An Evaluation Of The Influence Of Media Activities On Multinational Corporations In Kenya

Abstract

Despite of the many research conducted on media effects, there has been little efforts with regards to the effects of media on Multinational Corporation (MNCs). This study attempts to understand the effect media has on international businesses specifically MNCs. The research seeks to determine the extent to which media attention influences, contribute to and or shapes the activities of various MNCs in Kenya such as financing, investments, marketing strategy and companies’ Corporate social Responsibility. It also evaluates the role of media in holding MNCs to account and in promoting good business practice among MNCs. This study is anchored on the Media Effects Theory and it draws from framing effects, priming and agenda‐setting theories. The study used the mixed method approach, specifically the Survey Research Design, and was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, which hosts the headquarters of most MNCs. The project gathered data from several multinational companies drawn from various sectors including finance and banking, telecommunications, consumer goods, motor vehicle industry, food and beverage among others. The researched revealed that MNCs use the media as a source of information on the policies that affect them in one way or another, to gauge what the competition is doing as well as the political climate. Thus, media coverage affects decision-making in a corporation. The research also found out that news coverage has more impact on the image of the company compared to adverts as audiences tend to believe news articles more than adverts. However, the study shows that journalists rarely keep corporations and their executives accountable with lack of enough data being cited as one of the reasons. This is mainly because there are very few listed MNCs which makes it hard for journalists as they do not get the information/ data they would need to hold companies and their executives to account. The research concludes that media significantly affects activities of MNCs as the operating environment of MNC is largely informed or reliant on local media content. This study recommends future studies on the subject using a higher sample size to increase credibility and reliability of the data obtained herein. Further to that and noting that this study proves that media coverage influences MNC activities, therefore, there is need to investigate how media coverage impacts these companies. In this era of digital revolution and the rise of audience shift from traditional to social media platforms, there is need to interrogate the effects of social media on MNCs. It also calls upon corporations to have robust policies to guide them when to respond to media scrutiny, who should respond and how they should respond. Additionally, they should proactively map out issues likely to affect them, rank them according to severity and prepare potential responses to help spokespeople and senior management prepare for such cases.