7. Model of corporate identity Corporate personality Communication Behaviour Symbolism Birkigt and Stadler 1986
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9. Corporate personality or corporate identity? ‘ Corporate personality… is the soul, the persona, the spirit, the culture of the organisation manifested in some way. The corporate personality is not necessarily something tangible that you can see, feel or touch. ‘ The tangible manifestation of a corporate personality is a corporate identity. It is the identity that projects and reflects the corporate personality’. Olins 1978
20. Corporate Reputation Important intangible asset: “ A perceptual representation of a company’s past actions and future prospects that describe the firm’s overall appeal to all of its key constituents when compared to other leading rivals” ( Fombrun )
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24. Identity and reputation Culture history Corporate strategy CI-mix Behaviour Communication Symbolism Corporate reputation Performance Financial Sales Environment HRM Based on van Riel and Balmer 1997
25. Aligning identity, image, reputation Vision (managers) Culture (employees) Image (stakeholders) Vision-culture gap Image-culture gap Image-vision gap Hatch and Schultz 2001
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27. Linking Identity to Image van Riel, 1995: 33 Corporate Identity Corporate Image Communication Symbolism Corporate Personality Behaviour Behaviour Symbolism Communication Corporate Personality
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29. Image v reputation ‘ Corporate image is the immediate mental picture that audiences have of an organization. ‘ Corporate reputations , on the other hand, typically evolve over time as a result of consistent performance, reinforced by effective communication, whereas corporate images can be fashioned more quickly through well-conceived communication programs.’ Gray and Balmer 1998
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Editor's Notes
Planned activity Measurable Can be controlled and manipulated Links with corporate strategy Communication - verbal and visual messages Behaviour - what the organization does and the way it does it
Its value lies in the associations that people attach to it (Hart, 1995) - it should reflect accurately the character and ethos, spirit and culture, of an organization and the way in which it desires to be perceived Names in particular – can create instant understanding and association: e.g. Weight Watchers; Head & Shoulders. Compare Head and Shoulders to Pantene, for example – here the name tells you less than the images of hair in the ads. Long-established names may in fact have positive associations anyway – e.g. Ford in the US. Logos - hard to have intrinsic meaning in a picture, but some manage it (e.g. Nike) – most act as a means of recognition, and the key to this is repetition, visual display in all possible areas. Colours and typefaces –Colour because people are thought to more readily recognize combinations of colour; typeface 0 also leads to particular impressions based on the style used. Idea of symbols is to fuse values, strategy and org culture to create a single proposition embodied in one name logo. A new logo can shift perceptions; it cannot change the organization e.g. British Telecom to BT. It is a signal that something else has changed. House style can promote a collegiate feeling and affect employee morale. Situations where an image rework might be necessary: change in consumer perceptions Evolution of company Update / modernisation requirement mergers, acquisitions new strategy privatization restructuring
Communication – quick and direct to implement, but has to be done well (and we talk more about this in sem 2) Behaviour – particular aspects can be reinforced by communications or by symbols. If these are inconsistent with each other – eg communicating quality as a top priority but few quality checks in place – then the image of the company will suffer (and therefore so will reputation). You might keep the same identity – but the impact of external facts will be more convincing than the actual identity in terms of its influence on consumer perceptions.
“ a company cannot create an image. Only a public can create an image, in that it selects those thoughts and impressions on which any image is based” Image is based on a range of stimuli – some of which the organisation can control – eg marketing, comms info, symbols, etc. - some of which it can’t, eg. Word of mouth, etc. Dowling – influences include employees’ image, external interpersonal communication, previous product/service experience, members of distribution channel, marketing and media communications There isn’t a single image – there are as many images as there are individuals, although many of the varieties may be closely related.
Corporate personality is the manifestation of the company’s self-perception. They are linked. Therefore, if this is unclear, then the image will also be relatively unclear. Organization projects: culture, policies, marketing and media communications Note this model could have added to it – reflexivity between org identity and image and between personality and the concrete manifestations of it – behaviour, symbolism and communication. IN terms of visual comms, it is assumed that changes in symbols and communication for example, will result in changes in behavior and this also results in changes in corp personality.