My country is different: Defining drivers of excellence in the global communications organizations of large multinationals

Abstract

Purpose

The creation of a truly global marketplace with a rapidly expanding middle class has created unparalleled opportunities global brands and the multinational corporations that own them. From household and food products to travel and luxury brands, this converging global market with converging lifestyle aspirations would appear to enable global brand stewardship on an unprecedented scale. At the same time, brand marketing and corporate communications practices around the world have become increasingly consistent, eradicating what were once sharp local differences in theory and practice in different countries. The paper aims to focus on this issues surrounding this.

Design/methodology/approach

To understand the hidden obstacles to a seamless global approach to corporate and brand marketing, Porter Novelli commissioned Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey of the communications directors of US‐based global multinationals asking detailed questions about what they believe is working well in their global PR networks and what they believe is less than satisfactory. They were asked to rank the importance of a set of core attributes relating to brand marketing and corporate communications and then to rate the performance of their internal PR organization on those attributes.

Findings

The outcome of this research revealed five key sources of what can be called network inertia which is discussed in more detail in another paper.

Originality/value

Offers clear actions for global multinationals to meet the extraordinary difficulties in managing their PR networks to create and nourish effective and consistent brand stewardship across the globe.

Citation

Hirsch, P. and Shaukat, N. (2008), "My country is different: Defining drivers of excellence in the global communications organizations of large multinationals", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 11-17. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280810848166