• Apply theories, models, best practices, and various tools (traditional and social media) associated with persuasion and external communication in business contexts
• Demonstrate strategic insight to help uncover and analyze competitive or stakeholder problems that could be alleviated/moderated with persuasive external communication
• Recognize the extent that consumers now scrutinize companies on issues well beyond their products/services and how external communication can heighten customer satisfaction
• Understand that business success increasingly hinges on how a company communicates its value through CSR, issues management and stakeholder relations

From Roman times when Julius Caesar issued battlefield reports to influence public opinion to the modern Apple age when Steve Jobs transformed the telephone, external communication has been an essential building block of organizational endeavors. Arguably, the classic underlying principles of persuasive communication have largely remained the same. Today, however, sweeping cultural changes and dramatic advances in communication technology have heightened the stakes. This course examines how businesses excel (or stumble) based on how well they understand the widening power and reach of external communication across global, national, and local levels. Primary attention in class (and student final papers) focuses on corporate social responsibility's persuasive impact now that consumers are increasingly considering a company' contribution to society rather than just the product or service. Students explore how organizations seek to persuade stakeholders through a range of external communication strategies and tactics to manage ongoing issues, avert or moderate controversies and crises, and develop and maintain markets. 

Preliminary assignment: About 50 pages of reading and a brief analysis of the persuasive elements of a public service campaign (about two-thirds of a page)

Class 1: Overview of theories and models related to external communication and persuasion: classic and contemporary

Class 2: Corporate social responsibility; planning persuasive CSR  communication campaigns with strategies and tactics that build trust, loyalty and new business opportunities

Class 3: Persuasive corporate storytelling: message strategies and structures, rhetoric and resonance

Class 4: Cross-cultural considerations; persuasive communication across borders; 

Class 5: Thought leadership through the media (traditional and social) and other tools of influence

Class 6:  Feedback activity, focusing on a multifaceted external communication challenge, enabling students to practice analysis and planning techniques that will be useful for their individual mini projects. Small-group and class-wide discussions are guided and critiqued by the professor.   
Class 7 & 8:  External communication tools and techniques in an era when "who you are" increasingly drives a company's product sales; brief case studies focusing on campaign elements

Class 9: Crisis communication: how external communication can preempt, moderate or exacerbate problems

Class 10: Future of external communication; emerging trends and leaders

Class 11: Comprehensive review

Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.

Course timetable is available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams

We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams end February 2019 at the latest.

Mandatory readings:

Text available for purchase at CBS Bookstore: Good Works! Marketing and Corporate Initiatives That Build A Better World And The Bottom Line, 2012, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Co-Authors: Philip Kotler, David Hessekiel and Nancy R. Lee

Several articles for purchase as digital coursepack from Harvard Business Publications (purchasing instructions will be forthcoming on CBS LEARN)

Free required readings will be posted on CBS LEARN.

Additional relevant readings:

Students are responsible for independent reading and other research tied to their specific mini project topics