”There is relatively little research in this area,” says Mats Heide, Professor in Strategic Communication, who, together with colleagues Jesper Falkheimer, Howard Nothhaft, Sara von Platen and Charlotte Simonsson has started Sweden’s largest ever project focusing on communicative organizations.

The researchers will turn communication activities of private and public organizations inside out. What is the value and importance of communication for brand building, crises, change, public opinion formation and corporate social responsibility? The aim of the project is to establish the relative importance of communication for the success of enterprises and to enable them to achieve their objectives. 

Companies and public organizations will participate in the project. They will also provide financing, which is unique for social science research. The City of Helsingborg and the professional association the Swedish Association of Communication Professionals are also financing the project. Expenditure on the project will total about 6 million Swedish kronor.

The Institution for Strategic Communication at Campus Helsingborg, in cooperation with the Swedish Association of Communication Professionals, is managing the project. 

”The Swedish Association of Communication Professionals has earlier partially financed a five-year research project on the role of communication in leadership, carried out by the Stockholm School of Economics, the results of which attracted considerable international attention and left their stamp on the development of the profession. This is a natural continuation of that project, and we think it will be significant for defining the importance of strategic communication in organizations and establishing what will be required of us in the future,” says Cecilia Schön Jansson, CEO of the Swedish Association of Communication Professionals.

The project is intended to run for three years and will result in a number of reports and articles in professional journals. The results will also be presented in a book aimed at practitioners. During the project, the researchers will cooperate with the organizations and jointly establish new areas of knowledge.   

The organizations participating in the project are EON, the City of Gothenburg, the Västernorrland County Administrative Board, the City of Malmö, NCC, the Swedish Police Service, PostNord, the City of Stockholm and Region Västra Götaland. It is still possible for two more companies to participate in the project. 

For more information please contact:
Mats Heide, Project Manager, e-mail: Mats [dot] Heide [at] isk [dot] lu [dot] se

Text: Ulrika Oredsson