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The paper seeks to examine the role of corporate identity in UK clothing retail organisations, focusing on the “fast fashion” sector. The aim is to analyse the “gap” between desired identity and perceived identity within the sector.

An instrumental case study approach was adopted for this research. Companies' web sites and press releases were reviewed to find out the desired identity of organisations, while semi‐structured interviews were carried out with customers to elicit the perceived corporate identity. Themes developed from the cases will form the basis of further research.

This study has shown that although there are similarities, considerable “gaps” are present between the desired and perceived corporate identity of organisations, the latter being more important in understanding the research questions addressed which relate to corporate identity and the gap between desired and perceived identities. A number of propositions have emerged from the findings, which when investigated empirically will be useful for forming corporate identity constructs in the fashion retail sector.

This research provides some useful insights into the role of corporate identity within the fast fashion retail sector; however, it is not sufficient to make generalisable claims outside the cases examined. Further research is required to test some of the conceptual issues and propositions raised by this work.

The paper gives practitioners better insights into the gap between desired and perceived identity with a view to improving strategic interventions to close the gap.

The research makes a contribution to retail identity literature by emphasising the importance of perceived identity. The work is unique in being the first research to explore further the relationship between desired and perceived identity from a fashion retailing perspective. As a consequence the strategic implications from this work for desired identity are highlighted.

The paper aims to investigate the impact of ruthless image on the attractiveness and connectedness of corporate brands. It proposes a model that trust mediates the influence of a ruthless image on these outcomes. The study aims to build upon previous theory which suggests that not all brands with negative aspects to their images are destined to receive negative consumer responses.

A mixed method approach was adopted to examine consumer responses to ruthless brand image, including five focus groups to uncover successful brands with strong ruthless associations and 680 personal face‐to‐face surveys in which respondents were interviewed about one of four brands.

The paper provides empirical support that the mediating role of trust is critical to the development of favourable outcomes where negative brand associations exist. No significant direct links between ruthlessness, attractiveness and connectedness were identified – only an indirect effect via trust.

The chosen research approach may reduce the generalisablity of the results. Further empirical testing using alternative brands and outcome measures is encouraged.

Strategic brand implications are outlined which argue that brands with negative images can be successful, profitable and often the market leader. The importance of leader image to disguise the ruthlessness of the corporate brands is discussed.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study favourable consumer attitudes in the context of brands with negative associations.

The paper seeks to explore the role of the employer brand in influencing employees' perceived differentiation, affinity, satisfaction and loyalty – four outcomes chosen as relevant to the employer brand.

A multidimensional measure of corporate brand personality is used to measure employer brand associations in a survey of 854 commercial managers working in 17 organisations. Structural equation modelling is used to identify which dimensions influence the four outcomes. Models are built and tested using a calibration sample and tested on two validation samples, one equivalent to the calibration sample and another drawn from a single company.

Satisfaction was predicted by agreeableness (supportive, trustworthy); affinity by a combination of agreeableness and (surprisingly) ruthlessness (aggressive, controlling); and perceived differentiation and loyalty by a combination of both enterprise (exciting, daring) and chic (stylish, prestigious). Competence (reliable, leading) was not retained in any model.

Further work is required to identify how appropriate improvements in employee associations can be managed.

The findings emphasise the importance of an employer brand but the results also highlight the complexity in its management, as no one aspect has a dominant influence on outcomes relevant to the employer. At issue is which function within an organisation should be tasked with managing the employer brand.

Employer branding is relatively new as a topic but is attracting the attention of both marketing and HR academics and practitioners. Prior work is predominantly conceptual and this paper is novel in demonstrating empirically its role in promoting satisfaction, affinity, differentiation and loyalty.

The paper aims to highlight the importance of corporate rebranding in branding practice, which is neglected in theoretical treatment, so an extended theory is to be developed.

From the literature, the existing state of the theory of corporate rebranding is articulated. That theory is extended by the development of six principles and by case research. The principles are illustrated in the case of a Canadian leather goods retailer which has implemented a major corporate rebranding strategy. The paper demonstrates the value of organisational single case studies as a precursor to further research.

The single case enables a more in‐depth analysis of how branding principles were applied to corporate rebranding. All six principles were supported, indicating the need for maintaining core values and cultivating the brand, linking the existing brand with the revised brand, targeting new segments, getting stakeholder “buy‐in”, achieving alignment of brand elements and the importance of promotion in awareness building.

Although corporate rebranding is often used narrowly in practice as renaming, this paper redresses the limited attempts to build theory in this area of marketing. It attempts to build a more sophisticated and substantial theory of corporate rebranding.

The paper seeks to offer a critique of the Piagetian developmental cognitive psychology model which dominates research into children and brand symbolism, and to propose consumer culture theory as an alternative approach. The paper also aims to present the design and interpretation of an empirical study into the roles brands play in the everyday lives of junior school children, which demonstrates the richness of this alternative framework.

The key literature on children and brand symbolism is reviewed and the main concepts from consumer culture theory are introduced. A two‐stage qualitative study involving 148 children aged 7‐11 is designed using group discussions and a novel cork‐board sorting exercise. Findings from group discussions with 56 children in stage 2 of the study are analysed from a consumer culture theory perspective.

The analysis focuses on two aspects of the ways in which children use brand symbols in their everyday lives: their fluid interpretations of “cool” in relation to brand symbols, and the constitution of gender in children's talk about iconic brands, notably on “torturing Barbie”.

A key aim of this paper is to critique an existing framework and introduce an alternative perspective, so the analysis offered is necessarily partial at this stage. Future research could also use a consumer culture approach to investigate the role of brands in the everyday lives of children with differential access to financial resources, children from different ethnic groups, and children from different parts of the world.

The introduction of a new framework for researching children and brands offers a host of possibilities for academics and practitioners to understand the effects of brand symbols on the lives of today's children, including a more informed approach to socially responsible marketing. This is also the first study to apply consumer culture theory to children's consumption behaviour. Studying consumption practice from the child's viewpoint offers exciting new angles for the development of this theoretical perspective.

Despite the importance of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in e-commerce transactions on the global market, there is still limited understanding about the effect of eWOM sequence and its psychological mechanism in cross-cultural settings. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the differences in brand attitude changes according to the eWOM sequence, as well as cross-culturally, based on thinking styles. Furthermore, the authors examine the moderated mediation effect of perceived cognition congruency across cultures to explain its underlying mechanism.

The authors use a 2 (eWOM sequence: positive/negative, negative/positive) × 2(culture: East (South Korea), West (USA)) factorial design. Perceived cognition congruency is measured as a within-group variable.

First, brand attitude changes in the West (USA) for the negative/positive presentation order are significantly larger than for the positive/negative presentation order, while, in the East (South Korea), no significant differences exist. Second, in the Westerner group (analytical thinking style), the perceived cognition congruency shows a significant difference according to the eWOM sequence, whereas in the Easterner group (holistic thinking style), the perceived cognition congruency does not show a significant difference according to the eWOM sequence.

As such, a strategic interpretation of the mixed eWOM presentation order across cultures is needed. In the West, interest and attention are necessary for the eWOM sequence. However, in the East, a different strategic approach, except for the presentation order of mixed eWOM, is required. The other elements of the mixed eWOM, such as attribute type or intensity of negative information, need to be considered for mixed eWOM management.

This study expands the existing body of knowledge on the sequence effect of mixed eWOM. Furthermore, it provides strategic direction and practical implications for mixed eWOM-driven information management, focusing on sequence in cross-cultural settings.

The purpose of this study is to measure intellectual capital of the firm through the eyes of the consumer by investigating the relationships between financial-based brand equity (FBBE) and consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and their related constructs.

Fifteen consumer brands were evaluated based on three different perspectives of CBBE, and were then regressed on FBBE. Prior to the regression analysis, the FBBEs of 15 consumer brands were standardized using the total assets and three-year weighted average of their brand equity values.

Findings show that existing CBBE scales and related brand dimensions partially explain FBBE, namely, sustainability and brand experience, and that the product category contributes significantly in explaining FBBE. In addition, brand experience is positively associated with FBBE.

The study only includes brands from the food, electronics and clothing industries.

The study provides guidance to brand managers regarding which brand dimensions directly influence brands’ financial values.

The paper empirically measures consumers’ perceptions of the firm’s intellectual capital by using brand equity.

This paper considers the issues facing an institution as it confronts the transition from college to university. Utilizing insights from the UK experience of polytechnics moving to university status the authors seek similarity and a direction of action for a Cypriot Higher Education College. Based on interviews and focus groups a proposed model for managing change in educational institutions undergoing this transition is offered.