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The purpose of this paper is to examine Interactive Network Branding (INB) as an emergent process where the corporate identity and reputation of a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) are created through interpersonal interaction. The INB process is socially constructed through interaction between individual people who act on behalf of their companies in business relationships and networks.

The study is conceptual. Drawing on corporate branding literature, IMP research and empirical studies as well as short illustrative cases from SME contexts, the paper provides a conceptual description of INB and its sub-processes. Corporate branding literature offers conceptual understanding of corporate identity and reputation; the recent IMP-based studies offer an overview of current thinking within the paradigm, and the empirical studies and case examples from SMEs show the validity of the interpersonal approach for the INB.

The paper provides an enhanced understanding of INB in which interpersonal interaction lead to the creation of a corporate brand – as an integral part of the companies’ networking process. Three types of interpersonal interactions are distinguished: internal, external, and boundary spanning, the latter occurring at the borderline of the company and its environment. A process model of INB is proposed that specify the role of various interactions for the emerging process.

Since the paper is conceptual, further research is needed to study the INB process empirically and in more depth in different SME contexts and through differing interaction perspectives.

Managerial implications denote the crucial role of individuals in performing INB. Through interpersonal interactions, SMEs are able to create their identity and reputation, i.e. a strong corporate brand, and thereby to influence their network position.

This paper is one of the first attempts to link the IMP network approach with corporate branding literature, while focusing on the interpersonal interactions. The study builds bridges between these two distant but important research paradigms and contributes to each by developing a process perspective on corporate branding in business networks. This new approach to corporate branding seen through business interactions offers unique conceptual and managerial implications.

The implications of multiple organizational identities for branding research have been scarcely considered. This paper aims to explore what sources of identity internal stakeholders use to construct organizational identities and corporate identities, and identify how diversity emerges in the perceived identities across various stakeholders.

The empirical study includes 59 in-depth interviews with internal stakeholders in a business-to-business service company.

Employees may perceive identity diversity as a strategic benefit for the company, and employees may not identify with a uniform corporate identity. The corporate identity could become more identifiable for employees through managerial recognition of different dimensions of identity diversity, such as multiple professional and locational identities.

The study bridges insights between organizational identity and corporate identity and problematizes identity coherence and consistency as strategic principles for corporate branding by proposing an alternative approach guided by identity diversity. Additionally, the study discusses identity diversity-based approaches to internal branding and co-creation in branding.

This article examines the nature, importance, typology, and management of corporate brands. Argues that in making a distinction between corporate brands, corporate identities, and product brands, the underlying characteristics of corporate brands can be uncovered. A key thesis of the article is that a corporate brand is a valuable resource: one that provides an entity with a sustainable, competitive advantage if specific criteria are met. These criteria are defined in terms of an economic theory known as “the resource‐based view of the firm”. An affirmation of this economic doctrine requires corporate brands to be rare, durable, inappropriable, imperfectly imitable, and imperfectly substitutable. Also contends that the traditional tripartite, branding typology be expanded to reflect the new modes in which corporate brands are being utilised. These new corporate branding categories are: familial, shared, surrogate, supra, multiplex, and federal. Finally, reasons that the management of a corporate brand requires the orchestration of six “identity types”. The critical identity type is the “covenanted identity” because it underpins the corporate brand. The covenanted identity comprises a set of expectations relating to an organisation's products/services and activities. Internally, it acts as a standard against which an employee/employer's actions can be evaluated. Argues that employees are crucial to the success, and maintenance, of corporate brands. Speculates that the current interest in corporate brands is redolent of a new dynamic in marketing. As such, corporate brands are symptomatic of the increased importance accorded to corporate‐level concerns and concepts. This interest in corporate‐level concerns should form the basis of a new branch of marketing: one that weft and weaves the concepts of corporate identity, image, reputation, communications along with corporate branding. The article concurs with Balmer and Greyser who argue that this area should be known as corporate‐level‐marketing.

This article introduces the special symposium entitled “Advances in corporate brand, corporate heritage, corporate identity and corporate marketing scholarship” and provide a synopsis of the five articles constituting this symposium. By means of context, this article celebrates the anniversaries of four marketing milestones apropos the formal introduction of the corporate brand concept (1995), the formal introduction of the corporate heritage notion (2006), the first special edition (in this journal) devoted to corporate identity (1997) and the formal introduction of the corporate marketing philosophical approach (1998). The latter – corporate marketing – can be viewed as a revolution in marketing thought by noting that mutually beneficial company–stakeholder relationship can be based on corporate identities and corporate brands are not restricted to products and/or services.

Taking a retrospective, this paper explains the four marketing milestones detailed above and notes the revolutionary notion of corporate marketing. All of the aforementioned have meaningfully advanced marketing scholarship over the last 20 years.

This study provides 18 reflections of developments with the corporate brand and corporate identity fields. It also shows the seminal importance of European Journal of Marketing (EJM) special editions on the territory dating back to 1997.

This paper discusses how corporate identity, corporate branding, corporate heritage, corporate identity and corporate marketing have, increasingly, become mainstream marketing concerns.

In marking these milestones, this celebratory EJM symposium comprises cutting-edge scholarship on the aforementioned areas, penned by renowned and prominent scholars from Australia, England, Germany and the USA.

Following a bibliometric approach, this study examines research on brand and branding in family businesses (FBs) to identify influential sources and main areas of knowledge, proposes an integrative framework that provides a holistic perspective of this field with an interdisciplinary cross-fertilization view and explores new avenues for future research and practice.

Based on 449 bibliographic references retrieved from the Web of Science database through a systematic process, the authors employed bibliographic coupling analysis to visualize the relationships among key works in the field and subsequently performed a literature review to deepen the analysis.

The bibliographic coupling analysis structured the existing research into six thematic clusters. Four of them follow an internal perspective and focus on FB identity and its influence on the construction of corporate brand identity, whereas the other two follow an external perspective that explores how FB brands are communicated and perceived by stakeholders and the influence of corporate brands and branding on FB image and reputation. Drawing from an in-depth review of the literature, this study offers a novel integrative framework, together with a set of proposals with managerial and theoretical implications.

The proposed framework aims to clarify the relationship between internal identity and management to build and communicate a FB brand. The study also shows the symbiosis that exists among family values, corporate reputation, brand equity and awareness in FBs. The existing interconnection between the family and business generates unique associations that are difficult to imitate.

This study is the first documented attempt at a bibliometric analysis of brands and branding in FBs, which serves to clarify the linkages between different research streams and connecting marketing, organization and FB literature to guide future research. Moreover, the integrative framework provides researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of its scope, highlighting the importance of corporate brand strategies beyond the boundaries of marketing departments.

This paper aims to explore three central tensions in the debate on corporate branding. Is a normative or a social constructionist approach more appropriate in conceptualising and managing corporate brands? Should the focus be on the organizational or the individual level? Must organizations take a static (focusing on continuity) or a more dynamic (focusing on change) perspective on corporate branding?

This is a conceptual paper based on a critical review of relevant literature and the papers included in this special issue.

Avenues for future research in corporate branding are highlighted.

Several issues fundamental to the corporate branding debate remain controversial. This paper sheds light on three key tensions in managing corporate brands and shapes the research agenda for future studies.

This paper aims to examine how scholarly research on corporate branding has evolved using bibliometric author co‐citation analysis of articles published between 1969 and 2008 on corporate branding.

The bibliography was compiled using the ISI Web of Science database. The authors searched articles published between 1969 and 2008 that used terms in their title related to their research scope. Then they used citation mapping to visualize the relationships between and among key works in the field.

The search resulted in 264 papers by 412 authors in 150 journals. The field is notably interdisciplinary, with articles published mainly in business, management, architecture, arts and communications disciplines. The authors found three main approaches to corporate branding research (internal, transactional, external) with seven core research streams: product, service and sponsorship evaluation; corporate and visual identity; employment image and application; corporate crime; financial performance; brand extension; and corporate image. They also identified emerging fields such as corporate branding combined with corporate social responsibility.

This research is limited by the database and the terms used for the search. Self‐citations were also included. The authors used citation mapping and content analysis to identify core research streams.

The article is singular in using bibliometrics by means of author co‐citation analyses to identify, analyze and visualize key articles about corporate branding in the last 40 years. The results demonstrate the impact of selected institutions, journals, and key articles and authors on the research field.

This study aims to fill a gap in branding literature concerning the effect of corporate brand relationships on brand value through the case study method in a business-to-business (B2B) context. The objectives of this study can be framed in the following three questions: what are the main constituents of a corporate brand; how does a corporate brand generate tangible and intangible brand value for their business customers; and how do tangible and intangible brand benefits influence relationship initiation and management practices of the case companies?

The study adopts a qualitative multiple cases study design by using archival data and both in-depth telephone and online interviews with senior representatives of the case study companies to investigate corporate branding and associated issues in a B2B context.

From a managerial perspective, this study reveals that corporate business culture, brand relationships, products and corporate identity and personality as the main constituents of a corporate brand in a B2B context. The results show that a corporate brand can generate intangible and tangible brand value benefits for business customers. The findings also note the importance of brand value in enhancing relationship initiation.

The study contributes to the branding literature by developing a conceptual model that explains the development and role of the corporate brand in a B2B context with its associated value creation and brand management outcomes. The findings advance brand management literature on business relationships, which addresses a gap in B2B contexts rather than mainly about product brand management and value creation in business-to-consumer contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to engage with the issue of construct clarity in corporate communications research giving particular attention to corporate branding and identity whereby a critique of existing alignment models provides a basis for a shift in the debate geared towards an alternative approach.

The commentary offers a discussion of a particular challenge to theory development around the clarity and specification of key constructs such as corporate identity and corporate brands. This leads to an elaboration of existing models of corporate branding and identity management and the subsequent suggestion for a shift towards alternative analytical interpretive models that are not premised on ontological assumptions of a conduit model of communication and objectivist assumptions of alignment and consistency. Shifting the debate in this direction has significant implications for research as well as practice.

There is a need to move away from sender‐dominated conduit models of communication and towards a constitutive model. This emphasizes the constitutive character of communication thus giving credence to the role of language and framing in the processes and products of organizational branding and identity. It also considers the relational or social process in the ascriptions of identity.

The paper proposes a new approach to corporate branding and identity and highlights the need for a more integrated understanding of the role of communication in the creation and promotion of these brands and identities.

This study aims to review family business branding research, elaborate a new framework integrating family business branding and corporate brand management literature and finally identify future research directions.

A bibliometric analysis was conducted to present the main research topics within family business branding.

The contributions of this study are threefold. First, this study maps the main themes of family business branding research and highlights its fragmented nature. Second, this study proposes an overarching framework based on signaling theory, attempts to bridge the family business branding and corporate brand management literature and provides a lead for future research. Third, this study stresses the role of brand construct in family business branding.

This study represents an important step in the identification of a new theoretical framework that best fits the investigation of family business branding.