This document discusses the rise of Asian multinationals and the opportunities and challenges for public relations (PR) professionals working with these companies. Some key points: - Asia is diverse and cannot be viewed as a single region; many Chinese see China as representing all of Asia. - Asian economies like China and India are growing rapidly and will surpass Western economies in GDP in the coming decades. - Asian companies seeking global expansion will face stereotypes and need guidance on corporate communication best practices to build their brands internationally. - Social media provides opportunities for Asian companies to communicate directly but many are still catching up in their use of owned media platforms. - To succeed globally, Asian companies must get to be known first

1. Worldwide communication
for Asian multinationals:
PR’s next big thing?
The 2014 Bob Pickard ICCO Global Summit @ New Delhi

4. By modern new realities

7. There is no country called ‘Asia’
§ It is not a ‘country of regions’ like the US
§ It is also not really a region of countries
§ It’s more like a division of diverse regions
§ ‘Asia-Pacific’ as a reporting convenience for
multinationals, a waning regional umbrella concept
§ The way quite a few Chinese marketers seem to
think, China = Asia (similar to some US attitudes
about the Americas)

8. Consider the sheer scale of Asia’s rise
200
150
100
50
0
USA
China
Japan
Germany
UK
Brazil
India
Russia
Indonesia
2010 2015 2020 2030 2040 2050
(trillion current USD)
Source: Citibank Global Economic Review

9. Composition of nominal GDP
26%
8%
25%
29%
6%
6%
16%
8%
13%
7%
11%
45%
10%
8%
8%
6%
19%
49%
North America
Latin America
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
ME / Africa
Asia Pacific
2010
2030
2050
Source: Citibank Global Economic Review

15. Map of the global economy

16. Map of the global PR industry

17. Why Asia now?
“I skate to where the
puck is going to be,
not where it has been.”
- Wayne Gretzky

20. Is it as big as the factories in China ?

24. Is
it
as
fast
as
the
bullet
train?

26. It’s all about ‘face’

29. 42%
39%
37%
36%
53%
52%
47%
55%
83%
Trading
Technology Equipment
Capital Goods
Transportation
Consumer Durables
Banking
Constuction
Materials
Chemical
of the world’s top 2000
companies are now
headquartered in Asia
Source: Forbes Global 2000 list

30. 188 of the FORTUNE 500 list are
now companies from Asia-Pacific
§ PR clients of the future
§ Now 95 from China
§ Japan still has 57
§ India has 8

31. Key PR questions being asked
§ What is corporate communication?
§ Where does it ‘fit’ in the marketing mix?
§ How much money should we spend on it?
§ Do we communicate differently globally
compared to domestically?
§ Who should be in charge of it internally?
§ Who else is doing it and what can we follow or
imitate from their ‘case study’ experience?
§ How do we tangibly measure its effectiveness?

32. How many of China’s 95 are famous?

33. What about Huawei?

34. Famous from fears

35. What about Alibaba?

36. Famous from fortune

38. Getting started with going global
§ Many Asian companies are completely unknown outside of the region
and will find it challenging to compete in countries where ‘mind share’ will
help them achieve market share
§ In many cases, their corporate communications efforts have been so ‘local’
in orientation, they are simply not yet equipped with the tools they will
need to build an image – or the defences required to defend their
reputation
§ As these companies gain traction internationally, they can count on being
attacked by entrenched competitors, who in many cases may enjoy
commanding positions supported by the most advanced communications
capabilities available today
§ Meanwhile, in many Asian companies, corporate communication is an
underdeveloped and poorly understood low-status function
§ Even before then, Asia companies will be up against generic negative
stereotypes that are commonplace in many markets…

39. The ‘national’ challenges for
Chinese multinationals
§ Unfairly exploitative; interested in ‘extracting’ from host markets rather than
‘contributing’ benefits to communities
§ Commoditized ‘quantity’ players who compete on price rather than on quality
§ Hierarchical ‘machines’ with top-down command and communications
§ Nationalistic and conquering in mentality towards other countries
§ Unsophisticated when it comes to corporate social responsibility
§ Agents of PRC state power and potentially a security risk
§ Environmentally ‘toxic’ with pollution problems likely
§ Untrustworthy in keeping commercial agreements
§ Flagrant abusers of intellectual property
§ Culturally and ethnically homogenous
§ Harsh employers with HR problems
§ Lacking in transparency
§ Ethically suspect

40. The opportunities for
Asian companies
§ Those are all kinds of
characteristics that may be
unfairly assumed to be true of an
Asian company overseas before it
even gets started with its
communications
§ While such may seem to be
daunting obstacles, fundamentally
they represent tremendous
opportunities for Asian companies
who have the ‘power to surprise’
with positive behaviour that will
directly contradict these negative
preconceptions

41. Get famous for good stuff first
§ Indeed, it is the contrast between the negative
perceptions in theory about Asian companies and
their positive performance in reality that will
build the best image
§ The key test outside of Asia is making sure that
when people hear about a new Asian company
for the first time, they do and think things
favourable to the company in direct consequence
§ It is critically important that Asian companies
become well known internationally for the
positive things they stand for in the first place,
rather than become famous first through
negative mistakes…

42. …like what happened to Foxconn

44. Social media is all over Asia

48. 40%
80%
Global
Asia
Source: Global data from Burson-Marsteller Global Fortune 100 Social Media Checkup 2010
Asia data from Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Social Media Study 2010

49. Global
Source: Global data from Burson-Marsteller Global Fortune 100 Social Media Checkup 2011
Asia data from Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific Social Media Study 2011
84%
80%
40%
81%
Asia
2010 2011

50. Asian corporates playing catch-up
on owned media platforms

51. Asian apology PR prowess?

52. The digital opportunity for Asia
1800s
1900s
1980s
2000s
The rise of Britain
The rise of America
The rise of Japan
The rise of the ‘Four Tigers’
2010s The rise of China
2020s The rise of ?

53. Communicate ‘the golden circle’

54. How some Western companies
failed to communicate in Asia
§ Being seen to ‘take’ and not ‘give’
§ Engaging the wrong people to communicate
§ Lack of respect for local culture and language
§ Failure to listen to their stakeholder communities
§ Misreading the tastes and preferences of the market
§ Lack of effort to build relationships through earning trust
§ ‘Bulldozing’ of ‘global’ marketing from the home country
§ Double-standards in how they treat customers and employees
§ Thinking they can get away with putting boundaries around markets in a digital
world where ‘local’ can become ‘global’
Asian
companies
should
avoid
making
the
same
mistakes!

55. The 2014 Bob Pickard ICCO Global Summit @ New Delhi