Corporate Communication Practices and Trends in Hong Kong 2011 ...

Report on Corporate Communication Practices
and Trends in Hong Kong 2011-12 1
by
Daniel W.C. So, Cindy Ngai, Doreen Wu & Patrick Ng 2
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)

CONTENTS
PREFACE
Preface
Findings and Interpretation
(Part A: multiple-choice items)
Findings and Interpretation
(Part B: open-ended items)
Conclusions and Discussion
References
End Notes
Appendix
p. 1
p. 2 - 5
p. 6 - 7
p. 8
p. 9
p. 9
p. 10 - 13
In connection with benchmark studies on the same topic conducted about the
Chinese mainland (Feng & Goodman, 2010), the European Union (Frandsen, &
Johansen, 2008), South Africa (de Wet et al., 2008) and the United States (e.g.
Goodman, 2011), this study, conducted under the auspices of the Hong Kong
Chapter of CCI (CCI-HKC), attempts to initiate a similar longitudinal study in HK
(footnote 1 refers) to inform respectively local and overseas practitioners of the
local status and trends of CC. Together with the aforementioned studies, it is
hoped that the findings of this study will help contribute to the construction of
a global mosaic about CC.
Specifically, this study attempts to
1. Establish respectively a profile of the corporate respondents and
their CC department
2. Identify the major clients and major roles and functions of their
CC department
3. Identify the CC functions that are usually contracted out to
external vendors
4. Find out respectively the respondents’ major concerns and
5. Their preferred attributes of graduating students who wish to
adopt CC as their career
The study, which takes the combined form of a questionnaire-survey and interviews
conducted on a selective basis, commenced in June 2011. The target
population is corporations of medium-size or above that are operating in HK.
The design of the questionnaire (see Appendix 1) and its instrumentation were
conducted between June and September. The sampling list comprises respectively
30 of the 48 corporate constituents of the Hang Seng Index (HSI) and 55
corporate contacts on CCI-HKC’s mailing list. When the on-line version of the
questionnaire was operational in September 2011, these 85 sampled corporations
were contacted via a combination of emails, letters, phone-calls and personal
approaches. By the end of March 2012, 55 of the sampled corporations
responded to the survey either on-line or via the phone, or by mail. 51 of the
corporate participants can be identified. The response rate is 64.7%.
1

FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION (PART A: MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEMS)
As shown in Table 1, the majority of the corporate participants are based in Hong
Kong (70.9%); 74.5% are medium-sized and large corporations by local-staff size and
by the local norms (Footnote 3 refers). By their global staff size, all of them may be
regarded as large corporations; 29.1% are very large, multinational corporations.
TABLE 1: The Profile of the Corporate Participants
(A) Attributes % (N=55) 8
HSI corporate constituents 23.6
Non-HSI constituents 9 76.4
Headquartered in
• HK: 70.9
• The West (Europe + North America) 20
• Others: 9.1
(B) Number of Full-Time Personnel:
Hong Kong
Globally (including HK)
Under 100 25.5% Under 200 14.5%
101-1000 32.7% 201-3000 18.2%
1001-3000 16.4% 3001-5000 16.4%
3001-5000 9.1% 5001-10000 12.7%
5001+ 14.5% 10001+ 29.1%
NA 1.8% NA 9.1%
As shown in Table 2A, the survey findings show that the respondents are mostly female
(87.3%), relatively young in age and have relatively high educational qualifications.
For example, according to census statistics, in the year 2000 among those who
are born in HK, only 13.3% held a university degree. Whereas not only do close to 93%
of the respondents have such a degree, another 49% have postgraduate qualifications.
The findings related to departmental title (footnote 3 refers) and department-head
title CC’s para-professional status in HK. For example, the title of the department
head varies almost from corporate participant to participant. It calls for a world-wide
comparative study about this phenomena and efforts for engendering a measure of
standardization in naming these and other related titles as an indication of professionalism
is the presence of a widely accepted nomenclature. However, it is encouraging
to note that, as indicated in Table 2D, close to half of the respondents indicates
that the department head reports directly to the CEO. Apparently it reflects corporate
senior management’s growing awareness of the strategic significance of CC functions
nowadays.
The findings related to budgets are tentative. As indicated in Table 2C, probably because
of its sensitive nature, only 60% of the respondents provide an estimate of the
budget size of their CC department. Based on these returns, one may surmise that CC
departments are relatively small vis-à-vis the size of the corporations concerned. For
example, only 5.5% have a budget over HK$20M; the budget covers other expenses
in addition to staff cost. Given the median salary of HR managers in HK is around
HK$0.44M, and that of executive trainees around HK$0.14M, it is evident that the size
of CC departments of the respondents is small. On the brighter side, over 30% of the
respondents report an increase in staff size in the previous financial year.
TABLE 2: The Profile of the Respondents & their CC Department
(A) Personal & other attributes of the Respondents %
Age: Below 40 70.9
40-54 23.6
55 or above 5.5
Gender: Female 87.3
Male 12.7
Education: Post-Secondary 7.3
Bachelor 43.6
Master 47.3
Doctoral 1.8
(B) Title of the Head of their Department
• Extensive divergence
(C) Budget & Personnel Information of their Department
Budget size Budget Decrease/Increase Personnel Changes
Under 1m 23.6% - > 10% 1.8% ->one 3.6%
1-5m 16.4% Same 34.5% - one 1.8%
5-10m 10.9% + 5-10% 18.2% Same 36.4%
10-20m 3.6% + > 10% 5.5% + one 9.1%
Over 20m 5.5% NA 40.0% +>one 21.8%
NA 40.0% - > 10% 1.8% NA 27.3%
(D) The Head of Department reports to
• The Chief Executive Officer 47.3%
• The Chief Finance Officer 3.6%
• The Chief Operating Officer 9.1%
• The Chief Information Officer 0%
• None of the above 40%
As for the major clients/stakeholders and responsibilities of the Department, the survey
findings show that on the one hand it appears that there is a good measure of
overlap between it and other departments such as customer service and marketing, on
2 3

the other hand an identifiable cluster of major clients and functions is in evidence, viz.
in terms of major clients, they are media practitioners, customers and those affected
by company businesses and/or projects, the CEO, colleagues of the marketing department,
investors, members of social activist groups, and government officers. In terms
of major functions performed, they include routine PR functions, corporate branding
& image, crisis communication & management, customer service & communication,
marketing, corporate social responsibility, advertising, goods & services branding, and
corporate philanthropy.
As for major business tasks performed, these include mounting corporate events &
exhibitions, organizing press conferences/enquiries/releases, managing the corporate
website, producing the annual/quarterly report, speech writing, editing the corporate
newsletter for staff and holding staff social events. From the findings about these three
aspects of the Department’s responsibilities, one may surmise media and customer
relations, routine PR functions & branding, event & website management, as well as
corporate written communication largely define the niche of CC in HK.
TABLE 3: Major Clients, Functions & Role of the CC Department
% (excluding options picked by

FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION (PART B: OPEN-ENDED ITEMS) 11
When asked what they see as the major corporate communication challenges for
their corporation or industry in the coming year, 39 respondents provide their input
and the following three topics receive the highest number of returns: budgetary and
resource stringency associated with the conditions of the global economy (n=13),
corporate branding (n=12) and (social) media relations (n=8).
Although the survey was done three years after the financial tsunami, and that since
2010 the GDP of Hong Kong has recovered from its fall in 2009 and grown at 6.8%
in 2010 and 7.2% in the first quarter of 2011, concerns about the local and global
economies, and the associated constraints imposed by budgetary stringency are registered
by the largest number of respondents. Six of these 13 respondents particularly
mention the challenge posed by the volatile, weakening economic environment
in Europe, and about how it might affect the economies of Asia in general, and HK
in particular. Four of these 13 respondents also refer to growing competition in the
business environment of Hong Kong as one of their challenges.
It appears the financial tsunami of 2008 and the growing competition in the Chinese
Mainland market have accentuated the strategic significance of branding as references
to either or both of these two topics are in evidence in the inputs of those12
respondents who identify branding as a major challenge. In the case of the financial
tsunami, there are direct and indirect references to a need for the restoration of corporate
reputation, and/or customer confidence. In case of the Chinese Mainland market,
there are direct and indirect references to a need for development of an identity
for the corporation and its products &/or services.
The speedy pace of the development of social media and its management is found
in the input of eight or the third largest number of respondents for this item. Among
their inputs, references are made particularly to the real-time nature of web communications
and the immense extent of their outreach, especially among young people,
and the need to formulate a corporate response to “web incidents” at very short notice.
It appears social-media monitoring and management are perceived as a present
and clear challenge; at the same time the social media and its associated social network
are also perceived by several respondents as potentially a very powerful tool for
CC, e.g. the provision of web-based social networking services, if effective strategies
could be developed by the industry to exploit the opportunities presented by their
development.
The input of three respondents identify crisis management and/or social-activism
management as a major challenge of the industry. Whereas the following are perceived
to be an industry challenge by at least one respondent:
• To win greater support of the senior corporate management and to change
its mindset about CC by demonstrating to them the strategic value of CC
• Plugging the leakage of classified information vis-à-vis corporate
transparency
• Corporate restructuring at the expense of CC
• Increasing demand for social responsible projects
• Hiring and retaining talented members of staff
• Political-regime change
• Political lobbying
• Budget-deficit avoidance vis-à-vis meeting the different and competing
interests of different stakeholders
When asked to identify one to three important traits for CC practitioners, 42 respondents
provide their input. Predictably good communication skills stand out in terms of
the number of returns received (n=40). Trailing behind are emotional maturity (n=15),
intellectual skills (n=10), socio-political awareness (n=8). Another 14 traits including
IT & Media skills that lie outside the aforementioned categories receive three or less
returns.
When asked to comment on the quality of local graduates with reference to the previous
question, 38 respondents provide their input. Around 48 comments are made. A
few comments are relatively vacuous and non-specific. Positive comments are few:
three compliment the communication skills of female graduates; another three the
graduates’ intellectual skills. Interestingly, only one comment compliments the graduates’
IT & Media skills. Whereas about 36 comments are rather critical: 15 are about
the graduates’ lack of communication skills, particularly Chinese and English written
skills (n=9); 11 are about the graduates’ lack of emotional maturity; six are about the
graduates’ lack of grounding for their professional career. Only two are respectively
about the graduates’ lack of intellectual skills and socio-political awareness.
When asked what recommendations they wish to give to the local universities with
reference to the previous two questions, 36 respondents respond; about 64 suggestions
are registered. Understandably, most suggestions relate to the need for
enhanced training of communication skills and providing the graduating students
grounding for the profession: specifically 22 suggestions are about the former, and
21 are about the latter. In case of the latter, 11 of the 21 suggestions are about the significance
and value of mentorship programmes, practicum and internship. Another
three highlight the significance and value of involving practitioners in the educational
processes. The rest of the suggestions relate to emotional-maturity development
(n=8), Intellectual-skill development (n=4), curricular design & assessment (n=4) and
development of socio-political awareness (n=2).
6 7

CONCLUSIONS AND DISCUSSION
REFERENCES
The present study, in spite of its limited scale, has yield useful information concerning
the isses that it sets out to inform. Its findings confirm that CC practitioners in HK are
mostly well educated women. The department with which they affiliate is relatively
small in both size and budget. There are no clear established titles for the department
and its head, albeit close to half of the respondents indicate that the department
head reports directly to the CEO.
Despite its para-professional status, the findings indicate that the clusters of major
clients served and functions performed by CC departments in HK are readily identifiable.
Their major clients are media practitioners, customers and those affected by
company businesses and/or projects, the CEO, colleagues of the marketing department,
investors, members of social activist groups, and government officers. Their
major functions are media and customer relations, routine PR functions, branding,
event & website management, as well as corporate written communication. These
functions are also the usual ones that many of the corporate participants solicit the
service of external agents and/or vendors.
Our respondents also indicate their personal and/or the corporation’s major concerns
which are mainly related to the global economy, the demand for corporate branding
and (social) media relations. They further opine that competent CC practitioners
should have good communication skills, emotional maturity, intellectual skills, and
socio-political awareness. This finding further affirms that CC is essentially a peopleoriented
industry. In this connection, the respondents also
indicate their concerns that most graduating students have neither the necessary
traits nor the necessary grounding for their profession; many of them readily provide
input to the survey concerning what the local universities could do for the profession
in terms of enhancing the training of communication skills, providing grounding
for the profession especially via mentorship programmes, practicum, and involving
practitioners in the educational processes.
Limitations of the Study
According to the HK Vocational Training Council, there are over 22,000 people employed
in the advertising and CC industry in 2010. The survey sample of this study
is therefore hardly representative of the CC population of HK. Also, the corporate
participants are mostly large corporations. Therefore the findings might have a degree
of representation of CC departments of large, multi-national corporations only.
The interpretation of the findings must take these constraints into account accordingly.
In the next survey to be commenced in October of 2012, because of logistic
and resource limitations, in the next survey, large corporations will remain our target
population. Our plan is to first improve our sample’s representativeness of the large
corporations. If feasible, we will expand our coverage of medium-sized corporations.
Feng, Jieyun & Michael B. Goodman. “Corporate Communication Practices and Trends: A China Study
2010.” Proceedings of the International Conference on Corporate Communication, June 7-10, pp. 169 – 190
de Wet, Gideon, Ilse Niemann-Struweg & Corne Meintjes. “Corporate Communication Practices and
Trends: South Africa Benchmark Study 2007/8.” Paper presented at the International Conference on Corporate
Communication, June 6 – 9, 2008, Wroxton, England
Goodman, Michael B. “CCI Corporate Communication Practices and Trends: US Study 2011.” Proceedings
of the International Conference on Corporate Communication, June 7-10, pp. 105 – 107
Frandsen, Finn & Winni Johansen. ”Corporate Communication Practices and Trends: A European Union
Benchmark Study 2008.” http://www.corporatecomm.org/pdf/EUPreliminary13_3_2008%20final.ppt.
END NOTES
1. This study, to be replicated in 2013 and 2014, was made possible by fundings provided by the Department of Chinese
& Bilingual Studies (CBS), PolyU.
2. The investigators wish to acknowledge hereby the valuable assistance provided by Mr. David Hall (former
Visiting Fellow at CBS), and their project associates: Chermaine Yam, Boris Lui and Tony Wei.
3. The survey findings indicate that the unit being studied carries a variety of titles. For our convenience, we use the label
‘CC department’ to cover them all in this report.
4. By HK norms (e.g. according to the benchmark provided by the Support & Consultation Centre for SMEs of the Trade &
Industrial Department), medium-sized corporations are those having 100 or more employees on their full-time payroll.
5. As a replication of the CCI studies, the design of the questionnaire of the HK study is done with close reference to that
used in the US study of 2011. However, in order to take into account of the HK situation, and the fact that it is the HKC’s first
study, some adaptations have been made. For example, the number of items is reduced from 27 to 24, with 19 of these
items overlapping in varying degrees with their counterparts in the US study. The remaining five items are “new” and are
included for a CC-related academic program at our university.
6. The Hang Seng Index, according to Wikipedia, is “a freefloat-adjusted market capitalization-weighted stock market
index in Hong Kong. It is used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market
and is the main indicator of the overall market performance in Hong Kong. These 48 constituent companies represent
about 60% of capitalization of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.”
7. Because an “agreement of identity disclosure” was not included in the survey, we are unable to provide a list of the
corporate participants here. This agreement will be included in the next survey.
8. The percentages are based on an N size of 55 unless stated otherwise.
9. This figure includes the four corporate participants that responded on-line and did not provide identity information;
there is a chance there are HSI corporate constituents among these four participants.
10. By respondent is meant the person who fills out the questionnaire. Most of them provide us with contact information
for follow-up as well.
11. The number of inputs to these four items varies from 42 to 36.
12. All inputs related to language (spoken &/or written) skills, story-telling skills, interpersonal skills, persuasive skills and
personal-grooming skills are grouped under this trait.
13. All inputs related to characteristics such as a pleasant &/or cheerful &/or sociable &/or outgoing disposition, openmindedness,
forward-looking, willing to listen, willing to learn and good time-management are grouped under this trait.
14. All inputs related to characteristics such as detail-minded, strategic-thinking skills, flexible cognitive skills, adaptable
to changes and new challenges, creativity and good IQ are grouped under this trait.
15. All inputs related to characteristics such as sensitive/alert news and socio-economic change and development are
grouped under this trait.
16. Typical examples include pretty/quite good, reasonably well…
8 9

APPENDIX
Corporate Communication International
(The Hong Kong Chapter)
Corporate Communication (CC) Practices & Trends Study 2011
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Please provide the following information about your company (Parts A & B), and yourself (Part C).
Part A
Please click the box next to the appropriate choice(s). Please click all that apply.
1. Your company is headquartered in:
o Hong Kong
o Chinese Mainland
o Japan
o Taiwan
o Asia (other polities)
o Europe
o North America
o None of the Above
2. Your company’s main business area(s) is/are:
o Finance
o Hospitality & Tourism (Including Catering)
o Manufacturing
o Public Utilities
o Real Estate
o Retail
o Trading
o Others
o Not Applicable
3. The number of full-time personnel employed by your company in Hong Kong is:
o Under 100
o 101-1,000
o 1,001-3,000
o 3,001-5,000
o 5,001 & above
o Not Applicable
4. The Number of full-time personnel employed by your company globally (including Hong Kong)
is:
o Under 200
o 201-3,000
o 3,001-5,000
o 5,001-10,000
o 10,001 & above
o Not Applicable
5. Identify in the following the group(s) of people to whom your CC personnel mostly provide service:
o Customers
o Colleagues in the Marketing Department
o Directors of the Board
o Government Officers
o Investors
o Journalists and/or News Reporters
o People Affected by Businesses/Projects of your Company
o Social Activists
o The CEO
o Not Applicable
6. Identify among the following business functions those that your CC personnel are responsible
for:
o Corporate Branding & Image
o Corporate Philanthropy
o Corporate Social Responsibility
o Crisis Communication & Management
o Influence Public Opinion for Company’s Policies
o Government Relations
o Investor Relations
o Lobbying
o Press Relations
o None of the Above
7. Identify in the following business functions those that your CC personnel are also responsible for:
o Advertising
o Customer Service & Communication
o Goods & Services Branding
o Marketing
o Staff Development
o None of the Above
8. Identify in the following business tasks those that your CC personnel are involved by a significant
measure:
o Annual &/or Quarterly Report Writing
o Corporate Events &/or Exhibitions
o Corporate Newsletter for Staff
o Managing the Corporate Web-page of your Company
o Press Conferences &/or Enquiries &/or Releases
o Speech Writing
o Staff Social Events (e.g. the Annual Dinner Party)
o None of the Above
9. Identify in the following business functions those that you use agencies or vendors (in a substantial
way) to accomplish:
o Advertising
o Corporate Branding & Image
o Corporate Philanthropy
o Corporate Social Responsibility
o Crisis Communication & Management
10 11

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Customer Service & Communication
Goods & Services Branding
Government Relations
Influence Public Opinion for Company’s Policies
Investor Relations
Lobbying
Marketing
Press Relations
Staff Development
None of the Above
15. Compared to previous fiscal year, the budget for CC at your company this fiscal year has
o increased by over 10%
o increased by 5% - 10%
o no significant changes
o decreased by 5% - 10%
o decreased by over 10%
o Not Applicable
Part B
Please give your views on the following questions.
10. Identify in the following business tasks those that you use agencies or vendors (in a substantial
way) to accomplish:
o Annual &/or Quarterly Report
o Corporate Events &/or Exhibitions
o Corporate Newsletter for Staff
o Managing the Corporate Web-page of your Company
o Press Conferences &/or Enquiries &/or Releases
o Speech Writing
o Staff Social Events (e.g. the Annual Dinner Party)
o None of the Above
11. In your company, the top person responsible for corporate communication has the following
title:
12. In your company, the top person responsible for CC functions reports to:
o The Chief Executive Officer
o The Chief Finance Officer
o The Chief Operating Officer
o The Chief Information Officer
o Others
13. In your company, the budget for CC functions and activities (excluding staff & fixed overhead
office cost) is approximately (HKD):
o Under $1,000,000 (1m)
o $1,000,001-5,000,000(5m)
o $5,000,001-10,000,000(10m)
o $10,000,001-20,000,000 (20m)
o Over $20,000,000 (20m)
o Not Applicable
14. Compared to previous fiscal year, the number of CC personnel at your company this fiscal year
has
o increased by more than 1 person
o increased by 1 person
o remained the same
o decreased by 1 person
o decreased by more than 1 person
o Not Applicable
16. What do you see as the major corporate communication challenges for your company / industry
in the coming year?
17. Please identify one to three important traits for corporate communication personnel.
18. With reference to your input in the last question, please comment on the qualities
of graduates of universities in Hong Kong.
19. In connection with the last 2 questions, do you have any recommendations for the universities?
Part C
Please click the box next to the appropriate choice(s) or give appropriate answer(s).
20. Your gender:
o Female
o Male
21. Your age:
o Below 40
o 40-54
o 55 or above
22. Your education:
o Post-secondary
o Bachelor
o Master
o Doctoral
o None of the Above
23. Your professional qualifications:
24. It would be helpful if you could give us the name of your company here:
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION IN THIS STUDY
12 13

The Hong Kong Chapter of Corporate Communication International (CCI-HKC)
Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies (CBS)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Hung Hom, Kowloon