Dr. John Psarouthakis, Executive Editor of www.BusinessThinker.com, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, publisher of www.GavdosPress.com and Founder and former CEO, Industries, Inc., a Fortune 500 industrial corporation

Public relations is an organizational issue you must directly and continuously confront to assure your company’s success. This article explains more about what we mean by public relations and how to plan for it. Main Reference is the “Dynamic Management of Growing Firms”, University of Michigan Press,

ASSESSING PUBLIC RELATIONS

Ask yourself and your managers the following question:

Question 12-1: Company image and reputation. How do you rate your firm’s public image and goodwill–your firm’s reputation?

[1] Very high: Top 2% of the industry

[2] High: Within top 10%

[3] Well above average: Top 25%

[4] Above average: Top one-third

[5] Average: About the middle

[6] Slightly below average: In the top two-thirds

[7] Well below average: Bottom one-third

In our study 47% of the CEOs rate their firm’s reputation among the top 2 percent of the industry!

DIMENSIONS OF THE PUBLIC RELATIONS ISSUE

Most start-up firms follow a common sequence. Initially, the focus is on competitors, customers, and suppliers. With growth comes a broadening of attention to government regulatory bodies, the media, stockholders (including family), and the public at large. Relations with competitors and customer relations, for the most part, are an aspect of market strategy. Relations with suppliers are an aspect of resource acquisition. We lump the other categories together, as diverse as they are, because they are not a direct part of the buying-selling cycle.

Dr. John Psarouthakis, Executive Editor of www.BusinessThinker.com, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, publisher of www.GavdosPress.com. Founder and former CEO, Industries, Inc., a Fortune 500 industrial corporation

The linkages listed in this segment and following segments on this topic to be posted in separate categories are based on my experience as senior executive as well as an entrepreneur on managing growth businesses. Because statistical techniques test for probabilities but not certainties, the wordings are stated in terms of likelihoods. Discussions of these linkages are to be presented in future articles. Other executives and entrepreneurs could come to different conclusions compared to those listed in the segments posted. Therefore, those that read my views should take them as the experience of one person and use their judgment as to whether these linkages are to be taken as stated in their case.

LINKAGES FOR COORDINATION ADEQUACY (WORK FLOW, PART 2)

Linkage-1: The more able the firm is to obtain needed managers, capital, and information from OUTSIDE the firm, then the more effective coordination strategy is likely to be, the less likely are things to slip through cracks, and the less often are unnecessary work delays likely to occur.

Linkage-2: The more closely employee goals integrate with company goals, the better are employee morale and commitment likely to be, And the more effective is the CEO’s value-sharing strategy, the more effective is coordination strategy likely to be.

Linkage-3: The more closely employee goals integrate with company goals, the better employee commitment and morale are, and the more effective the CEO’s value-sharing strategy is, the less are unnecessary work delays likely to occur.

Dr. John Psarouthakis is the Executive Editor of www.BusinessThinker.com Internet Magazine, Distinguished Visiting Fellow / Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Publisher of www.GavdosPress.com and Founder and former CEO, JPIndustries, Inc., a Fortune 500 industrial corporation

The world is a better place because of great novelists and poets and painters and musicians and sculptors and actors. We could include great chefs on a short list of specialists who add value to our cultural lives. Even such a basic need as food, after all, can be lifted above the ordinary and into the realm of art. As a voracious consumer of the arts (and occasional patron of the arts), and as someone who enjoys a wonderfully prepared meal, I obviously believe esthetic good things enrich us all. I also believe everyone’s education should include a well-guided tour of the literary, visual, and musical arts. But only a relative handful of citizens can pay the rent by knowing the difference between a sonata and a fugue, or by sharing their opinion of Moby Dick—or, for that matter, by knowing how to play a fugue or write a novel or choose the best fresh ingredients and bring them to table well enough to rent a building and start printing menus. The world doesn’t work that way. The overwhelming majority of us always have needed to make a living in the mundane realm of commerce and industry (or, via subsidy by the private sector, government). Education’s role in that familiar dynamic must be fundamentally recast, however, for the 21^st Century.

At a glance, educating young people for the 20^th Century workforce didn’t look much different than what education must accomplish in the new age. For example, all young people preparing for today’s job market know the lately fashionable acronym “STEM,” meaning “science, technology, engineering, and math.” Pointing toward a STEM career means, according to a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics essay, preparing for a job that will . . .

“ . . . play an instrumental role in expanding scientific frontiers, developing new products, and generating technological progress. These occupations are concentrated in cutting-edge industries such as computer systems design, scientific research and development, and high-tech manufacturing industries. Although educational requirements vary, most of these occupations require a bachelor’s degree or higher. Accordingly, STEM occupations are high-paying occupations, with most having mean wages significantly above the U.S. average.

Dr. John Psarouthakis is the Executive Editor of www.BusinessThinker.com Internet Magazine, Distinguished Visiting Fellow / Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, Publisher of www.GavdosPress.com and Founder and former CEO, JPIndustries, Inc., a Fortune 500 industrial corporation

We have been in the midst of a fundamental and historic shift of how the economies around the world develop. With the collapse of communism, the centralized and state control model of the economy has also collapsed. Other socialist State models, i.e., Sweden, UK before Margaret Thatcher, have also collapsed. What we have now, however, imperfect it maybe, is the model of the “Free Market.”

This shift is occurring in parallel with two other sociopolitical expressions:

1. Smaller government, though the last four this has been demonstrated to be a very difficult, politically, objective to achieve.
2. The need, indeed the demand by our society to provide assistance, protection, and distribution of economic benefits a “fair” way

What we are witnessing is a major shift on “how we can fulfill our expectations of a humanistic society” while we keep the state’s interventions and control power at minimum.

Before I deal with this question (shift) let me digress in to a bit of history . . . . After all, how can a Greek like myself discuss such matters without referring to HISTORY .

These great shifts of power are not without precedent. What is new is the rapidity of change that we are witnessing. When such major shifts of power occurred in the past, they had a great impact in the ways the society functioned. Examples: