「社會企業責任」是一個自相矛盾的名詞 ，它擁有無數有可能的意思 -「企業」暗喻賺取利潤，「社會」暗喻很多不同人士關注的不同利益，「責任」暗喻必要及非自願的行動。它是一個非固定的概念。跟據跨媒體議題設定理論，這研究利用內容分析,探討香港兩間本地電力公司如何利用有關社會企業責任的新聞稿影響報章的報道。結果顯示社會企業責任主題的新聞稿並沒有得到報章的重視，報章普遍認為某些對與公眾相關的主題的重要性較高。但關於社會企業責任的描述，例如發生的地區及合作的機構，就與報章的報道有相關性。而與社會企業責任活動有關的持份者及新聞稿中的引述數目與報章報道的次數是沒有關連的。這研究將原本的議題設定理論作出更改，以社會企業責任不同的「主題」代替「議題」為第一層議題設定作出分析；而第二層的分析就以被引用的源頭及引用內容的取態作出分析。。在報章的報道中，不同報章對各個主題的重視程度不一，所以它們報道的取態都有所不同。由於社會企業責任相關的資訊都較為正面，新聞稿是結構性的策略，目的是改變傳媒的行為，希望得到重視。這研究顯示出在新聞選擇、取態及擬訂的過程中，某些因素能取決社會企業責任相關資訊的新聞價值。 / “Corporate social responsibility“ is an oxymoron with multiple possible meanings - “corporate“ implies profit making, “social“ implies a multiplicity of interests and “responsibility implies required, thus involuntary actions. It is a fluid concept. Based on the intermedia agenda setting theory, this study employed content analysis to investigate how the CSR-related news releases published by the two local electricity providers in Hong Kong have contributed to press coverage. The results reflect that the salience of CSR theme is not transferred - the press assigns different degrees of emphasis to themes of higher relevance to the general public. The descriptions using which the CSR information is presented, such as location and the CSR partner with whom the CSR activities were carried out, are found to be significant to the amount of press coverage. However, the stakeholder groups affected by the CSR activities and the number of sources quoted in the news releases are not related to the amount of press coverage. The original agenda setting effects model was revised; apart from measuring CSR theme as the 1st level, the 2nd level was changed - source attributions and the tone of those attributions were studied. In the media agenda, the newspapers differ in their degrees of emphasis assigned to each CSR theme, thus, also vary in the tone of their coverage. Given the distinctive nature of CSR information being mostly positive, news releases are structured efforts intended to push for a behavioral change in the media. This study shows the process involves contingent factors that highlight the measurements of the newsworthy elements of CSR themes during the process of news selection, framing and elaboration. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Tam, Lai Shan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-148). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.5-11 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Theoretical Framework on Agenda Setting --- p.12-31 / The Agenda Setting Theory / Intermedia Agenda Setting Effects / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Theoretical Review on CSR Communication --- p.32-57 / What is Corporate Social Responsibility? / The Corporate Agenda / The Public Agenda / The Media Agenda / Research Questions / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Methodology --- p.58-69 / Methods / Sampling / Data Collection / Variables / Statistical Analysis / Revised Framework / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Results --- p.70-94 / The Corporate Agenda / The Media Agenda / Relationships between the Corporate and Media Agendas / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion & Discussion --- p.95-135 / Measuring “Issue“ in CSR Communication / Defining the “Attributes of Issues“ / Defining the “Transfer of Attributes“ / Monitoring Media Coverage / Measuring Consistency within CSR Communication / Contributions to the Intermedia Agenda Setting Research / CSR Communication & Intermedia Agenda Setting / The Media Ecology / Nature of Business & Application to Other Industries / The Hong Kong Context / Limitations / Chapter Chapter 7 --- References --- p.136-148

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand and analyse the facilitative role of specialist and niche business-to-business (trade) media in the emergence of communities of practice, part of the knowledge management discipline, using models from systems theory to assist in the qualitative research process. First, it was considered how to define communities of practice and business-tobusiness (B2B) media. How communities of practice (CoPs) emerge and why they are an important part of a management toolkit going forward in business, is described. Sharing knowledge emerged as the key to the creation of CoPs as well as being the core currency that business-to-business media trade in to service their stakeholders. How learning takes place through shared experience, narratives and storytelling emerged as essential to how knowledge is created. Soft systems methodology as the analytical lens through which to measure the data set was also investigated once it was decided to use a qualitative inductive approach to collating and analysing the data. A semi-structured interview schedule was employed and 17 research subjects interviewed. The respondents to this study were drawn from leading media houses in South Africa, including award-winning B2B publications, bar one from a US online think tank on new media. The impact of new media technologies/internet on communication and the distribution of information and engagement of communities in the CoP and B2B space, was a strong theme throughout this dissertation. The findings revealed that while communities of practice is not a widely used term in the networks that B2B media utilise to embed themselves in industries, it is true that some of the networks and associations they are close to and derive meaning from, do in fact contain characteristics common to CoPs and could be termed CoPs, even when formally unrecognised as such. What was a stronger theme emerging from the data was that B2B media could in fact benefit more from facilitating CoPs to aid information gathering and improve credibility within the industry sectors they serve. B2B media in South Africa, in particular, were regarded as immature and sometimes lacking in ethics and innovation, according to respondents. To improve their sustainability, several characteristics emerged from the research that B2B media should focus on as a 'model for sustainability': 1) Special interest/niche communities - to assist in building knowledge assets; 2) Sustainability - through a multi-media platform business model; 3) Values - for application to serve their industry sectors; 4) Educational role through the facilitation of networks such as CoPs; and, 5) Communication channels - utilised for deeper engagement with their communities in emergent new media models where their own stakeholders were influencing content. The value inherent in this dissertation lies in the original research undertaken into the B2B media industry in South Africa which has not been formally studied, particularly not from a knowledge management perspective. This study could also be of interest to knowledge management practitioners who are interested in the role specialist media can play in aiding CoPs with information for knowledge creation. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2009.

The managers in this research report that strategic stories are scarcely used in large international companies, which are described as contexts of logical argumentation, where credibility from functional expertise and logical persuasion is paramount. Managers describe a need to wear ???corporate armour.??? Multicultural aspects engender many communications challenges. / Many risks are thus seen in strategic storytelling. Storytelling is viewed as easy to do badly, and very hard to get right, requiring time and effort that offer only marginal returns. The risks, which appear to outweigh the potential gains, have to do with performance risks: a loss of personal and professional credibility, a failure to tell a story that is relevant to the audience, organizational resistance to storytelling and the fear of anti- or counter-stories. / Nevertheless, strategic storytelling is perceived to be a potentially valuable communication tool for managers in large international companies, especially as a complement to other, more widely used communication vehicles. The emotional power of storytelling is seen to be its highest value: in certain situations, it can help managers achieve their communication goals more effectively than conventional communication modes. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

As a result of globalisation there are many international business activities that span the world. Organisations realise that a good global project management approach can run highly complex projects with quick response and flexibility. / Research and studies into successful international projects have found the top four challenges for international project managers are communication skills, culture, technology and project management leadership. Communication skills has ranked the highest of the all challenges and critical to the success of international projects. / Therefore international project managers need the necessary skill to have 'soft' management skills to break down the cultural barriers and coordinate projects simultaneously across multiple countries. In these circumstances relying on 'hard' management skills alone is insufficient; therefore communication is a vital skill for international project managers. / This thesis used interviews as the primary research tool to collect data from project managers, who have participated in projects where either they need to be based overseas or have global teams based around the world. / Project managers are aware that communication breakdowns in international projects allude to differences in culture, leadership styles, technology and close mindedness; however, the lesson learnt only occurs after the incident has happened. The awareness of these problems has motivated project managers into increasing their skills by enrolling in courses or finding confidantes to gain more knowledge of local business cultures, laws and customs. / It is recommended that international project managers remember that they communicate with people that are different to them and by keeping an open mind, respecting cultures and customs and taking the time to embrace a culture will reap rewards. Communication also depends on the amount of feedback that one can receive. Face-to-face provides the best feedback, but being aware of the limitations of technology for communication will also nurture good communication skills for successful international projects. / Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2005.

The managers in this research report that strategic stories are scarcely used in large international companies, which are described as contexts of logical argumentation, where credibility from functional expertise and logical persuasion is paramount. Managers describe a need to wear ???corporate armour.??? Multicultural aspects engender many communications challenges. / Many risks are thus seen in strategic storytelling. Storytelling is viewed as easy to do badly, and very hard to get right, requiring time and effort that offer only marginal returns. The risks, which appear to outweigh the potential gains, have to do with performance risks: a loss of personal and professional credibility, a failure to tell a story that is relevant to the audience, organizational resistance to storytelling and the fear of anti- or counter-stories. / Nevertheless, strategic storytelling is perceived to be a potentially valuable communication tool for managers in large international companies, especially as a complement to other, more widely used communication vehicles. The emotional power of storytelling is seen to be its highest value: in certain situations, it can help managers achieve their communication goals more effectively than conventional communication modes. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

The managers in this research report that strategic stories are scarcely used in large international companies, which are described as contexts of logical argumentation, where credibility from functional expertise and logical persuasion is paramount. Managers describe a need to wear ???corporate armour.??? Multicultural aspects engender many communications challenges. / Many risks are thus seen in strategic storytelling. Storytelling is viewed as easy to do badly, and very hard to get right, requiring time and effort that offer only marginal returns. The risks, which appear to outweigh the potential gains, have to do with performance risks: a loss of personal and professional credibility, a failure to tell a story that is relevant to the audience, organizational resistance to storytelling and the fear of anti- or counter-stories. / Nevertheless, strategic storytelling is perceived to be a potentially valuable communication tool for managers in large international companies, especially as a complement to other, more widely used communication vehicles. The emotional power of storytelling is seen to be its highest value: in certain situations, it can help managers achieve their communication goals more effectively than conventional communication modes. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Wollongong, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 202-213.

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, June, 2001. / Title from PDF t.p.

Thesis (MA--Applied Language Studies) -- Auckland University of Technology, 2005. / Also held in print (95 leaves, 30 cm.) in Wellesley Theses Collection (T 658.45 CUL)

Thesis (M.A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2008. / Vita. Appendices: leaves 81-95. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-80). Also available on microfilm.