Culture and Crisis Communication: Nestle India's Maggi Noodles Case

Extant theoretical paradigms in the field of crisis communication are organization-centric and do not adequately recognize the role of culture. The purpose of this essay is to analyze a crisis faced by Nestle India using the framework of global public relations which defines culture broadly to include political, economic, media, societal, and activist cultures. Our analysis revealed that a multinational corporation with over a century of presence in the country struggled to align itself to the complexities of the cultures of the host country. In the case of Nestle India, whereas environmental variables such as political economy and Westernization of urban India boosted the growth of its instant noodles, the multinational also struggled to cope with the rise of media corporatization, activist pressure and the vagaries of regulatory enforcement not to speak of cultural nationalism. It is evident that Nestlé's crisis response was governed more by its traditional corporate culture than by an ability to keep pace with the changing demands of its environment, leading to the amplification of an issue into a crisis. The study concludes that multinationals that ignore culture will be forced to pay a heavy price both in terms of reputation and the bottom line.     

国内外中国研究生跨文化敏感度比较研究

本调查用Chen和Starosta的"跨文化敏感度量表"对100名国内外中国研究生的跨文化敏感度进行测评,旨在探索国内外中国研究生跨文化敏感度现状的差异。研究结果显示,留学国外的中国研究生跨文化敏感度总体水平高于在国内学习的研究生,留学国外的中国研究生比国内研究生更容易接受和认同不同的文化,更能从不同文化互动中获得享受。     

加强“多方沟通”,构建“以人为本”学生评教体系

本文指出学生评教应通过加强＂多方沟通＂,构建＂以人为本＂的学生评教体系,从而真正起到促进教师的专业发展和提高教学质量的作用。     

传播学视野下大学生村官推进农村马克思主义大众化的思考——基于山西省运城市的抽样调查

大学生村官是农村马克思主义的传播者。但是,通过调查发现,大学生村官在传播马克思主义过程中却遇到马克思主义理论素养不高、马克思主义理论信仰度不够、农村实践能力不足、传播意识淡薄、传播知识与传播技能欠缺等困境。为了进一步推进大学生村官在农村中传播马克思主义的效果,必须提高大学生村官的马克思主义理论素养,推动大学生村官的知与行的统一,加强他们对农村的认识,培养其传播意识以及提高传播技巧。     

手机传播机制与受众文化心理

手机传播充分进入了人们的日常生活,传播人人同时参与的事实基本实现。手机媒体文化传播显现出普适性、放射性的传播机制,人际传播动能极强,手机媒体传播机制具有“碎片化”传播的随机性与多样化特点．手机的使用最大限度地缓解了现代人的．心理危机,满足了人们多样化交流的欲望。从手机文化传播受众需求来看,使用与满足正是人们使用手机媒体、构筑手机文化的心理动机。     

智库的大众传播操作：由胡佛研究所引申

智库要实现影响舆论、进而影响公共政策的目的,首先必须通过各种大众传播工具对外宣传推广其研究人员和研究成果,使其得到公众的认可。世界著名智库胡佛研究所通过对现代大众传播技术的充分合理运用,进一步提高了其在美国及世界上的地位和影响力,其成功经验,值得我国智库学习借鉴。     

A comparative study of crisis communication strategies between Mainland China and Taiwan: The melamine-tainted milk powder crisis in the Chinese context

The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to identify and compare the crisis communication strategies (CCSs) that organizations used to respond to a congenetic melamine-tainted milk crisis in two Chinese societies (i.e., Mainland China and Taiwan), and (2) to explore the underlying political and media system reasons that led to the differences. Content analysis and discourse analysis of media coverage were used. The most significant finding is that Sanlu (a Mainland China-based organization) and KingCar (a Taiwan-based organization) demonstrated inverse pattern of the CCS adoption. Specifically, according to Coombs’ (1998) defense-accommodation continuum, Sanlu's CCSs moved from defensive to accommodative pole as time went by whereas, in contrast, KingCar started with accommodative strategies and moved towards the defensive pole gradually. Besides, the results showed that both organizations adopted denial, corrective action and apology strategies. However, on the Sanlu part, the most frequently used strategy was denial, while KingCar used justification most often. Moreover, this paper suggests that besides cultural dynamics, political and media systems also play a part in corporate selection of CCSs, and they are among the most important factors that should be taken into account to explain the differences in societies even with an identical traditional culture.     

Media manipulation in the Sanlu milk contamination crisis

This study analyzes crisis communication strategies in a transitioning media environment, specifically, Sanlu Group's crisis communication strategies during a quality control crisis in China. Analysis reveals Sanlu manipulated its relationships with local Chinese government and media to reduce media coverage and online searches regarding the contamination of infant milk formula. The case provides evidence that media can be pressured into manipulating information flow through both traditional and online media and suggests a need for additional research on crisis communication in transitioning media environments.     

“Consent is sexy”: A poster campaign using sex-positive images and messages to increase dyadic sexual communication

Abstract

Objective: “Consent is Sexy” (CIS) is a poster campaign incorporating sex-positive messages to promote consent and increase sexual communication among college students. We assess reactions to the campaign and associations between campaign recall and communication attitudes and behaviors. Participants: Male and female undergraduates at a Midwestern university were recruited (N?=?284). Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted. t-Tests, logistic and multiple linear regressions were used to analyze the data. Results: Over half (56%) of participants recalled the campaign and reactions were positive. Students who recalled CIS had more positive attitudes towards sexual communication (p?=?.04) and greater perceived behavioral control (PBC; p?<?.01). Conclusions: Results show many students paid attention and reacted positively to CIS posters and results offer dissemination insights. Consent campaigns should continue to cultivate positive attitudes and PBC in regards to sexual communication.     

Gender identity and lexical variation in social media

We present a study of the relationship between gender, linguistic style, and social networks, using a novel corpus of 14,000 Twitter users. Prior quantitative work on gender often treats this social variable as a female/male binary; we argue for a more nuanced approach. By clustering Twitter users, we find a natural decomposition of the dataset into various styles and topical interests. Many clusters have strong gender orientations, but their use of linguistic resources sometimes directly conflicts with the population‐level language statistics. We view these clusters as a more accurate reflection of the multifaceted nature of gendered language styles. Previous corpus‐based work has also had little to say about individuals whose linguistic styles defy population‐level gender patterns. To identify such individuals, we train a statistical classifier, and measure the classifier confidence for each individual in the dataset. Examining individuals whose language does not match the classifier's model for their gender, we find that they have social networks that include significantly fewer same‐gender social connections and that, in general, social network homophily is correlated with the use of same‐gender language markers. Pairing computational methods and social theory thus offers a new perspective on how gender emerges as individuals position themselves relative to audiences, topics, and mainstream gender norms.