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Public Diplomacy: Specific Socio-cultural Variables

Public Diplomacy: Specific Socio-cultural Variables. Prof. Dr. Krishnamurthy Sriramesh School of Business Massey University Wellington New Zealand. Public Relations and Public Diplomacy. Building Relationships is at the heart of both public relations and public diplomacy

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Public Diplomacy: Specific Socio-cultural Variables

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  1. Public Diplomacy: Specific Socio-cultural Variables Prof. Dr. Krishnamurthy Sriramesh School of Business Massey University Wellington New Zealand

  2. Public Relations and Public Diplomacy • Building Relationships is at the heart of both public relations and public diplomacy • Relationship and Communication: reciprocal linkages • Common Challenge for both PR and PD: How should we communicate in order to build stable and healthy relationships with our stakeholders?

  3. Listening and relationships • Listening is key to understanding (Hillary Clinton’s emphasis during confirmation) • Understanding leads to healthy relationships • Attempting to listen, understand, and build relationships induces us to recognize the diversity that pervades our environment • Diversity had been neglected until onset of globalization and the 21st century (ethnocentricity in public relations)

  4. Culture broadly defined • Societal Culture: Diverse languages, customs, and religions • Hofstede’s dimensions of culture (PD, UA, IND, MAS, LTO) • Media Culture: Control, Access, Outreach • Political/Legal Culture • Economic System: Level of Development • Activist Culture • Variables interlinked as evident in case studies

  5. Asia: The Cynosure of eyes • Increased focus on Asia in new millennium • Population of almost 4 billion • Six Asian countries among the ten most populous countries of the world • 7 Asian cities among top ten urban centers of the world • Estimates put middle-class consumers in India and China at about 800 mil - 1 billion • Fortune Conference experts forecast that Asia will have four economic powers by 2010 (Japan-2, China-3, S Korea-9, India-10)

  6. Diversity thy name is Asia! • India: 1.1 billion; 1961 census recorded 1,652 different languages and dialects in India; one state, Madhya Pradesh, has 377; 18 (22) Official Languages; Seven religions • China: 1.3 billion; Between six and twelve main regional groups; Chinese classified as a macro language with 13 sub-languages; revival of Confucianism

  7. Diversity thy name is Asia! • Indonesia: 245 million in 17,000 islands; 17 distinctive ethnic groups • Philippines: 91 million; 11 languages and 87 dialects • Malaysia: 25 million; 140 different spoken languages; three dominant ethnic groups • Singapore: 4.1 million; 4 official languages; at least three dominant ethnic groups

  8. Impact of Culture on Communication • Power Distance and its manifestation in organizations • Caste, Ethnicity, Clan (eg. same schools in S Korea), gender (male bonding rituals in Japan, Korea, India, China) • Study in India revealed high correlations between PDI and relationship building by communication managers • Chinese Govt’s emphasis on Confucian philosophy -- harmony

  9. Impact of Culture on Communication • Nationalistic activism and MNCs • India: 1977 (against IBM and Coca-Cola); 1995 (against KFC, Pepsi Cola); 2006 against Coke and Pepsi • China: Starbucks in the Forbidden City • Recent Nationalism in the US, France – Indonesia reciprocates • Collectivism – Communitarian philosophy and its impact on consumer behavior (empirical study - Singapore)

  10. Culture and Consumer activism Problem Recognition and Level of Involvement– High: 79 % had faced poor customer service regularly Mostly passive communication behavior in response 49 % stopped visiting the store (for some time) – “not many choices” 41 % mentioned it to friends and family Only 5 percent wrote a complaint to the store and less than one percent to the media Very low activist behavior

  11. Culture and Consumer Activism Reasons for not complaining (constraint recognition): 67%: no time to provide feedback 77 %: troublesome to provide feedback no mechanisms 33 % quit complaining after receiving nil or negative response previously

  12. Communitarian Influence “sales reps are humans and we should be understanding” “I do not want to appear as a bad person by creating a public scene by complaining” Older and less educated saw a role for the government in customer relations– [‘Nanny state’ syndrome] Communitarian outlook of respondents: “We should be like family and not complain against one another” Overall, weak levels of activism among all

  13. CSR and far-eastern values Tata Steel: One of the pioneers of CSR The first to establish labor welfare practices (1912); eight-hour workday (1912); free medical aid (1915); Welfare Department (1917); leave with pay, Workers Provident Fund and Workmen’s Compensation (1920); Maternity Benefit (1928); promoting family planning (since the 1950s). Asian Values missing in today’s discourse on CSR (driven by individualism and capitalism)

  14. Media Culture and Comm. Print media still very relevant in Asia vernacular press ignored but important WAN report in 2006: 70 of 100 best selling newspapers are now published in Asia China, Japan, and India have 60 of the 70 Daily sales in the world: 1. China (98.7 m); 2. India (88.9 m); 3. Japan, (69.1); US is fourth Indigenous (folk) media also very important

  15. Media Culture and Comm. • Media Control (for traditional media) has been with government and capitalists (political elite with links to govt.) • Personal Influence (guanxi) is key to media relations • Control affects reporting in traditional media BUT • New media have altered the landscape

  16. ASIA INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION Population Intnet Users, Intnet Users Penetration Use Growth ( 2007 Est.) (Year 2000) Latest Data (% Population) ( 2000-2007 ) India 1,129,667,528 5,000,000 40,000,000 3.5 % 10.0 % 700.0 % China 1,317,431,495 22,500,000 137,000,000 10.4 % 34.4 % 508.9 % Indonesia 224,481,720 2,000,000 18,000,000 8.0 % 4.5 % 800.0 % Vietnam 85,031,436 200,000 14,913,652 17.5 % 3.7 % 7,356.8 % Philippines 87,236,532 2,000,000 7,820,000 9.0 % 2.0 % 291.0 % Malaysia 28,294,120 3,700,000 13,528,200 47.8 % 3.4 % 265.6 % Singapore 3,654,103 1,200,000 2,421,000 66.3 % 0.6 % 101.8 % Korea, South 51,300,989 19,040,000 34,120,000 66.5 % 8.6 % 79.2 % Source: www.Internetworldstats.com

  17. Mobile Penetration (2005) BMI Forecast Mobile Penetration (2010) Forecast Avg Annual Growth Hong Kong 118.5% 111.9% -0.3% Singapore 97.7% 100.7% 2.1% Taiwan 92.4% 92.6% 1.3% Korea 79.1% 85.9% 2.1% Malaysia 74.1% 91.2% 5.8% Japan 70.3% 85.6% 4.2% Thailand 46.9% 78.5% 14.4% Philippines 42.7% 75.2% 16.9% China 30.2% 58.9% 21.9% Indonesia 22.3% 41.5% 19.5% Pakistan 14.1% 37.7% 38.5% Vietnam 10.3% 35.9% 62.3% India 7.0% 32.8% 80.1% Source: www.Internetworldstats.com Asia Mobile Penetration Rates 2005-2010

  18. China: Songhua River Chemical spill; Starbucks in the Forbidden City; 1 mil SMS kills Xiamen chemical plant Philippines: Masses used SMS to unseat president and challenge corporations India: Tsunami and risk communication; Jessica Lal murder case Malaysian media more advanced than Singapore (Cherian George: Contentious Journalism) New Media and Activism

  19. Public Affairs and Political Comm. Government as “sole public” Singapore – NTUC in cabinet Malaysia – Barisan Nasional and ethnic mix (parallels with Singapore?) China – CCP member in every sphere (eg. Universities, mass media) India – Relatively more pluralism but still govt. hand looms large (licensing Raj)

  20. Lobbying as Corp Comm. Singapore – “lobbying is illegal” – “meetings” are okay India – lobbying is not formalized and so it is done through personal influence China: Gongguan Guanxi - Gong (Public) guan (affairs); Guanxi (relations) Guanxi also means “relations building” or getting access to gatekeepers

  21. Government leaders and Mass media are two principal publics Personal influence is key to cultivating relationships with them Religion, Caste, Clan, friend of a friend, all play a role in managing relationships “Quid pro Quo” or “favor bank” for relationship building (ethics?) Culture’s crucial role in personal influence Personal Influence and PR

  22. Activism and Public Relations India: Consumer Courts against corporations and government (One in every state – quite active and effective – adversarial democracy) China: China Association for NGO Cooperation (CANGO) founded in 1992, has 100 member organizations – not adversarial (“conduits between govt. and corporations”); Focus on developmental work (not pluralistic) Singapore: Non-activist NGO activity (eg. Center for Corporate Social Responsibility) – NTUC as corporation

  23. Thank You Very Much!

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