The rise of multinational corporations, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
跨國公司的崛起、全球營銷、新的通信技術(shù)和日益縮小的文化差異導致了全球公關(guān)的空前增長。

Surprisingly, since modern PR was largely an American invention, the U.S. leadership in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries. Ten years ago, for example, the world’s top five public relations agencies were American-owned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate (公司的) planning activities, compared to about one-third of U.S. companies. It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
令人驚訝的是，由于現(xiàn)代公關(guān)在很大程度上是美國的發(fā)明，美國在公關(guān)方面的領(lǐng)導地位正受到其他國家公關(guān)努力的威脅。例如，十年前，世界前五大公關(guān)機構(gòu)都是美國所有。1991年，只剩下了一家。英國人尤其變得更加老練和富有創(chuàng)造力。最近的一項調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，超過一半的英國公司將公關(guān)作為其公司規(guī)劃活動的一部分，相比之下，美國公司約有三分之一。不久之后，倫敦將取代紐約成為公關(guān)之都。

Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of Burson - Marshall’s U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage. Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their employees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journal. Overseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, publications not often read in this country.
為什么美國在全球公關(guān)競爭中落后？首先，作為一個整體，美國人往往相當狹隘，對當?shù)厥聞崭信d趣。例如，這個國家的世界地理知識一直都比較弱。其次，美國人在掌握第二語言方面落后于歐洲和亞洲同行。在Burson - Marshall的美國員工中，只有不到5%的人會兩種語言，奧美和馬瑟的比例大致相同。相反，一些歐洲公司有一半或更多的員工能流利地說第二語言。最后，在國外從事公關(guān)工作的人往往會密切關(guān)注國際事務。例如，在金融公關(guān)領(lǐng)域，大多數(shù)美國人閱讀《華爾街日報》。在海外，他們的同行閱讀了《華爾街日報》、《倫敦金融時報》和《經(jīng)濟學人》，這些出版物在美國很少閱讀。

Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN (Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the word “foreign” would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependent that there is no longer any such things as foreign.
也許公關(guān)行業(yè)可以從CNN的泰德·特納那里吸取教訓。特納最近宣布，“外國”一詞將不再用于美國CNN的新聞廣播。根據(jù)特納的說法，全球通訊使世界各國相互依存，不再有屬于外國的東西。