Is communications a strategic activity in UK Education?

This qualitative exploratory paper investigates whether communications/public relations is regarded by opinion formers in UK education as a strategic business activity or a tactical marketing tool. It is based upon depth interviews with 16 senior managers with strategic roles in UK higher or further education, or Government bodies, conducted between June and September 2004. The findings seem to suggest that communications/PR is ideally seen by leaders as a strategic function, but that there are limitations to this vision becoming a reality. The research goes on to offer initial conclusions on some of the issues surrounding perception, resource, and implementation of strategic communications/PR in UK education, with implications for practitioners considered

Developing corporate communications: insights from the Italian scenario

Purpose - Based on business manager perceptions in large firms, this paper explores the emergence, growth and importance of corporate communications and how it is evolving and creating competitive advantage in Italian firms. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative approach is deployed, comprising depth interviews with senior managers from corporations from a broad spectrum of industries including: energy, telecommunications, automotive, transport, retail chain, appliances, technology and engineering, private shipping, government-owned holdings, marketing consultancy, and construction. Findings - The paper provides insights of corporate communication (corpcom) practices in the sampled companies. The research shows that corpcoms involves a complex range of activities leading to performances managed and implemented under CEO direction. Practical implications - Corpcoms is perceived as a strategic concept with effective application relative to managing corporate image and reputation. The findings offer insights for communication professionals who deal with corpcoms, branding, and marketing communications. Originality/value - Corpcoms can be viewed via lens of social actors’ perspectives, i.e. via practitioners – including brand managers and senior executives as they possess practical knowledge of contextual business setting and the managerial capacity to design and implement integrated corporate communications

The value and significance of corporate community relations: an Italian SME perspective

Purpose – This paper investigates the link between community of place and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lombard industrial districts in Italy. Design/methodology/approach – A brief literature review of international authors from the stakeholder approach and Corporate Community Relations field is presented. This paper refers to a survey of Lombard industrial districts conducted by ALTIS. The data was collected via a telephone survey from 834 firms. Findings – The main finding is that managing Corporate Community Relations (CCR) is of major importance for company success. The results of the survey show that there are some tools and actions that Italian industrial district SMEs uses to interact with their particular communities of place to develop effective and coherent relationships with their stakeholder groups. Moreover, although the survey shows that though SMEs do implement different CCR activities, they are not able to communicate these effectively through systematic communication strategies. However, the narrow sample includes only a sample of some Lombard districts. Nonetheless, the findings indicate that effective CCR seems to confer competitive advantage based on stakeholder responses and rewards sought. Research limitations/implications – The framework could assist in supporting CCR developments between industrial districts as various players would know how to improve CCR activities. One further suggestion is that University and Research Centres could have a role to play in creating and communicating codified knowledge concerning community relations in industrial districts, while other public players still have to develop specific tasks in improving infrastructures. Originality/value – This study is in line with the main focus of CCR, which is in striving to meet stakeholder and societal needs. However, industrial district SMEs have to learn how to communicate their CCR activities from the examples set by large Italian companies. The paper links the notion of CCR with tools and actions to develop meaningful relationships with both community of place and interest. Moreover, considering the survey results, a new framework for local player roles is proposed

IMC antecedents and the consequences of planned brand identity in higher education

Purpose – This study identifies IMC antecedents and the consequences of planned brand identity in the context of higher education, and empirically tests a number of hypotheses related to the constructs of these antecedents and consequences. Design/methodology/approach – A model of the IMC antecedents and consequences of planned brand identity was tested in a survey conducted among stakeholders in two London-based Universities. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to gain insight into the various influences and relationships. Findings – The study identifies and confirms key constructs in planned brand identity. IMC antecedents of planned brand identity, such as brand elements, service attributes, public relations, and place/country-of-origin were found to positively influence the planned brand identity consequences of awareness, image, and reputation. However, websites, social media, advertising and direct marketing were not found to have significant influence. Research limitations/implications – The focus on two UK universities limits the generalisability of the findings. Future research should be conducted in other country settings in order to test the relationships identified in the present study. Also, future research may build on the study’s findings by investigating the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of brand identification in the higher education context. Practical implications – Professionals responsible for universities’ promotional and branding activities need to evaluate the relative contributions of the IMC antecedents of planned brand identity. Brand elements such as design, color and name, for example, should be reviewed to determine whether modifications are required in different international markets. The increasing prevalence of social media, one of the key antecedents of brand awareness, offers opportunities for universities to engage in brand co-creation by interacting with past, present and future students on relevant digital platforms. Finally, the place/country-of-origin cue is of particular relevance to institutions of higher education given the increasing numbers of students at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels who are choosing to study abroad (Melewar and Akel, 2005). The attraction of the United Kingdom as a country to study in, or the appeal of individual cities such as London, should be fully integrated into universities’ IMC strategies. Originality/value – The study makes two main contributions. First, we make a theoretical contribution by identifying the core IMC antecedents and consequences of planned brand identity for universities and from this extrapolate key directions for future research. Second, we indicate a number of managerial implications designed to assist in the formulation of improved professional practice

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

Integrating identity, strategy and communications for trust, loyalty and commitment

Purpose – This paper operationalize and juxtaposes variables related to identity, strategy and communications and then focuses on the impact of such integration on organizational stakeholders’ trust, loyalty and commitment. Design/methodology/approach – This research design utilises explanatory research at the preliminary stage, as informed by the literature and conceptual framework. The subsequent model was examined via a positivist survey carried out among stakeholders in high-end retail stores in London. Structural equation modelling (SEM) via AMOS was conducted to gain insight into the various influences and relationships. Findings – The results indicate that identity and strategy are key drivers of integrated corporate communication, and they serve to build stakeholder trust, loyalty and commitment. Originality/value – The paper shows that while practitioners have indicated that integrated marketing communication is important for organizations, there are a few other areas of concern with regard to consequences related to trust, loyalty and commitment, especially in a retail context. We empirically examined relationships between these constructs by validating a conceptual model employing SEM

A bibliometric investigation of service failure literature and a research agenda

Purpose - This research studies the citations made in service failure literature, and assesses the knowledge construction of this region of exploration to date. Design/methodology/approach - The bibliometric investigation assesses 416 service failure articles in business associated research. Multidimensional scaling (MDS) is employed to uncover the scope of the scholarly impacts that have helped understand the nature of the service failure literature. The establishment of knowledge in the service failure literature is revealed by analysing co-citation data to identify significant topical impacts. Findings - The theoretical model combines five areas with significant propositions for the future improvement of service failure as an area of investigation. The most important research themes in-service failure literature are service failure, service failure communication, the recovery process, recovery offer and intention. Research limitations/implications - Potential research concentrating on the service failure literature could use search terms improved from the literature review, or use a comparable approach whereby a board of well-informed scholars approved the keywords used. Practical implications - This paper is beneficial for any reader who is interested in understanding the components of the perception of justice and recovery and how it improves repurchase intention. Originality/value - The study seeks to influence resource and recovery-based concepts and utilises the five supporting knowledge groups to suggest a plan for future research that fills existing gaps and offers the possibility of expanding and enhancing the service failure literature

Perceptional components of brand equity: configuring the symmetrical and asymmetrical paths to brand loyalty and brand purchase intention

This research investigates the impact of brand perception on brand loyalty and brand purchase intention using the lenses of complexity theory. First, the study conceptualizes and operationalizes perceptional and behavioral components of brand equity. It then examines the dimensions of brand perception, and by assessing the consequences of favorable brand perception, the study enables a better understanding regarding whether a brand marketing approach helps to improve marketing performance. The research was conducted using a mixed methodology, beginning with interviews in order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the dimensions of brand perception. These were followed by a questionnaire survey, and the resulting data were analyzed through content analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results indicate that brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association, brand fondness, brand image, and product country image have a strong impact on the management of brand perception. The finding illustrates that it is the combinations of various perceptional elements of brand equity rather than any single factor that have strong impacts on brand loyalty and brand purchasing intention. The results support the importance of brand perception for the fashion industry, which needs to be more interactive in order to increase their customers’ brand loyalty and brand purchasing intention

A performance evaluation of commercial fibrinogen reference preparations and assays for Clauss and PT-derived fibrinogen

The wide availability of fibrinogen estimations based on the prothrombin time (PT-Fg) has caused concern about the variability and clinical utility of fibrinogen assays. In a multi-centre study, we investigated fibrinogen assays using various reagents and analysers, Clauss assays generally gave good agreement, although one reagent gave 15-30% higher values in DIC and thrombolysis. Two commercial reference preparations had much lower potencies than the manufacturers declared, and plasma turbidity influenced parallelism in some Clauss assays, PT-Fg assays gave higher values than Clauss and showed calibrant dependent effects, the degree of disparity correlating with calibrant and test sample turbidity. Analyser and thromboplastin dependent differences were noted. The relationship between Clauss and PT-Fg assays was sigmoid, and the plateau of maximal PT-Fg differed by about 2 g/l between reagents. ELISA and immunonephelometric assays correlated well, but with a high degree of scatter. Antigen levels were higher than Clauss, but slightly lower than PT-Fg assays, which appeared to be influenced by degraded fibrinogen. Clauss assays are generally reproducible between centres, analysers and reagents, but PT-Fg assays are not reliable in clinical settings