Guest editorial

Citation

Powell, S., Balmer, J.M.T. and Melewar, T.C. (2007), "Guest editorial", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 12 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccij.2007.16812daa.001

Guest editorial

About the Guest Editors

Shaun Powell is a Lecturer in marketing within the School of Management and Languages at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. Previously he was based within the Marketing Department at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, following 15 years within industry. Shaun is also a Cofounder of the International Centre for Corporate and Organisational Marketing Studies (www.corporate-marketing.org) as well as the contact coordinator for the “Services Marketing Research Group” based at Heriot-Watt. His current research activities are primarily focused upon organisational and corporate marketing, branding of services, marketing in the creative industries and marketing to children and young consumers. He also specialises in interpretive and inductive methodologies.

John M.T. Balmer is Professor of corporate marketing at Brunel University, London. Previously, he was Professor of corporate identity at Bradford School of Management where he went on to hold the Chair in Corporate Brand/Identity Management. He has served as the guest editor for 12 journals and his published output has appeared in California Management Review, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Long Range Planning, The British Journal of Management, and International Studies of Management and Organizations amongst others. He is also the co-Author with Stephen A. Greyser (Harvard Business School) of Revealing the Corporation (Routledge, 2003) on corporate identity, image, reputation, corporate branding and corporate level marketing. He is the Founder-Director of the International Corporate Identity Group (1994) which was launched at the House of Lords in 1995. He has worked with a variety of organisations and institutions on corporate marketing projects including the Swedish Monarchy, the BBC, the WPP Group and Mercedes Benz.

T.C. Melewar is Subject Leader, Marketing, Brunel Business School, Brunel University London. He has previous experience at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, MARA Institute of Technology in Malaysia, Loughborough University, UK and De Montfort University, UK. Professor Melewar teaches marketing communications and has taught a range of undergraduate, MBA and executive courses in marketing. Professor Melewar has consulted for a number of companies such as Nestlé Safeway, Corus and Sony. He is a Visiting Professor at Groupe ECS Grenoble, France and Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. His research interests are global corporate identity, corporate branding, corporate reputation, marketing communications and international marketing strategy.

All of the articles comprising this special issue of CCIJ were originally presented at the 9th International Corporate Identity Group (ICIG) Symposium held at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh. The symposium was organised by Dr Shaun Powell (Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh) with Professor John M.T. Balmer (Bradford School of Management, UK) and Professor T.C. Melewar (Brunel University, London) serving as consultant organisers. The theme of the symposium was, “Corporate Marketing and the Branding of the Organisation”. In selecting the theme for the symposium, Professor Balmer in his role as Founder and Chairman of the ICIG with Dr Powell as the event organiser, took account of the growing interest in corporate brands and in corporate and organisational marketing. Mindful of the broad theme of the ICIG symposium this special issue is entitled, “Corporate and organisational marketing”.

The tradition of linking the ICIG symposium to a special issue of an academic journal is a well established one[1], [2]. Readers of this journal may remember the 1999 special issue of CCIJ devoted to corporate identity which was linked to an earlier ICIG Symposium. Of course, the CCIJ has an enviable provenance in terms of articles that focus on corporate identity (Foo and Lowe, 2001; Melewar, 2001; Westcott-Alessandri, 2001). As such, it may be seen that this journal, along with the ICIG, have made a significant contribution in terms of our general understanding of the strategic importance of corporate identity.

Reflecting on developments since 1999, it is clear that our understanding of corporate identity is qualitatively different to what it was then. For instance, scholars with a background in corporate communications, public relations and marketing have, increasingly, drawn on other identity perspectives including social identity theory along with the literature on employee identification written by organisational behaviourists. This has led to a broader, and deeper, understanding of identity in corporate and organisational contexts as the recent literature attests (He and Balmer, 2005, 2007; Cornelissen et al., 2007). In addition, it also becomes apparent that our general comprehension of corporate marketing is enhanced when an identity perspective is adopted (Balmer and Greyser, 2006). The above perspectives are reflected in some of the articles appearing in this special issue. For instance, the article by Otubanjo and Melewar entitled “Understanding the meaning of corporate identity: a conceptual and semiological approach,” provides a useful overview of recent developments in corporate identity/identity scholarship.

Of course, the theme of this special issue differs from the earlier CCIJ special issue in that it accords especial importance to corporate brand identity and identification. Although, corporate identity and the corporate branding concepts are referred to as if they were interchangeable it is sometimes forgotten that the corporate brand is a distinct identity type. Reference to the ICIG statement of corporate identity “The Strathclyde Statement” does, of course, distinguish between traditional (product branding) and corporate identity and does, of course, articulate the nature and strategic importance of corporate identity[3].

In reflecting on the articles for this special issue the guest editors conclude that, in their totality, they provide a meaningful advance in our comprehension of this broad territory.

In the opening article by Dr Klement Podnar (Slovenia) and Dr Urša Golob (Slovenia) the researchers empirically examine corporate marketing from the perspectives of:

• •

  the link between individuals' expectations of corporate social responsibility (CSR); and

• •

  a company's expectations of stakeholders.

Their study shows that CSR can give a firm a competitive advantage and reflects the view that CSR is closely linked to the general philosophy of corporate marketing in terms of developing meaningful relationships with customers and stakeholders.

The second article by Dr Manto Gotsi (UK) and Dr Constantine Andriopoulos (UK) on corporate marketing and the institutional brand has corporate rebranding as its focus. As they point out, corporate rebranding is now a regular occurrence within the contemporary business environment. Drawing on a study of a leading telecommunications firm, their research highlights some of the principal reasons why corporate rebranding activities can fail. In addition, the authors note that corporate rebranding is a complex process. They conclude that it is multidisciplinary in nature and requires institutional-wide support.

The third article examines corporate marketing and the institutional brand from the perspective of student corporate brand identification. The authors' research focuses on three (closely associated) institutional brands operating within the Higher Education (HE) sector. Co-Authored by Professor John M.T. Balmer (UK) and Dr Mei-Na Liao their study revealed there to be three types of student corporate brand identification which they conclude reflect three different approaches to the management of corporate brands which is analogous to product, sales and marketing orientations that characterises organisational relationships with customers and other stakeholders. They argue that students should not be seen as customers but, moreover, must be viewed as life-long members of a corporate brand community. This insight, they conclude, should materially influence the management of HE corporate brands and their approach to corporate marketing management.

Peggy Brønn (Norway) in the fourth article of this special issue examines corporate marketing/corporate branding from the perspective of corporate reputation building. Her study of an outsourcing firm showed that there was a clear correlation between customers associations with the firm and the firm's treatment of customers. This study is of especial significance in terms of the increased incidence, as well as the growing importance, of outsourcing among contemporary organisations. The study has important implications in terms of the management of corporate marketing/  corporate branding activities.

The fifth article by Dr Shaun Powell (UK) and Dr Chris Dodd (UK) makes use of an inductive and exploratory case study approach to empirically investigate emergent issues relating to managing vision and the brand, through the lens of small to medium-sized enterprises in the creative industries. Within this context the article helps to answer: to what degree can creative employees be encouraged or motivated to align with a leader's creative vision and what issues may be faced along the way? The principal findings of the paper draw our attention to some of the potential barriers to achieving a desired or effective creative brand relating to vision alignment, creative growth, creative evaluation and rewards.

The final article of the special issue written by B. Olutayo Otubanjo (UK) and Professor T.C. Melewar (UK) provides a fitting close to this special issue. The authors scrutinise the literature on corporate identity and place it in a corporate marketing context. Their article builds on the distinct traditions of identity research and scholarship that characterises both this journal and the work of the ICIG. As such, their literature review may be seen to make a meaningful contribution in:

• •

  summarising developments in corporate identity scholarship; and

• •

  concluding that the semilogical perspective ought to be accorded increased prominence vis-à-vis the corporate identity literature.

As Guest Editors we believe that this special issue represents a most significant contribution to the nascent areas of corporate marketing and corporate branding. It is our hope that the readership of CCIJ will find much that will stimulate as well illuminate in the pages that follow.

Shaun Powell, John M.T. Balmer and T.C. MelewarGuest Editors

The Guest Editors wish to thank the Editor of CCIJ, Wim Elving, for his support and encouragement for this special issue. In addition, the authors also wish to thank the panel of eminent academics who kindly agreed to participate in the rigorous double blind reviewing process for this special issue/symposium. Their names, and affiliations, are given below:Professor Russell Abratt – Nova Southeastern University (USA)Dr Tim Ambler – London Business School (UK)Professor Michael Baker (Emeritus) – University of Strathclyde (UK)Professor Suzanne Beckman – Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)Professor Roger Bennett – London Metropolitan University (UK)Dr Craig Carroll – University of North Carolina (USA)Professor Albert Caruana – University of Malta (Malta G.C.)Dr Foo Check Teck – Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)Dr Charles Dennis – Brunel University, London (UK)Professor Graham Dowling – Australian Graduate School of Management (Australia)Dr Ying Fan – Brunel University, London (UK)Dr Kyoko Fukukawa – Bradford University (UK)Professor Edmund Gray – Loyola Marymount University (USA)Professor Dr Zlatko JancÏicÏ – Ljubljana University (Slovenia)Professor Philip Kitchen – Hull University (UK)Professor Mary Lambkin – University College Dublin (Eire)Professor Roy Langer – Roskilde University (Denmark)Professor Shirley Leitch – University of Wollongong (Australia)Dr Sherriff Luk – Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Hong Kong)Nicola Marziliano – Nokia (Italy)Dr Jonathan Muir – Bradford University (UK)Professor Adrian Palmer – Swansea University (UK)Professor Jonathan Schroeder – Exeter University (UK)Professor Don Schultz (Emeritus) – Northwestern University (USA)Dr Cláudia Simões – University of Minho (Portugal)Dr Helen Stuart – Australian Catholic University (Australia)Dr Johan van Rekom – Erasmus University, Rotterdam (The Netherlands)

Notes

1.Examples of where ICIG Symposium papers have formed the basis of special issues of journals include: Corporate Communications: An International Journal (1999), Vol. 4 No. 4: Corporate identity crossing the Rubicon; International Studies of Management and Organizations (1998), Vol. 28 No. 3: Special Issue on Corporate identity in financial services, International Journal of Bank Marketing (1997), Vol. 15 No, 5.

2.Further details about the history, purposes and symposia of the International Corporate Identity Group along with that of the International Centre for Corporate and Organisational Marketing can be found at: www.corporate-marketing.org

3.The Strathclyde Statement on Corporate Identity (issued by the ICIG) is as follows: “Corporate identity management is concerned with the conception, development, and communication of an organisation's mission, philosophy and ethos. Its orientation is strategic and is based on a company's values, cultures and behaviours. The management of corporate identity draws on many disciplines, including strategic management, marketing, corporate communications, organisational behaviour, public relations and design. It is different from traditional brand marketing directed towards household or business-to-business product/service purchases since it is concerned with all of an organisation's stakeholders and the multifaceted way in which an organisation communicates. It is dynamic, not static, and is greatly affected by changes in the external environment. When well managed, an organisation's identity results in loyalty from its diverse stakeholders. As such it can positively affect organisational performance, e.g. its ability to attract and retain customers, achieve strategic alliances, recruit executives and employees, be well positioned in financial markets, and strengthen internal staff identification with the firm” John M.T. Balmer and Stephen A. Greyser (1995).

Further reading

Balmer, J.M.T. (Ed.) (1999), “Special issue on corporate identity”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 4 No. 4.