UNIQUE STRATEGY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON INTERACTION OF PR AND ICT FOR UNDEVELOPED MUNICIPALITIES IN SOUTH SERBIA

Abstract

The aim of this research and project was formulation and implementation of efficient strategy of sustainable development for undeveloped municipalities in South Serbia in order to solve several key issues which hamper the economic growth and general living conditions. With the interaction of Public Relations and Information and Communication Technologies we have managed to create strategy that successfully solves problems on creating, maintaining and improving communication with existing and with the potential investors through delivering project in four stages: foreign language training, IT Literacy, Public Relations Course and creation of general presentation of municipality. Our research on three municipalities has shown that by combining these four stages, municipality can improve communication with existing investors and can create relations with new investors. The implementation of the project on three municipalities has shown even better results and has proved our proposed hypotheses. This paper will show that interaction of PR and ICT can produce an efficient strategy in order to preserve and to improve sustainable development not only in undeveloped municipalities in South Serbia, but in other countries and municipalities with similar economic and general living conditions

Keywords

• Public Relations, Information and Communication Technologies, Strategy, Sustainable Development

References

1. Awad,J.F. (1985) The power of Public Relations, Preager Publishers, CBS
2. Educational and Professional Publishing, a Division of CBS Inc.521 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10175 USA.
3. B. A. Akuegwu & E. P. Ntukidem & P. J. Ntukidem & G. Jaja (2011) .
4. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Facilities’ Utilization for Quality Instructional Service Delivery Among University Lecturers in Nigeria, Review of Higher Education in Africa, Vol 3, No1 , http://www.criticalimprov.com/index.php/rhea/article/viewArticle/1537/2131.
5. Bertot, J. C., Jaeger, P. T., & Grimes, J. M. (2010). Using ICTs to create a culture of transparency: E-government and social media as openness and anti-corruption tools for societies. Government Information Quarterly, 27, 264-271.
6. Castells, M. (1996). The rise of network society. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
7. Contini, F., & Lanzara, G. F. (2009). ICT and innovation in the public sector.
8. European studies in the making of e-government. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Dahlgren, P. (2009). Media and political engagement. Citizens, communication and democracy. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

9. Dutton, W. H. (1999). Society on line. Information politics in the digital age. New
10. York, NY: Oxford University Press. Gandy, O. (1992). Public relations and public policy: The structuration of dominance in the information age. In E. L. Toth & R. L. Heath (Eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations (pp. 131-163). Hilsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
11. Grunig, L., Grunig, J. E., & Ehling, W. P. (1992). What is an effective organization? In J.E. Grunig’s Excellence in public relations and communication management (pp. 65-90).Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
12. Hays, B. A. & Swanson, D. J. (2012). Public relations practitioners’ use of reverse mentoring in the development of powerful professional relationships. PRism 9(2): http://www.prismjournal.org/homepage.html.
13. Hodges, C., & McGrath, N. (2011). Communication for social transformation. In
14. L.Edwards & C. Hodges (Eds.), Public relations, society and culture: Theoretical and empirical explorations (pp. 163-168). New York: Routledge. Kent, M. L., & Taylor, M. (2002). Toward a dialogic theory of public relations.
15. Public Relations Review, 28 (1), 21-37. Lovari, A., Kim, S., Vibber, K. & Kim, J-N. (2011). Digitisation’s impacts on publics: Public knowledge and civic conversation. PRism 8(2): http://www.prismjournal.org/homepage.html.
16. Mattelart,A.(2003).The information Society : An introduction. London: Sage.
17. Mayer-SchÖnberg, V., & Lazer, D. (2007). Governance and information technology. From electronic government to information government. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
18. Pal, M., & Dutta, M. J. (2008a). Public relations in a global context. The relevance of critical modernism as a theoretical lens. Journal of Public Relations Research, 20(2), 159-179.
19. Pieterson, W., & Ebbers, W. (2008). The use of service channel by citizens in the Netherlands: Implications for multi-channel management. International Review of
20. Administrative Sciences, 74(1), 95-110. Sen, A. (2009). The Idea of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University.
21. Sirianni, C. (2009). Investing in democracy. Engaging citizens in collaborative governance. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institutions.
22. SDS of the Republic of Serbia: http://www.odrzivi-razvoj.gov.rs. Tench R.& Yeomans L. (2006). Exploring Public Relations. UK: Pearson Education Limited. van Dijck, J. (2005). The network society: Social aspects of new media. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23. Wellman, B., & Haythorntwaite C. (2002). The Internet in everyday life. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
24. West, D. M. (2005). Digital government, technology and public sector performance. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
25. Wilcox L.D.& Cameron G.T.(2007): Public Relations : Strategies and Tactics, Pearson Education