Page 43 - Corporate Communication

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Chapter 2
Corporate Communications in Historical

Perspective: Marketing, Public Relations
and Corporate Communications

Central themes

By the early 1900s, every organization realized (albeit at first rather reluctantly) that it had
to engage through communications with a number of groups in its environment, including
the general public and consumer markets, to remain economically afloat.

The task of managing communications between an organization on the one hand, and the
general public and consumers on the other, was for the majority of the twentieth century
defined by the public relations and marketing functions.

Through socio-economic developments, and the practical need to coordinate and draw
communications disciplines together, disciplines previously falling under marketing and
public relations headings have increasingly been integrated into the corporate communi-
cations function.

Many organizations around the globe have experienced a shift from being in markets char-
acterized by rigid systems of mass production and consumption to more flexible and
increasingly competitive marketplaces. This, together with a greater call from society for
‘corporate citizenship’, has pushed many organizations into stakeholder management
strategies.

Corporate communications is the management function that has come to fruition in this
stakeholder era, and caters for the need to build and manage relationships with stake-
holder groups upon which the organization is economically and socially dependent.

2.1 Introduction

The evolution of communications disciplines and techniques that are used by organi-
zations to promote, publicize or generally inform relevant individuals and groups
within society about their affairs began at least 150 years ago. It is the product of the
dependencies and ties between business and society, with communications having
changed over time in its scope and practices because of altered perspectives on the