First-of-Its-Kind Study of Greater China Corporate Communication Practices and Trends Subject of Corporate Communication Institute Executive Briefing

November 14, 2006 in New York

MADISON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Greater China is one of the world’s fastest growing markets. Global companies, who do business with the Chinese, will gain valuable insight into the corporate communication function in China today at a Corporate Communication Institute (CCI) Executive Briefing on the practice of corporate communication in Greater China on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon at the Weissman Center for International Business, Baruch College/CUNY in New York.

“With China’s remarkable economic development during the last two decades, the spirit and practice of Chinese companies have been radically transformed from merely serving as an administrative function in a centrally-planned economic system to reflecting features of market-oriented enterprises”

The briefing focuses on the findings of a first-of-its-kind benchmark study undertaken by CCI, Beijing Horizon Market Research Group and Dr. Jay Wang of Purdue University and underwritten by Prudential Financial Inc.

The new report, Communication Practices and Trends: China Benchmark 2006, is co-authored by Michael B. Goodman, CCI Director and Professor of Corporate Communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University and author of Work with Anyone Anywhere: A Guide to Global Business, and by Jay Wang, Ph.D., Professor of Communication at Purdue University and author of Becoming Global, Becoming Local:

Foreign Advertising in China and co-author of China’s Window on the World: TV News, Social Knowledge and International Spectacles. Twenty-three Chinese companies, representing a wide range of industries of varying sizes, participated in the study.

Goodman and Wang will present the study’s key findings and contrast them with the U.S.

experience, giving attendees concrete insights into the corporate communication function in China today. Robert DeFillippo, Chief Communications Officer, Global Communications, Prudential Financial, Inc., and project underwriter, will introduce the program discussing the study’s value for those companies, like Prudential, for whom China is an important new market.

“With China’s remarkable economic development during the last two decades, the spirit and practice of Chinese companies have been radically transformed from merely serving as an administrative function in a centrally-planned economic system to reflecting features of market-oriented enterprises,” said Dr. Jay Wang. “Amidst the restructuring of Chinese enterprises,” Wang added, “the function of corporate communication is also undergoing dramatic changes.”

Registration is still available. Contact CCI at 973-443-8709 or at cci@corporatecomm.org.

The Corporate Communication Institute at Fairleigh Dickinson University (USA), devoted to the theory and practice of corporate communication, provides world-class, research driven programs for corporate practitioners, scholars, students, policy makers and the general public. For more information, visit www.corporatecomm.org.

Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $586 billion in total assets under management as of September 30, 2006, serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement-related services and administration, asset management, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises, relocation services and, through a joint venture, retail securities brokerage services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.

The Weissman Center for International Business, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College/CUNY is designed to enable Baruch College to respond to the global economy with programs appropriate to a preeminent school of business. For more information, visit http://zicklin.baruch.cuny.edu/centers/weissman/.