Corporate communication

Una marca corporativa es la percepción que se tiene de una empresa, la cual agrupa un conjunto de productos o servicios para el público bajo un nombre único, una identidad visual compartida y un conjunto común de símbolos. El proceso de creación de marca corporativa implica generar asociaciones favorables y una reputación positiva tanto con los grupos de interés internos como externos. El objetivo de una iniciativa de marca corporativa es generar una imagen positiva de los productos y negocios de la empresa, transmitiendo impresiones más favorables sobre ellos.

En términos más generales, la investigación sugiere que la creación de marca corporativa es una estrategia apropiada para que las empresas la implementen cuando:

• Existe una importante " asimetría de información " entre una empresa y sus clientes; ^{[ 4 ]} los clientes están mucho menos informados sobre los productos de una empresa que la propia empresa.
• Los clientes perciben un alto grado de riesgo al comprar los productos o servicios de la empresa ^{[ 5 ].}
• Las características de la empresa detrás de la marca serían relevantes para el producto o servicio que un cliente está considerando comprar ^{[ 6 ].}

Existen dos enfoques para la identidad:

• La identidad corporativa es la realidad y singularidad de una organización, que está integralmente relacionada con su imagen y reputación externa e interna a través de la comunicación corporativa ^{[ 7 ].}
• La identidad organizacional comprende aquellas características de una organización que sus miembros consideran centrales, distintivas y perdurables. Es decir, la identidad organizacional consiste en aquellos atributos que los miembros consideran fundamentales (centrales) y descriptivos únicos (distintivos) de la organización, y que persisten dentro de ella a lo largo del tiempo (perdurables). ^{[ 8 ]}

Se pueden distinguir cuatro tipos de identidad: ^{[ 9 ] [ 10 ]}

• Perceived identity: The collection of attributes that are seen as typical for the continuity, centrality and uniqueness of the organization in the eyes of its members.
• Projected identity: The self-presentations of the organization's attributes manifested in the implicit and explicit signals which the organization broadcasts to internal and external target audiences through communication and symbols.
• Desired identity (also called "ideal" identity): The idealized picture that top managers hold of what the organization could evolve into under their leadership.
• Applied identity: The signals that an organization broadcasts both consciously and unconsciously through behaviors and initiatives at all levels within the organization.

Corporate responsibility (often referred to as corporate social responsibility), corporate citizenship, sustainability, and even conscious capitalism are some of the terms bandied about the news media and corporate marketing efforts as companies jockey to win the trust and loyalty of constituents.

Corporate responsibility (CR) constitutes an organization's respect for society's interests, demonstrated by taking ownership of the effects its activities have on key constituencies including customers, employees, shareholders, communities, and the environment, in all parts of their operations. In short, CR prompts a corporation to look beyond its traditional bottom line, to the social implications of its business.^[11]

Reputations are overall assessments of organizations by their stakeholders. They are aggregate perceptions by stakeholders of an organization's ability to fulfill their expectations, whether these stakeholders are interested in buying the company's products, working for the company, or investing in the company's shares.^[12]

Crisis communication is sometimes considered a sub-specialty of the public relations profession that is designed to protect and defend an individual, company, or organization facing a public challenge to its reputation. These challenges may come in the form of an investigation from a government agency, a criminal allegation, a media inquiry, a shareholders lawsuit, a violation of environmental regulations, or any of a number of other scenarios involving the legal, ethical, or financial standing of the entity. The crisis for organizations can be defined as follows:^[11]

A crisis is a major catastrophe that may occur either naturally or as a result of human error, intervention, or even malicious intent. It can include tangible devastation, such as the destruction of lives or assets, or intangible devastation, such as the loss of an organization's credibility or other reputational damage. The latter outcomes may be the result of management's response to tangible devastation or the result of human error. A crisis usually has significant actual or potential financial impact on a company, and it usually affects multiple constituencies in more than one market.

As the extent of communication grows, many companies create an employee relations (ER) function with dedicated staff to manage the numerous media through which senior managers can communicate among themselves and with the rest of the organization. Internal communication in the 21st century is more than the memos, publications, and broadcasts that comprise it; it's about building a corporate culture on values that drive organizational excellence. ER specialists are generally expected to fulfill one or more of the following four roles:^[13]

• Efficiency: Internal communication is used primarily to disseminate information about corporate activities.
• Shared meaning: Internal communication is used to build a shared understanding among employees about corporate goals.
• Connectivity: Internal communication is used mainly to clarify the connectivity of the company's people and activities.
• Satisfaction: Internal communication is used to improve job satisfaction throughout the company.

The investor relations (IR) function is used by companies which publicly trade shares on a stock exchange. In such companies, the purpose of the IR specialist is to interface with current and potential financial stakeholders-namely retail investors, institutional investors, and financial analysts.

The role of investor relations is to fulfill three principal functions:

• comply with regulations
• Create a favorable relationship with key financial audiences
• contribute to building and maintaining the company's image and reputation

La función del especialista en relaciones públicas consiste, en gran medida, en comunicarse con el público en general de forma que se defiendan los intereses de la empresa. Por lo tanto, las relaciones públicas abarcan diversas áreas especializadas que transmiten información sobre la empresa al público, como patrocinios, eventos, gestión de crisis y relaciones con los medios. Al llevar a cabo estas actividades, el especialista en relaciones públicas debe incorporar mensajes corporativos más amplios para comunicar el posicionamiento estratégico de la empresa. Esto garantiza que las actividades de relaciones públicas transmitan mensajes que distingan a la empresa de sus competidores y del mercado en general, a la vez que comunican su valor a los públicos objetivo.