ENHANCING CORPORATE IMAGE THROUGH CORPORATE & PUBLIC RELATIONS - EDUCATION

 CORPORATE

The official professional identity formed by joint physical body of individuals is known as Corporate. The derivation of corporation comes from the Latin word Corpus meaning for body or a body of people. Its traces can be found way back to the Byzantine Empire in 527-565 and in the Roman Laws and Mauryan Empire in India. In the 16^th century early corporations were formed to lead colonial ventures by Hudson’s Bay, Dutch and British East India Company. Corporation in today’s modern globalized world can be termed as a structured union governed and incorporated within a legal framework of constitution for Administration & Business.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 

The policies, decisions and actions permissible within law for controlling and directing corporations is termed as corporate governance. This formation derives the rights and responsibilities among the diversified participants along with specifying rules and procedures for initiating decisions in the day to day corporate affairs. Executives, Managers, Auditors, Creditors, Regulators, Shareholders, Stakeholders and Board of Directors form the corporate framework. The governance sets and pursues objectives reflecting the framework in context to the social regulations and market environment. Ethical Behavior, Integrity and Transparency formulates the model of Corporate Governance.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

Corporate Governance is primarily more about protecting a business; on the other hand Corporate Management signifies growth multiplication or growth of business. Governance is insuring that the business is run by abiding the law, whereas Management is using the right techniques used by executives to operate and flourish the business. Governance for example is signatures of two officials of a company on the cheques to prevent frauds and allocating different budgets to different departments as per their projections is an example of Finance Management.

CORPORATE IMAGE

The visions reflected in our mind when a corporate is mentioned or discussed defines corporate image.  It is the composite psychological impression that springs across and continuously changes as per company’s performance, services, visibility and pronouncements. At times it is based on Public Perception, Reputation and Goodwill of the concerned Organization rather than on its actual position or state of affairs. Corporate image, unlike corporate identity is fluid and can fluctuate and change overnight from neutral to positive, negative and vice-versa. The right mix of Corporate & Public relations is needed to formulate & enhance a positive corporate Image.

CORPORATE RELATIONS

Corporate Relations are a formal approach to acknowledge, understand, classify and support inter & intra business activities on a wider spectrum via networks and services. It can be termed as a medium for conduction of smooth business relationships by nurturing and taking it to the next level of comfort. The term corporate relationship management is thus of special importance and organizations lay proper emphasis on its implementation and adherence. Corporate relationship management is distinct yet related to Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Enterprise relationship management is a value creation business strategy and does not focus on cost containment but strengthens the network enabled processes and transforms relationships between the organizations and often works beyond customer relationship management. In Customer relationship management, a company follows a set of guidelines based on principles and policies while holding meaningful interactions with its customers.

 PUBLIC RELATIONS

The practices used to build and sustain the goodwill image of the corporation at various community domains is known as Public Relations. This form of publicity generation can be initiated by paid and non paid forms of communication. Foremost it’s important to understand the nature of organizations goals, perspectives and interests to address them suitably among the public. In today’s corporate world, public relations are the public face of the client who mingles and cultivates professional relationships with the corporate world and associated patrons through business initiatives, CSR events, shows and media forums. Public relation activities include building targeted audiences, selecting appropriate media, addressing the media through Seminars, Conferences, Brochures, Newsletters and Advertisements.

HOW TO ENHANCE CORPORATE IMAGE

The right mix of Corporate & Public relations is needed to formulate & enhance a positive corporate Image by Organizations. Here Corporate Public Relations comes into the forefront by amalgamating both the concerns. These Publics include employees, channel partners, clients, consumers, media, education bodies, government, agencies and general public.  So to establish a corporate entity in the society, it has to nourish and maintain the relationships with its various members by constantly innovating, servicing and effectively communicating about its predominant role among them.  By directing correct flow of services & information to its targeted audience, organizations tend to enhance their Image. For schools the targeted audience is students and their parents and for Retailers their targeted audience is their consumers, it is their networking, servicing, word of mouth and promotions which will help them and their goodwill grow. You have to follow a two way process through continuous reviews and feedback from your targeted audience among whom you are displaying your products and services promoted by self and media services. Effective Corporate Image can be maintained through acts of Awareness, Acceptance and Appropriate Actions.

Co-Authored 

Kavita Thapliyal & Manjul Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer 

 & 

Principal Consultant

Visions Ahead

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

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