European Journal of Marketing

The six conventions of corporate branding

Simon Knox David Bickerton

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Received August 2000
Accepted November
2001

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The six conventions of

corporate branding
Simon Knox and David Bickerton
Cranfield Centre for Advanced Research in Marketing, Cranfield School
of Management, Cranfield, UK
Keywords Convergence, Action research, Corporate identity, Branding
Abstract This paper considers the emerging focus in both academic and practitioner literature on
the concept of the corporate brand and argues that the underlying generative mechanisms and
processes that enable successful corporate brand management are not clearly understood. Based
on the findings of recent fieldwork, the authors outline six new conventions for understanding the
processes of nurturing and managing a corporate brand and discuss the implications of these
conventions for the emergent theory of corporate brand management. Evidence from this work has
also led the authors to propose a more holistic definition of the corporate brand, the visual, verbal
and behavioural expression of an organisations unique business model.

European Journal of Marketing

Vol. 37 No. 7/8, 2003
pp. 998-1016
q MCB UP Limited
0309-0566
DOI 10.1108/03090560310477636

Introduction
The concept of the corporate brand has recently risen to prominence in both
academic and practitioner fields, with a number of authors pointing to the
potential economic value inherent in managing and developing the brand at the
level of the organisation (Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997; Greyser, 1999; Aaker
and Joachimsthaler, 1999).
Much of this work has been conceptual and, to date, there has been only
limited empirical investigation of the processes that enable an organisation to
engage successfully in corporate brand management. Establishing successful
corporate brand management practices relies on the identification of two
factors. First, the mix of variables that comprise the corporate brand, and
second, the development of a brand management system for understanding
this process of direction and control.
This paper addresses these two issues and proposes six conventions of
corporate branding developed from pilot empirical work with a UK law firm
and subsequent action research programmes conducted with a European
not-for-profit organisation and a UK-based management consultancy. These
conventions build on the existing literature, offer some new perspectives and
provide a set of guiding principles and practices.
The contribution of this paper, therefore, is to use the authors empirical
findings developed from existing models of corporate branding and, through
an action research approach, to challenge their construction and adapt them
where appropriate to provide a practical process for corporate brand
management and development. In doing so, the authors also contribute to the
convergence discussion that enfolds as the paper develops. Before explaining

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the basis for the study and our main findings, it is important to consider the
evolving definition of the brand concept.
The concept of the product brand
The concept of the brand can be traced back to product marketing where the
role of branding and brand management has been primarily to create
differentiation and preference for a product or service in the mind of the
customer.
Within this field, there are a number of generally accepted definitions. These
variously refer to the brand as a product or service, which a customer
perceives to have distinctive benefits beyond price and functional
performance (Knox, 2000) or a symbol serving to distinguish the products
and services of one company from another (Kapferer, 1997).
The development of product branding over the past 30 years is characterised
by layers of added value built around the core functionality of the product or
service to create and maintain distinction in a particular market. The
increasing sophistication of product brand management techniques developed
can be tracked over this period by the emergence of metrics such as brand
image (Boulding, 1956; Balmer, 1998) and brand positioning (Ries and Trout,
1982), through to brand identity (Kapferer, 1997). These refinements reflect
both responses to changes in the business environment and the development of
deeper insights into the nature and influence of the organisation as an
intangible element in the marketing mix.
A further stage in this evolutionary development of traditional product
brand management has been the increasing influence of the organisation
behind the brand and an increasing acceptance of its role in the creation of
economic value. Worcester (1986) provides evidence of a strong correlation
between company familiarity and favourability, and research by Lane Keller
and Aaker (1992) highlights the positive impact of the corporate brand on new
product introductions and product brand extensions.
The concept of the corporate brand
Corporate branding draws on the traditions of product branding in that it
shares the same objective of creating differentiation and preference. However,
this activity is rendered more complex by managers conducting these practices
at the level of the organisation, rather than the individual product or service,
and the requirement to manage interactions with multiple stakeholder
audiences.
There is support in recent literature for an increasing focus on the role of the
organisation as a strategic element in the branding process (Abratt and
Mofokeng, 2001; Cheney and Christiansen, 1999). It also highlights some of the
problems inherent in managing a wider set of variables associated with the
organisation.

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King (1991) points to the fact that audiences for the corporate brand go
beyond customers to include all stakeholders, and that these audiences exercise
a wider range of discriminators, including both intangible and accepted
tangible product/service elements. Ind (1997) supports the concepts of
intangibility and complexity, highlighting the variety of points of contact, or
interfaces, between an organisation and its stakeholder audiences. Ind (1997)
also introduces the idea of responsibility, stating that a corporate brand has a
broader social responsibility or ethical imperative.
These differing characteristics find further support from Balmer (2001a),
who highlights five key elements under the C2ITE acronym. He states that
corporate brands are cultural, as they reflect the organisations sub-cultures,
intricate in that they are both multidimensional and multidisciplinary and
tangible, as they encompass elements such as business scope and architecture.
Balmer (2001a) also points to the ethereal characteristic of corporate brands as
they evince emotional responses from stakeholder groups and the need for total
commitment across the organisation to manage a corporate brand successfully.
In summary, it is clear that during the last 30 years there has been a series of
refinements to the definition of the brand, resulting in a dramatic extension of
the applications and scope of branding. Branding has begun to move up the
corporate agenda and is increasingly recognised as a strategic tool that can
generate and support value creation (Urde, 1999; Balmer, 1999; Macrae, 1999).
Confusion, convergence and conflict
Despite a growing consensus about the benefits of corporate brand
management (Fombrun and Rindova, 1998; Greyser, 1999), there remains
considerable uncertainty over what this means in terms of management
practices and the study of this emerging phenomenon. Lane Keller (1999)
comments that many organisations are unsure what they should do to manage
their corporate brand, while Ind (1998a) and Balmer (1998, 2001b) both
highlight the current confusion in the field and stress the need to understand
the disciplines involved in managing and developing a corporate brand.
Davidson (1999), in turn, calls for the macro management of the brand by
senior management.
This suggests that there is a clear need to establish a new agenda and set of
practices for brand management at an organisation level. Our stimulus to
explore these practices was further encouraged by two convergence trends.
The first of these is the convergence between product and corporate branding.
Over the past few years there has been increasing external demand for
transparency and accountability of the organisations policies and practices
behind the product brands they market (Mitchell, 1999). During this period
there have been a number of high profile examples (e.g. Nike, Shell, Monsanto)
where adverse publicity surrounding the actions of an organisation has had an
immediate and dramatic effect on the brand at a product level and the short

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term ability of the corporate brand to deliver economic value. The stronger
links between product and corporate brand are also reflected in the latest
survey of the worlds most valuable brands (Clifton and Maughan, 2000) where
19 of the top 20 companies listed share the same corporate and product brand
name. This trend shows signs of accelerating with the recent emergence of new
Internet dot.com brands where the corporate entity is very often the product
or service.
The second area of convergence linked to corporate branding relates to the
academic literature. In a previous paper (Bickerton, 2000), it is argued that
developments in organisation theory, starting from corporate image (Abratt,
1989) through to the current focus on corporate reputation and corporate
branding, have mirrored developments of the brand concept in the marketing
literature.
Figure 1 traces the development of these concepts from a starting point of
corporate image through successive organisational constructs, which reflect
growing insights into the nature of organisational branding. Each of these
stages represented a widening of the impact of the organisation brand from
corporate image and the customer (Abratt, 1989; Grunig, 1993) to the broader
definition of corporate personality and its relationship to the employee (Olins,
1978; Barney, 1986). The next stage of this development was the recognition of
the need to create favourable perceptions beyond customers and employees to
include all stakeholder audiences with the introduction of corporate identity
(Birkigt and Stader, 1986; Olins, 1995; Balmer, 1997).
More recent work in the organisational field focuses on corporate reputation
(Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997; Rindova, 1997) and the need to satisfy the
commitment of multiple stakeholders through the management of the corporate
brand (Balmer, 2001a; Hatch and Schultz, 2001).
In contrast, the marketing perspective (also shown in Figure 1) has evolved
from the principle of the primacy of customer demand. This views the brand as
a strategic resource, which can be used to guide the business processes that
generate brand value for customers (Macrae, 1999; Urde, 1999).
Much of the debate in the marketing field over the last 40 years has been on
the mix of elements that not only delineate marketing as a discipline, but also
help to operationalise the role and function of marketing. The goal of branding
as it has evolved over this period has been to explore ways to add value to the
basic product or service and thus create brand preference and loyalty.
Early attempts at brand management concentrated on creating a positive
brand image (Boulding, 1956) in the mind of the consumer. This relatively
simplistic idea was superseded by the development of brand positioning (Ries
and Trout, 1982). This recognised the fact that consumer choices are made on
the basis of comparison and led branding practitioners to concentrate on
creating a unique positioning of their brand in the minds of existing and
potential customers (Lane Keller, 1999).

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Figure 1.
Convergence of academic
thinking towards
corporate branding

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This concept of positioning also linked with the term unique selling
proposition, and together with the 4Ps, have been the main building blocks of
product brand marketing practice since the early 1960s.
In recent years, there has been a growing body of work which points to the
inability of these positioning tools to cope with the substantially changed
environment that organisations now face (Christopher, 1995; Mitchell, 1999).
This created a need to deepen the marketing view of the brand to encompass
organisational attributes (King, 1991) and to shift focus from the integrity of
the product brand to the organisation and people behind the brand.
In response to these views, Kapferer (1997) claims that we have now entered
a new age of brand identity, which can be viewed as comprising six variables:
(1) physique;
(2) personality;
(3) culture;
(4) relationship;
(5) reflection; and
(6) self image.
These variables define the brand and delineate the boundaries within which it
can change and develop. Support for this wider mix of variables also comes
from Ind (1998b) and empirical work by Lane Keller and Aaker (1992) which
points to the increasing importance of corporate associations. This highlights
the fact that future marketing success rests on the development of skills in
brand building that harness all organisational assets and competencies to
create unique products and services (Tilley, 1999).
The key to convergence of these two domains is, therefore, to recognise the
legitimacy of both an outside in customer focus and an inside out
organisation focus. However, we also argue that the main constraint to further
convergence between marketing and organisation theory in this field is
essentially the difference in starting point. So, there is a need to conjoin some of
these ideas and models to help resolve the divergence in theory development.
To do this, the authors first review the key models which describe corporate
branding and corporate brand management practices before discussing them in
the context of their empirical studies.
Existing models of corporate brand management
The development of models that describe the process of corporate brand
management has mirrored the evolution of descriptive terms and ideas within
the field and reflects the inherent complexity of the phenomenon.
A number of excellent reviews of these models already exist in the literature
(e.g. Stuart, 1999; Balmer, 2001a). Both these authors identify that models of
corporate branding can be split into two distinct types: the macro models of the

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1980s and early 1990s and the more recent micro models from the organisation
and marketing fields.
Macro models were developed by Abratt (1989) and Dowling (1993) and their
major contribution has been to incorporate the various constructs, such as
corporate personality, identity and image, into their models. Dowling takes a
further step by incorporating constructs such as culture from the
organisational domain. While these macro models do seem to have triggered
the development of more multi-disciplinary interest, most appear to be limited
in terms of the insights they offer in explaining and connecting the constructs.
In response to these acknowledged limitations, a number of authors have
recently developed micro models of the corporate brand which are more
accessible for diagnostic purposes. For instance, Hatch and Schultz (1997, 2001)
highlight three key aspects of corporate branding (vision, culture, image) and
point to the need for managers to check for alignment between these three
elements. Rindova (1997) concentrates on the image formation process and
defines four distinct types of image that are created by the organisation, third
parties and individuals. This cascade process offers further depth of insight
into the process of managing corporate image. Rindovas (1997) work has
recently been extended by Balmer (2000), who deconstructs the key
components of corporate identity. Balmer (2000) distinguishes five separate
components of identity (actual, communicated, conceived, ideal, desired) and
suggests that all five should be explored by management as part of the
corporate brand management process.
In summary, the recent micro models of corporate brand management seem
to capture more readily the challenges faced by organisations in managing and
aligning multiple identities and images across differing stakeholder groups.
However, even these models still tend to be rather conceptual at heart and, in
our view, still present major challenges to researchers engaging in empirical
studies of this emerging management phenomenon.

Development of our research study

As we discussed earlier, our review of the literature indicates that part of the
tension in developing this domain stems from the disparate and sometimes
conflicting viewpoints of contributing authors from different academic
disciplines. A second contributory factor, undoubtedly, is that the corporate
brand is an inherently complex phenomenon to understand. Balmer (2001a), in
his recent critique of the corporate branding literature, identifies 15 underlying
reasons behind this fog of complexity which surrounds the subject area.
Mindful of these complex issues ourselves, we have designed a study, which,
coincidentally, seems to address four of the main criticisms levelled by Balmer
(2001a). The first of these criticisms relates to the problems caused by different
paradigmatic views (Goia, 1998). In particular, a number of authors have

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pointed to the inappropriateness of the positivistic paradigm for studying this

field (Hatch and Schultz, 1997; Balmer, 1998).
Connected to this, we believe, are two further criticisms raised by Balmer
(2001a), namely the failure to identify elements of the corporate brand mix and
how these elements are managed. Both stem directly from limitations of
studying the field within a positivistic paradigm.
Finally, Balmer (2001a) also points to a lack of empirical research, which the
authors believe can be attributed mainly to the challenges in operationalising
predominantly conceptual models, and to the difficulties of gaining privileged
access to study the phenomenon within organisations.
In response, our methodological approach has been to use an action-oriented
form of inquiry to gain the necessary access to organisations and to study the
processes of corporate brand management at first hand. This methodology is
outlined in the next section.
Methodology
The study conducted was qualitative in nature and involved three phases. The
first phase was a detailed review of the literature to establish the current body
of knowledge on corporate brand management processes. Given the shortfall in
empirical work and the complexity of the phenomenon under study (see
Balmers (2001a) paper for a full and comprehensive analysis), the authors
developed an action research approach based on intervention theory (Argyris,
1973). This method of inquiry attempts to integrate reflection and action within
cycles of intervention during the study. This intervention cycle was tested in a
pilot study during the second phase of study, which enabled the authors to
develop suitable processes for the collection and analysis of data. The study
was conducted with a leading UK law firm over a period of three months and
involved a cycle of interventions with senior partners, including workshops
and face-to-face interviews, a total of 25 separate interventions. These
interventions were all recorded and transcribed and supplemented with project
journals to capture all researcher reflection between each intervention stage.
During the third phase, which was conducted as two consecutive studies over
a period of six months each, over 50 interventions with the senior management
teams of the two organisations were carried out. All cycles of intervention,
which were conducted as face-to-face interviews or small group sessions, were
recorded and transcribed for analysis. These transcriptions were again
supplemented by intervention journals, which were kept throughout the studies
to capture the researchers reflections on the process and outputs at each stage.
At the end of each cycle of intervention, all transcripts and journal notes were
analysed using qualitative software and emerging themes were generated from
conceptually-ordered matrix data displays (Miles and Huberman, 1994).
This methodology should be contrasted with conventional qualitative
approaches, such as the recent study by Abratt and Mofokeng (2001) where

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research was conducted at a distance in the past tense by generating data with
respondents on how corporate image was managed within a sample of
organisations. In contrast, our study attempts to investigate the management
of the corporate brand in the present tense by active involvement in the process
of research with the participating research subjects. The benefits of our
approach stems from the opportunity to generate diagnostic insights and
corrective actions, as opposed to the more conventional, third person
detached-observer study. Our main research findings are discussed next under
the heading of the six conventions of corporate branding.
Six conventions of corporate branding
In characterising the process of corporate brand management across the
organisations we studied, we have been able to identify a number of distinct
practices. These emerging practices are explained in the following sections and
we have termed them conventions of corporate brand management. A
convention is defined as the prevalence of certain accepted practices, which
offer a constraining influence. It becomes evident that these six conventions
link both to aspects of existing models and frameworks as well as providing
new, practical guidelines for managing the corporate brand.
First convention: brand context setting the co-ordinates
King (1991) and Balmer (1995) both identified the need for corporate branding
practices to be multidisciplinary, combining elements of strategy, corporate
communications and culture. This view has been further refined by Hatch and
Schultz (1997, 2001), who point to the interplay of three variables vision,
culture and image as a context for corporate branding. Evidence from all
three of our studies suggests that these variables do, indeed, form part of the
strategic setting which organisations use to review the current strengths and
weaknesses of their corporate brand. However, initial cross-case analysis of the
data suggests that a fourth variable should also be introduced to make the
context more complete. This is the competitive landscape for the organisation.
Much of the evidence gathered through interviews and focus groups from
each organisation studied identifies the need to consider the future competitive
landscape (even in the case of the not-for-profit organisation which, while not
selling conventional products, was competing for attention and funds). This
suggests the development of a competitive context for the corporate brand,
which builds understanding across two temporal dimensions:
(1) the current image of the organisation and its future competition; and
(2) the current culture of the organisation and its vision for the future.
Application of this model (Figure 2) should help managers within an
organisation fix the co-ordinates of their current situation by reference to
these contextual factors. In addition, it can help guide thinking on future

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Figure 2.
The context of corporate
brand management

scenarios for the organisation with reference to its vision and competitive
strategy.
Second convention: brand construction the corporate brand positioning
framework
The authors literature review and interpretation of existing conceptual models
stresses the need to create a brand framework that combines inside out and
outside in elements from common starting points (Van Riel, 1995).
Van Riel (1995) defines the concept of common starting points (CSPs) as the
central values of an organisation which form the foundation for all corporate
communication. As discussed earlier, Ries and Trout (1982) refer to these
values as brand positioning. Thus, there is a need for management to address
two important questions: what CSPs make up the corporate brand framework
and how can they be used to position the brand?
For the pilot phase of our study, we used a framework for organisation
brand positioning introduced by Knox and Maklan (1998) from the marketing
domain to explore these questions. According to Sealey (1999), their positioning
approach or unique organisation value proposition applies at a corporate
level in the way that the unique selling proposition has been used in the past
to position products through advertising (Kapferer, 2001). The results of the
pilot study point to an evolved, four-stage positioning that comprises
organisational attributes and its performance, portfolio and network benefits.
These definitions are outlined in Figure 3.
Evidence from the two subsequent studies highlights the fact that the
research subjects were comfortable in identifying the tangible performance

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Figure 3.
Corporate brand
positioning framework:
definitions

and portfolio benefits of the organisation, but require a process to identify

the key elements of their intangible organisational attributes. Further, the
network or relationship benefits were not considered at first by each set of
subjects to be a part of the corporate brand positioning. However, as part
of the ongoing intervention process, the potential of the network as defined
emerged as a strong and even differentiating element in the corporate
brand.
To aid the development of a shared viewpoint of this framework, we
worked with the research subjects to identify a common starting point.
Evidence from the studies points toward the adoption of customer value
drivers as an effective means to create group dialogue and alignment. These
data were generated from both existing external customer research, and the
views of the research group based on informal feedback from customers and
other third parties.
Using customer value as a common starting point, the research subjects
were able to construct a corporate brand positioning working from an
understanding of the organisations current brand strengths and desired future
position. This use of customer value drivers as a common starting point seems
to provide a better basis for achieving consensus rather than the more
subjective and intangible starting point of corporate values (Van Riel, 1995) or,
indeed, other CSPs that may arise as a result of feedback from key stakeholders
other than customers. It also seemed to help managers from cross-disciplinary
backgrounds focus on common, unifying issues and to develop a shared
understanding of the main considerations in positioning their corporate brand.
This approach was also endorsed in our post-study exit interviews as it was
seen as helping overcome some of the inhibiting beliefs and behaviours
associated with the functional boundaries that exist in each of the
organisations studied.

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Third convention: brand confirmation articulating the corporate brand

proposition
The corporate brand positioning developed during the brand construction
phase needs to be consolidated and articulated to the rest of the organisation
and external audiences. This calls for the development of a series of agreed
statements that describe the corporate brand proposition.
Evidence from our fieldwork suggests that this process must be inclusive for
the senior management team involved and is best conducted in an iterative
style, via a series of small working groups. Such an approach ensures
management buy-in and begins the process of developing an agreed corporate
language for all organisation communications. Adoption of an agreed corporate
brand positioning (Figure 3) and common starting point, based on customer
value, gave the management team in each organisation a process for the
development of these corporate brand statements and, ultimately, the brand
proposition.
Analysis of our post-study exit interviews also points to broad agreement
that the development of a series of brand statements enabled the
management teams to create a fuller definition of the corporate brand,
helping to resolve the complexity issues raised in the literature (Balmer,
2001a).
The indications emerging from our project journals (maintained throughout
the research period) suggest that the engagement and reflection of this senior
management team is vital in securing the commitment and ownership
necessary to enable corporate brand change and renewal. Indeed, the authors
believe that failure to enlist their enthusiasm and support seriously jeopardises
the development of corporate brand consistency and continuity, which are
explained next.
Fourth convention: brand consistency developing consistent corporate
communications
Consistency has been widely acknowledged as a core principle of successful
brand development (Olins, 1995). Further, the literature also acknowledges the
pivotal role of communication in creating this consistency (Van Riel, 1995) and
concentrates on this aspect of corporate brand management (Birkigt and
Stader, 1986).
Evidence from our study indicates that an organisation needs to divide its
channels of stakeholder communications according to their levels of formality,
by identifying both key formal communication channels and other informal
mechanisms commonly found in organisations (e.g. e-mail, bulletin boards).
This was seen as a necessary first stage in conducting a more rigorous audit of
stakeholder communications. As an integral part of our study, content analysis
(Krippendorf, 1980) was applied to measure the consistency of formal corporate
brand communications. This approach, which relies on quantified data

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analysis techniques, enables managers to measure and monitor the output of all
corporate brand communications against the brand statements created in the
preceding brand confirmation stage.
Results from our time series analysis of the European not-for-profit
organisation identify a significant improvement in brand consistency over a
nine-month period. Evidence of this improvement was the increase from 40
per cent to 62 per cent in the proportion of core brand communications and
a reduction in the fragmentation of communications regarding the core
organisation attributes identified during the brand positioning stage
(Figure 3).
The adoption of a measurement tool (based on content analysis) for all
formal corporate band communications was considered to be of significant
benefit to the management team in helping to control and measure the
consistency of formal communications. What began in the study as an
objective measure of output became recognised as a management tool offering
considerable potential to the corporate brand team.
Fifth convention: brand continuity driving the brand deeper into the
organisation
While the main focus of the study conducted was on corporate brand
communication, data gathered in all three organisations highlighted the
importance of aligning the relevant business processes with the corporate
brand. This called for an examination of these business processes in order
to review how they should be modified and developed to ensure
continuity with the corporate brand proposition (Knox and Maklan, 1998;
Knox et al., 2000).
In the case of the European, not-for-profit organisation this involved a series
of workshop sessions with senior management to identify which business
processes impacted on the corporate brand and how these processes
contributed to the delivery of customer value. The processes identified
(communication, operations, knowledge management and strategic
development: Figure 4) were then discussed in the context of their current
level of alignment with the corporate brand to identify areas where these
processes required adjustment or improvement. In Figure 4, communications
and knowledge management are marginally better aligned than operations and
strategic development, although all four have some way to go to achieve
organisation-wide consistency and continuity.
One of the main conclusions from each study is that managers need to adopt
a more holistic approach to corporate branding, which also encompasses the
business processes associated with value delivery. In this way, brand
confirmation is reinforced throughout the organisation by broadening the
corporate brand managers remit to include both changes in communications
and the business processes engaged in value delivery.

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Figure 4.
Corporate brand
continuity: the
not-for-profit case study

Sixth convention: brand conditioning monitoring for relevance and

distinctiveness
A final stage of corporate brand management identified in the study centres on
the ability of an organisation to review its corporate brand on a continuous
basis. Evidence from each of the organisations studied points to the need for
regular auditing through its cycle of development and renewal. This finding,
which supports the view of Abratt and Mofokeng (2001) that corporate brand
management is a continuous process rather than a series of one-off events,
highlights the need for management to check on the brands condition for
relevance and distinctiveness at regular intervals.
Data gathered from the study suggest that brand conditioning involves
creating a hierarchy of customer value and ensuring that the corporate brand
model delivers against these needs on a continuous basis. The main benefits of
the corporate brand are managed as the inverse of the customer value
hierarchy to ensure relevance and distinctiveness (Figure 5).
By constructing, articulating and communicating the corporate brand
proposition (Figure 3), managers can ensure that the brand retains relevance
and distinctiveness with respect to this hierarchy of customer value. This
creates a dynamic situation where corporate brand benefits are actively
managed to align with the customer value hierarchy (Figure 5).
The main implication for managers here is the need not only to communicate
clearly the key aspects of the corporate brand proposition, but also to ensure
that these communications are reinforced by organisation behaviours and
supported by the processes which deliver customer value.

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Figure 5.
Aligning brand benefits
against customer needs
brand conditioning

Conclusions and limitations

Throughout this paper, we have highlighted the increasing importance of the
corporate brand and the need for a clearer focus on the mechanisms and
processes that enable the senior management team to develop their brand more
effectively. The identification of the six conventions from our data sets can best
be viewed together as a whole as a set of guiding principles and practices
which offer a new diagnostic approach to the management and development of
the corporate brand (Figure 6).
The progressive nature of these diagnostic stages, from setting the
co-ordinates to monitoring for relevance and distinctiveness, helps to bridge the
gap between conceptual modelling and operational interpretation. Along the
way, we have had to make adaptations and reductions to engage managers
through action research. However, we hope their contribution can also provide

Figure 6.
The six conventions of
corporate brand
management

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the academic community with material that contributes to the convergence

debate discussed earlier in the paper.
Evidence from our work has also led us to propose a more holistic definition
for the corporate brand as follows: A corporate brand is the visual, verbal and
behavioural expression of an organisations unique business model.
While the development of the six conventions is based on empirical
evidence, the authors readily acknowledge that there are limitations to the
scope of the work conducted to date. Given the nature of the project and
intervention methodology chosen for the study, our work has concentrated on
organisations where the senior management team can more readily engage in
the process of inquiry. This has led to the selection of partnership-style
organisations as the most suitable for preliminary study. Suggestions for
further work, therefore, are to test and develop the framework in the context of
larger holding companies.
For reasons of access, our studies to date have consisted of organisations in
the process of change. The perceived need to re-examine the corporate brand
has enabled access and facilitated the commitment of the senior management
team over time by offering a mutual benefit to both the organisation and
researchers in studying the processes of managing their brand. We recommend
that further work should be conducted within organisations which are not
undergoing radical change, for comparative purposes. However, we anticipate
that this recommendation may create significant research challenges in gaining
sufficient access to and participation of a senior management team through
several cycles of intervention, reflection and action.
Implications for managers and academics
Our emerging definition of the corporate brand builds on the views of Ind
(1997) and Balmer (2001b) who regard the corporate brand as a unique entity
which must take account of the specific structure and culture of the
organisation. Ind (1997) also identifies that there are no universal approaches to
corporate branding. Evidence from our study supports this work as the senior
management teams in the organisations studied did not have formalised
structures or processes for managing the brand at an organisation level.
Empirical evidence points towards the need for these six conventions to be
addressed by corporate brand management. Arguably, these conventions
combine to give a further evolutionary step towards a more structured
approach to the management of the corporate brand. Further, our study
suggests that the role of corporate brand management is not a peripheral
activity that can be delegated to a marketing or single communication function.
Based on the results of our action research, we would suggest the following
steps to senior management engaged in building their corporate brand:
(1) Allocate responsibility and authority for corporate branding to one
director or partner.

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(2) Establish a senior corporate brand management team.

(3) Use the six conventions individually to audit the corporate brand and,
together, as a checks and balance mechanism to ensure relevance and
distinctiveness to stakeholders over time.
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