South African corporate communication practice and its obstacles for future progression

This article forms part of a series of studies conducted by Corporate Communication International (CCI) in various countries. This article reviews the structures, practices, and trends amongst South African corporate communication professionals - with the view to determine whether or not they are fulfilling this role and identify the obstacles to future progression of the profession. A mixed method, sequential transformatory research strategy was used in in-depth interviews with the Corporate Communication Directors or equivalent of 26 companies out of the 500 best-performing South African organizations. Although corporate communication professionals in South Africa do deal with stakeholder relationship management in their practice of corporate communication and perceive their role as being strategic, this function is often not implemented and is the major obstacle to the advancement of the field of corporate communication in South Africa. The value of the article lies in the fact that the CCI study was conducted in South Africa (the first country in Africa), which highlighted the actual practice of corporate communication in South Africa and identified the obstacles to the advancement of the field.   Key words: Corporate communication, roles, functions, transparency, issues management, benchmark study.