Environmental Analysis
An environmental analysis is highly important to assess and determine the correct strategies that would be applicable here for the public relations campaign. The PESTLE and SWOT methodologies will be applied.
The PESTLE method analyses the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental concerns of Oldbury, while the SWOT primarily outlines the negatives and positives, both internal and external (Shabanova et al. 2015).
Political |
· The United Kingdom government has very less control on the policies with respect to the construction of nuclear power plant, as it mainly follows the guidance that are laid down by the other European countries (Page and Connell 2014) · There will be a guarantee that will be given by the government so that it can support the infrastructures for the projects that are seeking investments · Due to the Brexit controversy, the nuclear power stations can be shut down forcefully (Vaughan 2017) · Due to no restriction of the foreign equity capital, the aim of the government is to have 16GWe as the capacity of the nuclear plants at the end of 2030 (World nuclear association 2017) |
Economic |
· According to World Bank (2016), the city that is best for business in the European countries is London · The price of commodities that are related to energy has risen more than the other commodity sectors in the country in 2016 (eia 2017) · With the establishment of the company, there will a rise of around 850 jobs, which will be permanent in nature (Horizon Nuclear Power) · The cost of lifecycle for the nuclear plants are lower compared to the gas or coal fired plants (European Nuclear Energy Forum 2010) |
Social |
· According to the 2016 DECC survey that was conducted in March, it was seen that there was a total support of 38 percent for the nuclear power whereas around 23 percent was against the idea and 36 percent of the people stayed neutral (World nuclear association 2017) · The fact that nuclear power is reliable in nature has been agreed by 49 percent of the interviewees while 14 percent of the people disagreed to the concept |
Technological |
· The country has around fifteen reactors, which helps in generating 21 percent of the electricity and it is expected that this capacity will reduce by the end of 2025 (World nuclear association 2017) · The country has fuel cycle facilities to the full extent, which is inclusive of the reprocessing plants (World nuclear association 2017) |
Legal |
· The white paper on the issues of Nuclear Power was issued in 2008 where it established a modern generation of power stations in the nuclear world (Aldred and Stoddard 2008) · According to the Planning Act 2008, it was seen that it facilitated the building and siting of new infrastructural projects, which is inclusive of the nuclear stations |
Environmental |
· The electricity that is generated through the nuclear [power plants helps in reducing the consumption of non-renewable resources such as the fossil fuels, which helps in reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases (Nuclear Energy 2014) · The environmental issue that the power plants can cause is from the wastes that will be radioactive in nature, which will be dangerous for the humans if handled in an improper way (eia 2017) |
Strengths: There is a rise in the need for energy sources which do not cause air or thermal pollution, and thus, the prospects for nuclear energy plants are lucrative. |
Weaknesses: The surrounding area will need to be vacated, and will result in the relocation of more than hundreds of people. The nuclear waste that will be produced is also radioactive in nature. |
Opportunities: The setting up of the plant and the reactors will provide a steady job to a number of scientists and will open new doors for more innovative discoveries. |
Threats: There could be a mass campaign against the construction of the power plant. Also, the success of the plant is doubtful as attempts had been made in the past without much success. |
A stakeholder analysis analyses the impact any decision or change would have on the target publics in any situation of project management or conflict resolution (Missonier and Loufrani-Fedida 2014). The analysis of stakeholders often gives a lengthy list of both groups and individuals. All the stakeholders are to be actively involved and have to be considered to make any decision regarding a nuclear power plant construction, as well as to help in the formulation of a public policy. They have to examine the historical context of the nuclear power plants of that area and investigate in order to attain clarity and prevent unforeseen problems or issues (Akimoto, Oda and Sano 2015). The level of interest of the stakeholders involved in the construction of the power plant is given below:
Will be interested in the impact of: |
|||||
Stakeholder group |
Finance (gain or loss) |
Environment (pollution) |
Legislation (laws for employment) |
Business |
Reputation |
Local residents |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
||
Users of the surrounding land |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
||
Students |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Fig: Power Mapping
Source: Created by the Author
The objectives of the campaign will have to be outlined very carefully, as effective communication will bridge the gap between the key publics and the interests and objectives of Horizon (Stacks 2016). The public will never develop a positive attitude to the construction of the power plant until and unless they can see their interests and concerns being met.
- The primary aim of this public relations campaign is to bring about an improvement in the opinion of the stakeholders that are concerned directly because of the nuclear reactor set up. They will be informed of the underlying ideas that has spurred on the project.
- The campaign will highlight the positive aspects of the power plant construction and the employment opportunities that it will bring with it, focussing on its aim to reduce the number of educated people who are without a job.
- The campaign will also focus on the benefits that nuclear energy has over the non-renewable or other renewable sources of energy, and why it is the energy of the future (Roth and Jaramillo 2017). It will create awareness among the people regarding the issue of renewable power, and work to change their attitude towards the construction plans.
During the formulation of these aforementioned objectives, Gregory’s internal constraints were also taken into account (Immonen 2017).
SMART Analysis for First objective
SMART Analysis |
|
Specific |
The stakeholders need to have a proper idea about the setup |
Measurable |
To achieve this, the skills of the stakeholders are important |
Actionable |
This will help in increasing the communication network with the stakeholders |
Realistic |
The feedback that will be provided by the stakeholders will be helpful |
Time Based |
The establishment of the nuclear plant will take place by October |
SMART Analysis |
|
Specific |
There will be opportunities for employment within the community |
Measurable |
The reactor needs to be established for these opportunities |
Actionable |
The employment opportunities will increase the purchasing power |
Realistic |
The reactor will function in an efficient manner with the help of the locals |
Time Based |
The employment opportunities will be created from the month of November |
SMART Analysis |
|
Specific |
It will help in replenishing the non-renewable energy resources |
Measurable |
The harmful effects of fossil fuels will be replaced by renewable sources |
Actionable |
It will benefit the society by decreasing the harmful effects of fossil fuels |
Realistic |
It will help in changing the environment surrounding the nuclear reactor |
Time Based |
It will take a minimum of one year after the nuclear reactor is fully operational |
The people or the groups and segments of people who are the main elements for the survival of any business venture are considered as the key publics (Culbertson and Chen 2013). In this context, the key publics would the politicians, the local people, and the individuals who live in the surrounding areas of Oldbury. The one group that will be considered here is the segment of the local people who have been living in the area for the past many years. They have a deep emotional and sentimental attachment with the place and will therefore be unwilling to cooperate with the construction processes, and there might be some sort of opposition from them in this case.
Theory will be used to develop the strategies and tactics for this public relations campaign, and a linear approach will be utilised to ensure that the campaign is executed in a systematic manner (James 2014). The main strategy is to deploy a range of tactics to facilitate communication with the key publics and the stakeholders and to also engage a social strategy that will enable and improve the communication or the feedback from them.
The tactics that are to be employed have to be both appropriate and deliverable (Paek et al. 2013). They will aim at educating the people on different aspects and it is always easier to communicate internally than to do it on the external scale. In details the following strategies can be taken in to action:
Stakeholder Analysis
In order to ensure public relation the company would be following the steps that would be initiated through media releases. Media releases are written in an active manner. Hence it would put greater impact upon the target audience. Instead of making a mundane use of the media strategy, the company would be taking a step ahead in terms of lucrative advertisement measure so as to create a positive check with the help of a positive media management. As a matter of fact, it needs to be taken care that the basic structure of public acquaintance remains the same. As a matter of fact, there are different segments of media strategy and management and moreover there are different segments in terms of creating a basis of the public relation strategy. Making business contract with professional graphic designers and advertisement agencies in a low cost would be a segment of such strategies. As the main objective of the company would be reduce the cost of aggregate business performance without hampering the quality of service, strategic advertisement and media management will be assisting effective public relation. In terms of creating a positive stake when it comes to the entire stake of the business.
Many of the organisations are found to have been using crisis communication in order to stand against major crisis. Since crisis directly threatens the financial performance of an organisation, it needs to be de- originated. As a matter of fact, the basic understanding of the actual case needs to be taken in to certain consideration. Hence, crisis communication would be prioritised while framing the strategies for public relation of the companies.
- The use of signature moves needs to be done so that it helps in promoting the company in the eyes of the people. An example of this would be the use of a team photo along with all the important people such as the stakeholders and the crew who are talented to run the company
- Press conferences needs to be done on a regular basis so that the people would come to know that there will be no degradation done to the surrounding environment, which will help in gaining the trust of the people for establishing the company
- Inoculation can be used as a tactic, which will help in strengthening the reputation of the organization within the community where the power plant will be built so that it can protect the external threats and preserve its goodwill
- Use of blogs needs to be encouraged where the writers can put up better information about the importance of the company, which will benefit the locality and the people
- The Public Relation agency can hold a mock debate by allowing the people to speak for or against the topic, which will help in providing insights to the local community
The budget suggested for the public relations campaign is £100,000. This includes the fees for the Bright Sparks PR Agency.
The timeframe spans over a period of six months from the announcement of the project. The following is a Gantt chart with the budget and time estimates:
Task name |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Jan |
Feb |
Cost (£) |
Event for the announcement of the construction of the nuclear power plant |
5,000 |
||||||
Social strategy development with an outsources specialist |
3,000 |
||||||
Event for the briefing of people on the benefits of nuclear plant development |
7,000 |
||||||
Press release and briefing of the management on how to develop their speech |
5,000 |
||||||
Evaluation methods to assess the aftermath of the campaign |
3,000 |
Any public relations campaign will need to be evaluated to assess the success of the venture (Pamment 2014). The implementation of any such campaign is no exact science, and there are some ways that can be incorporated to evaluate how successful Bright Sparks PR would be in promoting the goodwill and building a positive image of the company and its goals.
- Research and survey:There can be an audit or a survey conducted of the target audience or the key publics to assess the effectiveness and also to gather their personal opinions on the matter. This can be done with or without focus groups, and the survey is to be similar to the initial proposal. The reactions of the public can be encouraged through the use of social media websites and other online means, although that does attract more critics instead of supporters (Fowler 2013). A direct or a face to face approach to analyse the outcomes is also effective.
- Media analysis: The success rate of the press releases can be assessed by this method, and it can be understood as to how positive or negative the impact of the campaign was on the target public (Newcomer, Hatry and Wholey 2015). There are even specific websites for this issue which can be considered for the evaluation.
- Measurement of success: The rate of success can be evaluated by taking into consideration the change in the attitude or the behaviour of the key publics, and also the number of hits on the website that gathers feedback or outlines the advantages of the project (Austin and Pinkleton 2015). A direct method of interaction can also be employed, and feedback can be encouraged by providing a hotline number or a help desk service.
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