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This paper aims to identify inter‐linguistic and inter‐cultural commonalities and differences between web sites targeting, respectively, English and Chinese viewers, and to examine within‐language and within‐culture variations of web sites for viewers in Greater China.

Two comparisons were made: among the home and subsidiary web sites of the same corporation, McDonald's (www.mcdonalds.com), and across web sites of five corporations within the aviation industry.

Corporate identity and positioning, corporate culture and citizenship are projected differently on the McDonald's web sites for the Anglo‐American viewers and the Chinese viewers. Web sites written in the same language, Chinese, reveal within‐language and within‐culture variations in contents and style across different web sites in the fast food and aviation industries within Greater China.

A more extensive research on different industries can be conducted to validate the preliminary findings of this research. Relevant conceptual resources can then be developed to explain the inter‐linguistic and inter‐cultural differences.

Findings from this comparative analysis help raise the corporate communicators' awareness of inter‐linguistic and inter‐cultural as well as within‐language and within‐culture variations when drafting contents for web sites targeting viewers of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

Comparative studies of global web sites targeting viewers of, respectively, English and Chinese groups, and within‐language and within‐culture variations in Greater China are still limited. The findings from this research serve as a basis for future investigation for effective bilingual corporate communication from the linguistic and cultural perspectives.

The purpose of this paper is to seek to understand the differences in image repair strategies adopted by two governments that operate in the Western and Asian societies when faced with similar crises.

Textual analyses are presented of communication of Hurricane Katrina and Typhoon Morakot by the Taiwanese and US governments, respectively.

Faced with similar accusations of slow response, the Asian culture, represented by the Taiwanese Government, used predominantly mortification and corrective action strategies. The Western culture, represented by the US Government, used predominantly bolstering and defeasibility and a mixed bag of other strategies such as shifting the blame and attack the accuser.

A limitation of the study is that it depends on news reports, instead of news releases and speeches, for analysis. However, given the rapidity and volatility in the unfolding drama of each of the two crises, many of the comments made were to the media and not in prepared speeches. It is a limitation the authors accept.

Strategies reflected Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance and power distance dimensions. These dimensions should be considered when designing communication strategies in different cultures so as to be culturally sensitive and relevant.

Few, if any, studies on image repair theory have addressed the role of culture in strategies used. This study fills the gap by integrating Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory.

With China's economic development over the last two decades, the spirit and practice of Chinese companies have been radically transformed from administrative functions in a centrally planned economy toward that of market‐oriented enterprises. As Chinese enterprises restructure, the communication function is also undergoing dramatic changes. Discussion of the CCI Corporate Communication Practices and Trends 2005 Study and the CCI Corporate Communication Practices and Trends: A China Benchmark 2006 allow some insight into the state of the art in China, and help us to infer how best to communicate with the Chinese for a successful business relationship.

The observations in this article are based on the CCI Corporate Communication Practices and Trends: A China Benchmark Study 2006, which was underwritten by Prudential Financial, Inc., and conducted in Beijing, China, in December 2005 and July 2006 through a partnership of the Corporate Communication Institute, Beijing Horizon Market Research Group, and Dr Jian “Jay” Wang of Purdue University.

Business communication and relationships are integral to success for Chinese companies and their executives. Five years into its membership of the World Trade Organization, China is the world's fastest growing economy. Its companies are developing global business cultures and corporate communication management functions as they make the transition from government control to market‐driven enterprises. This development is revealing when compared with the corporate communication best practices of multinational corporations in relationships with customers, the media, employees, the community and society, and the government, as well as communication in a crisis. Understanding these contemporary practices can lead to healthy business relationship in China. Like any new venture, communication for Chinese businesses is focused on branding, marketing, and identity building. Their executives are developing global practices for relations with employees, and they are developing media relations practices. Many companies are well on their way to creating socially responsible policies and practices for the environment, energy, and relationships with the community. They are rapidly taking on responsibility, once entirely that of the government, for communication in crises.

Based on the findings of the CCI Corporate Communication Practices and Trends: A China Benchmark Study 2006, the Corporate Communication Institute at Fairleigh Dickinson University will conduct a study of Chinese companies and foreign companies operating in China, using a much larger sample.

This discussion should provide some insight into the state of the art in China, and help us to infer how best to communicate with the Chinese for a successful business relationship.

This paper discusses the findings of a first‐of‐its‐kind study of corporate communication practices and trends among Chinese companies.

This paper aims to present the issue of glocalization in transnational advertising and to investigate various patterns of global‐local fusion in the discursive construction of automobile advertisements in People's Republic of China.

A sample of 110 web ads is collected between 2004 and 2005, representing product branding from the local enterprises, the joint‐venture enterprises, and the foreign enterprises in the automobile industry in People's Republic of China. A tripartite framework is developed to examine the patterns of global‐local fusion in the ads along three dimensions: value appeals, language appeals, and visual appeals.

The paper finds that the global appeals tend to be used more frequently in the value dimension while the local appeals tend to be used more frequently in the language dimension, while there is not much difference in the frequency of distribution in the global versus the local appeals in the visual dimension. Furthermore, a large number of the multinational advertisers tend to hybridize both the global and the local elements and there are three possible patterns as representing the scenarios of the global and local fusion in the discourse of Chinese advertising: weak globalization but strong localization, strong globalization but weak localization, and a balanced correspondence between the global and local elements.

The paper has developed a tripartite framework for systematically examining the phenomenon of global‐local hybridity in the discourse of Chinese advertising and calls for attention to the process as well as products of glocalization in the other forms of transnational corporate practice.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the feasibility and benefits of forming a cross‐industry corporate sustainability association, Corporate 21, comprised of leading reputable corporations around the world.

Such an association would require an even reporting structure and a formal sustainability agenda – Corporate Agenda 21. In determining the latter, this paper drew initiatives from 12 current cross‐industry corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports; inclusion is based on repeated findings and potential global application of initiative.

It is debated that such an association would serve to further strengthen the role of business in the modern sustainability and CSR movement, insofar as it would offer increased cross‐industry collaboration through a collective plan of action in the field.

The paper would benefit from a broader range of CSR report analysis, including all reports from leading corporations in fields of CSR, sustainability and innovation. A subsequent study should also develop a benchmarking system for all Corporate Agenda 21 initiatives.

A unified sustainability blueprint and shared cross‐industry CSR collaboration would provide the most beneficial plan of action for business by working: first, reverse the image “corporate” has globally; second, offer money‐saving solutions and healthy profit attainment at the heart of its programs; third, allow companies to supersede inevitable governmentally imposed environmental and social regulations; fourth, create inter‐company synergy through effective global intent; provide member corporations with a competitive market advantage; and finally, foster an innovative business environment.

Such an association would provide a new forum from which business would have increased understanding and greater leverage in social and environmental responsibility and innovation.

The Conference on Corporate Communication serves as a forum to “exchange ideas and information on relevant issues facing the corporate communication profession.” What have we found over the past 10 years? What themes have been seen as “relevant” and how has what we research changed? This paper aims to focus on the answers to these questions.

In order to examine how the central themes have changed over the years, a semantic network analysis was undertaken using the abstracts from all the presentations from each of the past nine years. The semantic network analysis examined the relationship among words to determine clusters of shared themes.

The research found that over the course of the last decade, the study of corporate communication is not static. It is ever evolving as the world changes and continues to rise to meet the needs of this changing world

This tool allowed the researcher the opportunity to capture the visible and quantifiable way in which themes are established in this community by noting a shared discourse among members that reflects common understanding of rules, a common belief of values and a way of life.