County Image Analysis
CONTENTS
Cover Sheet1
Executive Summary .3
Introduction..3-4
Analysis4-8
Conclusion.8
Bibliography9
Executive Summary
This paper examines what is the country’s image and how the image of Indonesia affects its neighbouring stakeholders and the state itself. The research draws attentions to the fact that Indonesia’s burning forests produced by different companies have a great impact on all aspects of life of not only the country itself but also of the citizens of the neighbouring countries. Further investigation reveals that the reputation of Indonesia is also impacted by the media campaigns that promote all the negative effects the burning forests have on heath, economy, tourism and international relations. Thus, it is important for the country to change its image to more positive and to market its advantages rather than problems. Different articles about Indonesian burning forests and country’s image were reviewed and analysed, which helped to understand the current issues of Indonesia and what steps should be undertaken to resolve them.
The paper also offers some solutions to the current problems of Indonesia, which prevent it from creating a positive country’s image. First of all, severe measures are required to regulate the business and agricultural activities, penalizing the companies and farmers for burning forests. After that the country can make an emphasis on promotion of its natural resources and beautiful landscapes and proving to the stakeholders that it is capable of solving its environmental problems.
Introduction
Cases of forest fires in Indonesia have increased dramatically in recent days, bringing many troubles not only to Indonesians but also to the neighbouring countries, Singapore and Malaysia. In spite of the fact that burning forest is illegal in Indonesia, it is often used by companies to clear land for building and expansion. Land and forest fires lead to heave smog and haze across the regions and affect all the aspects of the country’s life – people’s health, economy, tourism and international relations. The burning of forests is significant for greenhouse gas emissions and it is a problem that has to be solved. Indonesia’s image also suffers a lot because of this ecological issue. The information that is presented by the media doesn’t bring any positive promotion to Indonesia as mainly news about the fires is highlighted. The country’s identity is an image that it obtains in international relations, thus, the fires become a reason of the neighbouring stakeholders’ unwillingness to do business with Indonesia, and it also scares other countries away from investing in its economy.
Analysis
In relation with Burhamm and Ingenhoff (2014) theory about countries’ images being affected by their stakeholder’s perceived reputation about them, Indonesia’s case of burning forests impacts its neighboring stakeholders, shaping the formation of attitudes and behaviors that negatively reflect the country’s image. There are numerous articles that discuss about the environmental damage produced by companies that burn Indonesian forests in the dry season with the purpose of accelerating the preparation of the soil for new seeds (Gaveau, Salim, Hergoualc’h, Locatelli et al., 2014; Palanissamy, 2013).
Palanissamy (2013) discusses about how Indonesia’s burning forests affect the neighboring stakeholders like Malaysia or Singapore, reflecting negatively on these countries’ health, economy and environmental sustainability. Gaveau et al. (2014) also relate that the fires from Indonesian forests created atmospheric pollution for Singapore, due to the smoke diffusion, which reached the highest pollution records in the history of this country. The haze that travels across the national boundaries affects Singapore and Malaysia citizens’ health, due to the smoke inhaled as people travel to work, school or other public spaces (Palanissamy, 2013). Furthermore, the high pollution levels inflicted by the Indonesian burning forests in the dry season affect the business and economy of the neighboring countries, decreasing the tourism level and the entire economic performances (Palanissamy 2013).
The availability of these multiple references about Indonesian burning forests indicates that the mediated event had a significant impact, affecting the country’s image. In relation with this observation, Anholt (2013) introduces the term of nation brand, according to which countries’ reputation affect their prosperity, just like companies’ brand image affect the performances of their products. As a corporate advisor, I find this comparison very serious, but accurate. The neighboring stakeholders of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore as the main affected agents develop attitudes and behaviors that are repugnant towards Indonesia. As such, they request severe measures to monitor the agricultural activities of farm owners and companies, penalizing them for illegal burning through extra-territorial laws, which hinders Indonesia’s authority (Palanissamy, 2013).
These discussions about the severe consequences of Indonesian fires attract further global attention, generating attitudes and beliefs aligned with the international public discourse around it (Burhamm and Ingenhoff, 2014). The public discussions around Indonesia’s fires reduce not only the neighboring stakeholders’ intentions to do business with Indonesia, but other states, influenced by the negative image that Indonesia created as a result of the high pollution levels generated by the burning of the forests.
In accordance with Burhamm and Ingenhoff (2014) integrative model of the country image from a public relation perspective, there are three interrelated levels of analysis for measuring a country’s image. These are “the identity of a country, the process of international communication about countries, and the opinions and attitudes toward a country that form from these processes among relevant stakeholders” (Burhamm and Ingenhoff, 2014, p. 66).
The identity of a country refers to the image that a state generates in international relationships in terms of various aspects and agencies that define its identity (Anholt, 2013). Yet, the identity of a country has a collective nature, as Burhamm and Ingenhoff (2014) observe, because it constitutes the sum of political actions, history, traditions, economic ventures, public culture, norms and values with which its people associate. Just like an analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats, the identity of a country means bringing the internal context in the external relationships. The identity of Indonesia contains more than the rest of the world knows about it from the media, implicitly more than its image association with an actor that infringe the environmental sustainability, business and economic performances for itself and the surrounding countries. However, as Burhamm and Ingenhoff observe, the advent of the media led to a cognitive representation about countries, based on information that circulate in the media about this country, which affect their business, trade, tourism and diplomatic relations (2014, p. 62).
In Indonesia’s case, the cognitive representation about this country’s identity is based on the media that reflects the negative outcomes of the burning forests.
Because Indonesia’s reputation is impacted by the media campaign that promotes the negative effects of its burning forests for environment, health, business, economy, tourism or international relations, this event also affects the process of international communication about it. But, as Burhamm and Ingenhoff (2014) inform, the role of public relations is to manage the communication between a nation and its stakeholders.
Therefore, just like a brand, Indonesia must engage in an international communication process that will make the country’s image favorable to business and diplomatic relations, by presenting an aesthetic image, appealing to the international stakeholders (Anholt, 2013). Instead of letting the internal media shape its identity in relation with the agricultural related fires, as a corporate advisor I recommend that the country’s leaders to promote its exoticism and its landscapes, with numerous, affluent biodiversity and natural resources or its flourishing economy (Nandi, 2014). It is self – explanatory that Indonesia should take serious measures against the high level of pollution that the deforestation through burning causes for itself and its neighboring stakeholders. Working with Singapore and the other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to penalize illegal burning and to find an alternative solution to burning for deforestation would indicate that Indonesia is a responsible actor, contributing the country’s identity and its reputation.
With these information available about Indonesia, the external stakeholders will define the country’s identity based on its functional qualities (the ability to solve its environmental problem), normative qualities (integrity towards environmental sustainability) and emotional qualities (sympathy and fascination for its culture and landscapes) (Burhamm and Ingenhoff, 2014; Nandi, 2014). With this communication approach, Indonesia will influence the opinions and attitudes of the foreign stakeholders toward the country.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the problem of forest fires caused by the companies in Indonesia should be controlled in order to prevent all the harm it causes. Country's image can be improved in terms of its international relations only if this ecological issue will be solved. There are many things Indonesia can be proud of and it can definitely improve its identity by just stopping burning the forests. Very important fact is that not only Indonesia suffers from this problem, but also its neighbours, Singapore and Malaysia, feel harmful effects caused by the fires. I found many different references about Indonesian burning forests while conducting my own research; it means that such cases have been known worldwide, which effects the country’s image greatly. The government of the state must realize that this situation is going out of control and is influencing all the spheres of the country’s life. Indonesia is a beautiful place with exotic nature and good perspectives for future; however, it should definitely improve its own image and put a lot of efforts for fighting the main ecological problem – forest fires.
References
Anholt, S. (2013) Beyond the nation brand: The role of image and identity in international relations
Buhmann, A. & Ingenhoff, D. (2014) EUPRERA CONFERENCE PAPAR 2013. Advancing the country image construct from a public relations perspective. Journal of Communication Management. 19(1): 62-80.
Gaveau, D.L.A., Salim, M.A., Hergoual’h, K., Locatelli, B., Sloan, S., Wooster, M., Marlier, M.E., Molidena, E., Yaen, H., DeFries, R., Verchot, L, Murdiyarso, D., Naso, R., Holmgren, P & Sheil, D. (2014) Major atmospheric emissions from peat fires in Southeast Asia during non – drought years: evidence from the 2013 Sumatran fires. Scientific Reports. 4.
Nandi (2014) Coastal conservation policies and integrated coastal zone management (IZCM). International Journal of Conservation Science. 5(3): 387-396.
Palanissamy, A. (2013) Haze free air in Singapore and Malaysia – the spirit of the law in South East Asia. International Journal of Education and Research. 1(8): 1-8.
