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Cross-National Conflict Shifting









Cross-national conflict shifting:
A conceptualization and expansion in an international public relations context
Juan-Carlos Molleda, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
(352) 392-5719
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Colleen Connolly-Ahern, Doctoral Student
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University of Florida
College of Journalism and Communications
P.O. Box 118400
Gainesville, FL 32611

Paper presented at the 85th Annual Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Public Relations Division , August 7-10, 2002-Miami, Florida.
Cross-national conflict shifting:
A conceptualization and expansion in an international public relations context

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to introduce, illustrate and expand the concept of "cross-cultural conflict shifting" as it relates to the international public relations arena. The illustration is accomplished by summarizing a legal incident involving America Online Latin America (AOLA) in Brazil with repercussions in the U.S. and European financial markets. After the conceptualization is expanded, theory building and research opportunities in an international public relations context will be introduced.

Like all new trends, globalization of corporations in the Information Age has been accompanied by some unanticipated consequences. One of these consequences is increasing scrutiny of firms' international operations. A small incident at a foreign subsidiary that might not have warranted a mention in a parent company's annual report just ten years ago can now become the focus of an annual meeting, due to the expanding agenda-setting power of three key groups: activists, shareholders and the mass media. These groups, in turn, have seen their agenda-setting role in corporations expand greatly in the past few years, due largely to the explosive power of Internet communications.
Corporate Watch and Global Exchange are just two transnational[1] activist organizations that are overseeing the actions of for-profit corporations crossing borders for expanding markets, diversifying their businesses, or seeking optimum legal, political, labor and economic conditions. International news agencies (e.g., Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters) and global media (e.g. CNN, BBC, Independent Television News) are also reporters of incidents in which transnational businesses are involved directly or indirectly. Both activist groups and the press have successfully utilized the Internet medium to gain immediate and far-reaching attention for the activities of corporations operating outside their own borders. They can make a national issue become international and even impact the parties involved in their home, host and alternative locations all over the world.
The main purpose of this paper is to introduce, illustrate and expand the concept of "cross-national conflict shifting" as it relates to the international public relations arena. The illustration is accomplished by summarizing a legal incident involving America Online Latin America (AOLA) in Brazil with repercussions in the U.S. and European financial markets. After the conceptualization is expanded, theory building and research opportunities in an international public relations context will be introduced.
The Concept of Cross-National Conflict Shifting
Cross-National Conflict Shifting is a concept introduced by Welge and Holtbr�gge in 1998. They extended the definition of the concept in the second edition of their book International Management (2001), "multinational corporations are not just confronted anymore with national, but increasingly globally active interest groups, which not only observe the behavior of single subsidiaries in the respective host nations, but also the behavior of multinationals as a whole" (p. 323). Thus, cross-national conflict shifting means that "interest groups in one country condemn multinational corporations for what they are doing in other countries" (Berg & Holtbr�gge, 2001, p. 112)-or for what there are not doing in other countries, it might be added. In other words, "conflicts are not fought anymore in the country in which they originated, but in the country in which the interest groups can best push through their position" (Welge and Holtbr�gge, 2001, p. 324). Welge and Holtbr�gge (2001) elaborate:

[T]hose conflicts will have impacts on the activities in other countries because of numerous interdependences. _ Due to those dangers a centralized and worldwide standardized public affairs [or public relations] management is not able to recognize and nurture in time nationally different corporate affairs and their relationships to the predominant socio-political interest groups. The responsibility for public affairs management has to be delegated for that reason to the respective corporate units, which-given proper selection and training-can execute these tasks more effectively due to their regional proximity and personal contacts. (p. 325)

Senior public relations professionals working for an organization with operations in more than one country deal with host, home and transnational publics. Host publics, for example, are local and national stakeholders in a country where the practitioner's organization operates. Home publics are stakeholders physically located in the country where the organization's headquarters functions. Finally, transnational publics are groups or global media with an extensive network of subsidiaries or branches all over the globe or with just an efficient virtual connection system. Transnational publics are also stakeholders located in countries other than the affected nation and the home country, where the organization operates as well.

Beginning the Expansion of the Concept
There are organizational decisions, actions and operations that affect publics in one country and have an impact internationally. This impact seems to be greater at the home country of the organization or organizations involved, which could be explained by the relevance and proximity of organization for the home publics. Domestic conflicts are increasingly shifting worldwide because of the growth of international transactions, transportation and communication, especially information technology.
The events, actions or operations of an organization that most attract the attention of a wide array of competing voices appear to be labor, environmental, human rights, employee treatment and workplace safety issues; that is, controversial issues that call the interest and attention of host, home and transnational stakeholders. Today, these aspects are being addressed in the literature and corporate publications concerning corporate social performance (Wood, 1991).
The host stakeholders that would notice any irregularity in an organization's behavior are community groups, local politicians and non-governmental organizations. This will expand or remain under control depending on the magnitude of the event and the expediency of organizational responses, among other factors. For instance, international news agencies and activist groups can pick up a news report from the local or national media.
A Battle in Brazil Moves North-Background
A case study from Latin America will serve to illustrate the concept of cross-national conflict shifting. When America Online (AOL), the largest Internet service provider in the world, took its first steps onto Latin American shores in 1999, the world was, quite literally, watching. Latin America is the world's fastest growing Internet market, with compound growth of 38% forecast for the years 2000 to 2005 (Hoover's Online, 2002). More than that, only 2% of Latin Americans were online in 2000, with only 4% of households owning computers (Hu, 2000). Industry and investors were anxious to see how AOL's hyper-successful U.S. business model would fare in this challenging but potential-filled region.
To facilitate its entry into the new marketplace AOL needed a well-established regional business partner. It chose Venezuelan media powerhouse Cisneros Group, one of the leading media groups in the Americas ("Corporate Overview," n.d.), as a partner. AOL Latin America (AOLA), a $200 million joint venture (Barnes, 2000), was incorporated at the beginning of 1999 ("Timeline," n.d.).
AOLA's entry into the Brazilian market, considered by many the linchpin of any successful Latin American strategy, did not go smoothly. It entered the marketplace after other important groups, including Brazil's Universo OnLine (UOL) and Spain's Telefonica Group, had gained a foothold in the ISP business sector (Hoover's Online, 2002). The company's uphill battle for customers was compounded by problems with its initial CD-ROMs, which reformatted computers without notifying consumers and were recalled (Smith, 2001). This created serious image problems for an "outsider" company in the Brazilian market.[2]
AOLA's first advertising campaign in Brazil also proved problematic. The company chose the tagline, "The largest because it is the best," (Wagner, 2000). However, UOL sued, saying that while AOL was the world's largest ISP, UOL-and not AOLA-was Brazil's largest ISP. The local courts agreed with UOL, and AOLA, in another setback, was forced to pull its advertising campaign (Wagner, 2000). Brazil's advertising watchdog group, Conar, sanctioned the company (Smith, 2001).
Viewed through the prism of dependency theory, a hallmark of current economic thought in developing nations (Wakefield, 1996), the initial Brazilian reaction to AOLA's market entry was predictable-and possibly avoidable. According to Wakefield, dependency theorists view "foreign media as tools for continuing imperialism and economic domination," (p. 26). The company appears to have underestimated the nationalism-and to some extent, isolationism-of the Brazilian market, and its feelings of competitiveness with the United States. Even the company's name-America Online-plays into Latin American preconceptions about the United States, since it indicates that the United States is synonymous with "America," when in fact it is only a part of the two-continent hemisphere. As a symbol of the United States, AOL probably should have been more sensitive to the possibility of negative consequences from an advertising campaign that pitted "big" (U.S.) against "small" (Brazil), no matter how tan
gentially.
The Conflict Crosses Borders
By the autumn of 2001, AOLA had worked its way to fourth place in the Brazilian ISP market, behind UOL, MSN-Microsoft and a local free access provider known as iG (Smith, 2001). However the company's future was far from secure. Although AOLA passed the one million-user mark in September 2001, its operating losses rose to US$72.3 million in the second quarter (Karp, 2001). The problem for was compounded by uncertainty in the Latin American economy as a result of the financial crisis in Argentina, and investors were eager to see the company begin to convert its free trial users into paying customers (Karp, 2001).
In November 2001, AOLA filed suit against Brasil Online (BOL), a subsidiary of UOL, for an advertising campaign that it characterized as "misleading" and "profoundly discriminatory toward foreigners, especially North Americans," (Smith, 2001). The television, print and billboard campaign used a number of graphics and taglines, all comparing the price of BOL's service (R$9) to AOL's service (R$34.95), which were identified under the headings "Brasil" and "America." At the bottom, copy indicated that people who would pay so much more for ISP access were stupid or laughable (Smith, 2001).
According to Fernando Figueredo, vice president of corporate communications for AOLA, the company sued in order to "preserve the dignity of [AOLA's] customers," (Smith, 2001). From AOLA's point of view, the advertisements in question represented a misleading price comparison. The AOL price of R$34.95 includes services such as e-mail, news, shopping, search engines and chat rooms; the BOL price of R$9 is a promotional price (it goes up to R$19.90 after six months) that includes a barebones service, with limited access to anything beyond e-mail (Smith, 2001). Parent company UOL's service, more comparable to AOL's service, actually costs more than AOL, at R$39.95 (Smith, 2001).
According to Victor Ribeiro, BOL's general director, "What we are showing consumers is a fact. It's not illegal to compare prices in ads," (Smith, 2001). It costs R$9 to access the Internet with BOL and R$34.95 to access the Internet with AOL. The fact that BOL chose to compare its prices AOLA's, and not UOL's, was simply a business decision. Culturally, it makes sense in the collectivistic Brazilian market, to compare yourself with an outsider, rather than with a member of the family.
The first Brazilian judge to hear the case granted AOLA an injunction, forcing BOL to suspend its advertising campaign (Smith, 2001). However, on appeal the injunction was overturned, allowing BOL to proceed with the campaign ("Technology: Brazil," 2001). Judge Preuss of Sao Paulo said that he did not find the ads discriminatory, finding that the main message was one of price differences between the two ISPs ("Technology: Brazil," 2001).
The main way in which this conflict moved beyond Brazil's borders was through the international financial and technology press. The financial press (e.g. The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times), whose main constituency is investors, has a keen interest in AOLA's ability to navigate the Brazilian marketplace. AOLA went public in August 2000 at a share price of US$8 (Hu, 2000). That was down considerably from the initial target share price of US$15 anticipated for the initial public offering (IPO) when AOL and Cisneros Group filed the original IPO documents (Hu, 2000). Since the IPO, the share price has tumbled to US$2.80 per share as of February 19, 2002 (Yahoo! Finance, 2002). AOLA stockholders, as well as stockholders of its parent, AOL, whose success is in part tied to the success of its subsidiaries, have an enormous financial interest in AOLA's activities in the Brazilian market.
The company's shares, like those of many international companies, have faced pressure on for a number of reasons in recent months, including the stalling of the world's largest economies, the financial collapse of Argentina and the after effects of the September 11th terrorist attacks, which left worldwide investors less willing to risk capital abroad. According to a report in The Economist, all of the principle measures of world economic integration were down in 2001 ("Is Globalisation," 2002). The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, or UNCTAD, reported that foreign direct investment was down 40% in 2001, compared with 2000 ("Foreign investment flows," 2002).
However, at least some of the problems with the share price are attributable to the market's apprehension about AOLA's ability to succeed in Latin America. It was this uneasiness that brought the incident across borders, to the home country (the U.S.), as well as to other countries with significant numbers of institutional and individual stockholders (the industrialized nations of Europe and Asia).
The technology press was also eager to report the story. AOL is the world's largest ISP. Its success or failure in Latin America acts as a barometer for other hi-tech companies wishing to do business in the region. The Web-based technology press, represented by such companies as Lycos Finance, Wired News and CNET, has the ability to instantly move a story across borders, with reports from Brazil available almost immediately to interested parties all over the world.
Analyzing a Cross-National Conflict Shift
The AOLA case described above is a classic example of a cross-national conflict shift. The analysis of the case includes characteristics of the issue, ways the conflict reached international audiences, and parties involved or affected.
AOLA has very distinctive characteristics that makes the corporation the focus of attention in Brazil: its headquarters is in a developed country, it is a company with high profile and visibility level, and its technology business is complex and consumer oriented. Other elements of this case are the fact that it happened in an emerging economy and involved a lawsuit, which is a serious consequence and represents high level of a dispute.
AOLA's legal conflict with BOL was spread out internationally mainly through the specialized media. Magazines, newspapers and Internet media reported the incident without delays. The U.S. investors could have been the major targets of those stories.
There were many parties involved in the conflict. The principal public was the Brazilian current and potential costumers of AOLA. Another main public was the U.S. shareholders. Direct parties were BOL and UOL representatives, and AOLA officials as well as the judiciary system in Brazil. Despite the focus of the dispute on the direct parties involved, clients and shareholders were the final judges of the cross-national conflict, because they are the ones who use the service or value the company's stocks.
The AOLA case is just one type of cross-national conflict shifting. This case facilitates the development of a series of assumptions about the nature, consequences and responses of such international conflicts. Following are hypothetical elements of a cross-national conflict shifting for future analyses.
Characteristics of a national conflict that could shift borders: Involves organizations with a headquarters in another country, primarily transnational businesses and multilateral organizations (e.g., International Monetary Fund and World Bank); implicates transnational business with high profile or visibility level (i.e., AOLA, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Nike, Starbucks, etc.); concerns complex (i.e., technology, food and beverage) and controversial industries, such as pharmaceutical, oil and chemical; very often happens in developing nations or emergent economies, such as India, China or Brazil; includes trendy causes, such as violation of women rights, defense of indigenous population, environmental damage, child labor, poor workers' compensation, legal suits, major accidents in corporate facilities, etc.
Ways a conflict reaches international audiences: Small and medium size local or national groups can activate issues through demonstrations, boycotts, or new information technology (Internet); local or national media disclosure that is picked up by activist groups or international news agencies; international news agencies first report the conflict; demonstration of protests in front of the headquarters in the home country or during world economic, trade or social forums; special investigative reporting of a major print or broadcast media of a developed nation, such as The New York Times, The Times of London, and CBS 60 Minutes; global media coverage, such as CNN, BBC or Independent Television News.
There are many parties involved in a cross-national conflict: Affected publics, such as victims of an accident, employees, local community; local, national and international activist groups; national and international non-governmental organizations; local, national (host/home countries) and international news media; local and federal governments of the host country as well as the governmental agencies of the home country; national or international religious organizations; transactional businesses; multilateral organizations; global organizations, such as World Trade Organizations; celebrities affected or involved; regional trade groups or unions, such as the European Union and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR).
There will be diverse organizational responses and strategies in dealing in preventing or dealing with a cross-national conflict shift: Environmental scanning , issues tracking/management, risk/crisis communication plans, lobbying efforts, government relations, internal communication/employee relations, coordination and control mechanisms (management), media relations (feature stories, fact sheets, pitch letters, news releases, video news releases, corporate videos, Websites, news conferences, media kits, company/site media tours, in-company/site/media outlet interviews, community relations, labor relations, investor relations, grassroots or front groups establishment, institutional or issue advertising, correspondences and letters, including letters to the editor, among other tactics and strategies.
The strength and the lifespan of a conflict could be determined by several aspects, which as a consequence may influence organizational responses to a cross-national conflict shift. The first aspect is direct or indirect involvement of the high profile organization in the conflict. For instance, a recent cross-national conflict shift implicated one of the world's best-known athletic shoe manufacturers. While many companies follow similar practices to Nike's, its name increased cross-national interest in the story. News stories highlighted the company's involvement: "Nike _ does not own a single piece of equipment for making shoes or athletic clothes; instead, its products are made by some 400 factories in 43 countries," ("The shame," 1999).
Even less well-known companies can become involved in cross-national conflict shifts, simply by virtue of having their name associated with a controversial issue. However, even very large companies can sometimes avoid the full impact of a cross-national conflict shift when their names are not directly linked to the conflict. For instance, an 830-kilometer oil pipeline is being built in the rainforest of Ecuador, creating strong protests from local and international conservation groups. A consortium called OCP Ecuador leads the project, which "is made up of oil powerhouses including Occidental Petroleum and Kerr-McGee of the United States, Canada's Alberta Energy, Spain's Repsol YPF and Argentine companies Perez Companc and Techint" (Wyss, 2001, p. 66). These companies have had less bad press in the United States because their names are not directly associated with the pipeline. From the activists' standpoint, that may not be true but on a broad consumer level, it can be expected t
hat direct mention of names is a barometer of how involved the public relations department should be or what types of communication strategies it may implement. Here a proposition could be formulated: A direct involvement and mention of an organization in a cross-national conflict shift will demand more expedience and proactive public relations response.
Another factor that might determine the salience of a conflict would be the significance or importance of international shareholders of the organization(s) involved, i.e., impact on market values of a company's stock, such as the case introduced in this paper. Shareholders of any large publicly traded company in the United States, Europe or Asia will closely scrutinize and demand information about major cross-national conflicts that could impact the value of their investment. In such cases, greater investor relations strategies should be in place.
The degree or level of attractiveness of the host country where the situation developed, e.g., Brazil, as an emergent economy, would call the attention of the international community. In fact, the largest South American country and the 9th world economy is surprising the world with well-orchestrated campaigns against tobacco consumption and the high cost of AIDS drugs. "Brazil instituted one of the world's most comprehensive bans on cigarette advertising, gradually forbidding it everywhere except the counters where cigarettes are sold-even on Brazilian-based Web sites" (Karp, 2002, p. A1). Any transnational organization that faces a conflict in Brazil will be likely to receive a great deal of attention due to the country's prominence on the world scene, its role as a bellwether for Latin America, the high level of activism found among its population and a strong inclination toward government intervention in national economic affairs.
The type of issue involved influences the time it takes for a conflict to move across borders, and the attention given to it once it moves across. New technology issues seem to garner international attention quite quickly. In the case of AOLA, its Internet business has many followers who are paying attention to any move, development, success or failure of the leading companies of the industry. The same can be said for those conflicts or issues involving other new technologies, such as drug development and genetic engineering.
The degree of identification of a high profile organization with its home country, such as the case of McDonalds or Starbucks, will influence the strength and salience of the cross-national conflict. Representing U.S. interests, Seattle-based Starbucks has more than 5,000 stores worldwide and it is often the focus of activist protests:

During the now famous kick-off to the anti-corporate globalization protest at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, violent activists struck a Starbucks store, overturning equipment and tossing coffee bags about. One activist interviewed at the time said they had nothing against Starbucks "per se" but they were concerned about the danger to family-run businesses from corporations such as Starbucks. (Maloy, 2002).

The level or degree of human interest will also capture the attention of international audiences and activist groups, making a cross-national conflict more salient. For example, "On Dec. 15, the human-rights organization Global Exchange is planning a Nationwide Day of Action against Folgers because the leading roaster has so far decided against joining the program to sell 'Fair Trade' certified coffee" (Lemos, 2001, p. FP8). Fair trade certification guarantees a minimum price of US$1.26 a pound for the farmer's co-operatives enrolled in the program. As the brand with sales are more than $1 billion (Head, 2000), the company is instantly recognizable to most U.S. consumers, making it an obvious target for activists who want to bring attention to a conflict that is happening beyond the borders of the United States.
        Other aspects that could determine the impact of a cross-national conflict are:
ù       The type of market and level of consumer's sophistication of the home market;
ù       The relationship of the issue to a tangible product, raw material or natural resources, especially in terms of exploitation, manufacturing, etc.; that is, tangible, boycottable products are more likely to receive attention than intangible services;
ù       And the degree of intervention, interest or involvement of the host government; that is, in projects of national interest the host government will play a major role, such as the intervention of the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment when OCP (an energy consortium) cut down trees to build an oil pipeline through an ecological sensitive forest in Ecuador (Wyss, 2001).
The continuing expansion of this conceptualization of "cross-national conflict shifting," including the identification and descriptions of all the organizational and contextual variables that might cause the strengthening-or the weakening-of an international issue, should be the goal of future focused investigations.
Research Potential for Theory Development
Research in public relations is evolving. In particular, "a growing body of scholarship and commentary has addressed the theory and practice of international public relations" (Taylor, 2001, p. 630). Nevertheless, more theory grounded studies are needed. Theoretical approaches from diverse disciplines may be borrowed for that endeavor (Wakefield, 1996). This paper borrows the concept of cross-national conflict shifting from the discipline of international management and expands this conceptualization to inform international public relations practice and scholarship.
The concept of cross-national conflict shifting needs further qualitative and quantitative exploration to fully understand its impacts for those engage in international public relations efforts. At least three aspects must be taken into account to develop a sound theory of the impact and lessons provide by such cross-borders issues: 1) development of models backed by the illustration of case studies, 2) further exploration of the coordination mechanisms that transnational organizations use to manage the public relations function and, therefore, deal with cross-national conflict shifting, and 3) adaptation of specific theories, for instance, media relations theories, to an international or multicultural context. In developing a theoretical framework for the study of cross-national conflict shifting, material can be drawn from a number of disciplines outside of the public relations area.
The first body of literature might be drawn from the field of anthropology, particularly Development-Induced Displacement and Resettlement's studies (DIDR), which explain the evolution of local conflicts with community involvement that become international battles with transnational activists participation (e.g., Cernea, 1995; Dwivedi, 1999; Muggah, 2000; Oliver-Smith, in press). Research on popular resistance to DIDR has picked up thanks to the activities and support of the Refugee Studies Centre of the University of Oxford. Oliver-Smith (in press) explains the escalation of a conflict is possible through a "cascade effect" mainly motored by new information technology. He argues that transnational computer-driven networks have the capacity to mobilize public opinion. For instance, the arrest of an activist in India can create global protests within hours through the so-called cascade effect. Oliver-Smith notes that thus far no predictable pattern of linkages among involved partie
s in the progression of resistance has been established. Such linkages, and their effects on the practice of public relations, form another area for future study.
A second body of literature may be drawn from the area of international business. In specific, the literature concerning the study of coordination and control mechanisms would be informative (e.g., Cesaria, 2000; Cray, 1984; Ghoshal, Korine & Szulanski, 1994; Martinez & Jarillo, 1989). Molleda (2000a, 2000b) uses international business literature to empirically explore the balance between integration and localization efforts to manage the public relations function in transnational corporations.
Molleda (2000a) reports: 1) The more a subsidiary uses integrative communication devices (e.g., Web site, Intranet, annual report) to communicate with internal audiences, the better the integration of its public relations function with the overall international operation; 2) the better the overall communication quality of public relations information received by a subsidiary, the better the integration of its public relations function with the overall international operation; 3) The better the quality of the parent company-subsidiary relationship, the better the integration of the public relations function; 4) The higher the level of corporate socialization in a subsidiary's public relations function, the higher the levels of global efficiency (i.e., resources sharing) and worldwide learning (i.e., know-how, knowledge, experiences exchanging) of that subsidiary's public relations function; 5) the higher the integration of a subsidiary concerning its public relations function, the
higher the overall levels of transnational mentality reported by that subsidiary (i.e., "Differentiated contributions by national units to integrated worldwide operations," Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1989, p. 65); and 6) the higher the communication quality a subsidiary reports it receives from various public relations staffs worldwide, the higher the overall level of the transnational mentality indicators that subsidiary reports. Thus, a balance between integration and localization of the public relations function should allow transnational organizations to response efficiently to cross-national conflict shifts.
Lim (2002) expands Molleda's research by conceptualizing an Integration-Responsiveness Grid and hypothesizing that integration would be positively associated with internal efficiency and responsiveness with external effectiveness. These types of theorizing and research would assist to understand the implications of cross-national conflict shifting for international public relations management.
A third body could be drawn from mass communications and public relations. Zoch and Molleda (2000) introduce a model of media relations by exploring the interconnection of framing, information subsidies and agenda building. They found evidence that the three theoretical approaches complement each other and facilitate the understanding of the relationship between organizations and media outlets, specifically during the news gathering process. A few authors have studied information subsidies and agenda building, but the three approaches have not been combined in a single study. Models of media relation such as the one proposed by Zoch and Molleda can be adapted to an international context to explain organizational responses, both at home and at the host country, when dealing with a cross-national conflict shifts. The body of knowledge in issues management and crisis communication could also be part of that international media relations model.
Conclusion
This paper had the purpose of introducing, illustrating and expanding the concept of cross-national conflict shifting. The concept defined by German scholars now has made its appearance in an international public relations realm. This concept may help to shift our research focus from analyzing how public relations is practiced in a seemingly isolated country to analyzing the interaction between interlocutors in an open transnational market place of ideas and economic transactions.
Public relations scholars interested in the exploring the international perspective from a different viewpoint could use the concept of cross-national conflict shifting. Those with a corporate perspective could focus on organizational vigilance and responses when issues can become conflict that could cross borders. Similarly, those approaching public relations with an alternative view could use the concept to explain international activism involvement in shifting a conflict that is identified in one nation back to the country where transnational businesses have their national headquarters.
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[1]  The term "transnational" is used in this article as "a new management mentality" (Bartlett & Ghoshal, 1989, p. 17). This mentality entails "[d]ifferentiated contributions by national units to integrated worldwide operations" (p. 65). Organizations following this model develop knowledge in specific national units and shared it worldwide. Three procedures are key: Worldwide learning, multinational flexibility and national responsiveness. This structural model can be observed in profit, nonprofit, governmental, non-governmental organizations and activist groups.
[2]  Since its entry into Brazil, AOLA has also entered Argentina, Mexico and Puerto Rico, but Brazilian operations remain the company's largest.