Search results

1 – 10 of over 22000
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 12 September 2017

John M.T. Balmer

This paper aims to introduce a new integrated strategic framework entitled, “The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders’ attributed identities…

23911

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to introduce a new integrated strategic framework entitled, “The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders’ attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum” and elucidates the central and strategic importance of corporate identity apropos corporate communications, corporate image, attributed stakeholder identifications and resultant behaviours. The strategic importance of corporate identity is noted. The continuum incorporates a variety of disciplinary/theoretical perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper/framework is informed by corporate marketing and strategic perspectives; legal theory of the firm; social identity branch theories; and stakeholder theory. The effects and management of corporate identity are seen as a continuum. The framework accommodates Tagiuri’s (1982) scholarship on corporate identity.

Findings

This paper formally introduces and explicates “The corporate identity, total corporate communications, stakeholders’ attributed identities, identifications and behaviours continuum”. Corporate identity management is an on-going strategic senior management/strategic requisite. Notably, the legal theory of company law – routinely overlooked – and its impact on corporate identity management is accepted, acknowledged and accommodated. The importance of stakeholders and stakeholder identification (a derivative of social identity theory) is underscored.

Practical implications

Via the explication of the continuum, managers can comprehend the nature and importance of corporate identity; appreciate that corporate identity adaptation/change is on-going; comprehend its interface/s with corporate communications, stakeholder attributed identities, identifications and the business environment; understand the need for on-going fidelity to an institution’s legally based core purposes and corporate identity traits (juridical identity); cognise the efficacy of constant stakeholder and environmental analysis. Corporate identity sustainability requires corporate identity to be advantageous, beneficial, critical, differentiating and effectual. Stakeholder prioritisation is not solely dependent on power, legitimacy and urgency but on legality, efficacy, ethicality and temporality.

Originality/value

The resultant framework/approach, therefore, aims to make a meaningful advance on the territory and, moreover, seeks to be of utility to scholars and practitioners of corporate marketing, strategy and company law. Arguably, therefore, the framework is more ambitious than extant framework on the domain. The resultant framework/approach, therefore, aims to make a meaningful advance on the territory and seeks to be of utility to scholars and practitioners of corporate identity, communications, images, identification, stakeholder theory, company law and, importantly, corporate strategy.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 51 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2019

Mohammad M. Foroudi, John M.T. Balmer, Weifeng Chen and Pantea Foroudi

How organizations view, value and manage their place architecture in relation to identification and corporate identity has received little research attention. The main goal of…

1164

Abstract

Purpose

How organizations view, value and manage their place architecture in relation to identification and corporate identity has received little research attention. The main goal of this paper is to provide an integrative understanding of the relationships between corporate identity, place architecture, and identification from a multi-disciplinary approach. It is assumed that the characteristics of the organization and of the way a corporate identity and place architecture are managed will affect employees’ and consumers’ identification.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a theory-building case study within the phenomenological/qualitative research tradition. The data were gathered through 15 in-depth interviews with top management who were working at a London-Based Business School. In addition, six focus groups were conducted with a total of 36 academics, and new empirical insights are offered. NVivo software was used to gain insight into the various influences and relationships.

Findings

Drawing on one case study, the findings confirm that firms are using the conceptualizations of corporate identity and place architecture, including the leveraging of tangible and intangible forms of consumers’/employees’ identification, toward a university business school. The insights from a single, exploratory, case study might not be generalizable.

Originality/value

The relationships between corporate identity, place architecture and identification have received little research attention and have hardly been studied at all from the perspective of this paper. This paper has value to researchers in the fields of marketing, corporate identity, place architecture, design, as well as professionals involved in managing a company’s architecture. Drawing on the marketing/management theory of identity and architecture alignment, managers and policy advisors should devote attention to each element of the corporate identity and place architecture and ensure that they are meaningful, as well as in dynamic alignment.

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2011

John M.T. Balmer

This article outlines the nature of corporate marketing myopia and details the salient characteristics of a corporate marketing logic. The notion of identity‐based views of the…

6934

Abstract

Purpose

This article outlines the nature of corporate marketing myopia and details the salient characteristics of a corporate marketing logic. The notion of identity‐based views of the firm is held to be highly meaningful to the comprehension of corporate marketing. In addition, the paper aims to broaden the understanding of the antecedents of corporate marketing by making reference to earlier, integrative endeavours (sensory integration, design integration, communications integration, branding integration and identity integration).

Design/methodology/approach

The commentary explains the nature, antecedents, and benefits of an organisation‐wide corporate marketing logic.

Findings

A corporate marketing logic characterises those organisations which realise their institutions and corporate brands can be important sources of differentiation. Moreover, it is held that organisations need to be involved in multi‐lateral relationships vis‐à‐vis customers, other stakeholders and with society at large. It is also mindful that an organisational marketing orientation should accord sensitivity to CSR/ethical concerns. A key precept of the corporate marketing logic is that it is institution‐wide ethos which is enacted via an organisation's culture. A long and a short definition of corporate marketing are enumerated.

Practical implications

Perceiving organisational marketing via the prism of identity‐based views of the firm and utilising the new corporate marketing mix (the 8Cs of corporate marketing) affords a practical and pragmatic means by which senior managers can foster and maintain a corporate marketing ethos and culture.

Originality/value

A corporate marketing framework is introduced which is informed by: identity‐based views of the firm perspective and by key corporate‐level constructs.

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2008

John M.T. Balmer

The purpose of this paper is to consider advances in corporate identity scholarship on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the first special edition of corporate identity to…

25155

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to consider advances in corporate identity scholarship on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the first special edition of corporate identity to appear in the European Journal of Marketing in 1997.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the form of a literature review.

Findings

The notion of, what can be termed, “identity‐based views of the corporation” is introduced. Each of the ten identity based perspectives that inform the above are underpinned by a critically important question which is believed to be of considerable saliency to marketing scholars and policy advisors alike. As a precursor to an exposition of these ten perspectives, the paper discusses five principal schools of thought relating to identity and identification ((the quindrivium) which can be characterised as: corporate identity (the identity of the organisation); communicated corporate identification (identification from the organisation); stakeholder corporate identification (an individual, or stakeholder group's, identification with the organisation); stakeholder cultural identification (an individual, or stakeholder group's, identification to a corporate culture); and envisioned identities and identifications (this is a broad category and relates to how an organisation, or group, envisions how another corporation or group characterises their identity or mode of identification.))

Practical implications

Each of the ten identity‐based views of the corporation outlined here is underpinned by a question of critical importance which aims to be of assistance to senior executives in comprehending and managing identity‐related concerns of the corporation.

Originality/value

The introduction of notions relating to identity based views of the corporation/corporation brands represents, perhaps, a natural denouement for the “schools of thought” approach which has long‐characterised the British School of scholarship vis‐à‐vis corporate identity scholarship since the early 1990s.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 42 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2011

Elif Karaosmanoğlu, Ayşe Banu Elmadağ Baş and Jingyun (Kay) Zhang

By drawing on theories of social identity, attraction, social comparison and consumer identification, this research seeks to examine how consumers' perceptions of other customers…

6112

Abstract

Purpose

By drawing on theories of social identity, attraction, social comparison and consumer identification, this research seeks to examine how consumers' perceptions of other customers of an organisation (the other customer effect) may have an influence on corporate image and consumer‐company identification. This study aims to test a model integrating these constructs in two contexts, i.e. products and services. It also seeks to investigate the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of a favourable corporate image in order to provide more insights to the argument that a corporate marketing approach helps to enhance marketing performance.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey of a convenience sample of 383 adult consumers is conducted. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is employed in order to test the proposed model. An alternative model is examined both in products and in services contexts.

Findings

The results indicate that perceptions about other customers influence customers' affective and behavioural reactions towards a company for both products and services. This finding suggests that corporate‐level marketing activities aiming to increase interaction among consumers lead to favourable corporate image and higher consumer‐company identification and hence desirable marketing outcomes. Furthermore, results show that for services the other customer effect is more prominent than for product offerings.

Originality/value

This study extends the concept of other customer effect to the context of corporate image and consumer‐company identification studies. It provides evidence that shifting towards corporate‐level marketing gives organisations another avenue for gaining a distinct position in the minds of consumers. Furthermore, by addressing both service and product contexts, it shows that other customer effect may exist beyond services studies.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 45 no. 9/10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 14 September 2020

Virginia Munro

As part of discussing future research in the era of change for Globalization 4.0, this chapter examines the traditional academic CSR literature to determine a gap in current…

Abstract

As part of discussing future research in the era of change for Globalization 4.0, this chapter examines the traditional academic CSR literature to determine a gap in current research. An academic literature search revealed limited literature on actual CSR activities, and more specifically, Social Initiatives (SIs). It is important to expand on this area of research as it relates to an evolution of the original CSR definition by Carroll (1979, 1999). The literature review also revealed limited use of Social Identity Theory in CSR studies: a theory which provides an excellent context to give ‘purpose’ and meaning to a more socially oriented form of CSR. It also provides a base to understand human ‘identificationand ‘identity’ with CSR activities, in a new era of change. Recent research reveals the importance of understanding what employees and global citizens as stakeholders want, need, identify, and engage with. Following a literature review, this chapter introduces a new ‘Social Initiatives Framework,’ designed to incorporate the many terms and alternative themes associated with CSR. The chapter concludes with extracts from an example paper for this area of research, and provides a model to examine changing stakeholder perspectives in global settings. The findings behind the development of the model is discussed, revealing substantial opportunities for future research. The chapter highlights the development of CSR SIs to study the sustainable development goals, while also supporting social enterprises to solve wicked challenges and create shared value (CSV) for both the host community and the company within the setting where the organization resides.

Details

CSR for Purpose, Shared Value and Deep Transformation
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-035-8

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 October 2021

Nathaniel Ayinde Olatunde, Imoleayo Abraham Awodele and Henry Agboola Odeyinka

The purpose of the study is to examine the stakeholder identification (SI) methods used in building projects procured by private corporate organisations in Southwestern Nigeria to…

4184

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to examine the stakeholder identification (SI) methods used in building projects procured by private corporate organisations in Southwestern Nigeria to draw a correlation between methods used for SI and project performance in the study area, thereby enhancing project performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The study used a census survey to purposively select 30 projects managers (who indicated from a first-stage questionnaire) that they have participated in structured stakeholder management (SM) from a list of 106 project managers and client representatives who have been involved in SM of building projects procured by private corporate organisations between 2008 and 2017 in the study area. A second-stage questionnaire was designed to elicit information from the respondents. The quantitative data that were collected were analysed using mean score (MS) analysis and Analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Findings

The study found that brainstorming in group meetings (MS = 4.33), interviews with the expert (MS = 3.20) and identification by other stakeholders (MS = 3.00) are the most frequently used SI methods in the study area. It was also found that the use of a questionnaire (MS = 0.87), Delphi method (MS = 0.80) and public hearing (MS = 0.57) was rare for SI in the study area. A further result showed that there was no significant difference in the opinion of project managers on 85% of methods used for SI in the study area irrespective of the procurement method employed.

Practical implications

The study examined the methods project managers used for SI on building projects procured by private corporate organisations to advocate for more robust and all-inclusive SI methods.

Originality/value

The study empirically examined methods used for SI and correlated them to project performance.

Details

Frontiers in Engineering and Built Environment, vol. 1 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2634-2499

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 June 2020

Yijing Wang and Buket Pala

This study investigates the mechanism through which banks employ corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment to engage in employees. The values of different types of CSR…

3652

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates the mechanism through which banks employ corporate social responsibility (CSR) commitment to engage in employees. The values of different types of CSR engagement (i.e. philanthropic CSR vs ethical and legal CSR) are distinguished and their influences on employee identification are analyzed. The moderation effect of CSR communication through corporate social media is examined in this context.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 254 respondents was collected through surveying the employees of one of the largest banks in Turkey.

Findings

Findings suggest that ethical and legal CSR is perceived more importantly than philanthropic CSR by employees in the banking industry. In addition, the level of transparency and frequency of CSR communication through corporate social media moderates the CSR types–employee identification relationship distinctively.

Practical implications

Special attention should be paid to the conditions under which CSR communication takes place effectively, as skeptics toward certain types of CSR initiatives may occur along with the disclosure of information about them.

Social implications

If organizations use social media communication in a way that would bring the CSR interests of their employees to light, it is likely that CSR initiatives will become more meaningful and have a greater societal impact.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the CSR literature through identifying the value of different types of CSR initiative and confirming the importance of transparent and proactive CSR communication on employee identification in the banking sector.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2020

Marwa Tourky, Pantea Foroudi, Suraksha Gupta and Ahmed Shaalan

This study aims to revisits the meaning of corporate identity (CI) in practice to identify its key dimensions and the interrelationships between them and to provide insights on…

1337

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to revisits the meaning of corporate identity (CI) in practice to identify its key dimensions and the interrelationships between them and to provide insights on how to operationalize the construct.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on a comprehensive literature review and qualitative research consisting of 22 semi-structured interviews with senior managers from 11 UK-leading companies, and three in-depth interviews with corporate brand consultants who worked closely with these firms in cognate areas.

Findings

The study identifies the following six key dimensions of CI in the UK industry: communication, visual identity, behavior, organizational culture, stakeholder management and founder value-based leadership.

Research limitations/implications

The focus on UK leading companies limits the generalizability of the results. Further studies should be conducted in other sectors and country settings to examine the relationships identified in the current study.

Originality/value

This study identifies the salient dimensions of CI and, for the first time, the role of founder transformational leadership, employee identification and top management behavioral leadership as key dimensions and sub-dimensions of CI. The study also provides novel insights about the measurements for these dimensions. Additionally, this study introduces a model for the interrelationships between CI dimensions and their influence on corporate image, based on rigorous theoretical underpinnings, which lays the foundation for future empirical testing.

Details

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1352-2752

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 22000