ABSTRACT
Corporate communication spreads its tentacles throughout and far beyond the marketing function to the organization as a whole. Defining and delineating its boundaries is difficult and can be arbitrary. Overlaps exist between corporate and marketing communication and arguments are rife as to which subsumes the other. Some of the debate is semantic and superfluous. Other aspects are born out of the development of ‘functional silos’ (Schultz, 1993). What is not contested is the multifarious nature of corporate communication and in recent years a spotlight has turned towards a deeper understanding of the communica-
tion process is rarely fully articulated or understood. Wolter (1993) has complained (at least in the past) that it suffers from superficiality, ambiguity and rigidity. Whilst ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of each aspect of corporate communication is clearly important, so too is the need to manage and evaluate the impact and efficacy of the myriad communication activities that come together (White, 1997) either to work in harmony or disrupt one another. This can be considered at a variety of ‘levels’ from the individual campaign to the holistic corporate communication effort (see Figure 14.1).
