Towards

a

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identity

management

process

Helen

Stuart

Introduction

This

pap

er

explores

the

signifi

cance

of

the

m

odels

of

corpo

rate

image

form

ation

and

corpo

rate

ident

ity

manag

ement

that

have

bee

n

develope

d

ove

r

three

deca

des,

in

the

deve

lopme

nt

of

conceptual

thinking

in

the

area

of

corpor

ate

identity

manageme

nt.

The

m

odels

trace

the

developme

nt

of

the

area

and

pro

vide

practiti

oners,

researc

hers

an

d

stu-

den

ts

with

a

rich

histo

ry

of

corporate

identity

m

anageme

nt

practic

es.

The

models

exam

ined

inclu

ded

those

of

K

ennedy

(19

77),

Dowling

(1986),

Abrat

t

(19

89),

Baker

and

Balme

r

(19

97),

Marwic

k

an

d

Fill

(199

7),

van

Riel

and

Balm

er

(1997)

an

d

Stua

rt

(1998a)

.Whereas

the

earlier

m

odels

conc

entrated

the

formation

of

the

corpo

rate

image

an

d

did

not

use

the

conce

pt

of

corpo

rate

identity,

the

later

models

high-

ligh

ted

the

corpo

rate

identity

manag

ement

pro

cess.

The

mod

els

are

described

and

dis

-

cus

sed

in

chron

olo

gical

order,

begi

nning

with

K

ennedy

's

m

odel

of

1977.

Kennedy's

model

(1977)

A

s

ca

n

be

se

en

fro

m

K

en

ne

dy

's

m

od

el

in

Fi

gu

re

1,

th

e

m

ai

n

fo

cu

s

of

th

e

m

od

el

w

as

on

ho

w

th

e

co

m

pa

ny

im

ag

e

w

as

fo

rm

ed

.H

ow

ev

er

,

K

en

ne

dy

(1

97

7,

p.

15

3)

w

as

aw

ar

e

th

at

co

m

pa

ny

im

ag

e

co

ul

d

be

m

an

uf

ac

tu

re

d.

H

er

re

vi

ew

of

th

e

lit

er

at

ur

e

up

to

th

e

tim

e

of

w

rit

in

g

th

e

ar

tic

le

fo

un

d

th

at

th

er

e

w

as

an

``.

..

os

ci

lla

tio

n

be

tw

ee

n

th

e

co

m

pa

ny

im

ag

e

be

in

g

co

ns

id

er

ed

an

ob

je

ct

iv

e

re

al

ity

or

en

tir

e

fa

br

i-

ca

tio

n'

'.

Sh

e

fa

vo

ur

ed

co

m

pa

ny

im

ag

e

as

ba

se

d

on

re

al

ity

,a

s

de

m

on

st

ra

te

d

w

he

n

sh

e

w

ro

te

:

..

.if

an

image

is

to

be

enduring

it

must

be

based

on

fact

and

essentially

this

means

on

the

general

policies

operating

within

the

company

..

.If

the

company

image

is

intentionally

based

on

the

facts

of

the

company

the

task

in

hand

should

be

easier

and

indeed

more

enduring

(Kennedy,

1977,

p.

124).

K

ennedy

(19

77,

p.

153)

also

review

ed

litera-

ture

where

a

distinct

ion

was

mad

e

between

visual

ident

ity

(``the

le

tter

headings

,corpora

te

sym

bols

and

all

the

forms

which

identify

the

org

anizati

on

visual

ly'

')

an

d

what

she

called

``the

total

corpo

rate

image

''.

How

ever,

the

visual

ident

ity

did

no

tform

par

tof

her

model

,

no

r

was

there

any

further

refer

ence

to

what

we

no

w

know

as

the

``co

rporate

identity

mix'

'

of

behaviou

r,

symboli

sm

and

commun

ication

The

author

Helen

Stuart

is

based

at

School

of

Communication,

Faculty

of

Business,

Queensland

University

of

Technology,

Australia.

Keywords

Corporate

image,

Corporate

identity,

Models,

Corporate

communications

Abstract

Various

writers

have

developed

conceptual

models

of

corporate

image

formation

and

corporate

identity

man-

agement.

These

models

reflect

the

way

in

which

corporate

identity

and

corporate

image

have

been

conceptualised

over

the

past

three

decades.

This

paper

explores

the

significance

of

the

various

models

as

a

rich

foundation

for

the

conceptual

thinking

on

corporate

identity,

and

draws

from

these

models

a

more

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identity

management

process.

The

model

developed

reflects

current

thinking,

which

places

greater

emphasis

on

organizational

culture,

corporate

strategy,

corporate

communication

and

integrated

com-

munication.

The

implications

for

managers

and

consultants

are

discussed.

A

significant

implication

for

both

is

that

the

increase

in

complexity

of

the

model

indicates

that

more

variables

need

to

be

systematically

taken

into

account

when

planning

a

corporate

identity

program.

Electronic

access

The

current

issue

and

full

text

archive

of

this

journal

is

available

at

http://www.emerald-library.com

200

Corporate

Communicatio

ns:

An

Intern

ational

Journal

Volume

4

. Number

4

. 1999

. pp.

200±207

#

MCB

University

Press

. ISSN

1356-3289

(van

Riel,

1995)

.Nowhe

re

did

Kenned

y

use

the

term

``co

rporate

ident

ity'

'in

her

mod

el.

A

sign

ificant

element

in

Kennedy

's

m

odel

was

the

box

entitled

``co

mpany

perso

nnel

perce

ption

of

com

pany'

'.

In

othe

r

parts

of

her

article

she

declares

the

impo

rtance

of

em-

ployee

s

in

the

process

of

company

imag

e

form

ation.

Al

though

late

r

writers

have

no

t

always

stressed

the

importan

ce

of

empl

oyees,

Ind

(19

97,

pp.

83-103)

devo

ted

an

entire

chapt

er

to

empl

oyees

in

his

latest

book

on

corpora

te

branding.

He

wrote

that

``Percep-

tions

of

an

org

anisat

ion

are

det

ermined,

direc

tly

an

d

ind

irectly,

by

manag

ers

and

staff'

'

(Ind

,1997,

p.

83).

The

m

ain

contribu

tion

mad

e

by

Kenn

edy's

model

was

her

aware

ness

of

the

necess

ity

for

compa

ny

polic

y

to

be

base

d

on

the

reality

of

the

organiza

tion

for

effective

compa

ny

ima

ge

form

ation.

Al

though

the

mod

el

did

not

featur

e

comm

unicatio

n

per

se

,the

implic

ation

was

that

company

perso

nnel,

ext

ernal

groups

and

those

having

on

ly

ind

irect

experience

of

the

company

are

all

impac

ted

on

by

wh

at

the

compa

ny

is

comm

unicating.

Dowling's

model

(1986)

The

model

of

Dowli

ng,

seen

in

Figure

2,

follow

ed

K

ennedy

's

model

closel

y.

The

m

ain

improv

ement

was

provide

d

by

his

atte

ntion

to

com

municatio

n.

He

inclu

ded

internal

com

municatio

n,

interpers

onal

commun

ica-

tion

(both

intern

al

an

d

extern

al)

and

m

arketing

med

ia

com

municati

on.

Dowling

(19

86,

p.

111)

wrote

that,

wh

ile

interpers

onal

com

municatio

n

repres

ents

the

imag

es

of

the

firm

held

by

the

se

groups,

m

ass

med

ia

com

municatio

n

repres

ents

the

compa

ny's

perc

eption

of

itself

.Howe

ver,

very

littl

e

deta

il

is

pro

vided

as

to

the

most

effec

tive

m

eans

of

com

municatio

n

withi

n

and

between

these

gro

ups.

Dowling

perceived

that

discrepanc

ies

be-

tw

een

these

two

image

s

signa

lled

a

need

to

m

odify

the

m

arketing

media

comm

unicatio

n.

L

ater

writers,

such

as

van

Reil

(1995

),

have

take

n

a

muc

h

more

in-dept

h

appro

ach

to

the

pro

blem

of

inconsist

ency

between

corpora

te

ide

ntity

an

d

corpora

te

ima

ge.

His

bas

ic

ph

ilosophy

was

that

of

``.

..

dire

cting

the

com

pany's

commun

ications

polic

ies

from

wi

thin

the

`corpo

rate

strategy-

corporate

ide

ntity-corpora

te

ima

ge'

trian

gle'

'(v

an

Re

il,

1995,

p.

19).

Also

inclu

ded

in

Dowli

ng's

article

was

a

sho

rt

section

on

the

``organiza

tional

cultu

re'

'

of

an

org

anizatio

n,

wh

ich

he

conceiv

ed

of

as

bas

ed

on

form

al

com

pany

criteria.

He

stated

tha

t:

..

.the

affect

[sic]

of

corporate

image

advertising

on

corporate

culture

can

be

reinforced

by

linking

this

advertising

directly

to

brand

names

and/or

company

logos

(Dowling,

1986,

p.

112).

Figure

1

Kennedy's

model

201

A

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identit

y

managemen

tprocess

Helen

Stuart

Corporate

Communic

ations:

An

International

Journal

Volume

4

. Number

4

. 1999

. 200±207

Th

e

in

clu

sion

of

th

e

co

nc

ep

to

f`

`cu

ltur

e'

'as

an

ex

pl

ic

it

fa

ct

or

in

co

rp

ora

te

im

ag

e

fo

rm

ati

on

wa

s

a

st

ep

fo

rw

ar

d.

Ho

we

ver

,H

at

ch

an

d

Sc

hu

ltz

(1

99

7,

p.

357

),

w

ho

ga

ve

a

de

ta

iled

ac

co

un

t

of

th

e

co

nc

ept

of

org

ani

za

tion

al

cu

ltur

e,

no

te

d

th

at

Do

w

ling

``.

..

tr

ea

te

d

cu

ltur

e

as

a

fa

ct

or

or

de

ter

mi

na

nt

an

d

pl

ac

ed

it

on

th

e

sa

me

on

to

lo

gi

ca

lle

vel

as

ide

nt

ity

an

d

im

ag

e'

'.

Th

ey

di

d

no

tsu

pp

or

tth

is

vie

w,

as

th

ey

co

ns

id

ere

d

cu

ltur

e

as

a

con

te

xt

,ra

th

er

th

an

a

va

riab

le

in

th

e

cor

po

ra

te

im

age

fo

rm

at

io

n

pr

oce

ss

.Th

ey

ar

gu

ed

th

at

``.

..

th

e

cul

tu

ra

l

co

nt

ex

t

in

flue

nc

es

bo

th

ma

na

ge

rial

in

itia

tive

s

to

in

flue

nc

e

im

age

,a

nd

ev

er

yd

ay

in

te

ra

cti

on

s

be

tw

een

org

an

iz

at

io

na

lme

mb

er

s

and

ex

te

rn

al

au

di

en

ces

''

(H

at

ch

and

Sc

hu

ltz,

199

7,

p.

360

).

Dowli

ng

(19

86,

p.

115)

conjectur

ed

that:

..

.it

is

likely

that

in

the

long

run

the

controlled

elements

will

be

more

influential

corporate

image

formation

determinants.

Also

it

is

these

forces

which

have

their

roots

in

the

facts

of

the

work

environment

and

the

market-place

rather

than

in

visions

of

management.

Howe

ver,

Hat

ch

and

Schultz

did

not

share

this

view

and

found

Dow

ling's

m

odel

to

be

naive,

since

it

did

no

t

include

top

manag

e-

men

tas

a

symbo

lof

corpora

te

ident

ity.

Hatch

and

Schultz

(1997,

p.

363)

held

that

top

manag

ement

infl

uences

empl

oyees

as

muc

h

as

any

other

device.

O

ve

ra

ll,

D

ow

lin

g'

s

m

od

el

di

d

no

tr

ep

re

se

nt

a

sig

ni

fic

an

tc

ha

ng

e

fro

m

K

en

ne

dy

's

an

d

la

te

r

w

rit

er

s

ha

ve

no

ts

up

po

rte

d

so

m

e

of

th

e

ke

y

as

su

m

pt

io

ns

co

nt

ai

ne

d

in

hi

sm

od

el

,p

ar

tic

ul

ar

ly

in

re

la

tio

n

to

ho

w

to

de

al

w

ith

di

sc

re

pa

nc

ie

s

be

tw

ee

n

id

en

tit

y

an

d

im

ag

e

an

d

hi

s

co

nc

ep

tu

a-

lis

at

io

n

of

``o

rg

an

iz

at

io

na

lc

ul

tu

re

''.

Abratt`s

model

(1989)

Abrat

t's

model

,sho

wn

in

Fi

gure

3,

repre-

sented

a

significant

chang

e

in

direc

tion

from

earli

er

models.

His

artic

le

sign

ified

that

he

was

takin

g

a

``new

app

roach'

'to

the

proce

ss,

atte

mpting

to

clarify

the

conce

pts

used

by

the

ream

s

of

authors

he

refer

s

to

in

his

literat

ure

revie

w.

Based

on

the

literat

ure

(parti

cularly

Oli

ns,

1978)

,Abrat

t

also

int

roduced

the

conc

ept

of

``corpo

rate

persona

lity'

'int

o

his

m

odel

which

Balme

r

later

noted

has

no

tbeen

a

wide

ly

used

conce

pt.

Balm

er

(1997,

p.

14)

wrot

e

that

``.

..

For

the

m

ain,

the

conc

ept

of

corpo

rate

perso

nality

has

no

t

enjoyed

wide

use

'',

althoug

h

he

believ

ed

that

this

was

bec

ause

it

te

nded

to

be

overshad

owe

d

by

the

impo

rtance

ascri

bed

to

the

othe

r

conce

pts

rel

ated

to

corpo

rate

identity

manageme

nt.

Abratt

(1

989,

p.

70)

believ

ed

tha

t

man-

agem

ent

shoul

d

expl

ore

the

corpora

te

pers

onality

an

d

from

this

develop

a

corpora

te

ph

ilosophy

wh

ich

embo

died

the

core

values

an

d

assum

ption

s

of

the

com

pany.

He

called

this

the

corpora

te

cultu

re.

His

model

also

inc

luded

strategi

c

manag

ement

as

part

of

corpo

rate

perso

nality.

Abratt

tho

ught

of

corporate

ident

ity

as

bas

ically

a

comm

unicatio

n

mecha

nism.

He

des

cribed

corporate

ident

ity

as:

..

.an

assembly

of

visual

clues-physical

and

behavioural

by

which

an

audience

can

recognise

a

company

and

distinguish

it

from

others

and

which

can

be

used

to

represent

or

symbolise

the

company

(Abratt,

1989,

p.

68).

This

is

similar

to

van

Riel's

(1995,

p.

36)

int

erpret

ation

of

corpora

te

ide

ntity

as

the

pla

nned

self-pre

sentat

ion

of

an

organ

isation,

cons

isting

of

the

cues

an

org

anisation

gives

via

its

behaviou

r,

comm

unicatio

n

and

symbo-

lism

.This

differs

to

some

extent

from

the

way

in

which

later

writers

have

form

ulated

the

conc

ept.

For

exampl

e,

Stuart

(19

98a,

p.

360)

fou

nd

corpora

te

ide

ntity

to

be

an

expres

sion

of

corpo

rate

persona

lity,

base

d

on

corpora

te

strat

egy.

This

view

is

align

ed

wi

th

that

of

Bern

stein

(1984,

in

Abrat

t,

1989,

p.

69)

wh

o

Figure

2

Dowling's

model

202

A

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identit

y

managemen

tprocess

Helen

Stuart

Corporate

Communic

ations:

An

International

Journal

Volume

4

. Number

4

. 1999

. 200±207

postu

lated

that

corporate

ident

ity

shoul

d

captu

re

and

serve

as

a

vehicl

e

to

expres

s

the

corpora

te

philosophy

.

Abrat

t

(1989)

reco

gnised

that

the

conc

epts

of

``co

rporate

ident

ity'

'and

``corpo

rate

im-

age'

'were

often

use

d

int

erchangea

bly,

and

his

model

sought

to

differe

ntiate

the

conce

pts

with

his

use

of

the

concept

of

the

corpo

rate

ident

ity/corpora

te

ima

ge

interface

.The

con-

cept

of

an

interfac

e

has

been

found

to

be

extreme

ly

useful

.For

exampl

e,

Bal

mer

(1997

)

used

it

in

his

work

,referri

ng

to

Stuart'

s

(1994)

stateme

nt

that

the

corporate

ident

ity/corpora

te

ima

ge

interface

represents

the

moment

of

truth

for

an

organis

ation.

It

can

be

viewe

d

as

the

point

at

wh

ich

the

corpora

te

ide

ntity

is

ext

ernalised

.Balme

r

(1997

)

proce

eded

to

ou

tline

a

number

of

othe

r

importan

t

interfac

es.

It

is

interest

ing

to

note

that,

althoug

h

Hatch

and

Sch

ultz

(1997,

pp.

356,

363)

did

no

t

refer

to

the

interfac

e

direc

tly,

the

y

arg

ued

that

chang

es

to

the

intern

al-exter

nal

bounda

ries

of

organ

izations

have

taken

place,

due

to

incre

asing

levels

of

interac

tion

betwee

n

organ

izationa

lmembers

and

outsiders,

and

the

m

ultiple

roles

of

organ

izationa

lmember

s.

The

y

stat

ed

that

we

are

no

w

in

``.

..

an

era

marked

by

the

breakd

own

of

the

internal-ex

terna

lboundary

arou

nd

organ

izations'

'.

It

could

be

argued

that

the

interfac

e

has

become

a

blurr

y

line.

Although

Abrat

t

called

his

model

``The

corpora

te

ima

ge

manag

ement

pro

cess'

',

it

is

actual

ly

a

corpora

te

ide

ntity

m

anageme

nt

proce

ss,

since

corporate

image

s

cann

ot

be

manag

ed

as

such.

Rath

er,

compa

nies

man

age

the

corpo

rate

identity

in

order

that

wh

at

is

perc

eived

by

the

various

stakehold

ers

shown

in

Abratt's

m

odel

is

a

cons

istentl

y

positive

ima

ge.

Stuart's

model

(1994,

1998a)

St

uart's

mod

el,

a

revision

of

Abrat

t's

mod

el,

was

orig

inally

formulat

ed

in

1994,

and

upda

ted

in

1998.

This

is

shown

in

Figure

4.

The

m

ain

chang

es

to

Abrat

t's

m

odel

were

the

inc

lusion

of

corpora

te

culture

an

d

corpora

te

sym

bols

under

corporate

ident

ity,

the

use

of

arrow

s

to

den

ote

internal

and

externa

lcom-

m

unicatio

n

and

the

placement

of

empl

oyees,

on

e

of

the

major

stakeh

older

groups,

into

the

int

ernal

part

of

the

mod

el.

This

regi

stered

the

fact

that

emplo

yees'

view

of

corpora

te

identity

is

impo

rtant

part

in

its

man

agement

as

obs

erved

by

K

ennedy

(197

7).

This

m

odel

retained

the

no

tion

of

the

corpo

rate

ident

ity/corpora

te

ima

ge

interface

.

Al

so,

between

corporate

perso

nality

and

corpo

rate

ident

ity

is

an

arrow

mark

ed

``cor-

por

ate

strategy'

',

the

impl

ication

bei

ng

that

corpo

rate

ident

ity

is

the

del

iberate

presen

ta-

tion

of

the

corpo

rate

persona

lity

as

strat

egically

decid

ed

on

by

the

compa

ny.

Ind

(19

97)

no

ted

that

the

St

uart

mod

el

did

no

t

inc

lude

produc

ts

and

ser

vices,

wh

ich

also

com

municate

the

corporate

ident

ity.

How

-

eve

r,

the

se

coul

d

be

thought

of

as

part

of

the

corpo

rate

strat

egy,

althoug

h

it

is

certain

ly

the

case

that

products

and

services

commun

icate

the

corpo

rate

identity

of

an

org

anizatio

n.

Figure

3

Abratt's

model

203

A

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identit

y

managemen

tprocess

Helen

Stuart

Corporate

Communic

ations:

An

International

Journal

Volume

4

. Number

4

. 1999

. 200±207

Only

marketin

g

an

d

perso

nal

comm

unica-

tions

were

considere

d

in

this

mod

el.

Howe

ver,

the

mod

el

of

Ma

rwick

and

Fi

ll

(1997

)

inclu

ded

all

three

form

s

of

corpora

te

commun

ication:

man

agement,

organis

ational

and

marketin

g

(se

e

van

Riel,

1995)

.

Marwick

and

Fill

(1997)

and

other

recent

models

Marw

ick

an

d

Fill

(199

7,

p.

400)

al

so

pro

-

duced

a

mod

el

in

wh

ich,

lik

e

Stua

rt

(19

98a),

they

deter

mined

that

corpora

te

strat

egy,

or

strategi

c

manag

ement

,was

an

impo

rtant

par

t.

Accord

ing

to

these

authors

:

..

.while

all

organizations

have

a

personality,

strategy

will

inevitably

vary

with

different

types

of

organizations.

Furthermore,

as

strategic

con-

tent

will

frequently

precede

changes

in

the

culture

of

an

organization,

then

we

believe

that

strategic

management

is

such

a

significant

component

of

the

corporate

personality

that

it

should

be

shown

separately

for

the

purposes

of

understanding,

developing

and

managing

cor-

porate

identity

(Marwick

and

Fill,

1997,

p.

400).

Anoth

er

feature

of

this

model

was

that

the

authors

used

van

Riel

's

interp

retation

of

corpora

te

comm

unicatio

n

as

bei

ng

compose

d

of

man

agement,

organis

ational

and

mark

eting

commun

ication.

Marwick

and

Fill

considere

d

that

both

organ

isational

and

mark

eting

com-

muni

cations

were

the

dom

inant

forms

of

commun

ication

betwee

n

ident

ity

and

ima

ge,

and

man

agement

commun

ication

form

ed

the

link

between

corporate

pers

onality

and

cor-

porate

identity.

This

was

similar

to

Stua

rt's

model

in

that

marketin

g

com

municatio

n

and

intern

al

mark

eting

(that

is,

org

anisat

ional

commun

ication)

are

considere

d

in

this

model

to

be

the

form

s

of

comm

unicatio

n

at

the

interfac

e

between

ident

ity

and

ima

ge.

A

diffe

rent

app

roach

was

taken

by

Balm

er

(19

95,

p.

35)

who

referre

d

to

``total

corpora

te

com

municatio

ns'

'because

accord

ing

to

him,

``.

..

eve

rythin

g

the

organ

ization

does

will

in

som

e

way

com

municate

the

organizati

on's

ide

ntity'

'.

This

impl

ies

tha

t

even

though

com

municatio

ns

can

be

planne

d,

unpl

anne

d

com

municatio

n

is

also

significant

.

Li

ke

va

n

Ri

el

and

Ba

lm

er

(1

997

,p.

342

)th

e

au

th

or

s

co

ns

id

er

ed

env

iron

me

nt

al

in

flue

nc

es

an

d

de

vel

op

me

nt

s,

su

ch

as

ch

an

ge

s

in

th

e

be

ha

vi

ou

r

of

co

mp

et

ito

rs

,i

nd

us

tr

y

ch

an

ge

s

an

d

go

ver

nm

en

t

re

gu

la

tion

s,

as

sign

ific

an

t

in

th

e

pe

rc

ep

tion

of

cor

po

ra

te

id

en

tity

.Ke

nn

ed

y

(1

997

)

ha

d

de

sc

ribe

d

th

es

e

en

vi

ro

nm

en

ta

l

fo

rc

es

as

``e

xt

ra

ne

ous

in

flue

nc

es

''

in

he

rmo

de

l.

Anothe

r

featu

re

of

these

later

m

odels

was

the

inclu

sion

of

the

conce

pt

of

corporate

repu

tation

.Pre

viousl

y,

corpora

te

ima

ge

and

corpo

rate

reputati

on

were

used

intercha

nge-

abl

y

an

d

it

is

only

recentl

y

that

corporate

repu

tation

(Fombr

un,

1996)

has

been

estab-

lish

ed

as

a

sepa

rate

conce

pt.

It

is

no

w

unde

rstood

that

corpo

rate

reputati

on

is

the

perc

eption

of

the

corpora

te

ide

ntity

buil

t

up

ove

r

time,

mak

ing

it

much

more

stable

than

corpo

rate

image

.

Other

developmen

ts

unrelated

to

the

models

An

other

recen

t

developme

nt

has

been

reco

g-

nit

ion

of

the

effec

tof

organ

izationa

lstruct

ure

on

corpo

rate

identity

structure

and

manag

e-

m

ent

±

for

exampl

e,

van

Riel

(199

5)

and

St

uart

(199

8b).

Since

the

organ

izationa

l

stru

cture

and

corpo

rate

identity

structure

are

usu

ally

decid

ed

on

at

an

early

stage

,these

vari

ables

coul

d

be

inclu

ded

unde

r

the

general

headi

ng

of

corpo

rate

strategy.

Figure

4

Stuart's

model

204

A

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identit

y

managemen

tprocess

Helen

Stuart

Corporate

Communic

ations:

An

International

Journal

Volume

4

. Number

4

. 1999

. 200±207

In

relation

to

market

ing

commun

ication,

there

has

been

a

m

ove

tow

ards

int

egrated

market

ing

commun

ication

(IMC).

As

well

,

there

is

a

gro

wing

aware

ness

that

m

arketing

commun

ication

has

no

t

been

suffi

ciently

integr

ated

with

man

agement

an

d

organ

iza-

tional

comm

unicatio

n,

caus

ing

inconsi

stencies

in

percepti

ons

of

corpora

te

ident

ity.

Accord

ing

to

Kitchen

(1997,

p.

29),

eviden

ce

from

res

earch

cond

ucted

in

the

UK

indic

ated

that,

as

market

ing

commun

ication

is

usually

under

the

cont

rol

of

m

arketing

depart

ments

rathe

r

than

the

corporate

com-

muni

cation

area,

the

interacti

on

between

corpora

te

an

d

mark

eting

commun

ication

is

``tentative

and

embry

onic

in

nature'

'.

How-

ever,

given

that

marketin

g

com

municati

on

activ

ities

suc

h

as

advert

ising,

se

lling

and

direc

t

market

ing

usually

consti

tute

a

large

slice

of

the

total

corporate

commun

icatio

n

budge

t

of

a

company

,it

is

obvi

ously

impor

-

tant

for

m

arketing

comm

unicatio

n

to

be

syne

rgistica

lly

integr

ated

with

manag

ement

an

d

organ

isational

forms

of

com

municatio

n.

For

more

deta

iled

researc

h

on

this,

see

Stuart

an

d

Kerr

(19

99,

forthc

oming)

.

Towards

a

definitive

model

Ta

king

into

account

all

the

significant

fea-

ture

s

of

the

previ

ous

mod

els,

and

the

cur

rent

thin

king

on

corpo

rate

ident

ity

manageme

nt,

it

is

possi

ble

to

pro

vide

an

updat

ed

mod

el

that

m

ore

clearly

defines

the

corpo

rate

identity

m

anageme

nt

process

.The

factors

taken

int

o

acc

ount

are

shown

in

Table

I.

From

the

se

eleme

nts

a

new

model

of

the

corpo

rate

ident

ity

manag

ement

proce

ss

is

pres

ented

in

Figure

5.

The

main

conce

pts

pres

ented

are

as

follows:

Table

IElements

of

a

definitive

model

Concept

Comment

Authors

Corporate

personality

Ownership,

corporate

mission,

corporate

philosophy,

core

values

Olins,

Abratt,

Balmer

Corporate/organizational

culture

Culture

as

a

context

not

a

variable

Dowling,

Heatch

and

Schultz

Corporate

strategy/strategic

management

Corporate

identity

is

deliberate

presentation

of

corporate

personality

based

on

corporate

strategy

Stuart,

Markwick

and

Fill

Corporate

identity/corporate

identity

mix

Expression

of

the

corporate

personality

in

behaviour,

symbolism

(including

visual

identity),

communication

Abratt,

Stuart,

Balmer,

van

Reil

Corporate

identity/corporate

image

interface

Moment

of

truth

for

an

organization.

Internal-external

boundaries

breaking

down

Abratt,

Stuart,

Balmer,

Hatch

and

Schultz

Corporate

reputation

Result

of

corporate

image

over

time

Fombrun

Corporate

communication/total

corporate

communications

Consisting

of

management,

organization

and

marketing

communication.

Everything

the

organization

says,

does

and

communicates

van

Reil,

Balmer

Integrated

communication

The

three

forms

of

communication

need

to

be

integrated

horizontally

and

vertically

van

Reil,

Kitchen,

Stuart

Employees

Employees'

view

of

corporate

identity

is

significant

Kennedy,

Dowling,

Stuart

Environmental

influences

Actions

of

competitors,

government

legislation,

prevailing

economy

Kennedy,

van

Reil

and

Balmer,

Baker

and

Balmer,

Marwick

and

Fill

Organizational

structure/corporate

identity

structure

Type

of

organizational

structure

as

it

relates

to

corporate

identity

structure

Kammerer,

Van

Riel,

Stuart

205

A

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identit

y

managemen

tprocess

Helen

Stuart

Corporate

Communic

ations:

An

International

Journal

Volume

4

. Number

4

. 1999

. 200±207

.

Corp

orate

pe

rsonality

,cons

isting

of

the

corpo

rate

philoso

phy,

the

corpora

te

va-

lues

and

corpo

rate

mission.

.

Corp

orate

strategy

,base

d

on

man

agement

comm

unicatio

n,

and

inco

rporatin

g

top

m

anagement

vision,

pro

ducts

and

ser-

vices,

organ

izationa

lstruct

ure,

and

corpo

rate

identity

structure

.

.

M

an

ag

em

en

ta

nd

or

ga

ni

za

tio

na

lc

om

m

un

ica

-

tio

n

ar

e

ap

pl

ie

d

w

ith

th

e

re

su

lta

nt

co

rp

or

at

e

id

en

tit

y

co

ns

ist

in

g

of

th

e

m

ix

of

be

ha

vi

ou

r

(o

fe

m

pl

oy

ee

s

an

d

m

an

ag

em

en

t)

,s

ym

bo

-

lis

m

an

d

th

e

co

m

m

un

ic

at

io

n

pl

an

.

.

Mark

eting,

managem

ent

and

interperso

nal

com

municati

ons

are

used

to

trans

late

the

reali

ty

of

the

ident

ity

into

corpo

rate

ima

ges

hel

d

by

the

variou

s

stakehold

er

gro

ups.

.

The

corporat

e

ident

ity/corporate

image

in

-

te

rface

is

now

repres

ented

by

a

broken

lin

e,

follow

ing

the

line

of

reason

ing

of

Hat

ch

and

Schultz

(1997)

that

the

bou

ndary

is

breaking

down.

.

The

corporat

e

images

are

eventu

ally

con-

verted

into

a

corpora

te

reput

ation

for

the

company

wh

ich

le

ads

to

sound

financial

performan

ce

and

business

survi

val.

.

Enviro

nmental

influ

ences

are

sho

wn

as

impac

ting

on

all

parts

of

the

model.

.

Organiz

ationa

lcultu

re

is

shown

as

a

surrou

nding

area,

denotin

g

that

it

is

a

context

rathe

r

than

a

variab

le.

Conclusion

This

pap

er

has

expl

ored

the

significanc

e

of

the

models

of

corpora

te

image

form

ation

and

corpo

rate

ident

ity

m

anageme

nt

as

a

reflecti

on

of

the

developm

ent

of

conc

eptual

thinki

ng

in

the

area

of

corpora

te

ident

ity

m

anagement

.

The

m

odels

have

pro

vided

pra

ctitione

rs,

res

earcher

s

and

stude

nts

with

a

rich

history

of

corpo

rate

ident

ity

manag

ement

pract

ices.

Whereas

the

earlier

mod

els

conce

ntrat

ed

on

the

form

ation

of

the

corporate

image

and

did

no

tuse

the

conc

ept

of

corpo

rate

ident

ity,

the

late

r

mod

els

highl

ighted

the

corpora

te

ide

ntity

m

anageme

nt

process.

A

sign

ificant

find

ing

of

this

paper

is

that

the

compl

exity

of

Figure

5

Towards

a

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identity

management

process

206

A

definitive

model

of

the

corporate

identit

y

managemen

tprocess

Helen

Stuart

Corporate

Communic

ations:

An

International

Journal

Volume

4

. Number

4

. 1999

. 200±207

the

models

has

incre

ased,

acc

entuating

the

need

for

pra

ctitione

rs

to

take

a

great

er

numbe

r

of

variab

les

int

o

acc

ount

wh

en

developi

ng

corporate

ident

ity

progra

ms.

Takin

g

int

o

account

all

the

sign

ificant

featur

es

of

the

previ

ous

mod

els,

an

d

the

curren

t

thinki

ng

on

corpora

te

identity

m

an-

ageme

nt,

an

updat

ed

model,

wh

ich

m

ore

clearly

defined

the

corpo

rate

ident

ity

man-

ageme

nt

process

,was

deve

loped.

The

mod

el

inclu

ded

a

numbe

r

of

vari

ables

seen

as

signifi

cant

by

writers

in

the

area.

Some

of

the

areas

that

have

been

def

ined

more

clearly

in

rel

ation

to

corpora

te

ident

ity

manag

ement

are:

types

of

corpora

te

comm

u-

nication

,organ

izationa

lcultu

re,

the

role

of

strategi

c

manag

ement,

the

effec

t

of

organ

iza-

tional

and

corpora

te

ident

ity

struct

ures

on

corpora

te

ide

ntity

m

anageme

nt,

and

the

intern

al-exter

nal

interfac

e.

The

m

odel

deve

l-

oped

will

no

doubt

be

improved

on

further

as

researc

h

an

d

developm

ent

in

the

area

con-

tinue

to

expan

d.

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R.

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