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The purpose of this paper is to explore how public relations (PR) professionals develop co-narratives with legal counsel when formulating crisis communication strategies. Understanding how PR practitioners work with their legal counterparts may help lead to more advanced and effective PR practice in the area of crisis communication and management. The authors attempt to do so in this study through interviews conducted with PR practitioners in two Asian countries – South Korea and Singapore.

In total, 11 semi-structured interviews with PR consultants, 6 in Korea and 5 in Singapore were conducted between May and August 2016. Data analyses revealed key points of interest for PR practice.

First, PR consultants in both countries reported increased collaboration with legal counsel in times of crisis. Second, PR consultants report that legal professionals have begun to realize the significance of winning in the court of public opinion. However, the process by which PR–legal collaboration takes place to develop co-narratives followed extremely different patterns in the two countries.

This exploratory study is not exempt from limitations. The findings from this study may not be applicable to other countries. As data collection in both countries relied on snowball sampling techniques, the participants in the interviews may not be representative of PR consultants in South Korea and Singapore. E-mail interviews had limitations due to their lack of richness and details compared to other forms of interviews (i.e. face-to-face or Skype interviews). However, computer-mediated interviews including e-mail interviews can still create good level of understandings about the phenomenon in question.

This study was an attempt to understand PR–legal collaboration particularly in times of crisis and contribute to the development of Asia-centric models of PR practice. There has been little research that explores how legal and PR counsels actually collaborate to devise optional crisis communication strategies for their clients (or organizations) in the times of crisis. Given that crisis communicative strategies have been shown to affect publics’ perceptions of an organization’s credibility and trustworthiness, it is important to understand how PR work with legal practitioners to develop co-narratives for optimal crisis management, and understand how their different professional perspectives, practices, and approaches affect the collaboration.

The purpose of this paper is to identify selected tools of external public relations (PR) employed by the public media in the area of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and to exemplify them with the activities of Radio Gdańsk in the years 2012-2015.

The opening section of the work is based on studies of the desk research type, i.e. analysis of the literature and industry data, plus exploration of the Radio Gdańsk website. The core part of the work was compiled based on primary research conducted under the quality method – a direct unstructured telephone interview held with a member of the Radio Gdańsk Supervisory Board. The interview concerned the activities of Radio Gdańsk in the years 2012-2015. The information acquired via telephone surveys has been supplemented with more written sources. The sources contained some detailed data without which the analysis of the subject matter would not have been possible. The authors of this study maintain that not only have the data acquired made the analysis possible but also that the paper ought to be treated only as a preliminary study with some interesting findings and a starting point for further analyses.

Reaching for actions of the CSR area carries tangible benefits also to the public media which consolidate their competitive edge thanks to the positive image of a socially engaged enterprise. Thus, using CSR tools, the public media are setting a model of a kind for others. Analysis of the Radio Gdańsk activity areas reveals that the broadcasters successfully employ the selected tools of external communication (external PR) which enable them to put in flesh the postulates of CSR and effectively create their image of a sensitive and socially engaged institution.

This study is based on an analysis of one of a dozen public radio stations and it has some interesting findings, which may be a starting point for further research into the subject. However, it gives the authors no answer as to whether other public media outlets in Poland implement CSR strategies, and what tools they apply in this respect. The authors think that the phenomenon deserves comprehensive and thorough research, which would help us broaden our knowledge of the problem. Yet another interesting aspect of the study, which is mentioned in the introduction, is the question whether (and if so – to what extent) the public media outlets implement CSR policies as part of their market strategy. The policies may after all be merely some intuitive attempts resulting from the general mission of such entities and unstable market situation, and in such cases the noble goals of CSR may be achieved solely by accident.

Using CSR tools, the public media are setting a model of a kind for others (i.e. commercial firms).

The assumptions of a CSR strategy can be found reflected in public media operations and become an action model of a kind for the management of commercial firms.

This paper seeks to explicate the strategic contribution of the corporate communication/ public relations function (PR) to enterprise strategy development at macro‐organisational level with the aim of contributing towards its institutionalisation.

The approach takes the form of a literature review and conceptual analysis, reflective PR paradigm and corporate social performance approach.

Enterprise strategy is the suggested mechanism and a relevant strategy process for incorporating societal and stakeholder expectations, values, norms and standards into the organisation's strategy development processes. Enterprise strategy explicates corporate communication/PR's strategic contribution at the macro‐organisational level. Societal expectations, values, standards and norms are expressed through concepts such as CSR, corporate governance, good corporate citizenship, sustainability, and the Triple Bottom Line; manifest through non‐legislative measures such as the Global Sullivan Principles of CSR, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Social Responsibility Investment Index of the JSE, as well as voluntary codes such as the Cadbury Report (UK) and the King Reports I, II and III in South Africa (SA); and are addressed through legislative measures such as the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act (USA) and the Employment Equity/Broad‐based Black Economic Empowerment/Financial Intelligence Centre Acts (SA).

This article addresses the dearth of literature on enterprise strategy and corporate communication/PR's strategic role at top management level by conceptualising enterprise strategy and explicating corporate communication's strategic contribution within its framework – indicating corporate communication's focus to be on the social (People) and environmental (Planet) pillars of the Triple Bottom Line approach, rather than its financial aspects (Profit).

As the public relations industry seeks professional status and a more meaningful role in the strategic management of organisations, survey evidence suggests reluctance among practitioners to embrace theoretical frameworks and to study other management disciplines. The purpose of this paper is to examine this issue.

The paper is written from the perspective of a practitioner. Following a brief review of some current theoretical concepts, it is argued that practitioners can benefit substantially from theoretical frameworks.

Having noted an apparent reluctance on the part of fellow practitioners to embrace theoretical frameworks as learning tools, or to acquire wider management skills, it is suggested that such attitudes might inhibit the development of PR as a profession and as a strategic management discipline. This paper suggests that a change of mindset on these issues – allied to a closer working relationship with relevant academics – could both enhance PR's professional standing and its relevance to an organisational management and strategy. Overall the view is taken that PR theory can provide practitioners with a language and conceptual frameworks by means of which they can both appraise and evaluate there own activities, and present their disciplines to organisational leaders within the context of wider management strategies.

The paper highlights how embracing PR theory can provide an opportunity for practitioners.

In Finland the use of public relations (PR) agencies and consultants in political decision making has increased in the last two decades. The development of the Finnish political realm has been similar to that of other Nordic countries where the PR industry has built a strong linkage to the political sphere. The present study analyses how Finnish PR consultants with a political background use and attempt to influence the news media as part of lobbying processes to advance their clients' causes. The chapter is based on 11 interviews with PR consultants that were conducted during November 2018. The main findings indicate that Finnish PR consultants consider the news media and journalists as an important part of lobbying. The media and journalists are considered supportive or alternative forums for advocacy and political debate. PR consultants use the media strategically to establish relationships and networks with journalists, and to advocate long-term political decision making and agendas. Overall, the study indicates that Finnish PR consultants want to be active political interpreters, who together with their clients engage in shaping the political agenda and discourses. This is done by taking advantage of previous political experience and networks, constructing the political agenda for media communication, organising a network of media representatives to influence and finally by framing political messages to the media.

The authors empirically examine purchasing strategy typologies based on strategic intent (i.e. competitive priorities) and practices used to achieve these priorities. The authors further investigate the implementation conditions of such strategies based on perceived uncertainty and strategic purchasing.

The authors utilize case study data from 11 international service and manufacturing firms with global supply chains. Each company was profiled based on the level of perceived environmental uncertainty, the characteristics of strategic purchasing, the use of relevant purchasing practices and its ability to create value through purchasing.

The study findings show that four purchasing strategy types exist: Purchasing Rationalization, Supply Base Optimization, Purchasing as a Service and World-Class Supply Base Management. Lower levels of perceived environmental uncertainty favor the adoption of rationalization strategies (i.e. Purchasing Rationalization and Supply Base Optimization), while increased uncertainty leads companies to switch to relationship-focused strategies (i.e. Purchasing as a Service and World-Class Supply Base Management). Further, that specific components of strategic purchasing (i.e. strategic planning, maturity, status and report level) enable the successful implementation of different strategy types.

This research contributes to the existing literature by outlining the different types of purchasing strategies and the external and internal factors that need to be considered to achieve strategic alignment and value creation in purchasing, and by classifying purchasing strategy types at the functional level based on empirical evidence.

From a theoretical perspective, there is an emergent trend toward the planning of financial public relations strategies in order to add financial value to businesses. However, the benefits of strategising and planning cannot be fully realised unless they are supported by the entire range of corporate communications activities. In this paper, we explore the idea that to create financial value in business there should be a synergistic interaction among all public relations activities, here exemplified through an embryonic process model.

Public relations (PR) education has not kept pace with the rapid globalisation that has occurred since 1992. The existing PR body of knowledge, and PR curricula around the world, have a US bias. In order to prepare PR students in various parts of the world to become effective multicultural professionals it is essential for experiences and perspectives from other continents to be integrated into PR education. The complexities of societal factors such as culture, political systems and media systems make Asia a challenging place to conduct strategic PR. It is time for educators to integrate experiences from other continents into the PR body of knowledge, thereby building PR curricula that contribute to training truly multicultural PR professionals.

Recognizing the existence of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and more precisely a social impact related to diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI), organizations today are confronted with the question of what is considered as good. How is the good life created and communicatively constructed inside an organization? Who (agent) is responsible to realize, secure, and manage the process of value creation and social change, or moral agency? I offer a new perspective on the ethical duty of public relations (PR) practitioners to be revolutionary, to be communicative rebels. I conceptualize PR from a critical theoretical perspective as process of problematization, as process of cracking open common sense and underlying systems of power and norms in an organization. Then I offer strategies for creating shared (communication) spaces in which to imagine and experience transformation and social change. In these spaces (huddles), good life is courageously problematized to offer a new narrative of sustainability including DEI as communicatively codesigned. The aim is to highlight opportunities and tools for PR practitioners and PR scholars to be revolutionary – more than an organization's conscience, but an agent of change for exciting, innovative, and transformative communication practices at the core of the discipline.