Investigating social media strategy in organisations: implementation and platform evaluation

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonThe implementation of SM is considered an important criterion that influences the accomplishment of business performance and achieves competitive advantage. However, there is a limitation in SM research concerning the implementation of SM strategy and the selection of suitable SM platform for business. Therefore, the investigation and analysis conducted in this study provide an understanding of the application of SM in business by examining the implementation process and the selection of SM platform. Accordingly, a SM strategy framework was developed for a practical implementation of business which includes three stage-process. This empirical research context includes two field investigations in relations to the views and experience of the SM personnel who participated in this study. Both investigation phases were analysed using thematic analysis with respect to the interpretive qualitative analysis approach. The research revealed that companies do follow directly or indirectly some base guidelines in employing SM but do not have a strategic implementation process in carrying out this activity as described in the framework presented. Also, companies are required to consider selecting a suitable SM platform for business which leads to added value to the holistic strategically implemented process. The analysis of the SM strategy framework revealed that an alignment of SM strategy and business strategy could be established through strategic implementation. The implementation process of SM strategy would require company's readiness as described in the framework to ensure successful SM integration to support in achieving business goals. This research provides in-depth knowledge of how the implementation process can be conducted in stages and the application of this technological innovation. The results of the analysis of the framework indicated that companies establish a presence on platforms where their customers are located. Leading to further investigation in the second phase where Practice theory is employed. Revealing an in-depth understanding on how platform evaluation can be carried out by examining the actual act of enacting the selection process, understanding the routine and considering the individuals involved in shaping and implementing platform evaluation in the company. Therefore, the findings can be used by managers or key SM personnel to implement SM strategy efficiently to improve business performance and applied by researchers for further evaluation and analysis of this process

Representações na cultura empresarial : um estudo de caso

Tese de doutoramento, Linguística (Linguística Aplicada), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2011A realidade contemporânea coloca, simultaneamente, no terreno empresarial, a competitividade, o valor humano e a responsabilidade social, aos quais acresce um novo paradigma comunicacional. As empresas têm, por um lado, de responder a exigências económicas, com um foco muito direccionado para a satisfação do cliente, e, por outro, de investir na sua projecção social e nas pessoas que as compõem, conscientes do valor da participação destas no seu sucesso. Nesta perspectiva, o modo como as empresas se representam, quer internamente, quer externamente, é fundamental, em termos do seu sucesso ou do seu insucesso. As suas representações realizam-se por meio de discursos semióticos que veiculam valores, atitudes e relações e que, ao criar identidades, formas de pensar e de agir, têm implicações na cultura empresarial. Com base nesta concepção, analisam-se, nesta tese, práticas discursivas verbais e visuais, com implicações na construção de representações na cultura de um grupo empresarial português. Estuda-se, em concreto, um conjunto de corpora multimodais, que representa a voz institucional do grupo e a dos seus colaboradores de topo. Para tal, seguem-se os princípios da Linguística Sistémico-Funcional e da Semiótica Social, aplicados ao Discurso Empresarial, com ênfase no sistema da transitividade (Halliday, 1994, 2004), das estruturas de representação da Gramática Visual (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996, 2006) e no inventário sócio-semântico da representação dos actores sociais (van Leeuwen, 1996, 2008). Da análise realizada em três dimensões da realidade (o grupo na cultura, a cultura do grupo e a cultura no grupo), observam-se diferentes representações, resultado das dinâmicas complexas entre a sociedade, a cultura e o discurso semiótico. Conclui-se que o estudo semiótico-discursivo das representações permite configurar uma cultura empresarial, mediada por dinâmicas de natureza diversa, que (re)constrói permanentemente as práticas.Contemporary reality simultaneously brings competitiveness, human value and social responsibility to the corporate field, together with a new communicational paradigm. Companies have to keep up with economic demands oriented towards the improvement of customer care, on the one hand, and to invest both in their social projection and in the dynamics of their human resources, on the other. Given this, the way companies represent themselves, both internally and externally, is crucial to their success or unsuccess. Their representations, which are realized by means of semiotic discourses which convey values, attitudes and relations and, by creating identities, ways of thinking and acting, have implications in the corporate culture. Based on this conception, this thesis analyses verbal and visual discursive practices, which construct representations of the culture of a Portuguese business group. More specifically, the research focuses on selected multimodal corpora, which represent the institutional voice of the group and that of its top collaborators. To pursue this objective, research is grounded on the principles of Systemic- Functional Linguistics and Social Semiotics, both applied to Entrepreneurial Discourse, with an emphasis on the system of transitivity (Halliday 1994, 2004), the structures of representation explored in Kress & van Leeuwen’s Visual Grammar (1996, 2006), and the representation of social actors (van Leeuwen 1996, 2008). The analysis of the given data in three dimensions (the group in the culture, the culture of the group, and the culture in the group) reveals different representations, which are the result of the complex dynamics between society, culture and semiotic discourse. The semiotic and discursive study of representations allows for the configuration of a corporate culture, mediated by different dynamics, which permanently (re)constructs practices.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia(FCT, SFRH/BD/47459/2008)