From corporate social responsibility in Eastern Europe to hostile takeover defenses in the Far East, public relations challenges can look surprisingly similar even while strategy and implementation remain deeply rooted in local culture. That lesson emerges from the third edition of The Evolution of Public Relations: Case Studies from Countries in Transition.
The book, published free online by the Institute for Public Relations, is edited by Judy VanSlyke Turk, director of the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University; and Linda H. Scanlan, retired chair of the journalism department at Norfolk State University. The entire publication can be downloaded at no cost thanks to generous project funding from Philips and Schering-Plough.
More than 18 authors from 13 countries produced 16 cases and briefs for the book. “This case studies project allows individuals from around the world to learn from each other, and there really is no one right answer for every culture,” said sponsor Gail S. Thornton, Vice President of International Communications, Schering-Plough Corporation.
“Professors, their students and working professionals can access these cases to find examples they can identify with, for classroom and boardroom use,” said James Savage, former director of corporate communications with Philips Electronics. Savage, who was instrumental in arranging the Philips sponsorship, is now Vice President, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
Scanlan was a Fulbright Senior Scholar teaching journalism and public relations in Bulgaria, a USIS teaching fellow in Latvia, a Freedom House advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Romania, and a Fulbright Senior Specialist in Kosovo. Turk served as founding dean of the College of Communication and Media Sciences at Zayed University, a public university for women in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She has consulted and lectured on journalism curriculum development, press freedom and public relations in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The full publication can be accessed through the Institute website at: instituteforpr.org/research_single/the_evolution_of_public_relations/.
