CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

An organization that succeeds without public relations is like a politician, salesman and a lawyer succeeding without personality Rogers (2005:22). For the definition which stand as a two way communication strategy, carefully planned and vigorously pursue and sustained by an organization in monitoring its image among the public it serve. One can see the important role which the public relations department of an organization will have to play on making sure that there is continuity of the organizations image projection in order to achieve a desired result. To survive, an organization has to create a favourable image for itself to the general public’s, so as to maintain their publics.  Image according to Godley (2005:88) is the total concept of an organization according to previous knowledge and understanding of facts of the body corporate or incorporate and recalled from time to time for the purpose of forming an opinion.

Image is the foundation of every corporate body. Hardly any corporate body can survive with a battered image, a misunderstand image or an unprojected image. The basic functions of public a relations practitioner is to create and sustain a good image for an organization. Good public relations can therefore be said to be an effective tool to corporate image. Corporate image which is one of the various types of images is the total of all impressions of a company in the consciousness of the various publics. These public include customers, suppliers, stockholders, potential investors, competitors and the general public. These impressions are created by its products, services community relations, business dealings, security investments, appearance of properties and a host of other considerations.

There is ample evidence that a favourable corporate image can make a positive contribution to organizations salesman earnings, but the attitude of the public towards an organization will determine its credibility. Thus attitude could be positive or negative depending on how the organization carries the reputation or images it deserves about. An organizations image depends on the company’s behaviour and financial performance, its marketing policies, standard of its personnel relations and its management philosophy. The protection of the organization image is the public relations men’s responsibility and he should also be conscious of the organization in every aspect in which their activities residue.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Corporate image is the totality of the impressions the various publics of an organization have of it the impression maybe positive or negative. Every organization seeks to create a positive impression in the minds of its various publics. Champion Breweries, Uyo is no exception. In the past years, Champion Breweries Plc, Uyo which is a pioneer corporate institution in the breweries industry has been caught up by dwindling economic policies and unstable political system. The name Champion Breweries Plc appeared to have maintained corporate image of strong efficient and quality minded and socially responsible corporate citizen. It is against thus understanding that this study attempted to access the contributions of public relations in positively influencing the corporate image of the organization.

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of the study are to:

1. Find out the relationship that exists between public relations and corporate image of Champion Breweries.
2. Find out the level in which public relation influences the corporate image of Champion Breweries.
3. Find out the factors that militate against public relations practice in Champion Breweries.
4. Recommend on the effective practice of public relations for corporate image.

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions formulated were;

1. What is the relationship that exists between public relations and corporate image of Champion Breweries Plc?
2. What is the level in which public relation influences the corporate image of Champion Breweries Plc?
3. What are the factors that militate against public relations practice in Champion Breweries Plc?
4. How could the effective practice of public relations for corporate image be recommended?

1.5     RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

The hypotheses formulated were;

Ho:   There is no significant relationship that exists between public relations and corporate image of Champion Breweries Plc.

Hi:    There is significantly a relationship that exists between public relations and corporate image of Champion Breweries Plc.

Ho:   The level in which public relations influences the corporate image of Champion Breweries Plc is not significant.

Hi:    The level in which public relation influence the corporate image of Champion Breweries Plc is significant.

1.6     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The researcher believes that there are always constraints between the organization and its external and internal publics which lead misconception and misrepresentation of the organizational objectives of the organization. This call for harmonization of the general public’s of the organization for a better understanding among them, in order to avoid this ugly relationship, the public relations department through its numerous programmes which include image buildings correct the wrong impression held by the two publics about the organization.

The significance of the study will to highlight the importance of image building activities as a public relations function to make the relationship of both the external and internal publics of Champion Breweries Plc, Uyo cordial with the management thereby active desired goodwill of the organization.

1.7     SCOPE/LIMITATIION OF THE STUDY

To give a comprehensive research findings on the influence of public relation on the corporate image. The study shall be limited to influence of public relations on the corporate image adopted by Champion Breweries Plc.

However due to circumstance beyond the control of the researcher, the study was limited to Champion Breweries Plc, the factors that gave use to such limited scope of the study included:

1. Time: Time factors that could negatively affect an academic project such as this. The researcher had very few months to conduct, compile and submit the project report also course in the discipline curriculum complete for the researcher time and attention.
2. Finance: The relative scarcity or non-availability of money to researcher determines to a greater extent, the scope that could be covered in their studies, in the same vein, the non-availability of finance hinder the smooth running of the project effectively.
3. Material: None availability of material, hinder the smooth conduct and competition of the work, also the scarcity of writing and printing materials and their associated high accosts.
4. Illiteracy: Many respondents do not understand what the research really means because of the poor educational background therefore this hinder the researcher ability to collect the relevant accurately.

1.8     DEFINITION OF TERMS

Some important terms used in the study are defined briefly below to give readers an inside and understanding of the study.

Influence: Is the power to affect consumer’s actions to produce a change of attitude whether positive or negative.

Public Relations: Is the act of harmonizing relationship between an organization and its publics in order to create good will and understanding.

Corporate Image: This is the totality of impressions which the publics of an organization have of it.

Consumer: According to Kotler and Armstrong (996) consumer are all the individuals and households, who buy or acquire goods and services for personnel consumption.