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Anders Gronstedt, Ph.D. President - Gronstedt
Group
Anders Högström C.E.O. - Kommunikativt Ledarskap AB
What is world-class public relations and how do you attain it? That was the question
Volvo Car Corporation asked when it set its sights on being recognized as one
of the top three public relations organizations in the automotive industry within
three years. To gain a clearer understanding of what it would need to accomplish
in order to meet this ambitious goal, Volvo undertook a global benchmarking study.
Benchmarking is one of the
most popular and potent management techniques to emerge in the last 20 years.
Evaluating the work processes of best-in-class companies for the purpose of organizational
improvement is a technique that would seem to promise obvious benefits for management
in all phases of business activity, but unfortunately it has been sorely underutilized
in the corporate communications arena. Most of what passes for benchmarking in
the PR arena amounts to little more than:
 | chatting
with professional colleagues (for example, visiting other companies without clear
objectives, which is merely industrial tourism)
|
| conducting
low-intensity intelligence gathering (anonymously placing a few phone calls to
or visiting competitors, which is more akin to espionage) |
| clip
counting (comparing your company's press clippings to other companies' by volume,
and calling these statistical artifacts benchmarks) |
While colleagues, competitive intelligence and clips can certainly be sources
of useful information, an informal collage of found information is hardly a substitute
for a rigorous, comprehensive program of analysis. In contrast to these shoddy
practices, the premise of effective benchmarking is a mutual exchange of process
and performance information that inspires positive change for all companies involved.
A proper and productive benchmark study starts with a thorough analysis of an
organization's current processes and problems, a step that provides the basis
for determining benchmark goals and objectives. To this end, Volvo appointed a
steering committee with some of the best minds in its international public relations
organization. The team decided to learn how world-class public relations organizations:
| integrate
with other departments and senior management,
|
| organize
the public relations department internationally, |
| manage
particular tactics, and
|
| recruit
and develop individual professionals. |
The steering committee met periodically to guide the benchmark process.
Selecting Benchmark Companies To identify the most appropriate
companies to benchmark, the Gronstedt Group evaluated a number of sources. Stakeholder
surveys emerged as one of the most helpful, with three best-in-class automotive
companies being brought to our attention during a phone survey we conducted with
20 U.S. and European auto journalists. Secondary sources like Fortune's "Most
Admired" list and Fortune/Yankelovich's Corporate Equity study confirmed these
choices. Industry experts are another rich source of information. We spent a week
in New York interviewing highly regarded public relations authorities like Walt
Lindenmann, Jim Arnold and Garry Grates, and based on this information, the steering
committee agreed on a list of three automotive companies - one Japanese, European,
and one American - as well as three companies in other industries.
An equal mix of companies inside and outside of the benchmark company's industry
is generally desirable. Other automotive companies could provide Volvo with valuable
information on industry-specific concern, such as how they manage their press
fleet and prepare for auto shows. But even the best of companies are prisoners
to the habits and conventions of their respective industries. To get out-of-the-box
ideas you also need to investigate companies in entirely different industries.
In the case of Volvo, the pre-benchmark self-analysis indicated that the company
needed to improve its environmental and crisis communication. No auto company
in the world is as experienced in these areas as the two European nuclear power
companies we selected for the study, nor can any automotive manufacturer boast
the sophisticated international coordination and employee communications programs
we found in the American delivery services company we visited.
Contacting the Companies We recommend a top-down approach
when contacting the proposed benchmarking companies, with senior managers making
the initial contact. In this study, Volvo Car Corporation's president contacted
the presidents of the three auto companies and Volvo's PR director contacted his
counterparts at the other three companies. This is not only a matter of professional
courtesy, but is also an effective way to secure the commitment of the senior
management in the other companies, which will be critical to the success of the
benchmarking audit. If the managers you need to meet and interview are asked by
their superiors to participate, they will be more inclined to cooperate with the
fact-finding process. In our experience, most companies
are remarkably willing to participate in benchmark studies, and not a single company
turned down Volvo's request. Even car companies that are direct competitors (think
Pepsi and Coke) felt they would gain from a benchmark visit, so long as it appropriately
skirted proprietary areas. Volvo promised to return the favor, inviting these
companies to pay a similar visit to its offices. The company also agreed to share
its findings with all participating companies. Visiting
the Companies The authors of this article (one a consultant
who was a Volvo PR executive at the time of the study, and the other a consultant
with significant experience in the benchmarking process) conducted the visits.
We were accompanied by an alternating third Volvo representative - typically the
senior public relations executive in the country where each visit took place.
This way, six Volvo leaders benefitted from the learning experience of visiting
a best-in-class organization. A question guide developed
by the steering committee was provided to the companies in advance of our visits.
The questions were open-ended and organized around the four objectives listed
above, which served to focus the half-day meetings. During the meetings, the question
guide served as a checklist, keeping discussions on track and insuring that all
topic areas were covered. Analyzing the Findings
The analysis was primarily qualitative, and resulted in a report that was organized
around the four stated objectives. Since the public relations industry lacks universally
accepted measurement standards, our quantitative analysis centered on a self-report
assessment of benchmark company performance along ten criteria for world-class
public relations. During each benchmark visit we asked the managers individually
to rank their organization on a 1-10 scale on each criterion. PR execs at Volvo
were also asked to complete the same self-assessment. We averaged the scores for
each company and plotted the highest scoring company in each category against
Volvo's score. This gap analysis describes the client company's strengths and
weaknesses in comparison with best-in-class performers, and represents the basis
for recommendations on how to improve an organization and close the gap.
Of course, self-reported data presents researchers with all sorts of validity
problems. For instance, one problem we observed was that the Japanese automotive
company, operating from a culture that valued self-effacement, seemed to rate
itself lower than the more self-assured German companies. Still, the analysis
provided an indication of where the biggest gaps were. Our colleagues in manufacturing
and operations have been conveniently ignoring the limitations of these methods
for decades, so it isn't as though the technique is without precedent.
Microcosm Study The strategic benchmark study was complemented
by a "microcosm study," which compared the process of a project at Volvo with
a similar project at another company. This comparative analysis provides an in-depth
understanding of the strengths and weaknesses related to project planning and
implementation. The project chosen for a microcosm study
should be one that is frequently repeated and is not too large or complex. This
study compared a recent journalist test drive of Volvo's newly launched convertible
with a similar test drive at another automotive company. A couple of days were
required to interview all the key people involved in the two projects. The parallel
processes were then mapped and analyzed. Acting on the
Findings The results of the benchmark study were presented
at a meeting of Volvo's international PR staff and senior management team. Because
of the consensus-oriented culture at Volvo, we refrained from presenting a complete
action plan. Instead, ten teams of public relations professionals from both Volvo's
headquarters and international operations were appointed and charged with suggesting
ways the company might close the gap between Volvo and the world-class benchmark
companies on each of the criteria. The suggestions from these teams were then
to be compiled by the steering committee into a master improvement plan.
The benchmark process that the Gronstedt Group has developed in our consulting
practice goes beyond merely emulating leading companies. By combining knowledge
from a number of leading companies, the benchmarker cultivates a unique advantage
by picking and choosing the best elements of each company. This is an effective
approach to jump-starting a change process, achieving both continuous and breakthrough
improvements, and setting standards by which a company can gauge its growth and
success on an ongoing basis. As for Volvo Car Corporation,
this benchmark study has set the automotive manufacturer on the track to closing
the gap between its operations today and the world-class status it has established
as its goal. Thanks to its willingness to undertake a comprehensive, disciplined
program of analysis, it is well on the way to becoming one of the top public relations
organizations in the world. | 
