Aligning internal and external communications to gain competitive advantage

The thought process that this paper describes originated in the author's time as a corporate public relations consultant. All too often chief executives complain that their business strategy is misunderstood by the financial markets, legislators and other stakeholders. The reality is usually that their strategy is unclear — even to themselves. Before embarking on any communications activity, therefore, the first step has to be to work with the board to develop a statement of corporate strategic direction. The process of doing so frequently leads not only to a clearer articulation of strategy but also to a renewed focus on the priorities that the strategy demands. Because the board knows precisely what it has to achieve it is more able to concentrate on the issues which really count. This paper deals mainly with the specific example of Whitbread plc. In the early 1990s the company was at the beginning of a major corporate transformation from its origins in braving to becoming a diversified leisure group. To illustrate the degree of change, the percentage of profit derived from brewing has been reduced from over 50 per cent to about 10 per cent in just over a decade, even though the company's beer market share is at its highest level. Beginning with research to establish stakeholder perceptions, this paper traces how corporate values were codified and corporate objectives were written leading to a programme of communication activities designed to secure support for the change process.