Cultural Influence on Communication Processes

A country may be classified as either a high-context culture or a low-context Culture. The context of a culture is either high or low in terms of in-depth background information. This classification provides an understanding of various cultural orientations and explains how Process of communication is conveyed and perceived.

North America and northern Europe (e.g. Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavian countries) are examples of low-context cultures. In these types of society, messages are explicit and clear in the sense that actual words are used to convey the main part of information in communication. The words and their meanings, being independent entities, can be separated from the context in which they occur.… Read the rest

What is Corporate Communication?

By corporate communication we mean the corporation’s voice and the images it projects of itself to the various stakeholders. This includes areas such as corporate reputation, corporate advertising, and employee for communications, government relations and media management. We shall be discussing them at a later stage one by one.

These days most of the bigger organizations have departments of corporate communication which appeared on the organizational chart along with traditional functions like marketing or accounting.

The addition, corporate communication is also the processes accompany uses to communicate all its messages to key constituencies – a combination of meetings, interviews, speeches, reports, images advertising, and online communication.… Read the rest

Business Report Writing

Report writing is an essential skill for professionals in almost every field. Each kind of report has its characteristics. An enquiry report or a survey report is essentially a fact-finding report and should bring out the facts clearly. A Directors’ Report, on the other hand, is the detailing of the developments or the progress relating to the business organization during a particular period. A committee report may not only bring out facts and figures, but also cover the alternative viewpoints expressed by the members and final recommendations. Notwithstanding these features specific to the reports, there are certain essential features of good business report writing:

  1. Issue in perspective:  The first essential for any good report is to bring out the issue in its proper perspective emphasizing the pros and cons.
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Sales Letters – Meaning and Importance

Although the primary aim of sales letters or offers is publicity yet it is the most important written form of business communication. It reaches out to a large number of people interested in a particular product or service and turn them into buyers. Even if people are not interested in the product, them the aim of this letter is to make them interested in it. Starting with the assumption that the receiver may resist the offer, the sales letter has to be persuasive or powerful enough to make recipient act. They are unsolicited letters, mostly written by professional writers. The effectiveness of such letters depends on the writer’s ability to use language suited to his purpose that is above all to influence the recipient – his thinking, taste and behavior.… Read the rest

Business Proposal: Meaning, Types and Drafting

A Business Proposal can be defined as an offer document presented to undertake work affecting the future of an organisation. Usually a business proposal is given for any additions or amendments to be incorporated within a business framework. Proposals are also tools of communication but in a different sense. They do not just give the facts but also a probable solution to a particular problem or situation. They can be written to people within or outside an organisation.

Business Proposals can be classified into two types: Sales Proposal and Research Proposals. Sales Proposals are written with the aim of bringing gains for the proposing organisation.… Read the rest

Case Study: Cadbury Crisis Management (Worm Controversy)

In India chocolate consumption was very low in the early 90’s but as the decade advanced the consumption drastically increased. The late 90’s witnessed a good chocolate market condition. The chocolate market in India is dominated by two multinational companies — Cadbury and Nestle. The national companies – Amul and Campco are other candidates in this race. Cadbury holds more than 70% of the total share of the market. Nestle has emerged by holding almost 20% of the total share. Apart from chocolate segment, there is also a big confectionery segment which is flooded by companies like Parry’s, Ravalgaon, Candico and Nutrine.… Read the rest