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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to comparatively analyze how top corporations in New Zealand, Australia and the Global Fortune 500 group communicate about climate science. Design/methodology/approach: A combination of keyword count and quantitative content analysis is used to develop a reliable set of indicators to measure corporate communication about climate science. Findings: Just a few corporations mention or explicitly agree with scientific consensus on climate change and few report science-based targets. They report more frequently on societal risks of climate change, as well as business contribution and responsibility. New Zealand based corporations generally do poor reporting compared to Australian corporations, who do as well as the biggest corporations in the world. Research limitations/implications: There is a further need for cross-country research and for more longitudinal analysis to understand how organizations communicate about scientific issues to its stakeholders. Practical implications: This paper can inform communication managers about the need to pay attention to how their communication, individually and in comparison with their peers, is likely interpreted by the stakeholders. Managers may attend to scientific consensus messaging to gain stakeholder approval for ambitious business actions on climate change. Social implications: Organizations are powerful social and economic drivers. Understanding how they interpret and communicate a scientific issue has implications for public and policy discourses and outcomes. Originality/value: This is the first paper to comparatively identify common and contextual drivers of business communication of complex scientific issues. A reliable scale to measure climate science communication by corporations will be helpful for future researchers to replicate in other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Despite an impressive body of international research, there is a lack of empirical evidence describing the ways in which organisational environments influence the practices of corporate communications (CC). A cross-cultural survey in five countries contributes to closing this research gap. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach – What makes the research design innovative is that the questionnaire incorporates both practitioners’ perceptions of the cultural context and the relevance of CC practices. The sample comprises 418 practitioners from the most senior positions in CC in the biggest companies in Australia, Austria, Germany, Indonesia, and Switzerland. By choosing a systematic access to the field the authors circumvent shortcomings of “snowball” sampling techniques. Findings – While cultural perceptions and CC priorities vary to a certain degree, there are hardly any significant correlations between the two. Meanwhile, the “nation variable”, and the institutional settings associated with it, are more instructive when explaining differences in CC. Research limitations/implications – A large cross-cultural survey needs to take a “birds eye view” and, as such, is able to identify only general tendencies when describing relations between perceptions of culture and CC practices. Future case studies and qualitative research could explore more subtle ways in which CC is influenced not only by the cultural context, but also – and probably even more – by institutional environments. Originality/value – This is the first cross-cultural survey to systematically describe on the level of primary data, the links between CC practices and perceptions of the organisational environment. Since the results indicate only a limited impact of culture, the authors would recommend the rehabilitation of the “nation variable”. Provided it is understood and differentiated as a representation of specific institutional contexts, the nation variable is likely to prove highly instructive when accounting for the diversity of CC observed around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- The purpose of this study is to investigate how the social licence to operate (SLO) concept is currently perceived and communicated during stakeholder engagement, as an extension of corporate social responsibility (CSR). To ensure an applied exploration of SLO, this paper focused on the wind industry. Design/methodology/approach -- Telephone interviews were conducted with 18 wind industry representatives responsible for stakeholder engagement in Australia. Questions focused upon understanding of consultation and SLO, perceptions of SLO in practice, and experiences regarding community engagement. Findings -- SLO is broadly understood by the case study wind industry representatives as majority acceptance held by community and other stakeholders, although no common definition was expressed. This indicates that the concept has not transferred clearly or directly to the wind industry. Despite this, the benefits of seeking an SLO through consultative and ongoing communication practices were recognised across the wind industry as a positive risk mitigation strategy. Research limitations/implications -- Future research could examine the understanding and communication approaches of SLO in other industries, cultures and geographic locations. Practical implications -- It appears the wind industry intends to seek an SLO more broadly from the Australian public, beyond specific projects. This is likely to occur within the context of increased scrutiny on the performance of many industries and by the changing expectations and demands of communities. Social implications -- Some wind corporations were considered to have previously conducted poor or shallow consultation, and this was perceived to have negatively affected the reputation of the wider industry. Mismanagement of expectations prior to the development phase was of particular concern to interviewees. Given this, an SLO could be put at risk by the poor or insufficient engagement and communication processes and reputation of their predecessors. Originality/value -- The key contribution of this study is to inform CSR practices that seek to engage and maintain high stakeholder support through an SLO approach, where corporate communication is vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the circumstances in which a crisis response strategy can compound a crisis, especially a corporate scandal, as evidenced by the case of AWB Limited, where the organisational damage of the "cover-up" escalated the scandal further and caused additional damage to the company. Design/methodology/approach – The AWB case study provides a unique insight into the application of theories and research on crisis and reputation management and the specific challenges and risks of corporate scandals. Findings – As a specific form of crisis, corporate scandals can easily descend into a secondary or "double crisis" if incorrectly managed, or even mismanaged. Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that the information provided to the Australian Government's Royal Commission and other documents relating to the management of the scandal by the company further embarrassed AWB and exposed the inappropriateness of the original defensive apologia crisis response strategy pursued by the company. Practical implications – The AWB case study provides an opportunity for alignment with the crisis response theories of Coombs and De Maria, based on the evaluation of the initial failed response strategy and the more appropriate response eventually undertaken by the company. Originality/value – The paper offers the additional insights of the author (as a former member of the management team at the company) into the documents tendered to the Royal Commission, which have not been evaluated and studied for their contribution to crisis communication and crisis management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which analysed the rationale behind the adoption of concise corporate reporting. The study compared the characteristics of the annual report graph and letter in annual reports that contained concise financial report with those in traditional complete reports of listed companies in Australia. Results revealed that there was no differences in graph use and letters' complexity in both report types, which was consistent with the idea that the use of concise reporting is less instrumental than symbolic. It notes that to improve the clarity of concise reporters' communications, more focus on the way data is presented in the annual report is needed.

Purpose - The paper seeks to outline the theory and practice of an action research program, which is aimed at redesigning and implementing a communications strategy that will effectively deliver an authentic environmental message to the stakeholders of the Yalumba Wine Company. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses recent communications literature to contextualise Yalumba's needs. The proposed action research is essentially, though not exclusively, an environmental strategic analysis of the wine company's current environmental communications efforts. Findings - The Yalumba Wine Company has been operating in the rural environment for over 150 years, making it the oldest family-owned wine company in Australia. It is committed to excellence across all its activities, from the vineyard to the consumer's table. By addressing those activities that have a significant environmental impact Yalumba ensures its employees and other stakeholders a healthy and productive life in an environment that is safe, aesthetically pleasing and ecologically functional. At Yalumba environment-friendly sustainable activities are recognised as an intrinsic aspect of wine quality, and in order to progress this belief it must develop an environmental message that reflects authenticity, due diligence, product safety and credible environmental management. Originality/value - Yalumba's commitment to sustainable winemaking can be more effective, sustainable and significant if environmental communications are employed effectively to convey to the organisation's stakeholders the corporate philosophy that expresses its corporate culture. In adopting this approach, context is critical and communication competence must be perceived in terms of action-and-reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how Australian communication scholars redefine the boundaries of what constitutes research and practice. The author says that management communication itself is still contested, marginal, and at odds with much of the business academy. Nevertheless, within business and management studies, communication seeks to make a stand for a certain orientation. The choice of orientation is vital and its rationale requires an explanatory detour on the nature of disciplines. From an organisational perspective, public relations is conceived of as a communication and relationship function that serves to legitimate business within society. According to another author, public relations as a profession or practice serves organisational purposes first, but may also be deployed to serve broader societal needs. Moving public relations beyond the constraints of organisational boundaries to transform and practice public relations will mean to rethink the notion of what public relations is and what it can do. Public relations is not something that occurs only in organisations, it is part of everyday lives when people are engaged in public advocacy, promotion, or dialogue.

This paper addresses the question: `What is the state of the (sub)discipline of organisational communication in New Zealand and Australia?' We undertook a review of some 50 relevant publications (7999-2004) to attempt to locate the `frontiers' of organisational communication in New Zealand and Australia. In doing so, we identified several movements that reflect international trends, including managerial to multiple voices, skills to critical analysis, rationality to rationalities, behaviour to discourse, container to permeable boundaries, and organisation to organisation-society relationship. While much of the research aligns with the four central problematics identified by Mumby and Stohl (1996), other research aligns with `traditional' managerialist-focused research that remains valuable to practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]