While public relations offers numerous assets for organization-stakeholder relationship building and for ethical corporate social responsibility and sustainability communication, it also faces challenges linked to negative perceptions of the profession which can lead to accusations of "greenwashing." This innovative book critically explores the growing, complex and sometimes contradictory connections among public relations, corporate social responsibility and sustainability. This book advocates a postmodern insider-activist role for public relations which can transform organizations into moral places committed to people, planet, and profit. By amplifying voices of nearly 100 for-profit and nonprofit professionals, and using hermeneutic phenomenological theme analyses of CSR/Sustainability reports and websites, this book invokes public relations, postmodern and critical theories to empower public relations professionals to transform organizations into ethical, authentic and transparent actors in the public sphere. It is essential reading for scholars, educators and enquiring professionals working in public relations, corporate communication, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

This book offers practical advice for building organizations with social responsibility and sustainability organically built in – based on two-way communication between human resources (HR) and public relations (PR) departments working together as an organizational conscience touchstone benefiting People, Planet, and Profit.

The comprehensive guide to applied PR theory in the 21st century Public Relations Theory explores the central principles and theoretical components of public relations and their practical applications in actual situations. This informative text helps readers to understand the concepts, approaches, and perspectives of PR theory and learn development methods, implementation strategies, management techniques, and more. Chapters written by recognized experts on each topic provide readers with knowledge on how, when, and why appropriate theories are applied. Focusing on how organizations and individuals integrate theory in a public relations framework, each chapter explains one function, explores its potential challenges and opportunities, provides an example of the function in practice, and offers discussion questions and additional reading suggestions. Unique in structure, this text arranges chapters by function, rather than theory, allowing readers to see how multiple theories can be applied to each public relations function and how theories can be used in different professional settings. Comprehensive treatment of topics including social and emerging media, globalization, public diplomacy, corporate and investor relations, and others ensures relevant and timely coverage of contemporary PR issues. Demonstrates how public relations theory is applied in real-world practice Illustrates how successfully applied public relations theories lead to positive outcomes Discusses the relevance of public relations with accessible and engaging language Offers multiple perspectives from leading international public relations scholars Includes pedagogical tools including chapter discussion questions, practical examples, tables, and suggested reading lists Public Relations Theory: Application and Understanding is suitable for instructors and graduate and advanced undergraduate students in courses on public relations theory, as well as practitioners seeking further knowledge on the most current developments in the field.

This edited book focuses on how CSR and Corporate Governance in Ibero-America have been employed, analyzed, and examined in different sectors and scenarios. It takes a trans-regional approach unlike most research which has been focused on studying specific initiatives or experiences in a particular country.

Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Business Ethics, Corporate Ethics, grade: 1,5, University of applied sciences Dortmund, course: BWL - Unternehmensethik, Wirtschaftsethik, Marketing, language: English, abstract: The term and concept of “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR), which generally means that companies’ voluntarily takeover responsibility for different social, economic, ecological, and culture issues, has gained such popularity among academics and the popular media that it seems to be ubiquitous nowadays. More recent incidents and scandals such as “Nestle – Powder Milk”, “Shell – Brent Spar”, “Enron”, “Parmalat”, Sweatshops by different sports equipment and electronic devices producers and finally the financial crisis which made the headlines among many others, which did not make it to the front page, have forced companies to consider CSR even more. But also other issues such as climate change and global warming, human rights situation and terrorism affect how companies conduct their strategies and operational practices today. It is observable that almost every large corporation makes some effort to communicate how it is committed to social issues that lie beyond its basic profit objectives. A short look at the websites is enough to notice that companies of many different industry sectors make much effort to present their corporate responsibility initiatives. The companies produce healthier food more fuel-efficient vehicles and save resources in their operations to make the world "a better place". In view of this, CSR sometimes begins to be propaganda to hide the true face of the business. Corporate social responsibility is now a key-marketing and branding instrument for many companies. Hence, numerous other companies, also small and medium sized companies are currently asking themselves the questions: Shall we also invest in CSR initiatives? Why should we do that – just to do something? Is this still an instrument to gain a competitive advantage? Especially the last question implies the question, if consumers still believe in the basic idea of CSR initiatives, or with the overload of CSR initiatives, if they even show reactance and mistrust against such issues. The present work will answer these questions from the compannies and the consumers point of view.

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: NA, University of Glasgow (Adam Smith Business School), language: English, abstract: Within luxury, an area that is becoming increasingly important due to the visibility of this industry is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). While consumers are still not actively demanding CSR in luxury products and services, and there is evidence that CSR is not a key area of interest for the luxury industry; the luxury industry is becoming the target of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders interested in environmental and ethical practices. Thus, it is essential that luxury companies explore CSR implementation, as neglecting to do so, is likely to affect their brands and their brand value. Due to the increasing relevance of CSR within luxury, this research explores the role of CSR within luxury and how it, together with other factors, contributes to brand value in luxury. An additional consideration is that despite the importance of brand value in luxury, the industry does not normally measure, manage and leverage brand value. As a result, it is also necessary to examine how brand value is perceived within luxury. To meet these research goals, a mixed methods approach was selected. More specifically, a theoretical framework was built with input from the literature and interviews with key interviewees from the luxury industry. Then, the theoretical framework was tested quantitatively. The quantitative analysis was conducted with a dataset based on consumer panels, and additional secondary data including Bloomberg, CSRHub, Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), Interbrand, and company reports. The results were subject to ‘credibility checks’ with interviewees from the industry. It is noteworthy to highlight that for the statistical analysis, one of the largest datasets with US consumer data was used. Similarly, for the qualitative interviews, representatives from some of the largest luxury companies in the world in terms of brand value, and luxury stakeholders were recruited.

Intended for a junior/senior level course in Public Relations, this case study textbook takes a different approach to teaching students about the public relations world. Most case study textbooks deconstruct prize-winning campaigns that show one path to meeting a challenge or an opportunity. Cases in Public Relations Management uses recent cases with outcomes that weren't always successful and challenges students to think analytically, strategically and practically. Each case is designed to encourage discussion, debate and exploration of the options available to the strategic public relations manager today.

The Encyclopedia of Public Relations explores the evolution of the PR field, with examples from history describing events, changing practices, and the key figures who developed and expanded the profession. The encyclopedia explores key challenges facing the profession of public relations and its practitioners, such as earning the trust and respect of critics and the general public. Opinions about PR are as diverse as the issues addressed by the people and organizations in the field. One good example is ethics (decision-making, creations of meaning, etc.), and the popular notion that many PR practitioners use their skills to deliberately misinform the public. In contrast, public relations professionals also have an integral role in social responsibility, such as notifying the public of climate or public health concerns. These volumes go into great depth about such ethical policies and challenges. In fact, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) operates under a specific code of ethics---full details of which are included in an appendix. The encyclopedia has also been put together with the knowledge that PR does not exclusively reside in the United States. Major international figures, research , and organizations play a key part in the project.

'Sustainability Marketing' is primarily about the successful development and marketing of sustainable products and services (e.g. hybrid cars, fuel cell cars, car sharing, organic food products, fair trade products, passive houses and renewable energies).