Corporate identity and corporate image revisited ‐ A semiotic perspective

LarsThøger Christensen1, SørenAskegaard2
1Department of Intercultural Communication and Management, The Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
2Department of Marketing, Odense University, Odense, Denmark

Tóm tắt

Asserts that the marketing discipline has been quite instrumental in securing and maintaining both practical and theoretical attention to the issues of identity and image in contemporary organisations. Discusses and critiques much of the discourse of corporate identity and image management. This is accomplished through a semiotic exercise in which prevailing perspectives and assumptions with respect to corporate identity and image are explained, analysed and subjected to a coherent interpretive framework. Rather than trying to legislate terminology or suggest conceptual parsimony, we use the semiotic framework as one way to illustrate the benefits of theoretical consistency and to stimulate self‐reflection among scholars who use the notions of identity and image.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Abratt, R. (1989), “A new approach to the corporate image management process”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 63‐76.

Albert, S. and Whetten, D.A. (1985), “Organisational identity”, Research in Organisational Behaviour, Vol. 7, pp. 263‐95.

Alvesson, M. (1990), “Organisation: from substance to image”, Organisation Studies, Vol. 11, pp. 373‐94.

Ashforth, B.E. and Mael, F.A. (1996), ‘‘Organisational identity and strategy as a context for the individual”, Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 13, pp. 19‐64.

Askegaard, S. and Firat, A.F. (1997), “Towards a critique of material culture, consumption, and markets”, in Pearce, S. (Ed.), Experiencing Material Culture in the Western World, Leicester University Press, London, pp. 114‐39.

Askegaard, S. and Ger, G. (1998), “Product‐country images: towards a contextualised approach”, in Englis, B. and Olofsson, A. (Eds), European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. III, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 50‐8.

Baker, M.J. and Balmer, J.M.T. (1997), “Visual identity: trappings or substance?”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 5/6, pp. 366‐82.

Balmer, J.M.T. (1995), “Corporate branding and connoisseurship”, Journal of General Management, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 24‐46.

Balmer, J.M.T. (1998), “Corporate identity and the advent of corporate marketing”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 14, pp. 963‐96.

Balmer, J.M.T. and Soenen, G.B. (1999), “The acid test of corporate identity management”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 15, pp. 69‐92.

Barthes, R. (1977), Image, Music, Text. Essays Selected and Translated by Stephen Heath, Hill and Wang, New York, NY.

Baudrillard, J. (1981), For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign, Telos Press, St Louis, MO.

Berg, P.O. and Gagliardi, P. (1985), “Corporate images: a symbolic perspective of the organization‐environment interface”, paper presented at the SCOS conference on Corporate Images, Antibes, France.

Berger, P.L. and Kellner, H. (1981), Sociology Reinterpreted. An Essay on Method and Vocation, Anchor Books, New York, NY.

Berger, P.L. and Luckmann, T. (1967), The Construction of Reality. A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, Doubleday, Anchor Books. Garden City, NY.

Bernstein, D. (1992), Company, Image and Reality. A Critique of Corporate Communications, Cassell, London.

Birkigt, K. and Stadler, M.M. (1986), Corporate Identity. Grundlagen, Funktionen und Beispielen, Verlag, Moderne Industrie, Landsberg am Lech.

Broms, H. and Gahmberg, H. (1983), “Communication to self in organizations and cultures”, Administrative Science Quarterly, , Vol. 28, pp. 482‐95.

Burke, K. (1973), “The rhetorical situation”, in Thayer, L. (Ed.), Communication: Ethical and Moral Issues, Gordon & Breach, London, pp. 263‐75.

Castoriadis, C. (1987), The Imaginary Institution of Society, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

Cheney, G. (1981), “There’s a lot in a name: the rhetorical dimensions of corporate identities”, unpublished manuscript, Department of Communication, Purdue University.

Cheney, G. (1983), “The rhetoric of identification and the study of organisational communication”, Quarterly Journal of Speech, Vol. 69, pp. 143‐58.

Cheney, G. (1991), Rhetoric in an Organisational Society. Managing Multiple Identities, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC.

Cheney, G. (1992). “The corporate person (re)presents itself.” in Toth, E.L. and Heath, R.L. (Eds), Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 165‐86.

Cheney, G. and Christensen, L.T. (1999), “Identity at issue: linkages between ‘internal’ and ‘external’ organisational communication”, forthcoming in Jablin, F.M. and Putnam, L.L. (Eds), New Handbook of Organisational Communication, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.

Cheney, G. and Tompkins, P.K. (1987), “Coming to terms with organisational identification and commitment”, Central States Speech Journal, Vol. 38, pp. 1‐15.

Christensen, L.T. (1994a), Markedskommunikation som organiseringsmåde. En kulturteoretisk analyse, Akademisk Forlag, Kobenhavn.

Christensen, L.T. (1994b), “Talking to ourselves: management through auto‐communication”, in MTC Kontakten (Marknadstekniskt Centrum, Stockholm), Jubilæumstidsskrift 1994, pp. 32‐7.

Christensen, L.T. (1997), “Marketing as auto‐communication”, Consumption, Markets & Culture, Vol. 1 No. 2, August, pp. 197‐227.

Christensen, L.T. and Cheney, G. (1994), “Articulating identity in an organisational age”, in Deetz, S.A. (Ed.), Communication Yearbook, Vol. 17, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 222‐35.

Christensen, L.T. and Cheney, G. (2000), “Self‐absorption and self‐seduction in the corporate identity game”, in Schultz, M., Hatch, M.J. and Larsen, M.H. (Eds), The Expressive Organization, Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York.

Day, C.R. Jr (1980), “Do companies have personalities?”, Industry Week, May 12, pp. 73‐7.

Dichter, E. (1985), “What’s in an image?” The Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 75‐81.

Dowling, G.R. (1988), “Measuring corporate images: a review of alternative approaches”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 17, pp. 27‐34.

Dowling, G.R. (1993), “Developing your company image into a corporate asset”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 101‐9.

Downey, S.M. (1986/1987), “The relationship between corporate culture and corporate identity”, Public Relations Quarterly, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 7‐12.

Dukerich, J.M. and Carter, S.M. (1998), “Mismatched image: organisational responses to conflicts between identity, shared external image, and reputation”, paper presented at EGOS’ 14th Colloquium, Maastricht, June 22.

Dutton, J.E. and Dukerich, J.M. (1991), “Keeping an eye on the mirror: image and identity in organisational adaptation”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 34, pp. 517‐54.

Dutton, J.E., Dukerich, J.M. and Harquail, C.V. (1994), “Organisational images and member identification”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 39, pp. 239‐63.

Erikson, E.H. (1968), Identity – Youth and Crises, Norton, New York, NY.

Ewen, S. (1988), All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contempory Culture, Basic Books, New York, NY.

Folkes, V.S. (1988), “Recent attribution research in consumer behaviour”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14, March, pp. 548‐65.

Fombrun, C.J. (1996), Reputation. Realizing value from the Corporate Image, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA.

Fombrun, C. and Shanley, M. (1990), “What’s in a name? Reputation building and corporate strategy”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 233‐58.

Fombrun, C.J. and van Riel, C. (1997), “The reputational landscape”, Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 1, pp. 5‐13.

Gilly, M.C. and Wolfinbarger, M. (1998), “Advertising’s internal audience”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 62, pp. 69‐88.

Gray, J.G. Jr (1986), Managing the Corporate Image. The Key to Public Trust, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.

Hatch, M.J. and Schultz, M. (1997), “Relations between organisational culture, identity and image”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 Nos 5/6, pp. 356‐65.

Johansen, J.D. (1985), “Prolegomena to a semiotic theory of text interpretation”, Semiotica, Vol. 57 Nos 3/4, pp. 225‐88.

Kennedy, S.H. (1977), “Nurturing corporate images. Total communication or ego trip?”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 120‐64.

Langer, S.K. (1957), Philosophy in a New Key, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Lotman, Y.M. (1991), Universe of the Mind. A Semiotic Theory of Culture, I.B. Tauris, London.

Margulies, W.P. (1977), “Make the most of your corporate identity”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 55, July‐August, pp. 66‐74.

Markwick, N. and Fill, C. (1997), “Towards a framework for managing corporate identity”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 5/6, pp. 396‐409.

Mead, G.H. (1934), Mind, Self, and Society. Vol. 1, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.

Merleau‐Ponty, M. (1989), Phenomenology of Perception, Routledge, London.

Moingeon, B. and Ramanantsoa, B. (1997), “Understanding corporate identity: the French school of thought”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 5/6, pp. 383‐95.

Mongin, O. (1982), “La democratie à corps perdu”, Esprit, Vol. 2, February, pp. 206‐14.

Morin, E. (1984), Sociologie, Fayard, Paris.

Neiva, E. (1999), “Redefining the image: Mimesis, convention, and semiotics”, Communication Theory, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 75‐91.

Nisbet, R. (1970), The Sociological Tradition, Heinemann, London.

Nöth, W. (1988), “The language of commodities. Groundwork for a semiotics of consumer goods”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 4, pp. 173‐86.

Olins, W. (1979), “Corporate identity: the myth and reality”, Advertising, Summer 1979, pp. 16‐21.

Olins, W. (1989), Corporate Identity. Making Business Strategy Visible through Design, Thames & Hudson, London.

Pan, Y. and Lehmann, D.R. (1993), “The influence of new brand entry on subjective brand judgements”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20, June, pp. 76‐86.

Peirce, C.S. (1897‐1910/1985), “Logic as semiotic: the theory of signs.” in Innis, R.E. (Ed.), Semiotics. An Introductory Anthology, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.

Poiesz, T.B.C. (1989), “The image concept: its place in consumer psychology”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 10, pp. 457‐72.

Pollay, R.W. (1986), “The distorted mirror: reflections on the unintended consequences of advertising”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 50, April, pp. 18‐36.

Scott, L. (1994), “Images in advertising: the need for a theory of visual rhetoric”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 21, September, pp. 76‐86.

Selame, E. and Selame, J. (1988), The Company Image. Building Your Identity and Influence in the Marketplace, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY.

Swanson, C.E. (1957), “Branded and company images changed by advertising”, ADMAP, pp. 302‐18.

van Rekom, J. (1997), “Deriving an operational measure of corporate identity”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 5/6, pp. 410‐22.

van Riel, C.B.M. (1995), Principles of Corporate Communication, Prentice‐Hall, London.

van Riel, C.B.M. and Balmer, J.M.T. (1997), “Corporate identity: the concept, its measurement and management”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 5/6, pp. 340‐55.

Weber, M. (1968/1978), Economy and Society, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Weick, K.E. (1979), The Social Psychology of Organizing, 2nd ed., Addison‐Wesley, Reading, MA.

Whetten, D.A., Lewis, D. and Mischel, L.J. (1992), “Toward an integrated model of organisational identity and member commitment”, paper presented at the Academy of Management Meeting, Las Vegas, NV.

Zeithaml, V.A. (1988), “Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: a means‐end model and synthesis of evidence”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52 July, pp. 2‐22.