CULTURAL DIMENSION

Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others. It is always a collective phenomenon, but it can be connected to different collectives. Within each collective there is a variety of individuals. If characteristics of individuals are imagined as varying according to some bell curve; the variation between cultures is the shift of the bell curve when one moves from one society to the other. Most commonly the term culture is used for tribes or ethnic groups, for nations  and for organizations (in sociology and management). A relatively unexplored field is the culture of occupations . The term can also be applied to the genders, to generations, or to social classes. However, changing the level of aggregation studied changes the nature of the concept of culture. Societal, national and gender cultures, which children acquire from their earliest youth onwards, are much deeper rooted in the human mind than occupational cultures acquired at school, or than organizational cultures acquired on the job.

 

 Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Power distance has been defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

This represents inequality but defined from below not from above. It suggests that a society's level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders. Power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society. All societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others. Power distance is learned early in families, in high power distance cultures, children are expected to be obedient toward parents versus being treated more or less as equals. In high power distance cultures, people are expected to display respect for those of higher status. 

 

Uncertainty Avoidance. The extent to which people in a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations. This feeling is expressed through nervous stress and in a need for predictability or a need for written and unwritten rules. Cultures strong in uncertainty avoidance are active, aggressive, emotional, compulsive, security seeking, and intolerant, cultures weak in uncertainty avoidance are contemplative, less aggressive, unemotional, relaxed, accepting of personal risks, and relatively tolerant.

Uncertainty avoidance is not the same as risk avoidance; it deals with a society's tolerance for ambiguity. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such situations by strict behavioral codes, laws and rules, disapproval of deviant opinions, and a belief in absolute Truth; 'there can only be one Truth and we have it.

 

Individualism versus collectivism. This dimension refers to how people define themselves and their relationships with others. In an individualist culture, the interest of the individual prevails over the interests of the group. Ties between individuals are loose. People look after themselves and their immediate families. In a collectivist culture, the interest of the group prevails over the interest of the individual. People are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups that continue throughout a lifetime to protect in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. One difference is reflected in who is taken into account when you set goals. In individualist cultures, goals are set with minimal consideration given to groups other than perhaps your immediate family. In collectivist cultures, other groups are taken into account in a major way when goals are set. Individualist cultures are loosely integrated; collectivist cultures are tightly integrated.

 

 Collectivism, as a societal, not an individual characteristic, is the degree to which people in a society are integrated into groups. On the individualist side we find cultures in which the ties between individuals are loose, everyone is expected to look after him or herself and his or her immediate family. On the collectivist side we find cultures in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) that continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty, and oppose other in groups.

 

Masculinity – Femininity. Hofstede found that women’s social role varied less from culture to culture than men’s. He labeled as masculine cultures those that strive for maximal distinction between what women and men are expected to do. Cultures that place high values on masculine traits stress assertiveness, competition, and material success. Those labeled as feminine cultures are those that permit more over lapping social roles for the sexes. Cultures that place high value on feminine traits stress quality of life, interpersonal relationships, and concern for the weak.

 

 Femininity as a societal not as an individual characteristic, refers to the distribution of values between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society, to which a range of solutions can be found. The IBM studies revealed that women's values differ less among societies than men's values, men's values from one country to another contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women's values on the other. The assertive pole has been called masculine and the modest, caring pole feminine. 

The women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are somewhat assertive and competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between men's values and women's values. In masculine cultures there is often a taboo around this dimension . Taboos are based on deeply rooted values; this taboo shows that the Masculinity or Femininity dimension in some societies touches basic and often unconscious values, too painful to be explicitly discussed. In fact the taboo validates the importance of the dimension.

 

BY JOHN CAFRENE

BAPRM 42567

digital television

Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of audio and video by digitally processed and multiplexed signal, in contrast to the totally analog and channel separated signals used by analog television. Digital TV can support more than one program in the same channel bandwidth. It is an innovative service that represents the first significant evolution in television technology since color television in the 1950s.

History

Digital TV's roots have been tied very closely to the availability of inexpensive, high performance computers. It wasn't until the 1990s that digital TV became a real possibility.

In the mid-1980s as Japanese consumer electronics firms forged ahead with the development of HDTV technology, and as the MUSE analog format proposed by NHK, a Japanese company was seen as a pacesetter that threatened to eclipse U.S. electronics companies. Until June 1990, the Japanese MUSE standard based on an analog system was the front-runner among the more than 23 different technical concepts under consideration. Then, an American company, General Instrument, demonstrated the feasibility of a digital television signal. This breakthrough was of such significance that the FCC was persuaded to delay its decision on an ATV standard until a digitally based standard could be developed.

In March 1990, when it became clear that a digital standard was feasible, the FCC made a number of critical decisions. First, the Commission declared that the new ATV standard must be more than an enhanced analog signal, but be able to provide a genuine HDTV signal with at least twice the resolution of existing television images. Then, to ensure that viewers who did not wish to buy a new digital television set could continue to receive conventional television broadcasts, it dictated that the new ATV standard must be capable of being simulcast on different channels. The new ATV standard also allowed the new DTV signal to be based on entirely new design principles. Although incompatible with the existing NTSC standard, the new DTV standard would be able to incorporate many improvements.

The final standard adopted by the FCC did not require a single standard for scanning formats, aspect ratios, or lines of resolution. This outcome resulted from a dispute between the consumer electronics industry (joined by some broadcasters) and the computer industry (joined by the film industry and some public interest groups) over which of the two scanning processes interlaced or progressive is superior. Interlaced scanning, which is used in televisions worldwide, scans even-numbered lines first, then odd-numbered ones. Progressive scanning, which is the format used in computers, scans lines in sequences, from top to bottom. The computer industry argued that progressive scanning is superior because it does not flicker in the manner of interlaced scanning. It also argued that progressive scanning enables easier connections with the Internet, and is more cheaply converted to interlace formats than vice versa. The film industry also supported progressive scanning because it offers a more efficient means of converting filmed programming into digital formats. Broadcasters also favored interlaced scanning because their vast archive of interlaced programming is not readily compatible with a progressive format.

   By James Catherine

MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS

The market research process is a systematic methodology for informing business decisions.

The market research process involves a round of separate stages of data interpretation, organization and collection. These stages could be considered as a benchmark of market research, but it depends on an organization and how they have encapsulated their strategies to follow this process. Hence some of the interlinked stages could be conducted repeatedly and some of the stages can also be omitted. Given below is a typical market research process which is depicted stage-wise:

Some of the major stages involved in marketing research process are as follows:

1. Identification and Defining the Problem

2. Statement of Research Objectives

 3. Planning the Research Design or Designing the Research Study

 4. Planning the Sample

5. Data Collection

6. Data Processing and Analysis

7. Formulating Conclusion, Preparing and Presenting the Report.

Marketing research exercise may take many forms but systematic enquiry is a feature common to all such forms. Being a systematic enquiry, it requires a careful planning of the orderly investigation process.

Though it is not necessary that all research processes would invariably follow a given sequence, yet marketing research often follows a generalized pattern which can be broken down and studied as sequential stages.

The various stages or steps in the marketing research process are discussed below: 

1.      Identification and Defining the Problem:

The market research process begins with the identification “of a problem faced by the company. The clear-cut statement of problem may not be possible at the very outset of research process because often only the symptoms of the problems are apparent at that stage. Then, after some explanatory research, clear definition of the problem is of crucial importance in marketing research because such research is a costly process involving time, energy and money.

Clear definition of the problem helps the researcher in all subsequent research efforts including setting of proper research objectives, the determination of the techniques to be used, and the extent of information to be collected.

It may be noted that the methods of explanatory research popularly in use are—survey of secondary data, experience survey, or pilot studies, i.e., studies of a small initial sample. All this is also known as ‘preliminary investigation’.

2. Statement of Research Objectives:

After identifying and defining the problem with or without explanatory research, the researcher must take a formal statement of research objectives. Such objectives may be stated in qualitative or quantitative terms and expressed as research questions, statement or hypothesis. For example, the research objective, “To find out the extent to which sales promotion schemes affected the sales volume” is a research objective expressed as a statement.

On the other hand, a hypothesis is a statement that can be refuted or supported by empirical finding. The same research objective could be stated as, “To test the proposition that sales are positively affected by the sales promotion schemes undertaken this winter.”

Example of another hypothesis may be: “The new packaging pattern has resulted in increase in sales and profits.” Once the objectives or the hypotheses are developed, the researcher is ready to choose the research design.

3.Planning the Research Design or Designing the Research Study:

After defining the research problem and deciding the objectives, the research design must be developed. A research design is a master plan specifying the procedure for collecting and analyzing the needed information. It represents a framework for the research plan of action.

The objectives of the study are included in the research design to ensure that data collected are relevant to the objectives. At this stage, the researcher should also determine the type of sources of information needed, the data collection method (e.g., survey or interview), the sampling, methodology, and the timing and possible costs of research.

4. Planning the Sample:

Sampling involves procedures that use a small number of items or parts of the ‘population’ (total items) to make conclusion regarding the ‘population’. Important questions in this regard are— who is to be sampled as a rightly representative lot? Which is the target ‘population’? What should be the sample size—how large or how small? How to select the various units to make up the sample?

5. Data Collection:

The collection of data relates to the gathering of facts to be used in solving the problem. Hence, methods of market research are essentially methods of data collection. Data can be secondary, i.e., collected from concerned reports, magazines and other periodicals, especially written articles, government publications, company publications, books, etc.

Data can be primary, i.e., collected from the original base through empirical research by means of various tools.

There can be broadly two types of sources

1. Internal sources; existing within the firm itself, such as accounting data, salesmen’s reports, etc.
2. External sources; outside the firm.
   
   
   
   
   
   

6. Data Processing and Analysis:

Once data have been collected, these have to be converted into a format that will suggest answers to the initially identified and defined problem. Data processing begins with the editing of data and its coding. Editing involves inspecting the data-collection forms for omission, legibility, and consistency in classification. Before tabulation, responses need to be classified into meaningful categories.

The rules for categorizing, recording and transferring the data to ‘data storage media’ are called codes. This coding process facilitates the manual or computer tabulation. If computer analysis is being used, the data can be key punched and verified.

Analysis of data represents the application of logic to the understanding of data collected about the subject. In its simplest form analysis may involve determination of consistent patterns and summarizing of appropriate details.

The appropriate analytical techniques chosen would depend upon informational requirements of the problem, characteristics of the research designs and the nature of the data gathered. The statistical analysis may range from simple immediate analysis to very complex multivariate analysis.

7. Formulating Conclusion, Preparing and Presenting the Report:

The final stage in the marketing research process is that of interpreting the information and drawing conclusion for use in managerial decision. The research report should clearly and effectively communicate the research findings and need not include complicated statement about the technical aspect of the study and research methods.

Often the management is not interested in details of research design and statistical analysis, but instead, in the concrete findings of the research. If need be, the researcher may bring out his appropriate recommendations or suggestions in the matter. Researchers must make the presentation technically accurate, understandable and useful.

BY KINGALU AVIN
 BAPM 42697

Challenges of Corporate Communication

Challenges of Corporate Communication

Like any other profession, corporate communication officer face different challenges   in their work place as days goes on.. The following are some of challenges that corporate communication encounter;

1. The mobile mind shift; optimizing corporate communication officer for  mobile means thinking beyond how your content will look on a smaller screen. It is a mind shift, beker assets and corporate communication must determine how client brands fit into consumers’ constant communication and reliability of mobile devices.

2.  Hyper-personalized content; customers desire information that is personalized, send to the right channel at the right time. Corporate  communication must advise clients to shift from traditional channels to hyper personalized and more engaging tactics. Example of this tactics include coke’s personalized bottles, apple’s product engraving and Google’s art, copy and code project.

3. A glocal industry; Corporate communication clients and stakeholders tend to look for support in the immediate neighborhood. At the same time, understanding geographical and cultural specifics of different countries is central to learn the markets’ conditions. The solution is that network corporate communication teams to share knowledge and insight with each other for an effective, and integrated approach example universal corporate communication measurement standards set by the Coalition for Corporate Communication research standards.

4.  Real-time crisis monitoring; nearly 30% of company crises spread internationally within an hour, and over 2/3 of crises gain international reach within 24 hours. Most crisis experts agree that it is not a matter of if your company will experience a crisis, but when your company will experience that crisis. Fortunately, comprehensive media monitoring services allow brands to maintain the reputation and quickly spot a brewing  crisis on the internet, social media and broadcast TV and radio. The corporate communication agencies and corporate staff must act quickly when they identify one of the warning signs of a crisis.

5. The power of images; image-driven content not only increases consumer engagement and retention; it also drives more sales. Pinterest and facebook lead in most revenue per visitor among all social media platforms, thanks to their focus on videos and images.Beker predicts next generation press releases to be disseminated via videos and social media posts.

6.      Transparency; the risk of the company loosing control over negative news is substantial. Brands can only address and repair bad customer experiences and crisis-causing news with honesty and transparency.

7.      The death of traditional journalism; the role of media organizations as gatekeepers of information and audience has faded. Brands can take over the role of reporters and tell their own stories and news in an engaging way.

8.      Brand values; more companies are projecting their values in corporate communication and marketing materials. Brands like Nike make it focus of their campaigns. Companies are also recognizing the benefits of corporate social responsibility programs to elevate their values and give back to the community while doing so. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs  are effective: a recent study shows more consumers are choosing cause, based brands over charitable giving as their way of giving back

Mkula Dennis

CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Corporate communication is a set of activities involved in managing and orchestrating all internal and external communications aimed at creating favourable point of view among stakeholders on which the company depends. It is the messages issued by a corporate organization, body, or institute to its audiences, such as employees, media, channel partners and the general public. Organizations aim to communicate the same message to all its stakeholders, to transmit coherence, credibility and ethic. Corporate Communications help organizations explain their mission, combine its many visions and values into a cohesive message to stakeholders. The concept of corporate communication could be seen as an integrative communication structure linking stakeholders to the organization.

brand" (corporate brandingto minimize discrepancies between the company's desired identity and brand features

To delegate tasks in communication

To formulate and execute effective procedures to make decisions on communication matters

 To coordinate with international business firms

 

Corporate branding

A corporate brand is the perception of a company that unites a group of products or services for the public under a single name, a shared visual identity, and a common set of symbols. The process of corporate branding consists creating favourable associations and positive reputation with both internal and external stakeholders. The purpose of a corporate branding initiative is to generate a positive halo over the products and businesses of the company, imparting more favourable impressions of those products and businesses.

In more general terms, research suggests that corporate branding is an appropriate strategy for companies to implement when:

• there is significant "information asymmetry" between a company and its clients; That is to say customers are much less informed about a company's products than the company itself is;
• customers perceive a high degree of risk in purchasing the products or services of the company;
• features of the company behind the brand would be relevant to the product or service a customer is considering purchasing.

Corporate and organizational identity

There are two approaches for identity:

• Corporate identity is the reality and uniqueness of an organization, which is integrally related to its external and internal image and reputation through corporate communication
• Organizational identity comprises those characteristics of an organization that its members believe are central, distinctive and enduring. That is, organizational identity consists of those attributes that members feel are fundamental to (central) and uniquely descriptive of (distinctive) the organization and that persist within the organization over time (enduring)"

Four types of identity can be distinguished:

• Perceived identity: The collection of attributes that are seen as typical for the ‘continuity, centrality and uniqueness’ of the organization in the eyes of its members.
• Projected identity: The self presentations of the organization’s attributes manifested in the implicit and explicit signals which the organization broadcasts to internal and external target audiences through communication and symbols.
• Desired identity (also called ‘ideal’ identity): The idealized picture that top managers hold of what the organization could evolve into under their leadership.
• Applied identity: The signals that an organization broadcasts both consciously and unconsciously through behaviors and initiatives at all levels within the organization.

Corporate responsibility

Corporate responsibility (often referred to as corporate social responsibility), corporate citizenship, sustainability, and even conscious capitalism are some of the terms bandied about the news media and corporate marketing efforts as companies jockey to win the trust and loyalty of constituents. Corporate responsibility (CR) constitutes an organization’s respect for society’s interests, demonstrated by taking ownership of the effects its activities have on key constituencies including customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and the environment, in all parts of their operations. In short, CR prompts a corporation to look beyond its traditional bottom line, to the social implications of its business.

By Kingalu Avin BAPRM 42697

IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY FOR SUCCESS OF AN ORGANIZATION

Innovation is the process of creating and implementing a new idea. It is the process of taking useful ideas and converting them into useful products; services or processes or methods of operation. These useful ideas are the result of creativity, which is the prerequisite for innovation. Creativity in the ability to combine ideas in a unique way or to make useful association among ideas. Creativity provides new ideas for quality improvement in organizations and innovation puts these ideas into action.

Change and innovation are closely related, even though they are not the same. Change often involves new and better ideas. The new idea may be the creation of a new product or process or it can be an idea about how to change completely the way business is carried out. Successful organisations understand that both innovation and change are required to satisfy their most important stake holders.

Strategic Importance of Innovation:

For both established organisations as well as new organisations, innovation and change become important in a dynamic, changing environment. When a company fails to innovate and change as needed, its customers, employees and the community at large can all suffer. The ability to manage innovation and change is an essential part of a manager’s competencies.

Types of Innovation:

Three basic types of innovation are:

(i) Technical,

(ii) Process and

(iii) Administrative.

Technical innovation involves creation of new goods and services. Many technical innovations occur through research and development efforts intended to satisfy demanding customers who are always seeking, new, better, faster and/or cheaper products.

Process innovation involves creating a new way of producing, selling or distributing an existing good or service.

Administrative innovation occurs when creation of a new organisation design better supports the creation, production and delivery of goods and services.

The various types of innovation often go hand in hand. For example, the rapid development of business to business e-commerce represents process innovation. But this new process requires many technical innovations in computer hardware and software. Also as firms began to use business to business e-commerce, administrative innovation soon followed. Further, implementation of process innovations necessitated organisational change. “Doing something new means doing something differently”. Thus, innovation and organisational change go hand in hand.

Technology and Innovation:

Technology is defined as the systematic application of scientific knowledge to a new product, process or service. It is also defined as the methods, processes, systems, and skills used to transform resources into products. Technology is embedded in every product, service, process and procedure used or produced.

Innovation is a change in technology. When we find a better product, process or procedure to do our task, we have an innovation. Process innovations are changes which affect the methods of producing outputs. For example, manufacturing practices such as just-in-time, mass customerisation, simultaneous or concurrent engineering – are all innovations.

In contrast, product innovations are changes in the actual outputs themselves. Technological innovation is daunting in its complexity and pace of change. It is vital for a firm’s competitive advantage because today’s customers often demand products that are yet to be designed. As technologies develop, product obsolescence increases and innovative products will have to be introduced into the markets.

Managing technology requires that managers understand how technologies emerge, develop and affect the ways organisations compete and the way people work. Technology can greatly affect an organisation’s competitiveness and managers have to integrate technology into their organisation’s competitive strategy. Managers need to assess the technological needs of their organisations and the means by which these needs can be met.

Understanding the forces driving technological development and the patterns they follow can help a manager anticipate, monitor and manage technology more effectively.

i. First, there must be a need or demand for the technology. The need acts as a driving force for technological innovation to occur.

ii. Second, it must be theoretically possible to meet the need using the knowledge available from basic science.

iii. Third, it must be possible to convert the scientific knowledge into practice in both engineering and economic terms.

iv. Fourth, the necessary resources such as finance, skilled labour, time, space and other resources must be available to develop the technology.

v. Finally entrepreneurial initiative is needed to identify and put all the elements together.

The diffusion of technological innovations:

For successful diffusion of a new technology over a period of time it should have the following attributes:

(i) Great advantage over its predecessor.

(ii) Compatible with existing systems, procedures, infrastructures and ways of thinking.

(iii) Has lesser complexity than its predecessor.

BY Alphonce Bhoke BAPRM 42527

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RESEARCH CONDUCT

6 IMPORTANCES OF CONDUCTING A RESEARCH IN CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Research is a systematic investigative process employed to increase or revise current knowledge by discovering new facts. Research can be Basic research which aim at increasing scientific knowledge, or applied research which aimed at using basic findings to solve a particular problem.

Benefits of research in Corporate Communication.

 

It helps in determining the institutional profile or corporate image in the public mind by ascertaining the attitudes of people towards an Organization how well they understand it and what they like and dislike about it. Through conducting image survey type of research it seeks to understand how well the company is known.

 

Research helps to know what motivates public attitude towards an organization. To understand the motives that influence an individual's opinion, it is necessary to explore the psychological factors that shape that persons attitude towards an organizations by conducting Motivational research. The public image of the a company may be affected not only by its own policies and action but also by the attitude of the public towards the industry of which the company is a part .Motivation studies are made to discover the underlying emotion factors that influence public opinion of a company or industry.

 

Research helps corporate people in seek answers to what publics think about a business or nonprofit Organization and why they think as they do, as well as their attitude towards Company, policies, practices, and products. In addition to determine the views of the publics as well as public opinions.

Research enables management to formulate policies that are acceptable to the public's .Research procedures that suggestions that lead to better products, services, and good relationship in Corporate communication make management aware of existing and potential problems and thus be helpful in determining objectives and strategies of corporate communication programs.

 

Research helps to reduce nebulous impressions of public opinion to specific likes and dislikes thus helping a company avoid mistakes in dealing with public's .It can reveal reasons for the publics and suggest means of overcoming it by replacing guess work with the facts.

Research is highly effective tool for convincing management that the corporate relations field is important role in achieving corporate objectives.  Research can demonstrate that Corporate communication improve the company effectiveness and contribute to the critical bottom line profit.

Research is important in planning, Carrying out and evaluating successful marketing communication Programs.

 

Research helps in understand of human behavior and actions since human beings are complicated in terms of their culture, customs, values, and experience .Research in corporate communication is important because it helps in categorizing them and reach them according to the groups that belong

BY MINZI CATHERINE L.

BAPRM 42616