“What happens when analysts and media – once necessary aggregators if a business wanted to reach mass audiences – lose their unique ability to reach those audiences or to legitimise the company’s message?”

So said the Arthur W. Page Society report on “The Authentic Enterprise.”  There were no big surprises in the study, but, it does a good job of summarising the PR industry’s challenges and opportunities.

The report identifies the two principal drivers for change as the digital network revolution and the impact of the global economy . The result is a world where free trade agreements, the internet and the emergence of highly skilled populations in developing countries have reshaped the footprint – and even the idea – of modern business. We live on a flat earth – a shift from the hierarchical, monolithic, multinational model to one that is horizontal, networked and globally integrated. Work is located where ever it makes sense, driven by the imperatives of economics, expertise and open business conditions.

We have a global playing field of unprecedented transparency and democratised access to information production, dissemination and consumption.

IABC President Barbara Gibson talked about what this means for Public Relations in a Radio New Zealand interview on Kim Hill late last year. Peppered throughout that interview was the one word that is replacing the ‘knowledge economy’ in our business vernacular – ‘authenticity’.

That word reflects a fundamental shift for business – and for public relations. Gone is the ‘command and control’ style of communication that the majority of public relations firms are still promoting – or even worse the ‘black-box’ providers who deliberately disengage their clients from the communication process in an effort to secure tenure.

In the brave new business world, the successful businesses – and public relations firms - will be those who understand and support adapting to the new business and societal context. This future is coming.