CorpComms Magazine

Depending on who you speak to (and what sort of mood they are in),this year will see the 'recovery' rumble slowly on.

We can expect a heavy focus on change communication as companies continue to adapt their business models and structures in order to protect margins or to simply survive. On the flipside, the more bold (and blessed with cash or funding) will seek to build their firm through acquisitions and through investing in their brand. Either way, in-house communicators face an exciting, if challenging year ahead. Nothing new, then!

For me, however, the biggest challenge of the year (and the biggest unknown) will come from an area we all have a say in, yet have little chance to individually influence - politics.

I was fortunate to recently attend a round-table organised by global PR agency Burson Marsteller on the subject of the post-recession EU landscape. The key takeaway from that session posed significant risks and challenges to global firms such as Aon, and it is this:

Different governments are responding to the financial crisis in different ways, resulting in the emergence of a degree of fiscal nationalism. Perceptions of foreign owned companies will change and reactions/views magnified beyond what would be normal (i.e.: announcements of job cuts or, conversely, job creation). There is a very good risk in the current environment that global companies will fall into a confrontational relationship.

Internally, this fiscal nationalism may create stresses between foreign-owned companies and their local management, particularly if the company is looking to further integrate or to impose global policies/culture.

Externally, companies should be seen to engage in public debate in a manner that is not viewed as either negative or obstructionist or, indeed, particularly partisan.

Navigating your way through this 'not-so-single' market will require a more delicate touch on the tiller than before. Here there be monsters indeed.

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