The “Inside” and “Outside” Perspectives of Corporate Rebranding: A case study of Greggs Plc

Abstract

2018 dissertation for MSc. International Business Management. Selected by academic staff as a good example of a masters level dissertation. Corporate rebranding has become a popular topic for both researchers and practitioners in the few decades. When learning from some failed rebranding cases like Royal Mail, retaining and engaging both employees and consumers could be one of the keys to the success of corporate rebranding as stakeholders always show support to the brand. It is a new and seldom studied area in the academic field. To date, empirical research on the meaning of corporate rebranding to consumers and employees has received less attention. In filling this gap, this study attempted to examine the understanding of employees and consumers concerning corporate rebranding and the effect of it. More so, to know their level of involvement in the corporate rebranding process and implementation. The study was premised on the corporate rebranding process and principles and the involvement theory. The study adopted positivism philosophy based on the theory of corporate rebranding process and principles. To evaluate the research, Greggs plc was selected since it has been undergoing a corporate rebranding in the past five years successfully by repositioning its brand into another market. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used to understand consumers and employees’ feelings of corporate rebranding. This includes the focus group discussion with seven employees, semi-structured interview with a Greggs manager and a questionnaire survey disseminated to Greggs customers. The findings revealed that the consumers and employees had a mixed perception about the rebranding strategies concerning the level of involvement and their feelings about the brand. Another result is that the brand image that Greggs is trying to achieve is not clear and most of the consumers are only loyal in terms of consumption, not to the brand which might have been caused by low level of involvement and inadequate awareness of the rebranding strategy. Some recommendations for management and future researchers were also suggested.