The View Beyond the Corner Office: Thoughts on an Interdisciplinary Theory of International Corporate Communications

Abstract

The significance of international corporate communications (ICC) is growing, and the complexity associated with it is increasing. PR professionals are more and more engaged with international multicultural comparisons and models. Nevertheless, systematic understanding of international corporate communications remains underdeveloped. Whatever economics, law, cultural studies, political science, sociology, social psychology, linguistics and even communications theory beyond the range of PR have to say about the topic scarcely enters into the picture. This essay illustrates the status quo of international corporate communications through examples and it proposes a heuristic analytical grid, along with its interdisciplinary application. Finally, it concludes with a few basic considerations about the future of cross-border corporate communications, underlining the importance of globally-engaged corporate communicators' knowledge about the levels of target countries, target institutions, target contents and target actors.

Keywords: international, corporate communications, media, PR, intercultural

JEL Classification: M14