Introduction
Forces defining business practices in the world have undergone drastic changes in the recent past. One of the factors behind this dynamism is the change in the means of communication, the rate of dissemination of information and the advancement of technology. These factors have made it possible for people all over the world to have up to date market information on the availability of different products, their features and the prices offered by different producers.
The availability of this information on online data banks has made it possible for people to have easy accessibility to such information (Botan and Taylor 2004). As a consequence of this, businesses have been called upon to rethink about their strategies and especially those involving product marketing. Therefore most businesses have come up with creative and innovative ways through which they have been able to capture the market in the face of increased competition.
One of the approaches taken by firms is the creation of positive public relations in the market. The public relations activity has been used widely by businesses to create market for the products, royalty among customers and to help in the retention of the market segment. To supplement public relations activities, firms have extensively employed relationship marketing (Grunig 2006).
This has enabled achievement of mutual benefits for firms earned from partnership between firms operating in specific industries. Beijing Olympics in 2008 offers a perfect example of how these two approaches can be applied successfully.
Public Relations
Public relations activities involve dissemination of information between a business firm and the market served by the firm. This has been used tactfully and innovatively by firms to create reputations in the market (Waters, Tindall and Morton 2010). The main aim of this has been to help business organisations to create brand loyalty in the market, which is able to lock in customers, consequently denying competitors a chance to serve them.
Therefore a business will strive to create a positive relationship with its customers by opening channels of communications which are able to sustain this bond (Hallahan 2009). Public relations activities are also aimed at managing crises that may arise and which have the ability to damage the image of the company in regard to marketing of its products. It also helps a firm to establish consumers’ confidence on the products offered.
Public Relations Theories
Public relations activities have played crucial roles in the success of many organisations. For this reason, many organisations have invested heavily on these activities. Various theories have been put forward to explain public relations.
The theory of symmetrical approach suggests that organisations engage in public relations activities with the main objective being to front the interests of the firm that foots the bills for such activities. This theory makes use of four models to explain the views held by its proponents and it differs with the views put forward by asymmetrical model that preceded the symmetrical model.
According to the asymmetrical model, the main reason why organisations invest in public relations activities is to champion the interests of parties to a transaction; this means that the model aims to ensure that organisations and its customers’ interests are guaranteed. However, most public relations critics have disagreed with the view held by the proponents of the symmetric model, who have considered the model to be idealistic as well as unrealistic (Roper 2005).
To them, an organisation’s reasons behind employment of public relations workforce is to promote its own interest rather than to try and create a perception of a perfect organisation in the minds of the customers, with the view of winning them over to the organisation (Halligan and Shah 2010). The fact of the matter is that, customers may and always have different objectives and views from those held by the organisation.
The central principle of public relations activities is the application of ethics in whatever the company does. However, problem arises when we try to justify ethics in terms of monetary returns to the organisation. This theory suggests that public relations activities are carried out in markets as opposed to an ideal place.
Rhetoric theorists approach the question of public relations from the effects it has in the market. According to this theory, a rhetoric dialogue exists and through this dialogue, influences can be made and conclusions on various matters reached. This theory suggests two ways in which influences and conclusions can be reached (Li and Bernoff 2008).
In the first method, the public interact inform of groups where they engage in exchange of arguments and counter-arguments where the main issues discussed are the quality of services offered by an organisation, products available from the organisation and various policies employed by the organisation in its bid to serve the market (Harrison 2000).
The motive behind this argument is to gather the views of each group concerning their perceptions on values and other realities of the firm. Therefore, the role of public relations experts is to engage clients in persuasive discourse. However, both symmetric and rhetoric theories accept the fact that the practice of ethics should be on a level ground.
The second way, through which rhetoric theory achieves influences and conclusions among groups, is through public policies which it proposes that they should be able to stand on their own in the market place due to their merit. This view is also held by the proponents of the asymmetric model (Health 2006). Public relations critics have criticised the idea of the rhetoric model by arguing that equality in distribution of resources is the only way that ethics in business operations can be achieved.
The role of public relations to the organisation has also been explained by the relational theory. According to this approach, the success of the organisation is hinged on its ability to appeal to the public. It is only through this that the actual meaning of public relations can be realised.
According to this theory, the main aim of the public relations activities of an organisation is to promote its welfare in terms of products offered to the market, efficiency in the market, commitment to the market, and credibility which should be enhanced. Therefore, a positive relationship must exist between an organisation and the general public where the company intends to market its products, if it has to achieve any success (Hung 2009).
This theory contrasts the previous two theories in relation to the nature of the relationship that should be in existence. According to this theory, the nature of the relationship that exists between a company and the public needs not to be asymmetrical. The relationship management is considered to be significant than the public relations activities. Therefore, goodwill is considered to be more important in the success struggles of a business.
Effects of technological advancement on public relations
Technological advancement has had heavy impacts on the way public relations practices are carried out. Computer terminals have been established with the ability to modify the received information through editing and forwarding of information on various issues. Also, the trends on the business world have called upon business organisations to provide information on the products offered, in the data banks that are easily accessible from remote locations through the internet (Lawson 2006).
This means that any individual interested in a given product can easily compare the product with many other similar products in terms of quality, price, and after sales services (Kim 2011). These changes in technologies require public relations experts to approach market in a new way that may help to position an organisation above its competitors.
This advancement in technology has also had effects on the ways of life in regard to the society and also availed many outlets through which an organisation can take opportunities for growth and development. The technology has enabled public relations professionals to produce specific information for a particular segment of the market.
Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing involves creation of an exchange system through which important information can easily flow from a business to the partners in trade and vice versa, with the objective of earning mutual benefits. Relationship marketing also aims at creating customers’ loyalty, healthy relationship between a company and the market served and also to retain the market share commanded by the company (Kirby and Marsden 2005).
The provision of the necessary information by the company to the market on the available products helps in the achievement of this objective. Therefore, by doing this the company can create a pool of customers who not only remain loyal to the company but can also sell company’s products through referrals.
2008 Beijing Olympics
Olympics are held after every four years in different cities of the world. It attracts millions of people in form of participants and spectators. All stakeholders in Olympic comes from different countries, which view things differently due to their differences in culture.
The Chinese government is a communist which controls media activities and the way internet is used in the country. Due to these issues a challenge arises to organisations in China, in their bid to maintain positive public relations and the engagement of this country which is more complicated here than in most other countries.
The complexity concerns the number of parties a business is required to influence, and the kind of relationship that exists between different parties in the business transactions (Strömbäck, Mitrook and Kiousis 2010).
These therefore, call for an understanding on the side of the public relations experts who should not only accept them but also re-evaluate continuously with the view of identification of threats and opportunities they present to the organisation. With all this in mind, the Beijing Olympic committee had a difficult task to accomplish prior to the beginning of the Olympics.
First, the Olympic public relations team sought to understand the structure of the Chinese source of power and how this influenced the success of the Olympics. They realized that the only way to achieve success in the Olympics was through establishment of clear objectives that the tournament aimed to achieve.
They were also required to identify all the forces that were at work and which could have either hampered or enhanced the success of the Olympics (Sweetser and Metzgar 2007). To do this, the committee had to carry out stakeholders’ analysis with the view of understanding each party that would have been interested in the tournament.
The committee also knew that the only easier way that they could have staged the event successfully was through proactive engagement on many issues in order to prevent negative publicity that might have risen from the occurrence of critical issues.
There was also the involvement of the government in large scale where some of its employees were engaged fully to address the issues regarding the publicity of the events. Performance of public relations activities were also reviewed and evaluated in order to ensure the activity contributed towards the achievement of objectives through which it was formed.
The Olympic Games in Beijing China came at the wake of Wenchuan earthquake. Therefore a lot was needed to be done in order to win the confidence of the international community on the ability of the country to offer enough security during the event.
This event was considered important by the Chinese government which intended to use the event to portray china as a country that had made progress in regard to political and social reforms (Jefkins 1998). Therefore, there was commitment by the government to maintain an open environment for investment, just before the beginning of the Olympics Games. The benefits of this were accrued by foreign based companies operating in china who could now achieve objectives of the business by using simplified means.
Conclusion
The Beijing Olympics of 2008 demonstrated that effective public relations activities, supplemented by the relationship marketing, can actually lead to the success of any event. Through this event, china successfully opened its market and changed the views of many regarding the political and economic structures of the country. However the success of this was mainly due to the market approach that was taken by the public relations officers. They had enough knowledge on the market and therefore engaged all the stakeholders fully.
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