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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
Oftentimes, when talking about Public Relations’ research and practice no distinction is made between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) Public Relations. This paper has as its main purpose to understand how portuguese B2B small enterprises see the Public Relations function.
Along the way to establish and manage mutually beneficial relationships between the organization and its publics (Cutlip, Center e Broom, 1985), Public Relations practitioners must interpret deeply the uniqueness of the organization. This goes beyond to understand the industry or products/services, it is also relevant to gather to whom the organization is generating value within the supply chain.
The business-to-business (B2B) is here understood as “relating to the sale of a product for any use other than personal consumption. The buyer may be a manufacturer, a reseller, a government body, a non-profit-making institution or any organisation other than an ultimate consumer” (Cornelissen 2004: 184). Although the business-to-consumer (B2C) and the business-to-business (B2B) Public Relations can be seen as similar, in the scope of the latter, building trust and relationships is more important than building a strong reputation that influences the clients choices and this makes the difference when defining and implementing PR strategies. Some authors tend, and we agree, to consider the B to B communication as an important discipline in the communication landscape (Coulon and Eloy, 2018). The main issue might be seen as a criticism to those that tend to understand this kind of relationship as a relation between two enterprises, that is, two broad and easily generalised concepts. Nothing is further apart from the truth than these ideas. There isn’t much in common between those individuals (brands, enterprises, persons) that might be understood as the second “B”. Maybe that the only general idea is that we are dealing with a very implicated and specialised “public” that must be addressed more as an only individual than as a group. Interpersonal relationships are fundamental even if we have as main instruments the digital communication or the big events (fairs/exhibitions). It might even be said that digital communication is here understood really as communication (to be able to share and to negotiate) and not merely as information (Wolton, 2018 and 2019).
The small and medium-sized enterprises, namely those that focus on B2B, are the engine of the economy in Portugal and aren’t usually well-known especially in the aspects that have to do with Public Relations function. In the framework of a pragmatist worldview, a convergent parallel mixed methods approach was developed. To recollect the data an online survey was sent to all the universe (76) and focus groups according to a script were conducted with the small and middle-sized enterprises CEO. Content analyses was the method chosen to organise and present the data. Main categories included aspects concerning the relevance of “public relations” definition, strategies, tactics and actions to the overall achievements of the organization both in its institutional, political and commercial endeavours.
The data collected during this research pointed to the unrecognition of the PR function among the organizations under analysis. It is true that for the PR researchers and practitioners, those that have been making the PR “camino”, it’s clear that it is not possible to speak about Public Relations without trust, commitment and negotiation (Grunig, 1992). However, in many organizations and namely in the portuguese SME enterprises, the PR function still has a long way to go, before being seen as a recognized and trusted function in the organization.
Description
Comunicação Aceite. Congresso adiado para 2021, devido a COVID-19
Keywords
Public Relations Corporate Comunication SME B2B IPL/2019/MECC_ESCS
Citation
Raposo, A., &Eiró-Gomes, M. (2021). A long way (camino) to go: Public Relations in portuguese B2B small enterprises. Comunicação a apresentar no EUPRERA Annual Congress 2020, University of Vienna, Pamplona, Espanha.