The Foreign Policy of Global Business

FR O M P R O M O T I O N A N D P R O PA G A N D A T O C O N V E R S AT I O N A N D C O L L A B O R AT I O N

D R R O G E R H AY E S @D R R O G E R H AY E SS E N I O R C O U N S E L L O R A P C O W O R L D W I D E

V I S I T I N G F E L L O W H E N L E Y B U S I N E S S S C H O O LV I S I T I N G L E C T U R E R G R E E N W I C H U N I V E R S I T Y B U S I N E S S

S C H O O LL K Y S C H O O L O F P U B L I C P O L I C Y, N U S

A U G U S T 2 0 T H 2 0 1 5

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

CORPORATE AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY

MY PUBLIC DIPLOMACY JOURNEY

“Corporations serve a diplomatic function because of their political and cultural, as well as their technical and economic clout.”

Grupp R & Hayes R, ( 2008) “Public Relations and Collaboration in a Complex, Converging World. IPRA Gold Paper ,delivered at PR World Congress, Beijing, PRC.

MY PUBLIC DIPLOMACY JOURNEY

“What could help the global profession of public relations (strategic communications) is to learn more from the cultural sensitivity and geopolitical skills of diplomats, while government specialists could do well to borrow the commercial and media knowledge from the private sector. This is about combining STAGECRAFT and STATECRAFT to transform STATESMANSHIP”.

Hayes R (2012) ‘PR and PD in the Globalised World’, Doctoral Study of eight countries (including Singapore), Henley Business School, UK.

MY PUBLIC DIPLOMACY JOURNEY

“With boundaries between institutions blurred and those between countries eroded, with more actors involved in international policy, including companies and civil society, the emphasis should be more on LISTENING, CONVERSATION, COLLABORATION, DIALOGUE, DIPLOMACY rather than targeting a message to markets”.

Dr. Roger Hayes, (2013), speech to GLOBAL THINKERS FORUM conference, ‘Leadership and Collaboration’, Athens, Greece, December.

MY PUBLIC DIPLOMACY JOURNEY

“The NEW normal must be NAVIGATED, NEGOTIATED, NETWORKED and a NARRATIVE built around it. Narrow self-interest is no longer a sustainable basis for companies needing to deliver economic PLUS social value. COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP is the most appropriate response to today’s wicked global problems.”

Hayes R and Watts R (2015) REFRAMING THE LEADERSHIP LANDSCAPE: Creating a Culture of Collaboration, Gower Publishing.

DEFINITIONS

“The NEW public diplomacy is no longer confined to messaging or direct governmental contacts with foreign publics serving foreign policy purposes. It is also about building relationships with civil society actors in other countries and facilitating networks among non-governmental parties at home and abroad”

Joe Nye (2010)

DEFINITIONS

“Globalisation makes it impossible to shut out all kinds of issues. Governments share power with their citizens and the corporate sector, who can make their views known in the virtual world.”

Singapore interviewee from doctoral research (2009).

DEFINITIONS

“It is possible for multinationals to set communications strategies at the global level. The challenge lies in applying these to suit the multiple local cultures.”

Sriramesh K (2014).

DEFINITIONS

“There is a qualitative difference between a ‘spin doctor’ and a ‘corporate diplomat’.”

L’Etang J. (1996)

DEFINITIONS

“Corporate diplomacy means a company embeds the value of collaboration deeply into its operations and practices, extending the reach of its relationships to include groups, cultures, organisations and government, which affect the sustainability of the business”

Grupp R (2008)

DEFINITIONS

“In my view PR tends to be more about putting a positive gloss, whereas PD deals with negative and positive using more context, digging deep from a detailed knowledge base.”

Indian interviewee from doctoral research (2009).

COMMUNICATING & COLLABORATING

Growing Convergence between PR & Public Diplomacy Diplomats using media relations, commercial activity & broader stakeholder relations.Communicators understanding of geopolitics & culture.

Deal with new media, empowered stakeholders & complex issues.

Command & control replaced by collaboration & conversation. Public & private sector organisations slow to adapt structures,

strategies & styles.

THE END OF HISTORY

Human capitalism.Corporations as a force for good Investment, Jobs,

Technology.Rise of knowledge society.Widening Inequalities ‘Bad mood rising’.Single and multi-issue alliances Coordinating coalitions.Sophisticated consumer & citizen determines ‘licence to operate’.

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

“Communications without intelligence is noise. Intelligence without communications is irrelevant” (General Alfred Gray)

Contextual intelligence key to navigate the increasingly multi-issue, multi-media, multi-cultural environment.

Cannot view the world from a home country perspective, especially the West.

World affairs less about official business between States, more about managing the effects of globalisation, integration, political uncertainty & cultural divides.

LISTENING AND DIALOGUE

“Now you have to have a two-way conversation that connects deeply with your citizens or customers or employees.“ (Tom Friedman)

CEOs need to explain the context of decisions to establish a vision based on values for the organisation & engage in social programs with buy-in from employees.

Become statesmanlike by developing a broader, compelling narrative.

Access to capital was the key differentiator in the 90s. Relationships will be the major source of strategic

distinction in the 21st Century.

EXPANDING THE SPACE TOMORROW’S GLOBAL ORGANISATION

Redefining success in terms of positive impacts for business & society.

Shared values essential.Collaboration between government, business & NGOs on

sustainability issues.

BUSINESS BEYOND BOUNDARIESNEW MINDSET, NEW TOOLS

FOCUSSING ON shared VALUE and convergence of interests creating SOCIAL CAPITAL (climate change)

Reconciling CSR, sustainable development and a stakeholder approach in a networked world, requiring navigational tools-a win-win for shareholders and stakeholders.

RE Freeman (2003)Journal of GeneralManagement

BUSINESS BEYOND BOUNDARIESNEW MINDSET, NEW TOOLS

Companies are increasingly viewed as a major cause of social, environmental and community problems. Companies must take the lead in bringing business and society back together. Leaders and managers will require new skills and knowledge.

Porter M and Kramer M (2011) HBR

BUSINESS BEYOND BOUNDARIESNEW MINDSET, NEW TOOLS

Companies are moving beyond ad hoc philanthropic acts. They are committing to causes with sustained long term initiatives.

The Business Times, (2014, April), Singapore.

EXAMPLES OF BUSINESS DIPLOMACY

Shell-‘stress nexus’. Changing the narrative around natural resources, joining the dots between food, energy & water via collaboration & partnerships.

Coca Cola joined forces in a Private, Public Partnership with WWF & African governments around sustainable water management. (PPPs need to align business interest with public policy & give voice to concerned civil society)

Israeli technology companies turned to West bank for outsourcing joint ventures.

SUMMARY

Comparisons of PR and PD have been mainly confined to the PR literature, which itself remains mainly Western centric, despite the growth of the practice internationally, including in high context cultures e.g. China/ Middle East. Historical IR literature links PR to ‘propaganda’.

SUMMARY

PD relies heavily on the ‘personal influence’ and ‘relationship’ models of PR, which are receiving increased focus in PR after a long preoccupation with mass media communicated communication.

Multi-stakeholder dialogues being conducted by vulnerable industries e.g. mining are very much in the field of diplomacy-negotiation and dialogue.

SUMMARY

PD is an emerging, multi-disciplinary field with theoretical, conceptual and practical links to several disciplines such as international relations, communications theory, public relations, media studies.

PR has the opportunity to engage in the development of PD as well as learn from PD to transform its global professionalism.

SUMMARY

The convergence of the two fields, at least in practice if not theory, given their interdisciplinary nature and the changing, more complex global landscape will lead to closer links to LEADERSHIP, SUSTAINABILITY, STRATEGY, CULTURE, SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, among others. There are implications here for skills , teaching and training.

SUMMARY

PD (notably NEW PD) is an emerging strategic communications discipline which can be seen as responding to growing agendas in business, government and civil society, involving concepts of TRUST, TRANSPARENCY and COLLABORATIVE GOVERNANCE.

THE NEW CADRE OF CORPORATE DIPLOMATS…

“It’s thinking ahead, involves skilful analysis of the context, combined with astute networking and relationship building”

(Margery Kraus, CEO, APCOWORLDWIDE)

AnticipateAct sustainablyAnalyse and researchNetworkWalk the TalkEmpathiseCommunicate authentically

FR O M P R O M O T I O N A N D P R O PA G A N D A T O C O N V E R S AT I O N A N D C O L L A B O R AT I O N

D R R O G E R H AY E S @D R R O G E R H AY E SS E N I O R C O U N S E L L O R A P C O W O R L D W I D E

V I S I T I N G F E L L O W H E N L E Y B U S I N E S S S C H O O LV I S I T I N G L E C T U R E R G R E E N W I C H U N I V E R S I T Y B U S I N E S S

S C H O O LL K Y S C H O O L O F P U B L I C P O L I C Y, N U S

A U G U S T 2 0 T H 2 0 1 5

THE FOREIGN POLICY OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

CORPORATE AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY