The BP Deepwater Horizon débâcle and corporate brand exuberance

This article is available to download from the publisher’s website at the link below.No abstract available (Editorial)

Corporate brands, the British Monarchy, and the resource-based view of the firm

Drawing on the nascent literature on corporate brands, the economic theory of the resourced-based view of the firm and the extensive literature on the British Monarchy, this article examines the branding credentials of the British Crown. This is the first time that this most arcane of institutions has been examined from organizational and management perspectives. The synthesis of these literatures confirmed the branding credentials of the Crown. From this, it is deduced that if the British Crown is a corporate brand then it ought to be managed as such. A conceptual model for the management of the monarchy is introduced and this involves the dynamic orchestration of five elements (Royal, Regal, Relevant, Responsive and Respected.) This is called “The Royal Branding Mix.” The Royal and Regal elements equate to a brand’s identity and have an explicit organizational focus. In contrast, the Relevant, Responsive, and Respected dimension have a public (stakeholder) focus. A “Corporate Branding Mix” is introduced which aims to have a more general utility and represents an adaptation of the “Royal Branding Mix.

Corporate brand management imperatives: Custodianship, credibility, and calibration

Copyright 2012 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.Marshaling case study research insights, this article advances our knowledge of the strategic management of corporate brands. Strategic corporate brand management requires commitment to three critically important imperatives: senior management custodianship; the building and maintaining of brand credibility; and the dynamic calibration of seven identities constituting the corporate brand constellation. This article draws on research dating back to the 1990s and is also informed by the identity-based view of corporate brands perspective and by recent scholarship on the AC4ID Test—a strategic, diagnostic, corporate brand management framework

Student corporate brand identification: An exploratory case study

Purpose: We investigate student corporate brand identification towards three corporate brands: a UK University, a leading UK business school and its overseas collaborative partner institute in Asia. Methodology: A theory-building case study within the phenomenological/ qualitative research tradition Findings: The strength of student identification to a corporate brand is predicated on awareness, knowledge and experience of a brand. The data revealed three types of corporate brand identification. This reflects different types of student relationships within the three institutions examined. We categorise these as follows: brand member (a contractual/legal relationship with a corporate brand); brand supporter (a trusting corporate brand relationship) and brand owner (an emotional ownership/relationship with the corporate brand). In explaining the above we view the above states in terms of a corporate brand identification management hierarchy which we categorise as legalisation, realisation and, finally, (brand) actualisation. Senior managers should strive for brand actualisation. Research Limitations: The insights from a single, exploratory, case study might not be generalisable. Practical Implications: We conceptualise that a bureaucratic/product management approach is more likely to result in low brand identification (legalisation); that a diplomatic/communications management approach is more likely to result in moderate brand identification (realisation) and finally, that a custodial/brand values and promise management approach is more likely to result in high brand identification (brand actualisation). These categorisations can have a utility in ascertaining the effectiveness of corporate brand management. Originality/value of paper: Examines multiple student identification (towards a University, Business School and a non degree-awarding Overseas Institute)

Identity studies: Multiple perspectives and implications for corporate-level marketing

Purpose – Provides a comprehensive review of the identity literature drawing on perspectives from marketing (corporate identity concept) and organisational behaviour (organisational identity) so as to provide an up-to –date overview of identity scholarship. Findings – Reveals a growing congruency between scholars of marketing and organisational behaviour in their comprehension of identity. Identifies four principal schools of thought relating to identity which differ in terms of conceptualisation, locus of analysis and explanandum (corporate identity, visual identity, an organisation’s identity and organisational identity). Our review confirms the importance of identity especially in relation to the concepts underpinning the nascent field of corporate-level marketing. Practical implications – the importance of taking a multidisciplinary perspective in the comprehension and management of identity in organisational contexts. Originality/Value – The first major review of identity studies that synthesises the marketing and organisational behaviour approaches to identity. Offers pointers in terms of the research agenda to be followed

Heritage branding orientation: The case of Ach. Brito and the dynamics between corporate and product heritage brands

The notion of heritage branding orientation is introduced and explicated. Heritage branding orientation is designated as embracing both product and corporate brands and differs from corporate heritage brand orientation which has an explicit corporate focus. Empirical insights are drawn from an in-depth and longitudinal case study of Ach. Brito, a celebrated Portuguese manufacturer of soaps and toiletries. This study shows how, by the pursuance of a strategy derived from a heritage branding orientation Ach. Brito – after a prolonged period of decline – achieved a dramatic strategic turnaround. The findings reveal how institutional heritage can be a strategic resource via its adoption and activation at both the product and corporate levels. Moreover, the study showed how the bi-lateral interplay between product and corporate brand levels can be mutually reinforcing. In instrumental terms, the study shows how heritage can be activated and articulated in different ways. For instance, it can re-position both product and/or corporate brands; it can be meaningfully informed by product brand heritage and shape corporate heritage; and can be of strategic importance to both medium-sized and small enterprises

Corporate marketing: Apocalypse, advent and epiphany

Purpose - this paper aims to explain the nature and relevance of corporate marketing and details the antecedents of the territory. Corporate marketing is a marketing and management paradigm which synthesises practical and theoretical insights from corporate image and reputation, corporate identity, corporate communications and corporate branding, among other corporate-level constructs. Design/methodology/approach – via the adoption of a quadrivium; a traditional classical, four-part, approach to the acquisition of knowledge, I: (i) show how organisations can be faced by apocalyptical scenarios through a failure to accord sufficient attention to one or more dimensions of the corporate marketing mix, (ii) explain why the emergence of corporate level constructs such as corporate image, identity, branding communications and reputation represent, both individually and collectively, the advent of corporate marketing, (iii) detail the various integrative initiatives in corporate design, corporate communications and identity studies which, together with the incremental augmentation of the marketing philosophy find their natural dénouement in the epiphany of corporate marketing; (iv) describe the 6Cs of the corporate marketing mix and reflect upon possible future directions in organisational marketing. Findings - paper reveals the efficacy of adopting an organisational-wide corporate marketing philosophy to management decision makers and scholars. Originality/Value – the practical utility of corporate marketing is explicated by making reference to case vignettes, and various marketing and non-marketing literatures Practical Implications – drawing on the marketing/management theory of identity alignment policy advisors should accord attention to each dimension of the corporate marketing mix and ensure that they are in meaningful as well as in dynamic alignment. Paper type – Historical overview/literature review/case histories. This Commentary is based on the opening remarks of the celebratory 10th symposium of the International Corporate Identity Group (ICIG) held at Brunel University, London, in 2007

Aligning identity and strategy: Corporate branding at British Airways in the late 20th century

Published as "Aligning identity and strategy: Corporate branding at British Airways in the late 20th century", California Management Review, 51(3), 6 - 23, 2009. © 2009 by the Regents of the University of California. Copying and permissions notice: Authorization to copy this content beyond fair use (as specified in Sections 107 and 108 of the U. S. Copyright Law) for internal or personal use, or the internal or personal use of specific clients, is granted by the Regents of the University of California for libraries and other users, provided that they are registered with and pay the specified fee via Rightslink® on JSTOR (http://www.jstor.org/r/ucal) or directly with the Copyright Clearance Center, http://www.copyright.com.This article explains the utility of adopting an identity-based view of the corporation, which underpins a diagnostic tool of identity management outlined in this article. Using British Airways as an extensive case history, it examines and analyzes how British Airways' senior executives have intuitively adopted an identity-based perspective as part of the strategic management of the carrier. The analysis is corroborated by insights from the former CEO of British Airways, Lord Marshall, as well as his predecessor, Lord King. The overriding message is that calibrating the multiple identities of the corporation is a critical dimension of strategic management

Guest Editorial

The Guest editorial is available to view online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/bm.2015.15The development and management of brands in China have emerged as an area of considerable and growing interest among branding scholars and practitioners owing to the rise and significance of brands within China. As such, this special edition provides an interesting range of articles that speak to the above theme and marshals research and scholarship undertaken by Chinese scholars along with scholars from England, Continental Europe and the United States. The special edition includes an overview of the development and management of brands in China; a case study of a centuries-old and greatly loved Chinese Corporate heritage brands (Tong Ren Tang (TRT)); includes two studies of luxury brands in China and another examining two prominent cultural brands and a study on corporate retail brand image

The corporate brand and strategic direction: Senior business school managers’ cognitions of corporate brand building and management

This revelatory study focuses on top Financial Times (FT) ranked British business school managers cognitions of corporate brand building and management. The study insinuates there is a prima facie bilateral link between corporate branding and strategic direction. Among this genus of business school, the data revealed corporate brand building entailed an on-going concern with strategic management, stakeholder management, corporate communications, service focus, leadership, and commitment. These empirical findings, chime with the early conceptual scholarship on corporate brand management dating back to the mid-1990s. These foundational articles stressed the multi-disciplinary and strategic nature of corporate brand management and stressed the significant role of the CEO. As such, this research adds further credence to the above in terms of best-practice vis-à-vis corporate brand management. Curiously, whilst senior managers espouse a corporate brand orientation, corporate brand management is seemingly not accorded a similar status in the curriculum. Drawing on general embedded case study methodological approach, data was collected within eight leading (FT-ranked) business schools in Great Britain at Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, Bradford, Cranfield, Warwick, Lancaster and City (London) Universities. Each of these eight British business schools can be deemed as ‘top’ business schools by virtue of their inclusion in the influential Financial Times (FT) worldwide list of top business schools. The primary mode of qualitative data collection was the 37 in-depth interviews with business school Deans, Associate Deans and other senior faculty members and other managers