[Luojia Inquiry] Dong Guanpeng: Strategic Communication of Large Firms: Status Quo, Dilemma and Innovation

On the evening of March 30, 2018, Prof. Dong Guanpeng, Vice President of the China Public Relations Association, gave an academic speech at the "China Communication Innovation Forum." By combining his own practical experiences, Prof. Dong shared his thoughts on "strategic communication" and related issues of Chinese companies in the era of global development.

The lecture focused on three aspects: First, he pointed out the insufficiency of "strategic communication" capability and the lack of "strategic communication" effect in the process of "going global" for Chinese enterprises; Second, he analyzed how can we get rid of the existing difficulties from the enterprise's perspective; Third, he talked about the due role and responsibility of academia should play in helping enterprises' "strategic communication", and summarized three issues that enterprises, journalism and communication practitioners and academia should work together to resolve.

Prof. Dong believed that in the era of global development, there are two major problems in the “strategic communication” process of Chinese large companies. First, “there is strategy but no communication”; second, “there is communication but no strategy”. In his view, these two major problems have a great negative impact on overseas investment by enterprises, and in many cases they may even result in the project being stranded and aborted.

In response to the existing shortages and deficiencies of Chinese companies, Prof. Dong further pointed out that in the era of global development, there should be four “standards” for the “strategic communication” of Chinese companies: “institutionalization”, "normalization", "technicalization" and "localization."

Then, Prof. Dong proposed four solutions. The first is "content as the core". Enterprises must learn to create their own "material library"; second is "make a good speech". It is necessary for enterprises to realize that making a good speech is also important. Third, "channels must be enriched." It is necessary to realize that the most important channel after going global is the mobile internet media represented by mobile phones. Fourthly, “problem-solving should follow procedures”. After comprehensive, objective and rational analysis, it is necessary to respond and guide according to the laws of media and public opinion.

In the end, Mr. Dong summed up three difficulties that we need to work together to help big companies. First, “the balance between the official and private interests of the host country”, the second is “the balance between social responsibility and economic benefits”, and the third is “the balance between communication discourse and overseas scenario." He believes that only by properly handling these three aspects of balance, can Chinese large companies truly end the era of "there is strategy but no communication " and "there is communication but no strategy". (Hu Yanran)