Strategic Business Communications Management in Ukraine: Challenges and Trends

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the challenges and trends in the transformation of strategic business communications management during the period of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

Research methodology. To clarify the main goal of the study of the challenges and trends in the transformation of strategic business communications management during the period of the full-scale invasion, which are presented in the information and communication space of Ukraine as a representation of the implementation of the crisis communication policy of business, we used the following methods: analysis of strategic communication activities of business structures during a full-scale invasion, generalization - when determining the main trends in strategic business communications management in Ukraine during the war period, and descriptive – when considering the main challenges faced by business companies after February 24, 2022.

Results. The article focuses on the consideration of the challenges and trends in the transformation of strategic business communications management during the period of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

The emphasis is placed on the fact that the tasks of strategic business communications management in Ukraine have undergone significant changes, they have been adapted to the new military reality and optimized communication processes in accordance with new challenges. The war in Ukraine forced business to pay attention to the relevance of maintaining its own communication policy, the need for an active presence in the information and media space, and the ability to retain the attention and loyalty of its target audiences even in times of crisis.

The concept of strategic communications management is revealed, which in the work is considered as a complex of communicative actions of a business company aimed at achieving certain communicative goals that allow a business to survive in competition in any conditions of the internal and external environment, especially in conditions of uncertainty and instability, which is war.

It is noted that the transformational trends in strategic business communications management in Ukraine were due to the challenges of wartime. Anti-crisis management of communication strategies is characterized by a rejection of long-term and a focus on short-term and medium-term goals; an emphasis on online communications, on changing the content of corporate websites, corporate pages on social networks and other platforms, reorientation to new audience requests, on informing target groups about the course of events related to the activities of enterprises in wartime, on crisis measures for the security and assistance of citizens of Ukraine. Informing about patriotism and social corporate responsibility of business was significantly embedded in the strategic management of communications during the war.

The scientific novelty of the study lies in identifying the main challenges and trends that characterize the transformation processes of strategic management of communications of business organizations and structures during wartime, which are presented in the information space of Ukraine in the period from February 24, 2022 to the present.

The practical significance of the research results lies in the possibility of their use in the preparation of educational programs in communication management and public relations, training specialists in the field of communication management and in the development of educational and scientific courses on the specified problem.

Key words: communication, strategic communication management, business communication activities, corporate social responsibility, crisis, war.