Corporate‐slogans of corporations operating in Greater China

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to identify between polity similarities and differences of “brand‐personality traits” projected by corporate‐slogans of corporations operating in Greater China (CGCs) to see if Greater China is a cultural unit, and to examine CGC bilingual corporate‐slogans to see if patterns are in evidence and if certain ways of crafting the slogans are more effective.

Design/methodology/approach

Corporate‐slogans are collected from web sites of major CGCs. The sample is analysed using Aaker's Brand Personality Scale and relevant rhetorical concepts.

Findings

The sample shares more commonalities than differences, suggesting Great China is a cultural unit; and the majority of the slogans are crafted by direct translation and parallel drafting, and the latter is deemed more effective.

Research limitations/implications

This is a heuristic and hypothesis‐generating study and is entirely based on linguistic data. Studies with an empirical design are required to see if the findings have psychological validity.

Practical implications

If Greater China is a cultural unit, it should have bearing on corporate‐communication professionals in CGCs in terms of the adoption of corporate‐slogans, corporate names and artefacts related to corporate identity and image.

Originality/value

Hitherto studies of corporate‐slogans are mostly based on corporations operating in the West. This is the first study of CGC corporate‐slogans that cover four polities that succeeds in identifying patterns in methods of bilingual corporate‐slogan crafting and in “brand‐personality traits” projected by these slogans. The latter indicates that CGCs are operating not simply in a region, but in a cultural region.

Citation

Lee, M.Y.P. and So, D.W.C. (2007), "Corporate‐slogans of corporations operating in Greater China", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 58-74. https://doi.org/10.1108/13563280710723750