Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Businesses should move with the changing times and start paying attention to "people power" in terms of business communication, a consultant told European and American businessmen Tuesday.
Businesses in Taiwan should realize that the old business communication model of "pyramid of authority, " in which information is passed to the audience from experts, is no longer working today, said Alan VanderMolen, president of Edleman Asia-Pacific.
With today's sophisticated information technology, businesses should adopt a new "sphere of cross influence" model, in which institutions such as media, business, consumers, non-government organizations (NGOs) and government interact with each other, he said.
Especially in Taiwan, where media credibility has dropped to a new low point according to an annual survey conducted recently by Edelman and blogging familiarity and usage is very high, foreign businesses are encouraged to communicate through various channels.
The "Regional Stakeholder Study 2006" survey was based on interviews with 1,050 consumers, employees, investors, media members, government officials, NGOs and business executives -- the seven stakeholder groups -- in Taiwan, Japan, China, South Korea, India and Singapore, among other countries. It polled 70 people in Taiwan.
Citing the survey results, VanderMolen also noted the difficulties for businesses in hiring qualified employees in Taiwan, as 19 percent of the survey respondents in Taiwan listed employee development and benefits as the first thing they noticed that makes companies stand out.
"At the end of the day, products and services remain king, " he said.
But businesses also should hand "power to the people, " get employees engaged, apply multi-channel communication and pay attention to corporate social responsibility to operate smoothly in the Asia-Pacific region.