Stakeholder Engagement in Water Management: Lessons from five Cases in Central Europe

MedienJournal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91
Author(s):  
Daniel Polzer ◽  
Angelika Maier

This paper deals with a stakeholder-focused perception of stakeholder engagement and the question of how much media and corporate communication influence people to get engaged with environmental issues and resources and the water issue in particular. With five case studies at a European, national, regional and local level it is shown that only a high degree of problematization of an issue (here: flooding or water scarcity and droughts) leads to participation as well as engagement which – much more than participation or activism – depends on the existence of organizational structures. Study findings conclude that stakeholder engagement equals a highly complex, autonomous and individual process that requires qualitative research methods. Organizations, political institutions as well as corporations have to acknowledge that stake - holders get engaged “themselves”, whereas the problematization of issues can foster engagement. Implications also refer to the field of Public Relations, where highly individual and customized communication strategies are needed.

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannelore Crijns PhD ◽  
Liselot Hudders ◽  
Verolien Cauberghe ◽  
An-Sofie Claeys

Facebook as a corporate communication tool for companies? A content analysis of the communication strategies of reputable Belgian companies on the social network site Facebook as a corporate communication tool for companies? A content analysis of the communication strategies of reputable Belgian companies on the social network site This study used a quantitative content analysis to investigate how twelve reputable Belgian companies use Facebook as a corporate communication tool. Findings indicate that companies use Facebook more often to post public relations than marketing communication content. The former is also more often shared than the latter. However, the latter creates more engagement in terms of reactions of the company on comments of users. Furthermore, about one fourth of the company posts did not generate any written reactions from users and can be classified as one-way communication. Almost 40% of the posts generated reactions from the users. To conclude, in one third of the cases companies reacted on these reactions of users, and results reveal that this is more often the case when it concerns public relations content than marketing communication content. Reputation score was not able to predict the communication strategy used on Facebook.


2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiting Tao ◽  
Christopher Wilson

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the communication strategies corporations adopt for Facebook and/or Twitter, and the consistency of communication strategies used on both Facebook and Twitter. Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis of 2011 Fortune 1000 corporate Facebook and Twitter sites was undertaken. Specially, communication strategies on 63 Fortune 1000 Facebook sites and 65 Fortune 1000 Twitter sites in January 2012 were examined. Findings – This study found that a majority of the examined Fortune 1000 companies emphasized a corporate ability communication strategy over a corporate social responsibility communication strategy on their Facebook and Twitter sites. Additionally, none of these companies used a true hybrid strategy on their social media sites (SMSs). Results also demonstrated that these companies were following the one message principle of integrated communication. Research limitations/implications – This study is limited to its samples size and the coding time frame. Practical implications – Results of this study can help public relations and corporate communication professionals leverage multiple SMSs to build strong associations, improve engagement, and strengthen relationships with target stakeholders. Originality/value – Through examining corporate communication strategies on SMSs, this study contributes to current social media research along with corporate communication/public relations scholarship. It replicated and extended prior work by examining how existing corporate communication strategies on traditional web sites were incorporated into two new mainstream media – Facebook and Twitter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 610-633
Author(s):  
Jiří Janáč

Throughout the period of state socialism, water was viewed as an instrument of immense transformative power and water experts were seen as guardians of such transformation, a transformation for which we coin the term 'hydrosocialism'. A reconfiguration of water, a scarce and vital natural resource, was to a great extent identified with social change and envisioned transition to socialist and eventually communist society. While in the West, hydraulic experts (hydrocrats) and the vision of a 'civilising mission' of water management (hydraulic mission) gradually faded away with the arrival of reflexive modernity from the 1960s, in socialist Czechoslovakia the situation was different. Despite the fact they faced analogous challenges (environmental issues, economisation), the technocratic character of state socialism enabled socialist hydraulic engineers to secure their position and belief in transformative powers of water.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Chr. Hansen ◽  
Nicholas Clarke ◽  
Atle Wehn Hegnes

Abstract Background Bioenergy plays a key role in the transition to a sustainable economy in Europe, but its own sustainability is being questioned. We study the experiences of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, to find out whether the forest-based bioenergy chains developed in the four countries have led to unsustainable outcomes and how the countries manage the sustainability risks. Data were collected from a diversity of sources including interviews, statistical databases, the scientific literature, government planning documents and legislation. Results Sustainability risks of deforestation, degradation of forests, reduced carbon pools in forests, expensive biopower and heat, resource competition, and lack of acceptance at the local level are considered. The experience of the four countries shows that the sustainability risks can to a high degree be managed with voluntary measures without resorting to prescriptive measures. It is possible to add to the carbon pools of forests along with higher harvest volumes if the risks are well managed. There is, however, a marginal trade-off between harvest volume and carbon pools. Economic sustainability risks may be more challenging than ecological risks because the competitiveness order of renewable energy technologies has been reversed in the last decade. The risk of resource competition harming other sectors in the economy was found to be small and manageable but requires continuous monitoring. Local communities acting as bioenergy communities have been agents of change behind the most expansive bioenergy chains. A fear of non-local actors reaping the economic gains involved in bioenergy chains was found to be one of the risks to the trust and acceptance necessary for local communities to act as bioenergy communities. Conclusions The Nordic experience shows that it has been possible to manage the sustainability risks examined in this paper to an extent avoiding unsustainable outcomes. Sustainability risks have been managed by developing an institutional framework involving laws, regulations, standards and community commitments. Particularly on the local level, bioenergy chains should be developed with stakeholder involvement in development and use, in order to safeguard the legitimacy of bioenergy development and reconcile tensions between the global quest for a climate neutral economy and the local quest for an economically viable community.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2046147X2110268
Author(s):  
Zhuo Ban ◽  
Alessandro Lovari

On November 18, 2018, the Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana (D&G) released a controversial video on all their social media channels. The video triggered an instant outcry from the general Chinese public, who called the video a racist caricature of Chinese culture. D&G responded to the crisis with several image repair strategies. This study examines D&G’s crisis communication efforts in the wake of this incident. Departing from corporate-oriented perspectives prevalent in the field of public relations, this study employs a dynamic, public-oriented view of crisis communication, which focuses on the dynamic, interactive process of crisis development from the standpoint of the publics. By analyzing communicative behavior on Twitter (an increasingly influential alternative public sphere in China) and in particular, comments and responses toward the crisis communication strategies employed by D&G, we have identified four prominent themes, or ways that publics framed their key messages against the corporation: “Apology not enough”; “Apology done badly”; “Call to unite against D&G”; and “Sarcasm, mockery, and abuse.” And they can be interpreted as a number of crisis communication strategies of the global, online publics. Based on our analysis of the D&G case, we discuss the theoretical implications of a dynamic, public-oriented perspective (DPOP) on crisis communication, highlighting its key areas of difference from the corporate-oriented perspective (COP).


Human Affairs ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Popper

AbstractThe article approaches the topic of social trust from an evolutionary perspective. It begins by summarising the most influential approaches that have defined specific and social trust and ascertains what causes differences in degrees of trust and how the potential risk of deception might be lowered. It then notes that the basis of morality had already been formed during the era of prehistoric man, who was able to create coalitions against aggressors and to socially control the behaviour of deviants. It points out, however, that having a certain predisposition to behaving cooperatively or an increased sensitivity to recognising and not tolerating behaviour aimed at abusing cooperation is not a sufficient guarantee of the fact that people will always (or at least in the majority of situations) favour cooperation over deception. One of the reasons for this is a tendency to favour short-term gains over long-term ones. The article argues that establishing norms (moral, social and legal) produces a higher level of social trust because it not only “encourages” individuals to behave in certain ways in particular situations but also works as a sanction which “discourages” the individual from socially deviant behaviour. The article then focuses on a debate about the causal relationship between social trust and social capital. It discusses the suggestion that political institutions, government and the judiciary may reduce rather than raise levels of social capital and consequently also the level of social trust. This is partly because of their powerful position and the consequent scope for corruption and partly because of the fact that even when attempting to act honestly, representatives of these institutions cannot sufficiently reflect upon dynamic change at the local level. Finally, the article ends by adopting the position that social trust is built primarily from bottom up and so it is risky to continually doubt the very existence and usefulness of social norms and morality and to be governed simply by legal norms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-132
Author(s):  
Volodymyr Rudzinskyi ◽  
◽  
Bohdan Yemets ◽  
Serhii Melnychuk ◽  
Oleksandr Ryabchuk ◽  
...  

The article deals with some criteria that substantiate the design and operational performance of automobiles running on alternative fuels; economic efficiency of operation of such vehicles, their ecological conformity; the level of complexity of the design of converted automobiles; labor intensity of their maintenance, repair, etc. ; traction-speed and other different, in comparison with the basic, properties of automobiles while working on alternative fuel (AF); energy consumption and (or) cost price of AF; efficiency of power plant and (or) car on AF; the degree of commissioning (mass production) and further prospects for the development of the design of such automobiles; state of support developed structures at the national (local) level. An expert assessment of the adopted criteria in the order of their importance is made. Along with the analysis of scores, which are presented in points, it is used the ranking method to study the results of the survey of experts. This allows applying the values of the established optimal criteria to justify the operation of vehicles during their work on the AF. The analysis of the matrix correlation shows that the numerical estimates set by the accepted criteria are characterized by a high degree of correlation, and experts are generally unanimous in assessing their importance. The most important criteria for the operation of automobiles on the AF are economic efficiency, traction and speed and other, different compared to the basic, the properties of automobiles while working on the AF. Other criteria are also quite important, the weights for them are much higher than 7%, and they also should be taken into account while conducting an in-depth analysis and synthesis of indicators of optimal operation of automobiles on the AF. In addition, it is important that the group of criteria that characterize only one type of automobile when working on the AF (for example, the degree of commissioning) experts gave only about 17% of the importance.


2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Henrieta Pavolová ◽  
Adriana Csikósová ◽  
Tomáš Bakalár

AbstractThe development of the regions in Slovakia in recent years has significant disparities in both so-cio-economic as well as environmental issues, as evidenced by the eight environmentally polluted areas (these areas are highly urbanised with industrial agglomerations or intensive agricultural production).This article deals with a management system model of regional by implementation of projects in environmental field of water management with application-specific benefits and risks arising from the process of their implementation in relation to regional development. It analyses projects in the area of water management of one of the regions of Slovakia, KoŠice region in particular, in terms of connection to public water duct and sewer, identifes a strategy for development of the region and its socio-economic and environmental benefits based on the analysis of drinking water, the quan-tity and quality of treated wastewater through wastewater treatment plants (WTPs). It identifes the infuencing factors of benefits and risks and proposes procedure for solving at various stages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 302-310
Author(s):  
Marina G. Shilina ◽  
Irina I. Volkova

The paper presents the current transformations of Russian public relations during the SaRS-COVID-19 pandemic and remote working in 2020. In response to the crisis and uncertainty, companies have adapted and restructured corporate strategies and communications. The increasing demand for communication support of strategies and daily support of corporate activities indicates the growing significance of PR and the implementation of organizational strategies, as well as the demand for the optimization of corporate communication in society. The PR industry in general and professional communication are becoming more and more integrated due to the attraction of knowledge, competencies, specialists from a wide range of related industries: marketing, sociology, management. The current communication situation caused changes in the characteristics of Russian PR in the segment of communication agencies. Despite the traditionally high volume of the agencies marketing services, the growth of crisis and digital communications has turned to be stable, which indicates the demand for more flexible PR formats. Based on an analysis of public relations of the leading local communication agencies in 2020, the authors put forward a hypothesis on the formation of the prerequisites for the transition of Russian public relations to the format of strategic communications.


Author(s):  
Damion Waymer ◽  
Nneka Logan

Culture, business, and communication are overlapping human phenomena. However, corporate communication methods have yet to embrace the complexity of organizational culture. Since the study of culture is anthropological in nature, we propose foregrounding autoethnography/autobiographical approaches and method to analyze corporate organizational culture. We argue that studying corporate communication, public relations, and society via the lenses of organizational culture and subsidiary organizational memory can provide unique insights into practice of corporate communication and the theorizing of organizational memory research. In this case example, we answer this question: In what ways can autobiographical/autoethnographic narratives of organizational members inform the theory, research, and practice in corporate communication?


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