Corporate heritage brands in China. Consumer engagement with China’s most celebrated corporate heritage brand – Tong Ren Tang: 同仁堂
Tóm tắt
This study breaks new ground because it (i): considers a non-western (Chinese) corporate heritage brand and (ii) for the first time within the corporate heritage brand/corporate heritage canon, adopts an explicit consumer perspective. Significantly – taking an overt corporate heritage/corporate heritage brand stance – this empirical study reveals why a corporate heritage brand such as Tong Ren Tang (TRT) – founded in 1669 – is highly meaningful to consumers from one generation to another. The researchers marshal the first four of Balmer’s criteria of corporate heritage entities in order to verify their corporate heritage credentials and explain their attractiveness to customers. As such, it was found that TRT is meaningfully linked to the past, present and prospective future (Balmer’s criterion of omni temporality); has durable and constant organisational traits (Balmer’s criterion of institutional trait consistency); has customer and stakeholder faithfulness for a minimum of three generations (Balmer’s criterion of tri-generational loyalty); and has acquired meaningful non-corporate role identities vis-à-vis Chinese national identity and China’s imperial identity (Balmer’s criterion of augmented role identities). TRT was found to be attractive to consumers owing to its core and augmented role identities following Balmer’s 2013 augmented role identity theoretical perspective. These findings explain why TRT has endured and flourished from one generation to another and accounts for its celebrated status within China and the wider Chinese diaspora.
Tài liệu tham khảo
Adler, J.A. (2002) Chinese Religions. London: Routledge.
Albert, S. and Whetten, D.A. (1985) Organizational identity. In: L.L. Cummings and B.M. Staw (eds.) Research in Organizational Behavior. Vol. 7, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, pp. 263–295.
Ashforth, B. and Mael, F. (1989) Social identity theory and the organisation. Academy of Management Review 14 (4): 20–39.
Balmer, J.M.T. (2001) Corporate identity, corporate branding and corporate marketing: Seeing through the fog. European Journal of Marketing 35 (3–4): 248–291.
Balmer, J.M.T. (2004) The British Monarchy as a Corporate Brand: Heresy or Necessity? Bradford University School of Management Working Paper Series (04/2004).
Balmer, J.M.T. (2009) Scrutinising the British monarchy: The corporate brand that was shaken, stirred and survived. Management Decision 47 (4): 639–675.
Balmer, J.M.T. (2010) Explicating corporate brands and their management: Reflections and directions from 1995. Journal of Brand Management 18 (3): 180–196.
Balmer, J.M.T. (2011) Corporate heritage identities, corporate heritage brands and the multiple heritage identities of the British monarchy. European Journal of Marketing 45 (9–10): 1380–1398.
Balmer, J.M.T. (2013) Corporate heritage, corporate heritage marketing and total corporate heritage communications: What are they? What of them? Corporate Communications: An International Journal 18 (3): 290–326.
Balmer, J.M.T., Greyser, S.A. and Urde, M. (2006) The crown as a corporate brand: Insights frommonarchies. Journal of Brand Management 14 (1–2): 137–161.
Bhattachraya, C.B. and Sen, S. (2003) Consumer-customer identification: A framework for understanding consumers’ relationships with companies. Journal of Marketing 67 (2): 76–88.
Blombäck, A. and Brunninge, O. (2009) Corporate identity manifested through historical references. Corporate Communications: An International Journal 14 (4): 404–419.
Blombäck, A. and Brunninge, O. (2013) The dual opening to brand heritage in family businesses. Corporate Communications: An International Journal 18 (3): 327–346.
Bryman, A. (2008) Social Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Burghausen, M. and Balmer, J.M.T. (2014a) Corporate heritage identity management and the multi-modal implementation of a corporate heritage identity. Journal of Business Research 67 (11): 2311–2323.
Burghausen, M. and Balmer, J.M.T. (2014b) Repertoires of the corporate past: Explanation and framework. Introducing an integrated and dynamic perspective. Corporate Communications: An International Journal 19 (4): 384–402.
Burghausen, M. and Balmer, J.M.T. (2015) Corporate heritage identity stewardship: A corporate marketing perspective. European Journal of Marketing 49 (1–2): 22–61.
Cohen, A.P. (2002) The best of British-with more the come. In: N. Rapport (ed.) British Subjects: An Anthropology of Britain. London: Routledge.
Colin, M. (1981) The Performing Arts in Contemporary China. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Foster, W.M., Suddaby, R., Minkus, A. and Wiebe, E. (2011) History as social memory assets: The example of Tim Hortons. Management and Organizational History 6 (1): 101–120.
Gioa, D., Schultz, M. and Corley, K.G. (2000) Organizational identity, image and adaptive instability. Academy of Management Review 25 (1): 63–81.
Gu, H. and Ryan, C. (2008) Place attachment, identity and community impacts of tourism – The case of a Beijing hutong. Tourism Management 29 (4): 637–647.
Hakala, U., Lätti, S. and Sandberg, B. (2011) Operationalising brand heritage and cultural heritage. Journal of Product & Brand Management 20 (6): 447–456.
Hammersley, M. (1996) The relationship between qualitative and quantitative research: Paradigm loyalty versus methodological eclecticism. In: J.T.T. Richardson (ed.) Handbook of Research Methods for Psychology and the Social Sciences. Leicester, UK: BPS books.
Hammond, C. (2005) The wider benefits of adult learning: An illustration of the advantages of multi-method research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 8 (3): 239–255.
Heathcote, E. (2011) How to build heritage, The Financial Times 8–9 January, p. 8.
Hudson, B.T. (2011) Brand heritage and the renaissance of Cunard. European Journal of Marketing 45 (9–10): 1538–1556.
Hudson, B.T. and Balmer, J.M.T. (2013) Corporate heritage brands: Mead’s theory of the past. Corporate Communications: An International Journal 18 (3): 347–361.
Larcon, J.P. and Reitter, R. (1979) Structures de Pouvoir et Identite de L’Enterprise. Paris, France: Nathan.
Macdonald, S. (2006) Undesirable heritage: Fascist material culture and historical consciousness in Nuremberg. International Journal of Heritage Studies 12 (1): 9–28.
Melikan, S. (2012) A passion for the emperor’s seal, International Herald Tribune 3–4 November, pp. 16–17.
Morgan, D.L. (1998) Practical strategies for combining qualitative and quantitative methods applications for health research. Qualitative Health Research 8 (3): 362–376.
Needham, J. (1954–2004) Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 24 Cambridge (England): Cambridge University Press.
Nye, S. (2004) Soft Power. Cambridge, MA: Public Affairs.
Otnes, C.C. and Maclaren, P. (2007) The consumption of cultural heritage among a British royal family brand tribe. In: R. Kozinets, B. Cova and A. Shanker (eds.) Consumer Tribes: Theory, Practice, and Prospects. London: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann.
Rapport, N. (ed.) (2002) British Subjects: An Anthology of Britain. London: Routledge.
Spence, J. (2008) China. In: Sir. M. Howard and W.R. Louis (eds.) The Oxford History of the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 216–226.
Story, J. (2010) China Uncovered. London: Financial Times-Prentice Hall.
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J.C. (1985) The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In: S. Worchel and W.G. Austin (eds.) Psychology of Intergroup Relations. Vol. 2, Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall, pp. 7–24.
Tashakkori, A. and Teddlier, C. (2003) Handbook of Mixed Methods in Social and Behavioral Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Urde, M., Greyser, S.A. and Balmer, J.M.T. (2007) Corporate brands with a heritage. Journal of Brand Management 15 (1): 4–19.
Wiedmann, K.-P., Hennigs, N., Schmidt, S. and Wuestefeld, T. (2011a) The importance of brand heritage as a key performance driver in marketing management. Journal of Brand Management 19 (3): 182–194.
Wiedmann, K.-P., Hennigs, N., Schmidt, S. and Wuestefeld, T. (2011b) Drivers and outcomes of brand heritage: Consumers’ perception of heritage brands in the automotive industry. The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 19 (2): 205–220.
Yin, R.K. (1994) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.