a b s t r a c tCompanies are being forced to critically re-evaluate how they communicate their financial information to stakeholders. Integrated Reporting, as mandated by the King III Report seeks to combine the reporting of financial and nonfinancial performance measures in a way that promotes corporate strategy. South Africa is leading the way in corporate governance and financial reporting with the first large-scale adoption of Integrated Reporting by listed companies. While there is a marked increase in financial communication from companies, it is not clear how all stakeholders use and value this information. The primary aim of this paper was to investigate how financial information is consumed within the ambit of the new financial reporting standards. Through a national online survey, this study found that very few stakeholders use the Integrated Reports as their main source of financial and investment information, and that these reports are seen as additional information. Annual and interim financial reports by companies are still the mainstay for corporate financial information. While stakeholders currently seldom use the Internet for financial information, they have indicated that they would increasingly prefer to do so. The paper concludes with a discussion of opportunities and challenges that future Integrated Reporting faces based on these findings.

Most of the scholarly body of knowledge of public relations built up over the last three decades has been undertaken in Western countries. Naturally, these conceptual frameworks have been suited to those areas of the world. The focal point of the calls for a shift to a new, inclusive global economic order is the growing influence of the developing economies of the world. This, in turn, has important implications for public relations and communication management in these regions and internationally. Academic researchers could embark on building an African body of knowledge of public relations and theories based on an African philosophy and worldview. Against this background, the debate around whether a generic model of public relations in and for Africa is possible has been the subject of considerable debate. It has also been argued that shared, common African philosophical approaches can be identified, and that these have an important role in communication throughout Africa. This article describes some of the influences that might shape African theory‐building and raises a number of questions along the way such as: Can there be an exclusively African public relations model? What is the balance between Western and African influences in the synthesis of a hybrid model? What has Africa to offer to Western theory? Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Including stakeholder approaches into mainstream strategy has been a topic of recent research in the disciplines of strategic management and strategic communication management. The King III Report on Corporate Governance for South Africa (September 2009) illustrates the pragmatic approach to this integration with its chapter on 'Governing Stakeholder Relationships'. This inclusive approach to governance creates awareness among business, government and civil society, of the role that stakeholder relationship management, and therefore strategic communication management, can play in the development, implementation and monitoring of corporate strategies in a sustainable manner. A theoretical framework for an integrated approach-as developed in this article-will guide responsible strategic communication management with specific reference to the governing of stakeholder relationships. It will demonstrate that communication management principles, such as stakeholder relationship management, can assist an organisation in achieving its objectives-even to a point of becoming objectives in themselves.

The global attempt to determine the body of knowledge for communication management has inspired and motivated African scholars and practitioners to provide insights into this field from the perspective of a developing continent. This article attempts to paint the African picture in terms of political and socioeconomic factors against the backdrop of globalization. In Africa, scholars and practitioners have an added responsibility-the utilization of communication management for development and empowerment of the continent and its people. The article investigates some implications for African communication management theory, research, and practice.In developed countries, communication management (public relations) 1 in all its contexts is of paramount importance to creating and maintaining effective relationships with all stakeholders. In Africa, in theory, this is also held as a strong argument by communication management scholars and practitioners. However, to realize this ideal in practice is much more difficult.

There is a lack of knowledge and understanding of the practice of public relations (PR)in Africa, which prohibits the continent to fulfil its responsibility towards the global PRsociety as well as other developing countries. Based on the findings of a master’sdissertation on the practice of PR in Africa, this article focuses on one of the conceptsthat were measured, namely PR roles.The article discusses current literature in the field of roles research and describes theempirical verification of two PR roles in Africa. Although the three roles of the PRstrategist, manager and technician were measured, only two roles emerged during thefactor analysis: the role of the strategist (Factor 1), and the combined roles of thetechnician/manager (Factor 2).The data was collected by means of a self-administered electronic questionnaire. Dataanalysis consisted of both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Common Factor Analysis(CFA) where the underlying dimensions were extracted, indicating the items used to definethe PR roles.