TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to focus on the differences between managing domestic corporate brands (DCBs) and multinational corporate brands (MCBs), and presents a framework highlighting six types of complexity associated with managing both forms of corporate brands in an international business context. Design/methodology/approach– This paper proposes a framework addressing six types of complexity involved in managing DCBs and MCBs drawing on the literature related to corporate branding, corporate brands, and domestic and multinational corporations. The six types of complexity examined include: strategic role, organisational structure, culture, knowledge, positioning and extended responsibility. Findings– The research identifies that DCBs have a lower degree of complexity in regard to strategic role, knowledge and positioning, but have a higher level in regard to organisational structure, cultural and extended responsibility complexity. MCBs face more complexity than DCBs across all dimensions because they operate across business environments and need to coordinate activities while adapting to environmental differences. Practical implications– The findings highlight the importance of environmental complexity for firms managing brands globally. The issues of complexity identified in this paper need to be understood if firms are to effectively build and manage their corporate brands within and across markets. Originality/value– The paper highlights the concepts of DCBs and MCBs, and identifies the factors that contribute to the complexity of managing these two types of corporate brands domestically and internationally. VL - 20 IS - 1 SN - 1356-3289 DO - 10.1108/CCIJ-03-2014-0016 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/CCIJ-03-2014-0016 AU - Khojastehpour Morteza AU - Ferdous Ahmed Shahriar AU - Polonsky Michael PY - 2015 Y1 - 2015/01/01 TI - Addressing the complexities of managing domestic and multinational corporate brands T2 - Corporate Communications: An International Journal PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 48 EP - 62 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -