Communications Excellence Report Summary: Tactics Used by Executives to Increase Organizational Effectiveness

Industries Profiled:
Health Care; Pharmaceutical; Diagnostic; Biotech; Consulting; Banking; Financial Services; Insurance; Non-Profit; Chemical; Business; Professional Services; Manufacturing; Distribution; Transportation; Education; Market Research; Marketing; Public Relations; Architecture; Engineering; Communications; Aerospace; Automobile; Aviation; Computer Software; Telecommunications; Medical Device; Government; Military; Advertising; Defense; Science; Clinical Research


Companies Profiled:
Abbott; Sanofi Pasteur; Gardner Assocites; Target Point ltd; AllianceBernstein; The Aspen Institute; Economic Opportunities Program; Genentech/Roche; The Bluestar Group; AsiaConnect; The Gordon Group; General Products Corp.; Union National Bank; Zogenix; Hertz Corporation; Assessment & Information group; Jefferson Associates Inc; Pearson; Kadmon Pharmaceuticals; Barr Engineering; Kiernan Group; Inc.; Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals; Kimble Chase LLC; Bayer Corporation; MedPanel; Bee Tree Consulting; MESCO; ltd; Nationwide Financial; Biotest Pharmaceuticals; Omicron Canada Inc.; Wells Fargo; One Communications; Bosch Power Tools; Parallel Consulting; Bristow Group; Porsche Cars North Americq; Oracle; Prescience International; BT Conferencing; ProVeritas Management Consulting; Celgene Pte Ltd; Reliance Industries Limited; Johnson & Johnson; Royal Thai Air Force; CIT Group; Sales Channel Europe; Citibank; City of Houston; Pfizer; Commutateur; Corium International Inc.; Inspire Pharmaceuticals; Croda Inc; Deloitte; Quintiles; Eastwest Bank; Ethicon; Kimble Chase; Roche; Honeywell; Rockland Trust Company; KPMG; Sandoz; Cloud Currencies; HCA; Sanofi-Aventis; Lockheed Martin; Stryker; Grundfos Pumps Manufacturing Corp; Sunovion; Lundbeck; Fidelity Investments; Talecris; Genzyme; Thermo Fisher; Medtronic; Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Genentech; Vimta Labs; GlaxoSmithKline; Novartis; Olympus Corporation; Avaya; Astellas; AstraZeneca; Alcon; Bank of America; Baxter Healthcare; Becton Dickinson; Bell Canada; BioCentric; Cephalon; Countrywide Financial; Elan Corporation; EMD Serono; Exelixis

Study Snapshot

Total of 183 representatives from different industry segments across 6 continents have participated in this study.

Qualitative and quantitative data for this report were collected through an online survey instrument.

Sample Key Findings

Effective Tools for External Communication: Today various channels exist which can be used to communicate with executives. While internet is most commonly used by an average two-thirds of respondents of overall benchmark class, on a average four out of ten respondents of pharmaceutical segment consider emails more effective for communicating with them.

High Importance of Organic Searches: The value of organic search engines as compared to personal network as increased over the years. On an average 68% of research participants of overall benchmark class consider organic search engines as a significant tool for gathering business intelligence. Executives are relying more on organic searches for locating work-related information. Seven out of ten executives are making use of general search engines daily to search business intelligence information. More than half of respondents in overall and pharmaceutical benchmark class daily conduct more than 6 searches daily using general search engines.

Press Releases are Important Source for Pharmaceutical Respondents: Research participants of pharmaceutical segment derive valuable information related to their work from press releases. While more than two-thirds of respondents of pharmaceutical benchmark class find this source very valuable, around 4 out of 10 respondents of pharmaceutical segment click or visit online press releases daily to keep themselves updated.

• Project Methodology and Study Objective 6
• Definitions Used in the Research 7

• List of Participating Companies 9-10
• Industries Profiled 11

• Internal Communications Highlights 13
• External Communication Highlights 14

• Usage Frequency of Internet Tools – Overall 16
• Online Communities Visited Most Regularly – Overall & Pharmaceutical Segment 17
• Methods Used to Gather Information – Overall 18
• Average Searches per Day – Overall 19
• Frequency of Visits/Clicks – Overall 20-21
• Call to Action Frequency – Overall 22-23

• Value Derived from Business Information Sources – Overall 25-27
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking General Communication – Overall 28
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for General Information – Overall 29
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Competitor Analysis – Overall 30
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Competitor Analysis – Overall 31
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Market Trend – Overall 32
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Market Trend – Overall 33
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Technological Updates – Overall 34
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Technological Updates – Overall 35
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking New Product Launch News – Overall 36
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for New Product Launch News – Overall 37
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Product Information – Overall 38
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Product Information – Overall 39
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Legal Information – Overall 40
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Legal Information – Overall 41
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Research Information – Overall 42
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Research Information – Overall 43
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Supplier Information – Overall 44
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Supplier Information – Overall 45
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Corporate Developments – Overall 46
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Corporate Developments – Overall 47
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Educational Information – Overall 48
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Educational Information – Overall 49
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Case Studies – Overall 50
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Case Studies – Overall 51
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Strategic Guidance – Overall 52
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Strategic Guidance – Overall 53
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Vendor Communications – Overall 54
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Vendor Communications - Overall 55
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Best Practices – Overall 56
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Best Practices – Overall 57
• Interest and Preferred Time of Checking Performance Indicators – Overall 58
• Preferred Formats & Effective Tools for Performance Indicators – Overall 59
• Impact of Marketing Communications on Purchase Decision – Overall 60-61
• Percentage of Redundant Emails Received – Overall & Pharmaceutical Segment 62
• Checking External Communication Through Mobile – Overall 63-64
• Forwarding External Communication Through Mobile – Overall 65-66

• Interest in Types of Information Received – Overall 68
• Frequency of Sharing Company-Related Information – Overall 69
• Interest in Types of Information Received – Overall 70
• Frequency of Sharing Company Related Information – Overall 71
• Interest in Types of Information Received – Overall 72
• Frequency of Sharing Company Related Information – Overall Segment 73

• Most & Least Commonly used Medium for Internal Communication – Overall 75
• Use of Mobile for Internal Communication – Overall 76
• Preference vs. Effectiveness: Internal Communication Using Mobile – Overall 77
• Effective Tools for General Communication – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 78
• Effective Tools for Industry Information – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 79
• Effective Tools for Case Studies – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 80
• Effective Tools for Product Information – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 81
• Effective Tools for Strategy Guidance – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 82
• Effective Tools for Vendor Communications – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 83
• Effective Tools for Training Modules – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 84
• Effective Tools for Best Practices – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 85
• Effective Tools for Performance Data – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 86
• Effective Tools for Benchmarking Information – Overall and Pharmaceutical Segment 87
• Sharing Project Communication with Superiors, Peers & Subordinates – Overall 88
• Sharing Product Information with Superiors, Peers & Subordinates – Overall 89
• Sharing Performance Data with Superiors, Peers & Subordinates – Overall 90
• Sharing Training Materials with Superiors, Peers & Subordinates – Overall 91
• Sharing Industry Information with Superiors, Peers & Subordinates – Overall 92
• Sharing Coaching Feedback with Superiors, Peers & Subordinates – Overall 93
• Sharing Benchmarking Information with Superiors, Peers & Subordinates – Overall 94

• Average Weekly Hours Spent on Internal Communications – Overall 96-97
• Effective Tactic to Prioritize Communications – Overall 98
• Percentage of Redundant Communications Received Internally – Overall 99

• List of Participating Companies 104-106
• Range of Career Levels Lend Insight 107-109
• About Best Practices, LLC 110