Evaluating the impact of corporate logos towards corporate reputation: a case of Persia and Mexico

Purpose - This paper examines the impact of corporate logos on corporate image and reputation in creating competitive advantage in the context of Persia and Mexico as emerging markets. This paper provides an extensive links between corporate logo and its dimension and internal stakeholders’ attitudes towards advertisement, familiarity, and recognisability as intermediaries to corporate image and reputation. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative exploratory approach was taken, comprising 12 face-to-face interviews 14 skype in-depth interviews were conducted with graphic designers, design, communication and marketing consultant in Mexico and Persia based on attribution theory. Findings - The study posits that the more favorable the name, color, typeface and design of the company and color, the more favorable the attitude Mexican consumers have towards the corporate logo, corporate image and reputation. However, in comparison for Persia these factors have less effect on customers’ judgment and behavior, towards the corporate logo, corporate image and reputation. The research findings suggest that the selection of color in a corporate logo is related to its marketing objectives, cultural values, desired customer relationship levels with the organisation, and organisation’s corporate communications. Practical implications - Corporate logo should be considered a constructive tool that can be effectively applied to managing the image and reputation of any organization. Moreover we suggest that regional or cultural variants can play an important role while selecting the logos in different cultures. The results are helpful for communication professionals who deal with organization’s corporate identity, branding, and communication, and aim to enhance the consistency of messages both visual and written within their organization Originality/value - Corporate logo has received little attention in marketing literature and barely been researched in emerging market. This is the first research of its kind to find the effect of the compound logo in emerging markets of Persia and Mexico. It thereby adds to the corporate visual identity literature by developing of the sphere of influence of the corporate logo and its antecedents and consequences (corporate image and corporate reputation)

Marketing management capability:the construct and its dimensions: an examination of managers’ and entrepreneurs’ perceptions in a retail setting

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationship between corporate cultural/intangible assets and marketing capabilities by examining managers’ and entrepreneurs’ perceptions in a retail setting.Design/methodology/approach: Nineteen face-to-face interviews were conducted with UK small and medium sized enterprise (SMEs) managers and entrepreneurs to identify six sub-capabilities that form marketing capability. The authors further validated the relationship between marketing sub-capabilities and its antecedent tangible and intangible assets. The qualitative approach used provided a deeper insight into the motivations, perceptions and associations of the stakeholders behind these intangible concepts, and their relationships with their customers.Findings: The research identified that there is a strong relationship between tangible and intangible assets, their components and the following capabilities: corporate/brand identity management, market sensing, customer relationship, social media/communication, design/innovation management and performance management. In addition, companies need to understand clearly what tangible and intangible assets comprise these capabilities. Where performance management is one of the key internal capabilities, companies must highlight the importance of strong cultural assets that substantially contribute to a company’s performance.Originality/value: Previous work on dynamic capability analysis is too generic, predominantly relating to the manufacturing sector, and/or focussing on using a single case study example. This study extends the concept of marketing capability in a retail setting by identifying six sub-capabilities and describing the relationship of each with tangible and intangible assets. Through extensive qualitative analysis, the authors provide evidence that by fully exploiting their embedded culture and other intangible components, companies can more favourably engage with their customers to attain a sustainable competitive advantage.</p

A framework of place branding, place image, and place reputation: antecedents and moderators

Purpose – This paper develops a framework that links the concepts of place branding, place image, and place reputation. Focusing on the antecedents and outcomes of place branding in the context of an emerging country, namely Iran, the model further examines critical moderation variables. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative approach was undertaken, comprising face-to-face in-depth interviews with fifteen respondents, involved in communicating about their country for various purposes such as encouraging tourism, promoting exports, and attracting investments. Based on analysis of the qualitative data, a comprehensive framework for place branding was formulated. Findings – Findings indicate that the key indicators of identifying a place brand come under two headings, namely national culture (country’s name, country’s brand, country attributes, social changes, geography and environment, people, culture (history, language, etc.), and infrastructure (security, economic condition, technological advancement, tourism development goals, place marketing and promotional strategy), which influences on the favorability of place branding. In addition, five main moderators of the outcomes of place branding were identified, namely, political perception, social media and news, place awareness, place association, and tourism experience. Practical implications – Effective place branding could help a country attract tourists, visitors, traders, and investors. Place branding should be considered a constructive tool that can be successfully applied to managing a country’s image. Originality/value – Place branding has received little attention in the context of emerging markets. This is the first known study undertaken with a view to understand and develop a place branding model that links with place image and place reputation in an emerging country. The study identifies twelve antecedents of place branding and five important moderators. Findings will help policy makers, country brand managers, and communication professionals more generally who deal with a country’s image and reputation and those involved in improving the tourism industry in Iran

Influence of national culture and balanced organizational culture on the hotel industry's performance

This study investigates the role of national culture and balanced organisational culture in organisational performance. Hotel management requires flexibility and customer responsiveness to deal with increasingly demanding customers and competitiveness of the market. Studies of the influence of culture on performance in hotel management have not yet revealed the specific impact of national culture and balanced organisational culture on organisational performance. We use the concept of balanced organisational culture which posits that polyrational organisations are more responsive to market changes and more innovative. Data were gathered from 96 hotels in London, UK, and were analysed using structural equation modelling. Our findings show that the national culture of hotel employees influences balanced organisational culture which, in turn, influences performance. This study contributes to existing understanding of factors affecting performance, points towards further research, helps practitioners by demonstrating the importance of taking national culture into account and indicates the importance of achieving balanced organisational culture

Corporate e-communication: its relationship with the corporate logo in the construction of digital interaction platforms

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine the influence of the corporate logo on the consumer’s attitude within corporate e-communication. Design/methodology/approach – This research designed a model and a number of hypotheses, based on previous studies on corporate logo, its antecedents on e-communication, corporate image and corporate reputation. Online survey was conducted consumers and followers of the shopping social networking platforms (Facebook and Twitter) in from Colombia. Findings – Taking into account previous corporate constructs theories, the author proposes a new conceptual framework to explain how corporate e-communication interacts within an organisation’s structure, and also to show that the consumer’s interaction in corporate e-communication platforms is based on the corporate logo perception held by consumers; as a consequence, the corporate reputation is affected. Originality/value – This study contributes on the understanding and expansion of the organisation’s structure by introducing a new corporate construct, named ‘corporate e-communication’, defined as the digital interaction than an organisation has with its stakeholders, it involves everything it says, shows and does. However, there are a few other areas of concern with regard to consequences related to corporate image and corporate reputation, particularly in Colombian retail setting

An integrated core competence evaluation framework for portfolio management in the oil industry

Drawing upon resource-based theory, this paper presents a core competence evaluation framework for managing the competence portfolio of an oil company. It introduces a network typology to illustrate how to form different types of strategic alliance relations with partnering firms to manage and grow the competence portfolio. A framework is tested using a case study approach involving face-to-face structured interviews. We identified purchasing, refining and sales and marketing as strong candidates to be the core competencies. However, despite the company's core business of refining oil, the core competencies were identified to be their research and development and performance management (PM) capabilities. We further provide a procedure to determine different kinds of physical, intellectual and cultural resources making a dominant impact on company's competence portfolio. In addition, we provide a comprehensive set of guidelines on how to develop core competence further by forging a partnership alliance choosing an appropriate network topology

How do entrepreneurs learn and engage in an online community-of-practice? A case study approach

This paper investigates the ways in which entrepreneurs use communities of practice (CoPs) to express themselves, using narrative theory and rhetorical analysis, to gain insight into an electronic social network medium, namely, YoungEntrepreneur.com. In particular, the study focuses on CoPs themes, including why entrepreneurs engage in CoPs, what role the moderators and resident entrepreneurs can play in managing online CoPs, on communication rituals of the knowledge sharing through interactivity, and on ‘how to develop an intervention’ to maintain and stimulate entrepreneurs for engaging in an online community. Findings reveal that the topic title plays a major role in attracting people. Successful topics with successful conclusions (in terms of the original query that was answered) will not necessarily get high responses and vice versa. It is observed that the domain expert does not play a big role in keeping the discussion going. Finally, the study also discovered that entrepreneurs like to communicate in a story telling genre. A comprehensive set of engagement measurement tools are introduced to effectively measure the engagement in a virtual CoP, along with a classification to define and categorise discourse of messages in terms of content and context, which allow practitioners to understand the effectiveness of a social networking site

Corporate logo: history, definition, and components

Both academics and practitioners alike have directed increasing attention to the field of the corporate logo, and yet, a definitive construct of the corporate logo and its measurement does not yet exist. In this article, we marshal the literature relating to the historiography of the corporate logo. Furthermore, we report the findings of a literature based study that sought to clarify the definitions and components of the corporate logo; namely, color, typeface, corporate name, and design. Challenges in developing a corporate logo are discussed. An important recommendation made by this research is about

Mediating effect of intrinsic motivation on the relationship between Islamic work ethic, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment in banking sector

Purpose – This research seeks to determine the impact of the IWE on job satisfaction and organizational commitment among the employees of Maskan Bank by examining the mediating role of intrinsic motivation. Design/methodology/approach – A model of the intrinsic motivation antecedent and consequences of IWE was examined in a survey conducted among employees working in Maskan Bank in Iran. Structural equation modelling (SEM) via Amos software was employed to gain insight into the various influences and relationships. Findings – The findings revealed a direct effect of IWE on job satisfaction, but there was no direct significant relationship between this variable and organizational commitment. Also, intrinsic motivation plays a partial and completely mediatory role in the relationship between IWE and job satisfaction, and IWE and organizational commitment. Research limitations/implications – The impact of participation in strategic planning on managers’ creation of budgetary slack: The mediating role of autonomous motivation and affective organizational commitment. Originality/value – Since the nature of bank employees’ work is such that it confronts them with numerous ethical choices, the adherence to ethical standards, particularly IWE, can greatly affect their enthusiasm and, as a result, their satisfaction and organizational commitment

Digital technology and marketing management capability: achieving growth in SMEs

Purpose – The intentions of this study is to evaluate the constructs relationships in order to gain more insight and definitive clarification of the factors related to company’s growth in UK. Based on resource-advantage theory, this research addresses “to what extent does digital technology influence marketing capability which loads to company’s growth?” Design/methodology/approach – The data was gathered through 21 in-depth interviews with managers from different multinational organizations and 6 focus groups with employees and new empirical insights are offered. Findings – The study identifies the two key components of digital technology (information quality and service convenience). In addition, the relationships between digital technology, tangible/intangible assets, and marketing capabilities perform significant role of facilitator between company’s growths. Research limitations/implications – The focus on UK SMEs limits the generalisability of the results. Further study should be collected in other sector and country settings in order to examine the associations recognized in the current study. Originality/value – This study illustrates the main impacts of digital technology on intellectual/physical assets that while managers and employees have specified that marketing capability is significant for organizations, there are a few other areas of concern with regard to consequences related to company’s growth, competence, and core competence, particularly in a SMEs settings