Article Review: Public Relations and the path to innovation….

In volume 2, number 3, of the 2008 Summer edition of the Public Relations Journal, I found a very interesting article written by Sandra C. Duhe’.  The articles is entitled Public Relations and the path to innovation: Are complex environments good for business, and sheds a bright new light on the way that I personally look at not only our economy and our environments, but at the way i view businesses themselves as well.  

First and foremost, I found this article more than interesting.  Once I started reading and getting into the hard information I found that I couldn’t stop.  Part of the reason that I found this article so interesting was because, I finally found an article that talked about business and current complex environment in a positive light.  Personally, I was very surprised to learn that businesses tend to be more successful in a complex environment.  Once I finished the article, it made complete since to me that businesses would succeed in these fast paced environments.

One reason I like reading articles about topics such as this one, is because the open my eyes to ideas, that in reality are quite obvious, but many times we overlook.  When you think about these complex types of environments, it is normally quite obvious that the more innovative and new concepts would come from this, but I personally never thought about it that way.  I never realized the importance that an environment potentially has on the creativity of people, firms and businesses.  I also never really thought or realized the importance of a firm’s ability to adapt or change in these complex environment.  Once again, once I completed reading the article, this and many other thoughts and concepts stood out unlike before.  

I found that this article really did help with potential ideas for the company that I have chosen for my final product; General Motors.  As we all know, our economy has hit a rough patch, and it is becoming harder and harder for companies to post profits; this is especially true for the automotive industry.  GM can definately take some advice from this article, especially when it comes down to working with the community and then environment that is around you.  Though GM has already started to play into this idea, they still have a long way to come, and even farther to master the struggling auto market.

Personally I would love to know more about how many of the companies and firms in these complex environments help eachother, all while keeping a healthy and needed level of competitiveness.  I would also like to see more about how firms and businesses located in environments that are not as complex can use some of the same techniques to succceed on the same levels as those that are in the more complex environments.

I also think that it would be very interesting to get specific examples as to what some of these companies and firms used.  I would want to hear of both success and failures, and see what I can learn and take away from all of those.  Lastly, I would have liked to have seen some more information about how to change, adapt and succeed in less complex environments.