Communicating for emerging market MNCs

As Roland Sladek explains, the story of Huawei is representative of so many other multinational corporations from emerging markets.

Photo: Huang Huohan/Huawei

 

What are the biggest communication challenges that multinational corporations from emerging markets face today?

Having lived for almost four years in China, and having shaped the global image of one of its most successful international technology leaders, I believe that the main challenge for multinational corporations from emerging countries is linked to the high speed of their development. Companies in countries such as the United Arab Emirates and China develop at a pace that is unheard of in many parts of the world. Western audiences, for example, do not always perceive the tremendous progress in quality, innovation and labour practice and this often leads to misperception and misrepresentation. As a communication leader, my challenge is therefore to constantly explain to our audiences the progress that we have made, what we stand for and why their past image of the company might not match today’s reality.

Communication leaders must take a strategic approach, which focuses on progressively building the reputation of the company. Huawei’s engagement with the World Economic Forum, both in Davos and around the globe, is a good example of this evolution. Over the last three years, our presence evolved from initial contacts with media leaders to fully-fledged media engagements. This resulted in the first ever television interview given by the company’s founder at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos.

Another constant challenge is of course that multinational corporations from emerging markets sometimes become collateral damage of geopolitical tensions. In terms of communication, this means that as well as being knowledgeable about business and technical dynamics, you need to be extremely well versed in the (geo)political situation.

Roland Sladek

In his present role as vice president of international media affairs at Huawei, Roland Sladek is responsible for driving media relations, strategies and initiatives across Huawei’s Europe, Middle East and Africa and Russia markets and for managing the company’s public relations network and communications programmes in those regions. Prior to joining Huawei in 2012, Roland was the head of public and media relations with ST-Ericsson, a joint venture between Ericsson and STMicroelectronics, a global wireless platform and semiconductor supplier to mobile handset manufacturers. Roland began his career in corporate communications with Daimler and has held similar positions at Schneider Electric and VINCI. Roland has also taught at Sciences Po Paris and at ESG Management School in France.