1.2 The concept of strategy in the literature on communication management
If one examines the literature on communication management it is apparent that here, a
practically-oriented perspective which implicitly is based on simplified
decision-making models dominates (e.g. Tibbie, 1993; Argenti and Forman, 2002).
Many textbooks or handbooks formulate strategy concepts determined by case studies
(Fombrun and van Riel, 2004). In addition, numerous studies commissioned or
conducted by agencies adopt the synoptic-planning strategy model without
questioning it, yet hardly contribute to a systematic increase in knowledge. The
extent to which communication management is in fact a strategic function has rarely
been directly addressed (Moss and Warnaby, 1997). Often it is simply taken for granted
that this is the case: It is assumed that communication represents a decisive factor in a
corporation’s value chain, and the demand that communication managers are either
included among upper-level managers or at least report to them directly is derived
from this assumption.