Book excerpt: International Communications Strategy is about the cross-cultural challenges currently facing PR practitioners. Offshoring, globalisation and the rise of China and India have been triggering unprecedented change in the communication sector. New channels of global communications are also being opened up by social media tools, bringing different cultures across the world together instantaneously online. Understanding cross-cultural aspects of PR includes understanding the culture of different societies, online culture itself and cross-border uses of social media. Communication is seen less and less as an operational function. While in the past organizations seemed to need communication practitioners only for colourful brochures and press releases, you are now expected to provide strategic advice and help senior executives to engage effectively with stakeholders in various parts of the world. At the same time, you are required to be knowledgeable about social media and internet cultures and to be able to link on-line and off-line PR work successfully. By providing information on alternative approaches as well as containing cross-cultural case-studies and examples, the book will give you points of reference and ideas that you will be able to use every time you are asked to provide strategic communication guidance to senior management/clients.