Promoting and Protecting Corporate Identity: The Importance of Organizational and Industry Context

Abstract

Corporate identity has the power to help a firm obtain an advantage over its competitors. Scholars have stressed the importance of building this identity. The promotion and protection of a firm's corporate identity represent organizational capabilities that are critical in this pursuit. The building of corporate identity, however, is not a universal prescription for success. Under certain conditions, firms may not want to allocate scarce resources to corporate identity promotion and protection. This study explores the role of several of these contextual factors using survey data from corporate communications executives of 129 US public firms. The research explores the role of branding strategy on the promotion and protection of corporate identity, as well as the potential moderating influences of financial resources and industry characteristics. The findings suggest that firms using a monolithic approach are likely to promote and protect their corporate identity more aggressively, relative to firms employing a branded strategy. The results also suggest that the relationship between branding strategy and corporate identity promotion differs between consumer goods industries and non-consumer goods industries. Implications for researchers and managers are discussed.