INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC-RELATIONS - CRITIQUE AND REFORMULATION

Public relations is growing rapidly but unevenly with the U.S. and EC showing the greatest development Multinational corporations based in the U.S. and EC often engage in public relations practices in less developed countries, but often do so based on ethnocentric assumptions about public relations that limit both effectiveness and understanding of other cultures. Results of a literature search conducted as part of a multi-year project intended to compare approaches to public relations from around the world are reported in this article. One conclusion reached is that international public relations is also intercultural public relations so practitioners and scholars naturally approach it from their own ethnocentric models unless a perspective not limited to business practices is specifically adopted. Dr. Botan is an associate professor and area head for public relations in the Department of Communication at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.