Corporate Communication in European Financial Institutions

In 1988 the Rotterdam School of Management and Fairfield University conducted jointly a survey in twenty-one banks and twenty insurance companies in Europe and the U.S. The purpose was to examine corporate communication practices in comparable service industries on two continents. Central questions were: How is corporate communication organized; how are resources allocated; what strategies are used; what values are reflected in different communication activities such as advertising, public relations, communication relations, and employee communication; how are messages shaped for diverse audiences and customer groups; and how much importance is attached to corporate identification symbols. This article reports on the European results of that survey. The complete report is published in van Riel & Nedela, Profiles in Corporate Communication in Financial Institutions, Eburon, Delft, 1989. Dr. van Riel is director of the Corporate Communication Centre, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.