The article explores the points of convergence between rhetoric and public relations and criticizes the dominant paradigm of public relations theory for lack of attention paid to rhetorical dimensions of corporate discourse. The narrow and broad conceptions of rhetoric are presented, the first characterizing rhetoric with persuasive and argumentative discourse, and the second with different types of discourse. It is suggested that elements of the broad conception of rhetoric could provide heuristics for analyzing public relations techniques as a "genre repertoire" of public relations discourse. In the second part, an inquiry into the narrow conception of rhetoric as persuasive and argumentative discourse is made. It is argued that in corporatediscourse key managerial decisions have to be justified in argumentation in corporate discourse. At the end, Toulmin's model of argumentation is suggested as especially suitable for analysis of argumentative nature of corporate discourse.
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