1. Global & International
Theories
Presented by Li Yingying

2. What is GPR?

3. Definition of Global Public Relations (GPR)
GPR as strategic communications and actions carried out by private,
government, or nonprofit organizations to build and maintain
relationships with publics in socioeconomic and political
environments outside their home location.

4. Where:
The public relations function and its management in:
Different types of multinational organizations, government, and
agencies;

5. What:
Global public relations professionals are assisting their organizations
not only in building and maintaining multiple relationships at home-
where organizations have their headquarters-, but also constructing
and keeping those bridges abroad in other host locations and
transnational environments-especially with activist groups, global
media, and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs).

6. Contributors to the theories：
Molleda, J.C. (2009, March). Global public relations, Institute for Public Relations.
Molleda, J.C.,Kochhar,S.,&Wilson, C.(2015).Tipping the balance: A decision-making model for
localization in global public relations agencies.
Wakefield, R.I.(2008). Theory of international public relations, the Internet, and activism: A
personal reflection.

7. Why?
“Corporations and other mainstream entities are compelled to respond to
global competition and to interest groups who can band together across borders
and apply pressure in a given country or globally,” Wakefield (2008) stated (p. 139).
There still is an important distinction between global and domestic public relations
practices, and that understanding those differences will contribute to better global
practice.
Provide more adequate guides for those who are practicing or preparing to operate
across the cultural, political, and economic boundaries that comprise
comprehensive international public relations.

8. Professional Cultural Competence
Initial preparation in relevant course work or training in culture
Political and economic aspects
Foreign languages;
International assignment seeking behavior;
International assignment itself;
Perceived success and satisfaction;
Increased cultural competence;
Further international assignment seeking behavior.
(Freitag, 2002)

9. Contextual or Environmental Perspective
Multinational organization with operations in several countries faces particular challenges.
Which are imposed by:
A unique set of geographical, cultural, political and legal, socioeconomic, and communication
media environments.

10. Environmental variables
Help to select best-suited strategies and techniques.
Country infrastructure
(i.e., political system, level of economic development, and activism level),
Media environment
Societal culture (Sriramesh & Verčič, 2003, 2009).

11. The cultural characteristics of a society
appear to determine the specific public relations
practices in a country.

12. Case study:
The Middle Eastern crisis of the Danish company Arla Foods to furthering
their cultural-economic model based on the circuit of culture.

13. “Simply trying to adopt local values may not be the best strategy. When words are not
consonant with previous actions, consumers may refuse to believe that a real change has
taken place. Conversely, home audiences may feel betrayed.” (p. 126)
“Power does not always lie in the hands of the large multinational corporation. Muslims felt
empowered to boycott, and the boycott extended to the media, which refused to run Arla
Foods ads and [public relations] materials. Yet Arla was able to begin turning the crisis
around despite operating within a context of relative disempowerment and a lack of access to
media. Key to Arla Foods’ strategy was deconstructing the sometimes conflicting national and
organizational identities that emerged.” (p. 131)

14. Multinational Corporations and Organizations
The halo effect theory (Korea)
MNCs can be effective and succeed in historically resistance host environments through
culturally attuned involvement, intervention, and respect for local publics, proven
through socially responsible performance and actions over time.(India)
Emphasis on corporate social responsibility.(Latin America)

15. Coordination and Control Mechanisms, Centralization—Decentralization

16. (1) where should decision-making power reside?
(2) How should foreign operations report to headquarters?
(3) How can the company ensure that it meets its global objectives? (Daniels, Radebaugh, &
Sullivan, 2004, 2007).

17. Requirements
● Worldwide learning
● Multinational flexibility or national responsiveness
● Global efficiency
(Bartlett & Goshal, 2002)

18. Conditions to achieve excellent GPR management: （wakefield）
Being globally effective
Balancing the global and the local
Public relations in one unit (integration) or single coordinated department
Horizontal and team-oriented structure
Consideration of agencies

19. The balance between the global and the local is achieved via
coordination and control mechanisms
Aim：To keep a MNC’s direction and strategy on track.
Toughest challenge: To balance the MNC’s global needs with its needs
to adapt to country-level differences.

20. Examples of control and coordination methods：

21. Corporate culture
Reports
Visits to subsidiaries
Management performance evaluation
Cost and accounting comparability
Evaluative measurement
Information systems

22. Global, cross-functional, and virtual teams
Advisory personnel
Management rotation and socialization
Training programs
Assemblies and special global or regional meetings
Keeping international and domestic personnel in closer proximity
(Molleda, 2000a)

23. Integrative communication devices used to achieve a glocal balance：
Annual reports
Websites
Intranets
Conferences
Teleconferences
Videoconferences
Newsletters and bulletins
Codes of conducts and ethics (Molleda, 2000a)

24. How public relations personnel keep in touch with the parent company:
Trade shows and special events,
Committees and meetings,
Annual assembly of shareholders,
Teamwork and taskforces,
Training programs.

25. Normative integration (Wakefield):
Excellent international public relations is integrated, meaning that
worldwide, practitioners report to the public relations department at
headquarters and work under a single umbrella (as opposed to, for
example, public relations in one country under marketing, in another
country under human resources, etc.)

26. Buffering and bridging：
Buffering is a defense strategy with which an organization seeks to
alter or influence social contract terms.
Bridging is an adaptive and collaborative posture an organization
holds to assimilate and accommodate itself to the changes in both the
political/legal and social environments.

27. Organizational characteristics of foreign subsidiaries VS their effects
on the subsidiaries’ government affairs activities (eg: lobbying)
“The more a subsidiary’s top management believes in government affairs as a strategic
function, the more the subsidiary will formalize these types of public affairs activities.”
Blumentritt (1999)

28. ???
Different countries will present MNCs with different settings and with different challenges
and to a certain degree require MNCs to digress from the unified global strategy and lead to
MNCs “designing and customizing public relations programs to be adaptable to local
environmental uncertainty and national regulatory barriers”.
Example: LinkedIn China

29. The generic/specific theory of global public relations

30. Additional researches:
Corporate Foreign Affair Policy
Cross-National Conflict Shifts, Transnational Crises
Interactive Online Communication
Financial Communication
Communication Between Governments and Publics
Image of Nation
U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (U.S. Department of Justice)
GPR Agencies

31. When R9 meets Alibaba

32. Thank You！
Welcome to the GPR jungle~