Page 47 - Corporate Communication

Cornelissen-02.qxd 10/9/2004 9:04 AM Page 36

36 Mapping the Field

PUBLIC RELATIONS
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORCES
⇓ ⇓
Press agentry Public information Two-way
orientation orientation (a)symmetrical
orientation
(managerial discipline)
Corporate
INTEGRATION
communications
(managerial discipline)
Production Selling orientation Market
orientation orientation
⇑ ⇑
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FORCES
MARKETING
1800−1900 1900−1940 1940−1980 1980−1990 1990−present

Figure 2.1 The historical development of public relations and marketing

development, shaped and guided by changing socio-economic conditions (see
Figure 2.1), yet largely in their own separate ways. Figure 2.1 displays the route that
each of these two functions has followed in the twentieth century, largely indepen-
dently, but with a trend emerging in the 1980s, and carried on through the 1990s
and beyond, that both functions should be brought together, integrated, linked, con-
joined or in any way connected under the flag of a new discipline that we now know
as corporate communications. This trend towards ‘integration’ was noted by many
in the field, including Philip Kotler, one of the most influential marketing figures of
modern times, who commented in the early 1990s that ‘there is a genuine need
to develop a new paradigm in which these two subcultures [public relations and
marketing] work most effectively in the best interest of the organization and the
publics it serves’. 4

The professional development of public relations

Public relations developed, expanding in its scope and activities, because of public
scepticism, political reform, turmoil and activism throughout the twentieth century,
which gradually created a climate in which organizations could no longer suffice with
simply engaging in what could be called ‘private relations’ – that is, making business
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decisions without regard to governmental or public opinion. Whereas power had
previously, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, been largely concentrated with
big business,the balance had gradually been shifting towards powerful groups in society
including governments, trade unions, investors and stockholders, so that organizations
could no longer ‘survive while ignoring the impact of social, political, technical and
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economic changes on its relationships [with public groups]’. In direct response to the
increased saliency and power of such groups, new areas of expertise such as investor
relations, government affairs and employee communications were added to the existing