing is described as a key management process, it is often the case that the conditions of possibility are set by others who have not adopted the marketing concept. Marketers can adopt a central role by pursuing integrated marketing communications in co-operation with corporate communication policy, by pursuing the application of the marketing concept to ensure appropriate basic offerings, and the promotional concept to effect ‘profitable’ exchanges. It is time to shift thinking away from the still prevailing focus on persuasive promotional messages alone, to relationship management by recognising interdependence with other ‘non-customer’ groups. This must be based on a corporate intelligence system which helps the corporation to adapt to meet the needs of its customers whilst recognising the interests and concerns of, and impact of decisions and actions upon, all key groups. Marketers should carefully segment their key groups, so that they can closely identify with them and so coordinate with, and be consistent with, the creation of a strong corporate identity that produces the desired overall corporate image. This requires co-ordination and collaboration with public relations specialists about common goals and interests, through joint planning and linked performance measures. The marketing specialist should be contributing information to co-ordinated communication with key groups other than ‘markets’, for example via the annual report/AGM, and market research which delves deeper than product preferences and purchase intentions. The marketer also has a responsibility to manage the corporation’s ‘marketing image’, that is, how the various key groups view the important attributes of the company’s performance (Barich and Kotler, 1991). This responsibility is subsumed under corporate image management, but is broader than product and brand image management responsibilities. The marketer must be aware of the complex and dynamic product of beliefs, attitudes, and feelings created by the impressions of the company’s marketing policy and behaviour. Co-ordination of marketing communications with managerial and organisational communications is necessary as part of corporate communication, and this requires co-operation and collaboration at the early stages of marketing planning. Integration of communication activities can be achieved through balanced management and leadership which seeks both stability (through internal communication) and innovation (through external communication). Marketing managers are also encouraged to take responsibility for ensuring a marketing orientation in the corporation, to ensure market-oriented strategic management. Meeting customer needs, wants, and expectations at a profit is central to decision-making. The organisation of marketing management and operations is appropriate for the marketing and general business environment and the personality of the corporation. Marketing information is timely, relevant, and available to advise corporate decision-making. Managers have a long-term customer and competitor focus. Marketing planning and operations are efficient and effective. Clearly, communication is an issue for each of these requirements of marketing effectiveness. Marketers should actively market the marketing concept through the provision of the concept of exchange relationships, as well as communication tools and skills, to other groups in the corporation. This will include techniques of market research, advertising, direct mail, publicity, and personal selling. They should be training line managers in a range of approaches for gathering attitudinal knowledge about how their business actually works, and for changing attitudes, and turning detached, frustrated workers into ‘part-time marketers’, and consumers into long-term loyal and satisfied customers. Of course, marketers should also be improving their own understanding of public affairs and issues management, in order to make a competent contribution to the development of relationships with the range of key groups. There remains the problem of 'marketing' being equated with promotion of a product or service to external parties - consumers, intermediaries, sales force, etc. - often with one-way information transmission. Marketers need to think and practice relationship management - this requires interactive communication as dialogue – i.e. negotiated exchange. It is still true that much of what goes under the title 'marketing communications' is actually one-way message transmission, therefore is not true communication (i.e. the interactional creation of meanings) (Day and Wensley, 1983; Mantovani, 1996). Marketing texts, courses, and behaviour needs to incorporate the view that communication is a dialogue and is not simply about firing ‘persuasive arrows’ at customers (Clampitt, 1991). Integrated marketing communications should be integrated into the overall corporate communication policy to ensure that the range of marketing communications methods are available to the corporation to persuade people to act by creating coherent impressions which shape their opinions. There is an important role for marketers in change management, to ensure that the corporation is willing to consider the need, and is capable, for adapting what it does to meet the changing needs of customers. Thus marketers also have a role in managed internal communication, and the application of an internal marketing model of communication, which aims to align business and personal needs and wants, is gaining popularity. Internal marketing is a management process which co-ordinates marketing, human resource (including recruitment and training) and organisation development management to design and operate processes for responsive joint learning amongst specialist groups since many ‘internal customers’ are also ‘part-time marketers’ (Gummesson, 1991). With internal marketing, the marketer's philosophy of business and tools of communication are utilised inside the corporation - marketing principles are applied to internal communications programmes. Internal marketing requires two-way communication rather than one-way promotion - marketers are responsible for pushing the voice of the customer and the marketing philosophy and related tools and techniques into all parts of the corporation’s thinking and activity. There must be a widely understood link between the what and the why of the corporation’s existence, and business objectives must be aligned with the personal needs and wants of all corporation members, and not just those of the senior management group. Marketing communication and behaviour have a major role in forming and confirming or disconfirming perceptions of quality. Marketers should be encouraged to see themselves as involved in the quality management process, as managers of customer expectations, throughout the stages of customer quality perception formation. Quality perceptions are formed when recipients of promotional messages compare the experience of product/service delivery with what they believe was promised. Contemporary ‘State-of-the-Art’ and a Possible Future Approach There is a growing recognition of the need to respond to the realisation of multiple interconnected stakeholder groups and interrelationships between the various and proliferating external and internal channels of communication which are used to address them with a relationship orientation. The organising system is a relational management approach capable of dealing with non-marketing and marketing needs in a co-ordinated and coherent way. The integrated discipline emerges when attention is directed to the nature of human communication, its functions in business enterprise, and the purposes of those people who engage, intentionally or unintentionally, in the process. Whereas marketing relies on existing channels of communication through mostly mass media (although new technologies are changing this emphasis), public relations creates and manages communication channels jointly with the other parties to an actual or potential conflict situation. Public relations, when seen as the management of external channels of organisational communication (Kreps, 1990), encompasses marketing (including advertising) as an integral and key part. Markets are created when those people who are most likely to consume a product or service are identified. On the other hand, publics create themselves. Customers are concerned with products and their availability, whereas publics are concerned with some or all of the total behaviour of the corporation. Multi-disciplinary team-working, which must always involve those who do not claim to be marketing experts, can provide profitable solutions directly for their external customers, and also for their internal customers in support of, in turn, their own external customers. In this sense marketing communication includes internal communication. Some marketing specialists now act as internal consultants and facilitators of value-adding relationships between corporation members, suppliers, customers, and intermediaries. They must co-operate and collaborate with the corporate communication effort to achieve profitable strategic business relationship management, and recognise that they must keep communication strictly human to align internal and external customers’ needs. The approach will foster co-ordinated, consistent statements, decisions, priorities, intentions, aims, and behaviour. This will help to release and mobilise the corporate knowledge, and personality, and the linkage between individual and collective intent, actions, relationships, expectations, and performance. Corporate communication is in its infancy as a convergence of the management discipline, and practice is clearly leading theoretical developments. There is confusion over the central concepts, as well as confusion over the scope and nature of organisational communication, integrated marketing communications, internal marketing, and public relations. What is required is a body of documented and rigorously analysed knowledge of good practice and lessons learned in attempting to integrate the total corporate communication effort to balance managerial (internal, stabilising, tactical) and leadership (external, strategic, innovating) efforts, and the distillation and dissemination of a framework which can guide practitioners, academic researchers, teachers, and consultants. The theory of public relations management has its origins in social psychology and sociology, whereas marketing management originates in microeconomics and the psychology of consumer behaviour. Research in the field should take a more sociological approach that can recognise that corporate and social groupings are interdependent collectivities. Further work in this direction can be fruitful. Far from fearing subservience to public relations or a new ‘corporate communications’ discipline, and feeling the need to compete or conflict with ‘usurpers’ to the communication throne, marketers should be able to recognise and grasp a leading role as integrators, communicators (in the widest sense), and relationship managers of negotiated exchanges in business enterprise. Marketing and public relations each have an essential role in working together. Corporate communication is an integrated system of interpersonally focused, bilaterally designed, bidirectionally oriented communication, working alongside unilaterally designed unidirectional message flow. The challenge is to make these often opposing communication systems work as conceptually and operationally distinct functions within a single managerial framework. Neither one should be subsumed within the other, and nor can they continue to conflict. The term corporation is consciously chosen in place of ‘organisation’ to connote a social collectivity. The term organisation is retained for the outcome of the managerial process of organising. Bibliography Bagozzi, R P. (1978) Marketing as Exchange: A Theory of Transactions in the Marketplace, American Behavioural Scientist, Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 535-556 Baker, M J. (ed.) (1991) The Marketing Book, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Barich, H. and Kotler, P. 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