ABSTRACT
One important aspect of corporate adjustment to external stakeholders is the culture that is used to define and evaluate their activities. Activism, for instance, changed the business culture of this country so that standards of corporate responsibility that are used to guide and evaluate company performance today differ markedly from those of the late 1950s. Corporate adaptation to internal and external environments requires the ability to read and interpret information. Organizational rhetoric, in terms of internal stakeholders, can convince management that employees are valuable resources to be groomed and utilized as part of the decision-making processes; or it can convince management of the opposite point of view, leading, in all probability, to an unproductive and contentious relationship with employees, as well as external stakeholders. Only by becoming part of executive management can external communication experts help improve their companies’ enactment in ways that lessen criticism of their policies and actions.
