Meaning of External Communication
When organizations exchange information and ideas with various external parties, it is called external communication. External communication is essential for every organization irrespective of its size and nature. Externally, organizations need to communicate with customers, investors, suppliers, government officials and with general public. Thus, we can say that external communication links the organization with the outside world.
Many scholars and writers have defined external communication in various ways. Some of these are quoted below:
According to L.C. Bovee and others, “External communication is the exchange of information between the organization and outside individuals or groups.”
Boone, Kurtz and Block said, “External communication refers to communication with an organization’s major audiences — the general public, customers, vendors and other businesses and government officials.”
According to Rajendra Pal and J.S. Korlahalli, “External communication includes communication with the government agencies and departments on the one hand and distributors, retailers, individual customers and general public on the other.”
From the above discussion, we can say that external communication occurs when an organization exchanges information with the various external parties like customers, suppliers, distributors, investors, government officials, general public etc.
