The communicating company

Research on behalf of the IABC into the potential links between business success and communication competence has suggested strongly that the communication function(s) can only contribute significantly to short‐ or long‐term business goals if it is focused on improving the communication competence of the organisation as opposed to that of the function itself. The implications of this research are considerable and have led researchers to begin to develop a body of theory, upon which further research will be based, around the concept of the communicating company. The communicating company is defined as “an organisation that actively integrates communication systems and processes across and between all its significant activities, with the intention of achieving competitive advantage”. This paper aims to explore: what the communicating company might look like and how it differs from today’s organisations; what structures and systems might underlie the communicating company and help it achieve/sustain competitive advantage; how the debate around this emerging topic and the future of the communication function might be progressed.