Journal of Marketing Communications

Vol. 18, No. 5, December 2012, 335–361

Examining the link between integrated communication management

and communication effectiveness in medium-sized enterprises
Sabine A. Einwillera* and Michael Boenigkb
a
Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany; bLucerne University of Applied Sciences
and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland

On the basis of a framework for integrated communication management (ICM) derived

from perspectives in the integrated marketing communications and communication
management literature, we tested various hypotheses concerning the link between ICM
and communication effectiveness. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 642
Swiss-based companies, with a focus on medium-sized enterprises. The data yielded
insights as to the role of ICM in respect of both ‘soft’ psychological and ‘hard’
economic measures of communication effectiveness. Results include that aligning
communication with the corporate strategy and mission, scripting communication
concepts and having a designated function for marketing communications correlates
significantly not only with ‘soft’ measures of communication effectiveness but also
with selected ‘hard’ measures of corporate performance. We furthermore find support
for the imperative of aligning communication instruments with respect to content, form
and timing. Finally, those companies whose leadership supports communication
management and values its contribution to corporate performance score higher on
‘soft’ and ‘hard’ measures than those businesses whose leadership is less supportive.
The research contributes to reducing the research gap on demonstrating the link
between ICM and business performance; it also contributes to remedy the dearth of
research on small and medium-sized enterprises.
Keywords: integrated marketing communications; communication management;
communication effectiveness; small and medium-sized enterprises; survey

Introduction
The strategic importance of systematically managing a company’s communication with its
stakeholders – those constituencies that contribute to the company’s wealth-creating
capacity and activities (Post, Preston and Sachs 2002, 19) – has been widely acknowledged
(e.g. Argenti and Forman 2002; Cornelissen 2004; Grunig, Grunig and Dozier 2002; Van
Riel and Fombrun 2007). One concept that has been particularly emphasised as enhancing
the effectiveness of communication is that of integrated (marketing) communications (e.g.
Bruhn 1992; Duncan and Everett 1993; Gronstedt 1996a; Luck and Moffatt 2009; Moriarty
1994; Proctor and Kitchen 2002; Schultz and Schultz 2003), which Schultz and Patti (2009,
75) have recently considered ‘one of the most influential marketing management
frameworks of our time’.
The concept started to gain traction and popularity in the 1990s as integrated
marketing communications (IMC) (Schultz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn 1993). In a
number of conceptualisations, IMC soon evolved from a purely customer-centred concept

*Corresponding author. Email: einwiller@uni-mainz.de

ISSN 1352-7266 print/ISSN 1466-4445 online

q 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2010.530055
http://www.tandfonline.com
336 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

to one with a broader stakeholder orientation that took all stakeholders and communication
activities of a company into consideration (e.g. Duncan and Moriarty 1998). This led some
scholars to drop the word ‘marketing’ and to speak of integrated communications instead
(e.g. Bruhn 1992; Caywood 1997; Esch 2006; Gronstedt 1996b; Wightman 1999). Here,
we will use the term and enclose marketing in brackets before we present a comprehensive
definition and framework for integrated communication management (ICM). This
definition draws on perspectives from integrated (marketing) communications and
communication management (e.g. Grunig, Grunig and Dozier 2002).
The drivers of integrated (marketing) communications were – and still are – growing
globalisation and competition for global market share, development of digital technology,
emphasis on brands and branding, increasingly demanding stakeholders whose potential to
gain information and control over companies is growing (Schultz and Schultz 2003), and
rising expectations by management for communication performance and accountability
(Argenti 2006; Kitchen et al. 2004; Proctor and Kitchen 2002; Reid, Luxton and Mavondo
2005) since ‘ . . . companies are more interested than ever in understanding and measuring the
returns being obtained from marketing investments . . . ’ (Marketing Science Institute 2008).
An integrated approach to communication aims to meet more complex communication needs,
prevent, possible problems such as fragmented communication and contradictory messages
that would result in the loss of trust and reputational damage (Gronstedt 1996a; Schultz and
Kitchen 2004; Van Riel and Fombrun 2007) and – most importantly – provides competitive
advantages (Eagle and Kitchen 2000) and enhances productivity and business performance
(Cook 1997; Schultz and Schultz 2003; Schultz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn 1993).
Research mainly cites empirical evidence for the effectiveness of integrated
(marketing) communications based on ‘soft’ psychological measures such as awareness,
brand memory or attitude (e.g. Esch 2006; Garretson and Burton 2005; Reid 2005). Few
studies have attempted to establish a relationship between integrated (marketing)
communications and business performance (Low 2000). Ewing (2009) concludes that
demonstrating the link between integrated (marketing) communications and business
performance has largely failed, and scholars call for more empirical assessments of the
processes of integrated (marketing) communications in relation to their performance in
order to advance the concept further (Duncan and Mulhern 2004; Kitchen et al. 2004; Luck
and Moffatt 2009; Reid 2005; Wang 1994). According to Ewing (2009, 104), the failure to
demonstrate the link between integrated (marketing) communications and business
performance ‘is arguably the biggest obstacle hindering IMC’s broader acceptance among
both pragmatic practitioners and sceptical scholars’.
The primary goal of the research presented here is to shed more light on the
relationship between various dimensions of what we will term ‘ICM’ and communication
effectiveness, thereby including ‘soft’ psychological measures as well as ‘hard’ business
performance measures. In preparation of the empirical study, we first unfold the central
perspectives and dimensions of integrated (marketing) communications and communi-
cation management to derive a comprehensive conceptual framework of ICM. On the
basis of this framework, we propose hypotheses that focus on the relationship between
various dimensions of ICM and communication effectiveness. The hypotheses were tested
on a sample of 642 mainly medium-sized enterprises in Switzerland. We deliberately
focused our research on this ‘forgotten sector’, a terminology coined by Moss, Ashford
and Shani (2003) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in communication
research. Since SMEs are considered the backbone of most economies and crucial for
fostering competitiveness and employment (European Commission 2005), the secondary
goal of the work we present here is to remedy the dearth of research on SMEs.
 Journal of Marketing Communications 337

Perspectives on integrated (marketing) communications

Integrated (marketing) communications have been approached from many different
directions, and the perspectives on the concept are manifold. Before developing the
hypotheses that can be empirically tested, we discuss and systematise its core dimensions
and lay out a comprehensive integrated communication management (ICM) framework.

Integrated (marketing) communications as a management process

Many conceptualisations of integrated (marketing) communications adopt a process view
comprising various stages of managing communication. According to Schultz and Kitchen
(2000 cited in Schultz and Schultz 2003, 20 – 21), integrated (marketing) communications
is ‘a strategic business process used to plan, develop, execute, and evaluate coordinated,
measurable, persuasive brand communication programs over time with consumers,
customers, prospects, and other targeted, relevant external and internal audiences’. Bruhn
(2009, 22) defines integrated communications as a process of analysis, planning,
organising, executing and controlling in order to create a unity from the differing sources
of internal and external communication. The stages of the management process are also
contained in the definition presented by Duncan and Mulhern (2004, 9), who conceive
integrated (marketing) communications as ‘an on-going, interactive, cross-functional
process of brand communication planning, execution, and evaluation that integrates all
parties in the exchange process in order to maximise mutual satisfaction of each other’s
wants and needs’. In the public relations literature, Grunig, Grunig and Dozier (2002, 2)
put forth a similar definition of communication management, which they define as the
overall planning, execution and evaluation of an organisation’s communication with both
external and internal stakeholders. Thus, integrated (marketing) communications and
communication management are frequently referred to collectively as process integration,
which comprises analysis, planning, organising, executing and evaluating the
communication of a company with its varied external and internal stakeholders.

Integrated (marketing) communications as stakeholder relationship management

The definitions cited above also emphasise a relational focus on integrated (marketing)
communications. It can be conceived as a concept involving the creation and nourishing of
relationships, focusing on all stakeholders rather than just on customers (Duncan and
Moriarty 1997, 1998; Luck and Moffatt 2009; Reid 2005). We shall term this perspective
as stakeholder integration. Because stakeholders contribute to a company’s wealth-
creating capacity through their behaviour (Post, Preston and Sachs 2002), companies must
remain responsive to the stakeholder groups they depend on (Grunig, Grunig and Dozier
2002) and address their specific needs and wants by using outside-in thinking (Finne and
Grönroos 2009; Schultz and Schultz 2003). Since stakeholders are penetrable, meaning
that they can belong to different stakeholder groups (e.g. a person can be a customer, a
shareholder and a citizen of the neighbouring community at the same time),
communication messages exchanged with one stakeholder group should be consistent
with those exchanged with other stakeholder groups in order to foster a coherent corporate
(brand) image (Beard 1997; Duncan and Moriarty 1997; Einwiller and Will 2002).
From an organisational perspective, stakeholder integration implies the integration of
all functions within a company which are responsible for fostering relationships with
external and internal stakeholder groups. Reid (2005) argues that an organisation cannot
be integrated externally without being integrated internally. However, Gronstedt (1996b)
338 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

concludes that integrated communications is not necessarily about integrating marketing

communications, public relations and other communication functions into a single
department; rather, it involves integrating their processes. Gronstedt even goes one step
further by claiming that it is necessary to integrate the work of everyone in the company,
not just that of communication professionals, since companies communicate in everything
they do.

Integrated (marketing) communications as an alignment with corporate strategy; the

role of leadership
Apart from process and stakeholder integration, authors emphasise the alignment of
communication objectives with higher level corporate objectives, the corporate strategy
and mission. Aligning communication objectives with the strategic goals of the company,
which can be referred to as strategic integration, is considered central for improving the
total corporate value from integrated communications (Argenti, Howell and Beck 2005;
Schultz and Schultz 2003; Van Riel and Fombrun 2007; Zerfaß 1996). Gronstedt (1996b)
stresses that the entire integration process needs to be supported by a strong vision and
planning process from senior management. The role of leadership in supporting the
communication function and valuing its contribution to the company’s overall
performance has been frequently stressed (e.g. Grunig, Grunig and Dozier 2002; Van
Riel and Fombrun 2007).

Integrated (marketing) communications as an alignment of communication instruments

Particularly in earlier approaches to integrated (marketing) communications, integration is
conceived more operationally as the alignment of communication instruments.
Instruments can be aligned in at least three ways (e.g. Bruhn 2009; Esch 2006;
Kroeber-Riel 1993; Schultz, Tannenbaum and Lauterborn 1993): by form/design, content
and by timing of communication activities. Authors stress the importance for a facilitated
learning process if communication measures are aligned with respect to content, form and
time, which results in positive effects on the formation of consistent images of the
company and its brands. Drawing on Petrison and Wang (1996), the alignment of
instruments can be termed executional integration.

Communication effectiveness
It is the super ordinate goal of integrated (marketing) communications and communication
management to contribute to the value of the company. Value creation has been conceived
as a multi-step process comprising the output, outcome and outflow levels of
communication effectiveness (e.g. Argenti 2006; Rolke and Zerfaß 2010; Watson and
Noble 2005). Communication scholars and professionals have been struggling for decades
to present a valid measure for the outflow level, demonstrating that communication
management contributes to the strategic and financial performance of the company, which
is on economic figures such as revenue, relative market success in the industry or return on
investment (ROI). Much better developed are measures of communication effectiveness
on the lower levels of value creation. On the outcome level, measures include indices of
brand awareness and image (e.g. Keller 2003), reputation (e.g. Fombrun, Gardberg and
Sever 2000), customer satisfaction (e.g. Anderson and Sullivan 1993; Fornell, Rust and
Dekimpe 2010) or employee satisfaction (e.g. Cranny, Smith and Stone 1992). Ways to
 Journal of Marketing Communications 339

gauge the output of communication management include indices of media output (Mathes
and Zerfaß 2010) or website statistics. In the multi-step process of value creation, output
and outcome are necessary prerequisites to bringing about outflow; thus, demonstrated
effectiveness on these lower levels, particularly on the outcome level, is used as an
indication of the impact of the communication on the total corporate value.

A framework of ICM
In this article, we take a comprehensive approach to integrated (marketing)
communications by conflating previously advanced concepts into the concept of ICM,
which we define as a management process of analysis, planning, organising, executing
and evaluating the communication of a company with its varied external and internal
stakeholders, based on communication objectives that are aligned with corporate strategy
and applying instruments that are aligned in terms of content, form and timing. It is the
super ordinate goal of ICM to contribute to the total corporate value by considering
stakeholder needs and wants and building stakeholder-company relationships. Figure 1
depicts the ICM framework. It includes the role of leadership support for realising ICM
and differentiates the different dimensions of integration – strategic, stakeholder, process
and executional integration – which contribute to generating communication
effectiveness.
In the following sections, we first introduce the objects of research (SMEs), and then
present the hypotheses, explain our methodology and outline the results generated by
means of a survey among companies in Switzerland.

SMEs as research objects

Most of the research in the field of marketing and corporate communications focuses on
large, often multinational corporations; research on the communication of SMEs with
fewer than 250 employees is scarce.1 This is unfortunate, because SMEs are considered
Text

Leadership support

Strategic Corporate strategy Communication strategy

integration
Stakeholder Internal - Stakeholders - External
integration

Process
Analysis Planning Organisation Execution Evaluation
integration
Executional Alignment of communication
integration instruments

Effectiveness
Awareness image
Outcome satisfaction
Total corporate
Outflow
value

Figure 1. ICM framework.

340 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

important to most economies and are said to be ‘an essential source of jobs, create
entrepreneurial spirit and innovation in the EU and are thus crucial for fostering
competitiveness and employment’ (European Commission 2005, 3). Against the backdrop
of such developments as the globalisation of business and increasing price and
performance pressure (Lombriser, Abplanalp and Wernigk 2007), professional
communication management can represent a key success factor and a potential driver
for competitive advantage (e.g. Kitchen et al. 2004), also in the case of smaller companies.
In one of the few studies on communication practices in this ‘forgotten sector’, Moss,
Ashford and Shani (2003) analysed the use and practice of public relations among SMEs,
mainly micro businesses, in the north-west of England. Evatt, Ruiz and Triplett (2005),
building on the ‘excellence study’ by Grunig and colleagues (e.g. Grunig, Grunig and
Dozier 2002), generated insights into the understanding and practice of communication in
small organisations in Texas (for-profit, not-for-profit, trade associations and government
agencies) with fewer than 20 employees, and Fam (2001) explored promotional techniques
used mainly by small-scale clothing and shoe retailers in New Zealand.
In the empirical research presented here, we focus on one segment of SMEs: medium-
sized enterprises employing between 50 and 249 people. We chose to focus on medium-
sized companies because we expect a higher level of formalisation in their
communication, a view that we derive from the findings of Evatt, Ruiz and Triplett
(2005). They observed that communication in SMEs becomes more formalised once the
organisation reaches approximately 20 employees; similarly, Moss, Ashford and Shani
(2003) found that only 16% of the micro businesses in their sample had a formal
communication function. In order to investigate the relationship between the
implementation of ICM and communication effectiveness, which represents our main
research objective, we consider a certain level of formalisation necessary.

ICM in medium-sized enterprises: Hypotheses

Leadership support
Grunig, Grunig and Dozier (2002) emphasise the importance of leadership support for
excellent communication management, and Argenti, Howell and Beck (2005) stress that the
CEO and other top leaders must understand the importance of communication and leverage
communication strategically. Accordingly, Duncan and Mulhern (2004) stress that top
management needs to appreciate, support and drive integrated communications, and lacking
management support is seen as a barrier to its realisation (Holm 2006). In SMEs, a
concentration of power in the manager is particularly pronounced (Thrassou and Vrontis
2006; Wittmeyer 2003). These businesses tend to be independent and owner-managed, and
the owner-manager is often the key decision maker who fills many of the functions
performed within the company. He or she is generally in charge when it comes to determine
the mission and goals for the company and to allocate resources to its different functions.
Evatt, Ruiz and Triplett (2005) find that leadership plays a central role in the
communication of small organisations, and that communication success is frequently
rooted in the perseverance of top decision makers. They also find that excellence in
communication management is not linked to the absolute size of the company but rather to
the ratio of communication employees to the size of the workforce. This underscores the
importance of supporting ICM and supplying it with sufficient resources. Consequently, if
support or resources are not granted, communication effectiveness will suffer.
H1a: A lack of support by the company’s leadership for communication management
correlates negatively with effectiveness measures (outcome and outflow).
 Journal of Marketing Communications 341

H1b: A lack of financial resources for communication management correlates

negatively with effectiveness measures (outcome and outflow).
Support is also expressed by the importance top management ascribes to communication
for contributing to the success of the company. We furthermore hypothesise:
H1c: The importance the company’s leadership ascribes to the different communi-
cation functions correlates positively with effectiveness measures (outcome and
outflow).

Strategic integration
SMEs often have limited strategic planning capabilities. However, if ICM is to generate
value for the company as a whole, it has to contribute to fulfilling the corporate goals; this
requires that communication is closely aligned with the overall corporate strategy and the
corporate mission. The necessity of achieving strategic consistency has been emphasised
by various scholars in integrated (marketing) communications and communication
management (Argenti, Howell and Beck 2005; Grunig, Grunig and Dozier 2002; Holm
2006; Schultz and Schultz 2003; Van Riel and Fombrun 2007; Zerfaß 1996). We expect a
positive correlation between how strongly communication is aligned with the corporate
strategy and mission and the value it creates for the company as a whole (outflow).
H2: There is a positive correlation between the alignment of communication with
corporate strategy and mission and effectiveness measures (outflow).

Stakeholder integration
In order to manage communication and foster relationships with different stakeholders,
companies generally create different functions, above all marketing communications,
addressing the company’s customers and other stakeholders in the marketplace; public
relations, for fostering relationships with a much broader range of stakeholders, including
politicians, interested citizens, non-governmental organisations and journalists, but not
excluding stakeholders on the market; and employee communications, i.e. cultivating
communicative relationships with all of the company’s employees.2 Various proponents
of integrated (marketing) communications put customers at the centre of their
communication management models, arguing that customers are closest to the business
and, therefore, most important for generating total corporate value (e.g. Gronstedt 1996a;
Schultz and Schultz 2003). Thus, having a function in place that is charged with the tasks
of fostering communication and building relationships with customers should enhance
communication effectiveness, particularly customer satisfaction.
H3a: Having a function for marketing communications in place correlates positively
with effectiveness measures (outcome and outflow).
Although SMEs generally do not fulfil the news factor of prominence (e.g. Buckalew
1969) and are thus less likely than large corporations to gain the attention of the media and
the public, Dyer (1996) voices the criticism that SMEs concentrate their communication
too much on customers. This prevents them from being sufficiently responsive to their
environment and to the wider stakeholder groups they depend on (Dyer 1996; Fueglistaller
and Wick 1995; Grunig, Grunig and Dozier 2002).
A first step to foster relationships with a wider range of stakeholders is to appoint
someone or to create a function for dealing with stakeholders other than customers.
342 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

Usually, this function falls under public relations when it concerns external audiences and
under employee communications when it involves internal communication management.
Having installed the functions for addressing various stakeholders constitutes a first step
towards a greater environmental responsiveness which should positively affect
communication effectiveness. Therefore, we hypothesise that the more functions of
stakeholder management a company has established – even if managed by only one
person – the higher the effectiveness of the communication.
H3b: Having more functions for communication management installed correlates
positively with effectiveness measures (outcome and outflow).

Process integration: Planning

Systematic planning helps to achieve communication objectives (e.g. Bruhn 2009).
Gronstedt (1996b) concluded in his study on total quality management processes that the
entire integration process needs to be supported by a corporate-level planning process and
a strong vision. In communication management, important outputs of the planning process
are generally scripted in the form of communication plans or concepts. These include, but
are not limited to, a strategic communication concept, guidelines for the company’s
corporate design (CD) and a plan for crisis situations. However, Moss, Ashford and Shani
(2003) found that in small companies and organisations, resource constraints often force
small companies to engage in a day-to-day struggle rather than in structured, long-term
planning. Similarly, Evatt, Ruiz and Triplett (2005) concluded that communication in
small organisations is based more on instinct and personal aspects than on formal training
and systematic planning. On the other hand, SMEs are likely to have fewer bureaucratic
constraints and a less formalised hierarchical structure, which could make it easier to
converge to systematic communication planning (Low 2000; Hall and Wickham 2008).
Thus, we do not propose a hypothesis concerning the proportion of medium-sized
companies with written communication plans. However, those who do should be more
effective in their communication management than those who do not.
H4: There is a positive correlation between the existence of scripted communication
plans and effectiveness measures (outcome).

Executional integration
Reasoning from a psychological perspective, Esch (2006) argues that the alignment of
communication instruments with respect to content, form/design and timing facilitates
stakeholder awareness and the development of a coherent image of the company or brand.
Keller (1987) showed that the alignment of advertising and package design had a positive
impact on advertising recall and brand evaluation. Also, integration by means of key
visuals has been shown to be more effective regarding brand memory than an unintegrated
form of advertising (Esch 2006). Furthermore, Garretson and Burton (2005) found
favourable effects on brand attribute recall and attitudes through an integrated use of
spokescharacters. We hypothesise:
H5a: The better the communication instruments are aligned in terms of content,
form/design and timing, the higher the communication effectiveness (outcome).
As executional integration is a complex process involving the combination of multiple
communication instruments and activities in different areas, integration should benefit
 Journal of Marketing Communications 343

from systematic communication planning. We, therefore, expect that the existence of
written communication concepts will correlate positively with the alignment of
communication instruments.
H5b: There is a positive correlation between the existence of scripted communication
plans and the alignment of communication instruments in terms of content,
form/design and timing.

Process integration: Analysis and evaluation

Scholars in integrated (marketing) communications and communication management have
emphasised the role of research and evaluation in designing effective stakeholder-oriented
communication programmes (Schultz and Schultz 2003) and in fostering relationships
(Grunig, Grunig and Dozier 2002). Thoroughly analysing the situation before and
evaluating communication effects after the execution of communication programmes is
considered central for target-oriented and strategic communication management. It
enhances the understanding for environmental and stakeholder demands and needs,
supports strategic communication planning and serves to control for communication
effectiveness. Companies that regularly analyse and evaluate their stakeholder perceptions
and communication efforts should, therefore, execute more effective communication
programmes which are expected to pay off in terms of better communication outcome.
H6: There is a positive correlation between regular analysis and evaluation of
stakeholder perceptions and communication activities and effectiveness
measures (outcome).

Empirical research
Sample and procedure
The hypotheses proposed above were tested by means of a comprehensive survey of 4056
SMEs with a focus on medium-sized enterprises based in German-speaking Switzerland.
The survey was conducted in the spring of 2006. Company addresses were obtained from a
Swiss address broker who was instructed to deliver the contact details of all for-profit
companies in German-speaking Switzerland that employed between 50 and 500 people.
The companies were contacted by postal mail and asked to participate in an online survey
on communication practices of SMEs in Switzerland. Of those contacted, 843 completed
the questionnaire (21% response rate) and 62 were excluded because they claimed more
than 500 employees in Switzerland. Of the remaining 781 companies, 31% said they
belonged to an international corporate group, and 139 of them stated that their organisation
employed more than 1000 people worldwide (these included names such as Henkel, Nokia
and Pfizer). These 139 organisations were excluded from the analyses because they cannot
be considered SMEs.
The remaining sample of 642 companies consisted of 503 medium-sized enterprises
(50–249 employees), 73 large companies (250–499 employees) and 66 small companies
(less than 50 employees). The data of the small and large companies were used for
comparative purposes. By comparing medium-sized organisations with both their smaller
and larger counterparts, we were able to generate a broader understanding on certain aspects.
Most of the companies in the sample were in the industrial goods (33%) or service
sector (37%); the rest were consumer goods companies (13%) or companies that stated
they were in another sector (16%). Comparing the valid sample with the population
344 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

provides evidence of sampling adequacy: in 2005, the last year of data collection before
our survey, 33% of the Swiss medium-sized enterprises were in the industrial goods sector,
40% in the service sector, 12% in the consumer goods and 15% in the retail sector (Federal
Statistical Office 2010). Furthermore, 59% of the participating companies said that they
have business contacts only, 25% market their products directly to consumers and 16%
claimed both corporate and consumer clients. The questionnaires were completed by
managers in communication, marketing or sales, or by the company’s CEO, general
manager or owner.

Operationalisation of variables
After indicating the demographic details of their company (e.g. size and sector),
respondents were asked to provide answers on the following aspects of ICM:3

Leadership support
Support by the company’s top management was gauged by having respondents indicate,
on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much), whether ‘insufficient or lacking financial
resources’ and ‘lack of support for communication from top management’ caused
problems in their company’s communication. These two items were included in an
itemised list of potential problems in the company’s communication (see below). We
further assessed leadership support by asking respondents to rank, on a scale of 1 (not at
all) to 4 (very), how strongly top management valued each of the communication functions
(marketing communications, public relations and employee communications) to
contribute to the company’s overall success.

Strategic integration
Respondents answered on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 4 (strongly) whether their
communication was aligned with the corporate strategy and mission.

Stakeholder integration and organisation

Respondents indicated whether the communication functions marketing communications,
public relations and employee communications existed in their company. If yes,
respondents were asked whether it was a department of its own or part of another
department. Furthermore, they were given the option of indicating whether the company
engaged in another area of communication (open-ended question).

Process integration: Planning

Respondents indicated whether the following concepts were defined in their company; and
if so, whether they were defined orally or in writing: overall communication concept,
communication messages, CD guidelines and a crisis communication plan.

Executional integration
Alignment of instruments was assessed by means of a prompt asking respondents to judge,
on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 4 (very well), whether their company’s measures in marketing
communications, public relations and employee communications were aligned with regard
 Journal of Marketing Communications 345

to their form/design, content and timing. Finally, the integration of communication

measures in terms of form/design, content and timing was assessed as to their importance.

Process integration: Analysis and evaluation

Respondents were asked whether they analysed their external and internal communication
efforts and stakeholder perceptions. If yes, they indicated which instruments they used how
often (never, less than every 2 years, every 2 years, yearly, every half year and more often).
Measurement instruments included output measures (external: clippings, media content
analysis, media penetration, Internet logfile analyses; internal: intranet logfile analyses) and
outcome measures (external: advertising recall/recognition, reputation/image survey,
customer satisfaction survey; internal: employee satisfaction survey). Respondents were
given the opportunity to enter further instruments in addition to the ones prompted.

Communication effectiveness
The effectiveness measurement was twofold, assessing both outflow (economic factors)
and outcome (psychological factors). Economic factors were assessed on the basis of
respondents’ subjective replies to questions asking whether and how the results of ROI and
relative market success compared with those of other companies in the industry had
changed over the past 3 years. Respondents were given a scale of 1 (deteriorated
significantly) over 3 (stayed the same) to 5 (improved significantly) with which to rate
their opinion. Self-assessments are common in performance ratings of SMEs, where
objective performance measurements are difficult to obtain due to the general
unwillingness of private companies to disclose confidential information (e.g. Appiah-
Adu and Singh 1998; Berthon, Ewing and Napoli 2008). Furthermore, subjective
assessments were found to correlate strongly with objective performance measurements
(Dess, Lumpkin and Covin 1997; Dess and Robinson 1984). In the same way, respondents
indicated how their company’s image and the level of awareness among stakeholders, as
well as customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, had changed over the past 3 years.

Problem areas in communication management

On a scale of 1 (not at all) to 4 (very much), respondents indicated whether there were
topics that caused problems in their company’s communication. Topics were prompted
and included the following: deficient conceptual foundation for communication, no
objectives, deficient evaluation and controlling, insufficient or lacking financial resources,
no person with overall responsibility for communication, no processes or rules for internal
cooperation, lack of support for communication from top management, under-qualified
staff in communication, information overload, difficulties in communicating complex
content and diverging interests among the departments. Respondents were furthermore
given the opportunity to enter further problem areas in addition to those prompted.

Results
Problem areas in communication management
We start our presentation of results by exploring the problems respondents perceive in
practising communication. Figure 2 depicts the results in percentages of agreement (top 2
scores ‘somewhat applies’ and ‘fully applies’) referring to the problem areas prompted.
346 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

Information overload 52
Deficient evaluation and controlling 46
Deficient conceptual foundation 38
Insufficient or lacking financial resources 34
Communicating complex content 34
No person with overall responsibility 34
No processes/rules for cooperation 31
No objectives 28
Diverging interests among departments 27
Lack of support from top management 23
Under-qualified staff in communication 21

0 10 20 30 40 50
N = 481–486 applies somewhat + verymuch in percent

Figure 2. Perceived problems in the communication of medium-sized enterprises.

The most pressing problem perceived by respondents from medium-sized enterprises

is information overload (52%) followed by deficient evaluation and controlling (46%) and
a deficient conceptual foundation (38%). Concerning financial support, about one-third of
the companies in the sample consider a lack of or missing financial resources to be a
problem. A lack of support from top management ranks low in the list of problems. Of the
medium-sized enterprises in the sample, 23% believed that they received insufficient
support from top management. This ranks almost as low as respondents’ perception that
their staff in communication was under-qualified (21% agreement). Since few respondents
took advantage of the opportunity to list any further problems, we will refrain from
reporting on them.

Leadership support
We hypothesised that a lack of support by the company’s leadership and the lack of
financial resources are associated with impaired communication effectiveness. To test
these hypotheses, we ran non-parametric correlations between respondents’ perceived
problems concerning lacking support by top management and lacking financial resources
(for descriptive statistics, see Figure 2) and the different variables indicating
communication effectiveness (respondents’ assessments of how the various figures had
changed over the past 3 years).
Results (see Table 1) indicate that the smaller the problems with lack of support from
top management, the better the company’s improvement as measured by outcome (image,
customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction over the past 3 years) and outflow
(relative market success and ROI), confirming hypothesis 1a. Lack of financial resources
correlates only slightly with two outcome measures (image and employee satisfaction),
indicating only weak support for hypothesis 1b. Significant correlations with the outflow
measures are hardly surprising; they show that companies with good economic
performance allocate more resources to communication management than companies with
weaker performance.
The results indicating the relationship between the importance top management
ascribes to the communication functions for the company’s overall success and measures
Table 1. H1a, b, c: Correlations between leadership support and effectiveness of communication in medium-sized enterprises; Spearman’s Rho, (N).
Outcome Outflow
Customer Employee Relative market
Awareness Image satisfaction satisfaction success ROI
Lacking support from top management 20.14** (439) 2 0.20** (437) 2 0.17** (437) 20.19** (437) 20.17** (414) 20.12** (382)
Lacking/missing financial resources ns 2 0.10* (437) ns 20.13 (437) 20.20** (414) 20.23** (382)
Importance top mgmt. assigns to marketing com. 0.16** (443) 0.13** (441) 0.09* (441) ns 0.11* (417) ns
Importance top mgmt. assigns to PR 0.20** (444) 0.13** (442) ns ns ns ns
Importance top mgmt. assigns to employee com. 0.08* (444) 0.13** (442) 0.17** (442) 0.28** (442) ns ns
Notes: *p , 0.05, **p , 0.01 (one-tailed), ns ¼ not significant.
Journal of Marketing Communications
347
348 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

of effectiveness are interesting. Data show a weak but significant correlation between the
importance assigned to marketing communications and the company’s relative market
success. This is the only significant correlation between any measures of importance and
those of outflow. On the outcome level, the strongest correlations are those between the
importance accorded to public relations and the level of awareness, and between the
importance assigned to employee communications and customer and employee
satisfaction. This highlights the importance of solidly supported employee communi-
cations not only to employee satisfaction but also to customer satisfaction.

Strategic integration
Respondents declared how strongly their communication was aligned with the corporate
strategy and mission. Forty-four per cent of medium-sized companies claim to align their
communication strongly with the strategy of their company, and 40% state that
communication is aligned strongly with its mission. We hypothesised that the stronger the
alignment the more the value communication management can create for the company
(outflow). Table 2 shows support for this hypothesis.
There is a weak but significant correlation between relative market success and how
strongly communication is aligned with corporate strategy and mission; alignment with
the mission also correlates with ROI. Although not hypothesised, we also find significant
correlations between the alignment of communications with mission and strategy and the
entire outcome measures of communication effectiveness, correlations with awareness
and image being the strongest.

Stakeholder integration through organisation

Three-fourth of medium-sized enterprises (N ¼ 377) state that they have a function
responsible for marketing communications (as its own department or as part of another
department). We proposed in H3a that having a function for marketing communications
correlates positively with communication effectiveness. This is confirmed by our data, which
show that having a marketing communication function in place correlates significantly with
relative market success and weakly with ROI (see Table 3). However, unexpectedly, there is
no correlation between having a function for marketing communications and customer
satisfaction or awareness but only a weak correlation with changes in the firm’s image.
In hypothesis H3b, we proposed that the more the communication functions a
company has established (as its own department or as part of another department),
meaning the more the stakeholder groups it systematically attends to, the more successful
it will be in the market. For medium-sized enterprises, we find marginal support for this
hypothesis. The non-parametric correlation between the number of communication
functions (from 0 –3) and relative market success is weak but significant. Furthermore,
outcome measures of communication effectiveness, except for employee satisfaction, also
correlate significantly with the number of communication functions, awareness being most
strongly related (see Table 3).
We find no differences by company size (small, medium-sized and large) for the
existence of a function for marketing communications. However, the larger the company,
the more likely it has a function for public relations in place (small ¼ 62%, medium
sized ¼ 71%, large ¼ 79%; x 2[2, 596] ¼ 12.3, p , 0.01); differences as to whether
there was a function for employee communications or not were marginally significant
(small ¼ 65%, medium sized ¼ 70%, large ¼ 76%; x 2[2, 584] ¼ 5.17, p , 0.08).
Table 2. H2: Correlations between aligning communication with corporate strategy and communication effectiveness in medium-sized enterprises; Spearman’s
Rho, (N).
Outcome Outflow
Customer Employee
Awareness Image satisfaction satisfaction Relative market success ROI
Aligning communication with corporate strategy 0.24** (409) 0.21** (408) 0.14** (407) 0.18** (407) 0.10* (386) ns
Aligning communication with corporate mission 0.22** (418) 0.24** (416) 0.14** (416) 0.18** (416) 0.15** (395) 0.12** (364)
Notes: *p , 0.05, **p , 0.01 (one-tailed), ns ¼ not significant.
Journal of Marketing Communications
349
 350

Table 3. H3a, b: Correlations between functions of communication management and communication effectiveness in medium-sized enterprises; Spearman’s
Rho, (N).

Outcome Outflow
S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

Customer Employee
Awareness Image satisfaction satisfaction Relative market success ROI
Marketing communication established ns 0.09* (443) ns ns 0.15** (418) 0.10* (385)
(0 ¼ no, 1 ¼ yes)
Number of communication functions 0.18** (439) 0.14** (438) 0.13** (436) ns 0.10* (412) ns
(0– 3)
Notes: *p , 0.05, **p , 0.01 (one-tailed), ns ¼ not significant.
 Journal of Marketing Communications 351

Table 4. Proportion of small, medium-sized and large companies that have written communication
plans.
Company size*
Small Medium Large
In writing: N ¼ 60 – 64 N ¼ 417– 449 N ¼ 58 – 63 df x2 p
CD guidelines 52 73 87 2 54.67 ,0.001
Overall communication 47 53 66 2 13.96 ,0.001
concept
Communication messages 38 46 67 2 29.27 ,0.001
Crisis communication 24 32 66 2 69.53 ,0.001
plan
Notes: Figures as %; *groups weighted for size.

Process integration: Planning

Respondents were asked about the extent to which communication plans existed at their
company. Table 4 shows the proportion of companies in the different size categories that
have concepts in writing. CD guidelines in writing are most common among companies,
followed by having overall communication plans and scripted messages; written crisis
communication plans are the least common. With the size of the company, the likelihood
of having developed communication plans increases. The fact that about half of the
medium-sized companies in the sample lack a written communication concept
underscores the finding that 38% see the lack of a conceptual foundation as a pressing
problem (see Figure 2).
Hypothesis 4 states that companies with a systematic approach to communication
planning are more effective in their communication compared with those that do not
systematically plan (see Table 5). Results indicate that having an overall communication
concept and messages in writing correlates significantly with increased awareness,
improved image and greater employee satisfaction. Although not hypothesised, these
planning measures also correlate with the outflow indicators relative market success and
ROI. Results indicate that having a crisis communication plan in writing also yields
greater communication effectiveness, particularly in terms of employee and customer
satisfaction. Interestingly, having CD guidelines in writing does not seem to play a role in
raising awareness, image, customer or employee satisfaction. There is even a weakly
negative correlation between having written CD guidelines and employee satisfaction,
which hints at some potential for frustration emanating from CD guidelines.

Executional integration
Figure 3 depicts the results for importance as well as perceived performance of the
company’s alignment of instruments in terms of content, form/design and timing. The data
reveal that medium-sized enterprises consider the alignment of communication
instruments to be rather important. This is particularly the case for formal alignment
(CD). Alignment in content and timing is less important. The same pattern of results, just on
a lower level, can be found for the perceived performance of these integrated
communication aspects. While 44% of the respondents agree that their communication
instruments are very well aligned regarding form and design, less than 20% consider their
instruments very well aligned in terms of content (17%) and timing (16%). There are no
differences in the degree of alignment between small, medium-sized and large companies.
 352

Table 5. H4: Correlations between scripting communication concepts and communication effectiveness in medium-sized enterprises; Spearman’s Rho, (N).
Outcome Outflow
S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

In writing (0 ¼ no, 1 ¼ yes) Awareness Image Customer satisfaction Employee satisfaction Relative market success ROI
Overall communication concept 0.14** (430) 0.17** (428) 0.08* (428) 0.17** (429) 0.10* (410) 0.09* (377)
Communication messages 0.21** (414) 0.11* (411) ns 0.09* (412) 0.11* (391) 0.12* (362)
CD guidelines ns ns ns 2 .09* (418) ns ns
Crisis communication plan 0.14** (403) 0.11* (401) 0.19** (402) 0.21** (403) ns ns
Notes: *p , 0.05, **p , 0.01 (one-tailed), ns ¼ not significant.
 Journal of Marketing Communications 353

80
68
70

60
48
50
44
In %

40
36
Alignment is
30 very important
19
20 Instruments are
16
very well aligned
10

0
Form/design Content Timing N = 448-463

Figure 3. Importance and perceived performance of aligning communication instruments in terms

of form/design, content and timing in medium-sized enterprises; in per cent.

In hypothesis 5a, we proposed that aligning communication instruments correlates

positively with communication effectiveness with regard to communication outcome. The
significant correlation coefficients provide evidence for this hypothesis (see Table 6).
In hypothesis 5b, we claimed that scripting communication plans positively correlates
with aligning communication instruments. As hypothesised, data reveal that companies
with a scripted overall concept and messages have more thoroughly aligned
communication instruments than those without a written plan (see Table 7). In a separate
analysis, we show that companies with written CD guidelines also state that their
communication activities are better aligned in terms of form/design than companies that
do not have such guidelines in writing.

Process integration: Analysis and evaluation

The practice of analysis and evaluation reflects the finding that participants see deficient
evaluation and controlling of communication as one of the most pressing problems (see
Figure 2). Of the medium-sized companies that participated in our survey, less than half
(44%) said they evaluated their external communication efforts and gauged the
perceptions of external stakeholders (small companies: 33%; large companies: 50%) and
40% said they did so internally (small companies: 29%; large companies: 38%). Those
evaluation measures applied most often (at least every other year) by medium-sized
enterprises are employee satisfaction surveys (33%), customer satisfaction surveys (31%),
media clippings (28%), Internet logfile analysis (18%), media content analysis (14%) and
reputation/image surveys (12%).
We proposed in H6 that companies that regularly analyse and evaluate their
stakeholder perceptions and communication efforts have better communication outcomes
than those companies that do not. We find some support for this hypothesis (see Table 8).
Results show that frequent customer satisfaction surveys correlate significantly with
higher customer satisfaction and enhanced image and awareness. Also, employee
satisfaction bears a high correlation with the conducting of employee surveys;
interestingly, conducting employee surveys also correlates significantly with enhanced
customer satisfaction. This finding led us to analyse the link between customer and
 354

Table 6. H5a: Correlations between alignment of instruments and communication effectiveness of medium-sized enterprises; Spearman’s Rho, (N).
S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

Outcome Outflow
Awareness Image Customer satisfaction Employee satisfaction Relative market success ROI
Alignment (index: form, content, timing; 0.18* (439) 0.20* (437) 0.15* (436) 0.14* (436) ns ns
Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.77)
Notes: *p , 0.01 (one-tailed).
 Journal of Marketing Communications 355

Table 7. H5b: Correlations between scripting communication concepts and alignment of

instruments in medium-sized enterprises; Spearman’s Rho, (N).
Alignment (index: form, content, timing;
In writing (0 ¼ no, 1 ¼ yes) Cronbach’s alpha ¼ 0.77) Formal alignment
Overall communication concept 0.31* (440)
Communication messages 0.31* (423)
CD guidelines 0.25* (429) 0.20* (435)
Notes: *p , 0.01 (one-tailed).

Table 8. H6: Correlations between evaluation of communication and stakeholder perceptions and
communication effectiveness (outcome) in medium-sized enterprises; Spearman’s Rho, (N).

Customer Employee
Awareness Image satisfaction satisfaction
Customer satisfaction survey 0.12* (201) 0.13* (199) 0.12* (201) ns
Employee satisfaction survey ns ns 0.16* (189) 0.15* (190)
Media clippings 0.19** (197) ns ns ns
Internet logfile analysis 0.14* (182) ns ns ns
Notes: *p , 0.05, **p , 0.01 (one-tailed), ns ¼ not significant.

employee satisfaction which reveals a significant correlation between the two measures
(Rho ¼ 0.46, p , 0.001). Finally, our data reveal significant correlations between
awareness and the frequency with which media clippings are collected and Internet
logfiles are analysed. There are no significant correlations between indicators of
effectiveness and any of the other measures of analysis and evaluation.

Discussion
The primary goal of the research presented here was to shed more light on the relationship
between communication effectiveness and various dimensions of ICM outlined in our
ICM framework. The empirical results generated from medium-sized enterprises in
Switzerland yield encouraging findings as to the role of systematic ICM for
communication effectiveness as measured by both ‘soft’ (outcome) and ‘hard’ (outflow)
factors, thereby helping to strengthen the role of communication management within the
company and towards top management.
Support for communication from top management is central, as our data reveal. The
attention and appreciation top management give to communication correlates significantly
with communication effectiveness, even more significantly than does the provision of
sufficient financial resources. We furthermore find a common effect: companies that
perform well economically have more generous communication budgets than those that
have faced struggles in past years. This shows that counter-cyclical spending is rarely
practised, despite recurring findings that counter-cyclical communication activities during
economic downturns can create value for the company (Frankenberger and Graham 2003;
Srinivasan, Rangaswamy and Lilien 2005).
Interestingly, leadership support and the importance top management assigns
to employee communications correlate rather strongly with employee satisfaction. This
suggests that an owner or CEO with an affinity for communication is more likely to
356 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

foster a favourable internal communication culture and climate. Research by Smidts,

Pruyn and Van Riel (2001) shows that a communicative culture impacts the way
employees identify with the company, and this in turn has a strongly positive effect on
employee satisfaction. Just as importantly, employee satisfaction was shown to correlate
positively with customer satisfaction (Schmit and Allscheid 2006; Stock 2000). This
correlation is supported by our data, which reveal a highly positive correlation between
customer and employee satisfaction. Thus, persuading corporate leadership to appreciate
and support ICM represents an important step towards improving communication
effectiveness, with thoroughgoing endorsement weighing much more heavily than
financial support.
Leadership support is also closely connected to strategic integration, due to the fact
that management generally must endorse communication’s alignment with corporate
strategy and mission. Our data reveal a positive link between strategic integration and
communication effectiveness. Companies that align communication with the corporate
mission and strategy score significantly better not only on ‘soft’ measures such as image
and awareness but also on ‘hard’ economic measures, especially on relative market
success in the industry. Although we cannot assess which comes first, economic success or
strategic alignment, there is an evident link between the two.
It is furthermore important to disclose stakeholder needs and wants through
stakeholder surveys; conducting them correlates positively with customer and employee
satisfaction. This implies that medium-sized enterprises should work on their current
deficits in communication analysis and evaluation, a source of problems that almost half of
the companies lament. Marketing communications emerged as the function most
important to managing stakeholder relationships in medium-sized enterprises. However,
our data also show that having more than just marketing communications installed
correlates positively with relative market success and also with awareness, image and
customer satisfaction. Therefore, it seems that not only focusing on customers but also
being responsive to a wider spectrum of stakeholders pays off.
The most pressing problem perceived by medium-sized enterprises is the information
overload also suffered by a company’s stakeholders, which makes it difficult to raise
awareness and foster understanding of the company’s messages. Here, executional
integration – aligning communication instruments in terms of content, form and timing –
can facilitate awareness and understanding (Esch 2006); it was subsequently recognised
as important by the participating companies and proved worthwhile in terms of ‘soft’
psychological measures of communication effectiveness. Medium-sized companies are
particularly good at aligning instruments with respect to form and design. However,
strict rules for CD seem to have some potential for frustration as having CD guidelines
in writing correlates negatively with employee satisfaction. This is not the case when
it comes to institute-written communication concepts and messages. Results show a
close connection between scripted communication concepts and messages on one
hand and ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ measures of communication effectiveness on the other.
Particular attention should, therefore, be paid to the alignment of communications
in terms of content, as this also fosters the creation of defined brand images in the
minds of stakeholders. In view of this, the fact that only slightly more than half of the
medium-sized companies rely on a written communication plan, and less than half have
their communication messages in writing, points to an obvious area in need of
improvement.
Interestingly, having written communication concepts, except in the case of CD
guidelines, also enhances employee satisfaction. Since employee satisfaction was judged
 Journal of Marketing Communications 357

through the lens of those answering our survey questions, many of whom were responsible
for marketing, public relations or sales, we can conclude that having a defined
communication plan enhances the satisfaction of communication managers. Also, they
seem to feel better with a crisis communication plan in place than without. Concerning
crisis communication, there is a clear need for preparation for potential crises, since
only one-third of all medium-sized enterprises in our sample were equipped with a written
plan.

Conclusions and limitations

Research on the relationship between integrated (marketing) communications and
performance is scarce (Low 2000), and Ewing (2009, 104) considers the failure to
demonstrate this link the biggest obstacle hindering the concept’s broader acceptance
‘among both pragmatic practitioners and sceptical scholars’. By empirically unveiling
significant relationships between the dimensions of our ICM framework and
communication effectiveness, some with ‘hard’ corporate performance measures, we
hope to reduce some of the scepticism lamented by Ewing. The ICM framework and
findings should furthermore help communication managers in both medium-sized
companies and their smaller and larger counterparts to improve their communication
management practices by providing empirical evidence for the effectiveness of written
communication concepts and messages, the alignment of communication with corporate
strategy and mission, the alignment of communication instruments, regular surveys of
stakeholder perceptions and the assignment of functions to manage stakeholder
relationships – not only with customers but also with other stakeholders. Last but not
least, our research demonstrates to corporate leaders not only the effectiveness of ICM but
also the particular importance of their endorsement in favour of engendering both
communication effectiveness and employee satisfaction.
Despite these contributions, there are several limitations to our study that must be
noted. First, the sample was drawn from SMEs in the German-speaking part of
Switzerland with a response rate of 21%. Although the sample seems representative for the
population, generalisations should be made with caution; any generalisations regarding the
country’s other language regions and companies in other countries are not valid.
Furthermore, the fact that the study is cross-sectional rules out any conclusion of cause and
effect. In our analyses, therefore, we focused on analysing correlations between variables
and comparing group medians. Finally, effectiveness was measured on the basis of
respondents’ opinions rather than on objective performance measurements. Although this
is customary in research on SMEs, self-assessments on the success of communication as it
pertains to image, awareness, customer and employee satisfaction might be biased. Due to
a lack of evaluation and control in communication management (see Figure 2), those
assessments are primarily based on feelings rather than on objective data.
As already suggested by Low (2000), future longitudinal research could explore the
relationship between ICM and performance more closely as a longitudinal design would
reveal the direction of the causal relationship between ICM and communication
effectiveness. Also, more in-depth analyses on the factors we have uncovered, such as the
roles of leadership support, strategic processes and executional integration, represent
particularly fruitful avenues for further research on the effectiveness of ICM. Finally,
research on the differences between ICM in small, medium-sized and large companies
would expand the scholarly knowledge of the differences and similarities in ICM
dependent on the size of the company.
358 S.A. Einwiller and M. Boenigk

Acknowledgements
The reported research was supported by the Swiss Confederation’s Innovation Promotion Agency
(CTI), Infel and Swisscom. We would like to thank Norbert Winistörfer, Dominik Lehmann and
Christoph Hug for their contribution to this research project.

Notes
1. The European Commission (2005) defines SMEs as organisations employing fewer than 250
persons with either revenue of less than EUR 50 million or annual net income of less than EUR 43
million. SMEs are divided into three categories: micro (,10 employees), small (, 50 employees)
and medium-sized enterprises (,250 employees). According to the European Commission, 99%
of all companies in the EU are SMEs, and they employ a workforce of approximately 75 million.
In Switzerland, 99.7% of the approximately 300,000 companies have fewer than 250 employees,
and only 1064 companies are considered large. SMEs employ about three-quarter of
Switzerland’s workforce and produce more than 60% of its GDP (Federal Statistical Office
2008).
2. In this study, we concentrate on those three main functions of communication management:
marketing communications, public relations and employee communications. Investor or creditor
relations are not considered here.
3. This is a selection of those variables relevant for the hypotheses proposed in this paper.
Respondents furthermore provided answers about instruments used to communicate with their
stakeholders, about budget allocation and about their use of communication agencies.

Notes on contributors
Sabine A. Einwiller is a professor of corporate communication in the department of communication
at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Colonel Kleinmann-Weg 2, 55128 Mainz, Germany,
email: einwiller@uni-mainz.de, phone: þ 49 6131 39 25938. Sabine A. Einwiller received her PhD
from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, where she headed the Centre of Corporate
Communication. Her research interests include corporate reputation and branding, the measurement
of communication effectiveness and crisis communication.
Michael Boenigk is a professor of communication and marketing at the Lucerne University of
Applied Sciences and Arts, School of Business, Zentralstrasse 9, 6002 Lucerne, Switzerland, email:
michael.boenigk@hslu.ch, phone: þ41 41 228 99 55. Michael Boenigk received his PhD from the
University of Basel, Switzerland, where he worked as research associate in the Department of
Marketing and Business Administration. His research focuses on integrated communication and
media management.

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