ABSTRACT
Public relations is a managerial function (Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000) and public relations theory originates in economics and strategic management (Verčič & J.Grunig, 2000). Business (Pearson, 1989) and its particular form, the corporation (Olasky, 1987), are the paradigmatic subjects of theorizing in what Verčič & J.Grunig called “the American concept of public relations” (2000, p. 12). Further, this concept was identified by Verčič, L.Grunig, and J.Grunig (1995) as the only global concept of public relations currently available.1 Yet, while “all public relations is global or international” (L.Grunig, J.Grunig, & Dozier, 2002, p. 541) because all companies affect, or are affected by, the world that lies beyond their borders, it is amazing that we have only a few quality publications on the public relations practices of transnational corporations (TNC).2 As contemporary companies “should globalize unless they can find very good reasons not to” (Yip, 2001, p. 150), so should research and theorizing in public relations. Public relations is an innovative social technology (Verčič, Razpet, Dekleva, & Šlenc, 2000) and its global diffusion is controlled primarily by TNCs in their transformation into global institutions (Kruckeberg, 2000).
