Based on these considerations, the goal of this article is to provide a new perspective
on the relationship between communication management as a strategic process and
corporate strategy. Such an interlocking of communication management and corporate
strategy points to a fruitful tension between the two strategies. We will also suggest
ways how to resolute this tension partly.
Moreover, a second field of conflict shall be outlined and partly resolved: The
approaches of the prescriptive and descriptive branch of strategy research are
generally described to be contradictory. Instead, we propose an intermediary position
which offers further insights into the role of strategy in communication management.
In order to create a theoretical basis for the description of communication
management as a strategic function we will proceed in the following steps. First we
will briefly review the present state of research on strategy in the literature devoted to
management (1.1) and present the way strategy is regarded in the literature on
communication management (1.2). Based on this we will develop a concept of strategy
as decision-making process (2). In a third step this strategy concept will be transferred
to communication management (3.1).We will specifically examine which consequences
this understanding has for problem definition and situation analysis in communication
management (3.2), as well as for the identification and prioritization of stakeholders
(3.3).