Dear reader 13

Keys to reading this book 15

1. Strategizing communication 17
    On not having a strategy 19
        The nuances of being strategic and having a strategy 19
    Who communicates strategically? 22
        Three assumptions about organizations debunked 24
    What does this mean for strategic communication? 31
        Focus on the doing, not the done 32
        A definition 34
    The five Ps of strategizing communication 36
        Strategizing communication as plan 39
        Strategizing communication as ploy 42
        Strategizing communication as pattern 44
        Strategizing communication as position 46
        Strategizing communication as perspective 48
    Ontologically and epistemologically speaking 51
        Relationality 51
        Pragmatism 53
    Key questions 57
    Key points 57
    Key case 58
    Key texts 63

2. Strategy as deliberate decision 65
    Logic: strategy is planned, competitive advantage 67
    Historical context, part one 68
        Machiavelli and his pragmatic Prince 68
        Clausewitz and (the return to) military strategy 70
    Historical context, part two 71
        Chandler: strategy and structure 71
        Ansoff: strategy as rational planning 72
    The big (contemporary) bang: Porter and competitive advantage 76
        The five forces 76
        Generic strategies 82
        Critique of Porter 84
    Market and competition analysis 86
        Four basic market types 87
        PESTEL 91
        Environment, environment, environment 93
    Key questions 93
    Key points 93
    Key case 94
    Key texts 97

3. Strategic communication as plan 99
    Logic: strategic communication is planned communication 101
    Understanding communication as transmission 103
        From intention to effect 104
        Hierarchies of effect 106
        The two-step flow model of communication 109
        Diffusion of innovations 112
        Uses and gratifications 114
    Planning communication 117
        Analyze: position and target groups 121
        Plan: objectives and message 127
        Execute: media and evaluation 131
    Key questions 138
    Key points 138
    Key case 139
    Key texts 143

4. Strategy as emergent action 145
    Logic: strategy is what strategists think and do 147
    On not acting rationally 149
        Simon and Lindblom: bounded rationality and muddling through 149
        Cohen, March and Olsen: the garbage can of decision-making 151
    Strategy as sense-making 153
        Weick: retrospectively talking strategies into being 154
        Prospective strategy-making: changing perceptions and envisioning the future 156
    Strategy as narratives 158
        Barry and Elmes: narrating the organization's behaviour 159
    Strategy as practice 161
        SAP: focusing on the nitty-gritty 161
        Whittington: three levels of practice 163
    Mintzberg: realized strategy 166
        Deliberate and emergent 168
        Five Ps for strategy 169
    Key questions 171
    Key points 171
    Key case 172
    Key texts 175

5. Strategic communication as process 177
    Logic: strategic communication is all about process 179
    Understanding communication as collaborative meaning formation 180
        Encoding - decoding 181
        The communicative act 185
        Communicative chains 188
    The process of process 191
        Consensus vs. conflict 192
        Intentionality vs. emergence 195
    Emergent communication strategies 197
        Strategic communication as the communicative constitution of organization 199
        Strategizing communicative constitution 205
    Key questions 206
    Key points 206
    Key case 207
    Key texts 211

6. External AND internal 213
    Strategizing inside-out and outside-in 215
    Branding 218
        The deep, semio-narrative and discursive levels of branding 221
        The VCI model 223
    Organizational culture 227
        Three levels of culture 227
        Three perspectives on culture 231
    Stakeholder relations 233
        The simple stakeholder model 235
        The stakeholder salience model 237
        Stakeholders as self-organizing publics 240
    Strategizing communication as power games 243
    Key questions 246
    Key points 246
    Key case 247
    Key texts 250

7. Offline AND online 251
    What happens offline does not stay offline 253
    A new media landscape 255
        Collaborative and power-shifting infrastructure 256
        The reconfiguration of time and space 258
        Hypertextual and hypermediated meaning formation 260
        The result: a hybrid media ecology 261
    Cross-media communication 266
        COPE strategy 268
        Cross-media value creation 271
    Transmedia storytelling 276
        Cross-media + narrative = transmedia storytelling 276
         'If it doesn't spread, it's dead' 279
    Message design 282
        The more immersive, the more persuasive 282
    Media mix 286
        Level of stakeholder involvement 289
        Media synergy 292
        Media sequence 294
    Key questions 296
    Key points 296
    Key case 298
    Key texts 301

8. Profitable AND ethical 303
    A new purpose for corporations 305
    Corporate social responsibility 307
        Creating shared value 310
        CSR communication 313
    Globalization 314
        What is globalization? 315
        Intercultural communication 320
    Issues management 323
        Risks, issues, crises 325
        Crisis communication 327
    Responsible communication for an age of global crises 332
        Ethical responsibilities 332
        Environmental responsibilities 334
    Key questions 336
    Key points 336
    Key case 337
    Key texts 342

9. Social AND material 343
    What it all amounts to 345
    The sociomateriality of strategizing communication 348
        On favouring one side or the other 349
        On not favouring, but combining 353
    3 x A 355
        Assemblage 356
        Affordance 359
        Agency 365
    The triple A model 368
    Key questions 372
    Key points 372
    Key case 373
    Key texts 377

10. Plan for process 379

List of illustrations 381

References 385

Index 417