What does regional studies study? From subnational to supra-national regional spaces or Grossraum of sovereign governance

This article makes a case for expanding the scope of current versions of “regional studies” to include greater emphasis upon transnational regions as of equal if not greater importance compared with an exclusive focus upon sub-national regions. The latter more restrictive approach is typically predicated on the continued centrality of state borders against which the dominant notion of regions as subnational entities is constituted and reiterated. Drawing upon a case study of the African Union our study provides a framework, a critically revised Grossraum theory, for addressing the emergence of a new pluralistic and multipolar world order characterised by supra-national regions and regional organizations. Traditional Schmittian notions of Grossraum are shown to be in need of substantial revision before they are able to adequately accommodate and explain the empirical details of our case study

The Core Value Compass: visually evaluating the goodness of brands that do good

yesBrands that do good for the society as well as for themselves are motivated by the core values they espouse, which necessitates a better understanding of what qualities a true core value must possess. The inherent tension within brands that do good, between commercial interests to increase competitiveness, and societal interests that are closely linked to the brand’s authenticity, has largely been overlooked. Hence, we develop and demonstrate a relatively easy-to-apply visual tool for evaluating core values based on a set of ‘goodness’ criteria derived from extant theory. The Core Value Compass adopts a paradox-based, evolutionary perspective by incorporating the inherent tensions within true core values, and classifying them according to their temporal orientation. Thus, we contribute towards a better understanding of underlying tensions of core values and provide a practical tool that paves the way for improved, and indeed ethical, corporate branding strategies. Furthermore, we demonstrate the Compass’ application using the case of a public sector brand, which is a quintessential brand that does good. Therefore, we also contribute to the nascent theoretical discourse on public sector branding. This paper therefore adds to the notable attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice in core values-based corporate branding

Introduction to the Handbook on Digital Corporate Communication

As masses of digitally savvy stakeholders master the means of 24/7 communication technology, so must communication professionals. This chapter introduces digital corporate communication (DCC) as an important and emerging field of research and practice. Despite the growing yet disparate body of research examining how digital technologies are shaping ways in which organizations and stakeholders communicate with each other, this chapter identifies the need for a more unified body of scholarly knowledge about DCC. It also systematically builds on existing DCC research to offer conceptual clarity of terms such as digital, digitalisation and digital infrastructure, as well as corporate communicationitself, to propose a definition of DCC. It subsequently introduces this handbook’s four over-arching sections that cover: (1) digitally-influenced changes to legacy corporate communication functions, (2) digitally-influenced issues that corporate communication must address, (3) corporate communication’s adoption of digital technologies, and (4) corporate communication’s role in managing digitalization’s effects in society

Public sector reputation and netpromoter score

Reputation of public sector organizations is increasingly formed through Word of Mouth (WOM) as citizens and stakeholders share their experiences with others both online and offline. Understanding and measuring WOM is a challenge for many public sector organizations, who often resort to measurement tools designed for the private sector. This paper looks at a popular WOM measurement tool, namely the Net Promoter Score (NPS) in the context of public sector organizations. In this paper, we ask how well does the NPS describe public sector reputation, and look at what the different stakeholder groups categorized by NPS are like in the public sector. As an illustrative case, we report findings of a stakeholder reputation survey (n: 1198) conducted for a large Finnish ministry utilizing both established reputation measures and the NPS. Based on our findings, we conclude that the traditional NPS requires tailoring to match the public sector context, and propose “The Public Sector Net Promoter Score (PSNPS)” as a new measure for WOM in the public sector context.peerReviewe

Typing of Enteroviruses by Use of Microwell Oligonucleotide Arrays▿ †

We have developed a straightforward assay for the rapid typing of enteroviruses using oligonucleotide arrays in microtiter wells. The viral nucleic acids are concomitantly amplified and labeled during reverse transcription-PCR, and unpurified PCR products are used for hybridization. DNA strands are separated by alkaline denaturation, and hybridization is started by neutralization. The microarray hybridization reactions and the subsequent washes are performed in standard 96-well microtiter plates, which makes the method easily adaptable to high-throughput analysis. We describe here the assay principle and its potential in clinical laboratory use by correctly identifying 10 different enterovirus reference strains. Furthermore, we explore the detection of unknown sequence variants using serotype consensus oligonucleotide probes. With just two consensus probes for the coxsackievirus A9 (CVA9) serotype, we detected 23 out of 25 highly diverse CVA9 isolates. Overall, the assay involves several features aiming at ease of performance, robustness, and applicability to large-scale studies