This thesis aims to analyze the situation on the field of public business and social networks in the world and Czech Republic. It represents the types of software designed for implementation in a business environment and subsequent processing of the relevant data obtained from these networks. The second part focuses on the area of the Public Relations in the local business environment, identifying opportunities for evaluating the contribution for the company and discusses how PR links with emerging trends of everyday use of virtual social networks in companies and in corporate environments.

The thesis deals with the field of Public Relations with an emphasis on the issue of measurement of the effectiveness of PR activities. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the comparison of methods and instruments of measurement the effectiveness of PR activities in the Czech Republic and abroad. The practical part deals with the mapping of the current approach of the Czech firms implementing PR activities to the field of PR with an emphasis on measurement of the effectiveness of PR activities, together with providing advice to communications and PR agencies how they should further proceed in this topic in the relation of the Czech companies.

Master's thesis deals with area of corporate public relations during conflict or crisis situations. Theoretical and methodological part of the thesis deals with general public relations theory, determination of target groups and instruments of public relations. It also deals with ethics of public relations and corporate social responsibility. Characterization of crisis situations follows, with typology of crises and crisis public relations strategy. The practical part of the thesis describes crisis public relations of concrete corporation with proposals for solution. The last chapter, based on these proposals, summarizes general recommendations for corporate public relations in conflict and crisis situations.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / 2031-01-01

<p>In 2017, Shea Moisture, a company that created natural hair products targeted primarily toward Black women, released an online video in which ostensibly white and multiracial women discussed the struggles they encountered in accepting their natural hair. This video led to a public relations crisis for the organization as a result of its perceived exclusion of the organization’s core public--Black women with 4C hair, who arguably experience the highest levels of discrimination on account of their natural hair. This study explored the role of identity and identification in this crisis by conducting a qualitative content analysis of identification types in Black men and women’s online responses to the video. Emotions present in the online posts were used as rhetorical indicators of deidentification, ambivalent identification, identification or disidentification. The findings of this study, contextualized within the socio-political context of the crisis, suggest that responses to Shea Moisture’s video were informed by : its public’s identification with one another, their construal and co-construction of the organization’s identity as a Black business, and their identification with the organization on the basis of this identity. This study reinforces the role played by publics in co-constructing an organization’s identity and reveals the importance of sociopolitical realities and uneven power relations to publics’ identification. This study also introduces the concept of “protected identification” to describe a mode of identification that informed by a socio-political context wherein marginalization exists, comes with a unique set of expectations for the actions of an organization. </p>

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The study examines the effects of executives’ media connection on corporate policies. Extant literature in finance, economics and journalism provide inconclusive evidence in determining whether media works as watchdog to the financial market or whether media facilitates bias through manipulation of corporate news events. I introduce two competing hypotheses that may explain the research question. Information Efficiency Hypothesis predicts that media connected firms mitigate information asymmetry among its investors, enjoy better governance, and are less likely to manipulate information on corporate policy choices. Manipulation Hypothesis, in contrary, suggests that firms may strategically utilize media connections to alter the information flow that may paint a tainted picture of the firm’s prospects, thereby facilitating greater misvaluation and devising of opportunistic corporate finance policies. I test these hypotheses on a set of investment policies (mergers outcomes and innovative efficiency) and financing policies (seasoned equity offerings and share repurchases). In the first essay, I find that media connection increases merger announcement return, reduces takeover premium, increases the likelihood of deal completion, although post-merger long term performance exhibit inconclusive results. Also, media connection reduces innovative efficiency and change in innovative efficiency attributable to media connections is harmful for the firm in the long run. Overall, results are consistent with the manipulation hypothesis to some extent though further investigation is required before disregarding the information efficiency effect. In the second essay, results show that media connection increases the likelihood of an SEO event, reduces the announcement period CAR. However, analysis of post SEO long term operating and stock performance show mixed results. For repurchasing firms, media connection increases announcement returns, increases the likelihood of repurchase and the amount repurchased. Media connection also increases the likelihood that repurchase is preferred over dividends as a mode of payout. Post repurchase long term operating and stock performance, however, provide inconsistent results. In general, results are consistent with the manipulation hypothesis though information efficiency hypothesis could not be ruled out entirely. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / A. STATEMENT OF THE TOPIC UNDER STUDY. The Office of Public Information, part of the Secretariat of the United Nations, is charged with the vital task of assuring that timely, complete and unbiased information concerning the United Nations is disseminated to the entire world. The purpose of this study was to examine the functional capabilities, the policies, the personnel, the financing and the effectiveness of the OPI. Further, an attempt was made to isolate specific problem areas confronting the OPI and to seek to suggest solutions to these problems which might increase the impact of the United Nations information program. B. STUDY METHODS AND PROCEDURES. Although the literature concerning the United Nations itself is vast, materials dealing specifically with the operation of the OPI proved limited. Some textbook materials relating to principles of communications, public relations, mass audiences and so forth proved useful as did the official depository of United Nations documents maintained by the World Peace Foundation, Boston office. Largely, however, the incisive and meaningful data was gleaned from on-the-scene observation of the OPI at work, exhaustive interviews with OPI officials and a study of internal memos on regulations, procedures and policies. C. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS. The study disproved pre-conceived notions held by the researcher that the OPI would prove hamstrung by international politics, its own bureaucracy and by a personnel system hinging on political rather than professional considerations. The study revealed that the OPI is a completely modernized, energetic and highly professional information system. Content studies of OPI produced informational materials indicated that the materials are uniformly concise, informative non-propagaridistic and undoubtedly effective description of the news events, programs and policies of the United Nations and the specialized agencies. D. IMPLICATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH. Since the present study yielded the fact that the OPI has not, thus far (due in part to budgetary and personal limitations) developed a viable system of gauging or evaluating the effect or impact of their programs, it would appear that a study which could yield a design for worldwide "feedback" operations would be both challenging and of infinite value. / 2031-01-01

This dissertation focuses on the use of strategic communication in the context of contemporary environmental activism. It examines the case of Bold Nebraska, a grassroots advocacy group opposing the construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL oil pipeline in the state of Nebraska. Such an analysis of activist communication informs several areas of research, including public relations theory and practice, social movement theory, and environmental communication. To understand the construction of strategic communication within such activism, this study employs a movement framing analysis, a media framing analysis, and a rhetorical analysis. A quantitative framing analysis of Bold Nebraska’s website communication against the pipeline during the five-year period of 2011 to 2015 assesses how activists craft and project strategic messages. A framing analysis of Bold Nebraska’s national media coverage during the same timeframe highlights the relationship between activist framing and mainstream news coverage. Finally, a rhetorical analysis of Bold Nebraska’s 2014 Harvest the Hope concert is provided to understand the role of rhetorical appeals in building an environmental activism metanarrative or master frame. Taken together, these three approaches provide both a more holistic means to considering environmental activism campaigns in the context of strategic communication, and fill in the gaps for understanding the interplay of social movement organizations, public relations, and persuasion. This study brings a framework of strategic advocacy framing to the realm of environmental politics, and builds upon this framework by considering the dynamic of populism in activism. It also explores the role of strategic communication in evolving a movement organization’s metanarrative as it toggles between short- and long-term goals. Finally, it identifies a civic environmental persuasion built upon the attributes of narrative, hyperlocalization, engagement, and bipartisanship in order to build broad support and influence public policy.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University