Romancing Singapore: When yesterday's success becomes today's challenge

When Singapore gained independence in 1965, its policies were “strongly anti-natalist” as the government feared that population growth could strain its limited resources and hinder economic development. National campaigns were successfully used for population control and within a decade birth rates fell so much that the country became a victim of its own success. Fearing a loss in replacement of the population, the government has adopted a rather aggressively “pro-natalist” policy. In addition to cash grants and tax rebates to encourage births, public-education campaigns have promoted positive attitudes towards marriage, children and family life including Romancing Singapore, a month-long campaign in February 2003.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: Perceptions and practices among SMEs in Colombia

This study sought to understand the perceptions and practices of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) among a sample of Colombian SMEs. The data were collected using a selfadministered, online questionnaire (54 SMEs), and from interviews with five opinion leaders and two, representatives of SMEs permitted to assess the activities, motivations, stakeholders, decision-making, processes, communication processes, resource allocation, evaluation, and the benefits of CSR among Colombian SMEs. Colombian SMEs practice informal internal and external CSR characterized by being, influenced by cultural and contextual aspects of the country's society. Customers, employees and, shareholders are the most important stakeholders for SMEs in Colombia. Colombian culture places, importance on interpersonal relationships and these were displayed in the evidence gathered for this study. The perceived benefits of CSR practices by SMEs such as improved organizational culture, attracting and maintaining best employees, improving image and reputation and improve customer loyalty, also reflect the importance SMEs give to satisfying their most relevant stakeholders.     

Extending cultural horizons: Political economy and public relations

In this article, we aim to offer a conceptual bridge between political economy and the practice of public relations, which should be helpful especially for practitioners and scholars interested in public relations at a global level. The combination of social, political, and economic forces is powerful, pervasive, and highly influential on the public relations activities of organizations, and we assert that these factors must be examined in unison. In turn, we discuss the role of political–economic relationships and the constraints they impart on the goal-seeking behavior of organizations. We conclude by offering suggestions as to how public relations practitioners and scholars can begin to think about their efforts and linkages with political economy.     

Adding value to organizations: An examination of the role of senior public relations practitioners in Singapore

A key characteristic of public relations excellence in organizations is ensuring that the senior public relations practitioner – the head of the communication function – has the competencies to enact the strategic role of a manager. It is only when the top communicator possesses strategic management knowledge and engages in managerial work with support from colleagues who are technically skilled in traditional craft work can public relations work be considered to be value-generating.This paper presents the findings of the examination of the role of senior public relations practitioners in organizations in Singapore. It also explores the importance of core communication activities to the role of top in-house communicators, examines the time they allocate to managerial and technical work, and assesses if the managerial role which the practitioners play adds value to organizations. Data collected from both in-depth interviews and self-reported log of daily activities showed that although top communicators in Singapore enjoy strategic reporting and unhindered access to senior management, it also revealed, paradoxically, senior management's mixed worldviews of public relations; and that Singapore's top in-house practitioners lack the strategic knowledge to enact the managerial role as they are too focused on technical work.The paper concludes with recommendations on how the level of public relations professionalism can be raised in Singapore, starting with the practitioners themselves having to be fully equipped with the relevant academic knowledge of what makes communication excellent.