Thesis (M.M.) (Strategic marketing)). University of the Witwatersrand, Wits Business School, 2013. / Stakeholder theory has increasingly become an area of academic and management research. Every organisation has different stakeholders, upon which organisational outcomes are dependent on managerial decision making regarding the multiple relationships that exist, the various options and resources available to them, and the influence that corporate reputation has on the managers’ response to any given stakeholder claim. The purpose of this research is to offer a greater understanding of how executive managers of an emerging market company strategically identify and manage their stakeholders and consequently, the reputation of the firm. Various streams of literature were supported by the findings of the research conducted. This included the descriptive, instrumental, and normative aspects of managers’ behaviours and traits; stakeholder coalitions; and reciprocity. Areas of conflicting evidence stemming from the research included the classification of stakeholders through primary and secondary groups; stakeholder attributes of power and urgency; and “dangerous stakeholders” within stakeholder salience. There is a gap in the literature involving the effect of corporate reputation with regards to management salience and prioritising stakeholder demands. Sixteen semi-structured in-depth interviews were executed in a leading South African paint manufacturing company that forms part of a large global organisation. The respondents consisted of eight executive managers of the company, each from a different functional area, and eight stakeholders of the company comprising employees, suppliers, and customers. As a leading company within their industry, they frequently experience claims of various natures which the directors deal with on a regular basis, many of which have the potential to harm the corporate reputation. Real life cases are transcribed and reflected upon within this research report. The research findings show that the company’s corporate reputation has a direct influence on how managers prioritize and attend to stakeholder claims, mainly based on legitimacy as a core attribute. Furthermore, that managers identify their stakeholders differently to what the literature proposes, and that there are more learnings to be taken from reciprocity in stakeholder relationships.

The purpose of this research is to discover and examine the impact of sustainable innovation on corporate image. This paper aims to check the influence of eco-friendly innovations on the reputation of the business and then how consumers perceive and think about the business and to discover the level of this influence on small and large businesses in Pakistan we collected data from 65 employees of diverse organization through a survey questionnaire, and the results are obtained through different tests performed on SPSS. The research findings showed a strong positive influence of sustainable innovation on corporate image. It will be helpful for the management of organizations, policymakers, academics, and experts to contemplate the connection between sustainable innovation and corporate image.

Despite research on relationships between branding constructs such as corporate identity, corporate image, employer branding, corporate branding and corporate reputation over the past years, limited research has been conducted on the influence of employees on these constructs. Although the concept of personal branding has been debated by many, there is a dearth of research on personal branding and the relationship between personal branding and employer branding, corporate branding and corporate reputation. As a result, this study was carried out in order to explore the influence of employer branding, employee’s personal branding and corporate branding on corporate reputation. It is argued in this study that corporate reputation is one of the most valuable intangible assets of an organisation. Organisations need to ensure that they comprehend the elements in the establishment of a corporate identity and a corporate image, and how employees influence these constructs. It became clear that an individual’s associations, awareness and assessment of an organisation influence their direct and indirect experiences with an organisation resulting in the formulation of a corporate reputation. The study also emphasised that employees are one of the most important tangible assets of an organisation and play an important role in establishing a corporate reputation and corporate brand. It was stated that an organisation combines a set of organisational qualities that focus on streamlining priorities, escalate productivity and improve recruitment, commitment and retention of employees through the process of employer branding. The study revealed that potential employees use the organisational attractiveness as an essential decision making tool in their quest to find the perfect employer. During the employer branding process prospective employees compare their own needs, values and personalities to that of the employer brand of the organisation. It is suggested that a well-executed employee branding process alleviates the profile of the organisation internally as well as externally, enhancing the competitive advantage of, and ultimately the corporate brand and reputation of an organisation. The study revealed that the emotional connections that stakeholders make with employees are moulded through formal and informal interactions with customers. Throughout the study it became evident that the individual provides a ‘package’ of their own values and qualities (what they believe in) expressed by what they do and how they do it, in order to create their own unique selling proposition in the market place through personal branding. It is, therefore, imperative that organisations find the correct person-organisation fit. The study indicated that the establishment of a personal brand is important for the employee but equally important for the organisation that becomes the employer. This highlighted the fact that any misalignment between the employee’s brand package content and the organisation’s brand values, objectives and personality results in the employee behaving differently to the expectations of the organisation. In order to establish the relationships between the variables of the study, empirical research was conducted. The study employed an exploratory as well as a causal approach. The Top500 best managed companies in South Africa was used as the sample population of the study. Companies were selected from the Top500 list and was guided by the sectors they have been assigned to. Eight industries were chosen that broadly constitute the most important sectors in the South African context. All five companies within the following sectors were selected: Arts/entertainment/recreation; Finance and Insurance; Banking sector; Government and Public administration; Hotel and Food services; Manufacturing and Retail. A self-administered web-based survey, consisting of five sections was utilised as measuring instrument. The questions in sections one to four related to the variables of the study whilst Section five was used to collect the demographic data of the respondents. A total of 312 usable questionnaires were received from a possible 900 respondents, indicating a 35 percent response rate.

In the 1970s, oil, gas and utility companies lost the American public's trust during the energy crisis. Faced with tighter government regulation, these companies turned to nonproduct advertising as a mouthpiece for the American company.At the time, Robert Meadow created a typology for nonproduct advertising by analyzing hundreds of nonproduct ads in several publications. According to Meadow, the ten categories that he created were the areas in which companies utilized nonproduct advertising.Yet, over twenty years later, companies in the 1990s confront many problems that plagued companies in the 1970s. However, the face of business has since changed. In contrast, global competition, equal employment opportunities and downsizing were not major issues twenty-seven years ago as they are today.Since Meadow published his typology of nonproduct advertising in 1981, no other typology has been put forth in nonproduct advertising literature. No one has compared his typology to current nonproduct ads in the 1990s to determine if there is a significant difference of the categories today as compared to Meadow's categories. Nor has any researcher questioned if the priority of the categories remains the same since his study was done. In addition, what types of organizations are using nonproduct ads today?Through a content analysis of nonproduct ads in the same publications that Meadow used, a significant difference was found in nonproduct ads of the 1990s in comparison to nonproduct ads in the 1970s. While image ads remained the largest used category of nonproduct ads for Meadow and the researcher's categories, none of the other categories ranked the same.According to the ranking of the categories, this study shows that the priority of the categories has changed since Meadow did his study. Findings also show that overwhelmingly, corporations remain the heaviest users of nonproduct ads while political use runs a distant second. / Department of Journalism

Corporate sound as a company-controlled element of corporate identity management has been widely ignored in corporate identity and corporate image literature so far. Moreover, established corporate identity models show some visual dominance that has inhibited the integration of other sensory elements such as the auditory dimension. This thesis advances current knowledge in the corporate identity, corporate image and corporate communication domain by investigating the construct of auditory identity from a corporate perspective. In detail, the study investigates factors that determine the management of auditory identity as well as consequences of corporate auditory identity management (CAIM) as perceived by managers. A triangulated research approach was employed by using qualitative data from interviews with managers and consultants from UK companies as well as quantitative data from questionnaires completed by managers from UK companies in the media, information and communication as well as the banking and finance industry. While qualitative data initially was used to gain deeper understanding of the underresearched auditory topic, quantitative data was statistically examined using EFA and PLS-SEM to test the structural model. Findings suggest, inter alia, that the definition of corporate auditory identity provided in this research is widely supported by qualitative data. Moreover, quantitate data indicates that the support of the CEO is a key factor for the successful implementation of an auditory identity programme. Furthermore, all ten consequences of corporate auditory identity management such as gaining differentiation, improving corporate image, supporting consistent corporate communication and increasing recognisability just to name few are widely supported by qualitative as well as quantitative data. This thesis advances corporate identity, corporate image and communication literature in many ways. Mainly, it provides a valid definition of the new construct of auditory identity as well as scales for measuring corporate auditory identity management on which researchers can build in the future. Based on the identified potential of corporate sound academics are encouraged to overcome the visual dominance by incorporating auditory identity into future concepts, frameworks and models. Moreover, managers can benefit from this research and the provided definition of auditory identity in particular as it reduces the uncertainty about the auditory domain and suggests a more holistic view of corporate identity management. Additionally, this study provides managers with a deeper understanding of the potential of corporate sound by testing a set of consequences of auditory identity management. Consequently, managers are advised to employ a more strategic management of sonic elements and applications in the future. To sum up, this research is one of the first that investigates the management of sound from a corporate perspective and the researcher strongly believes that it constitutes a foundation that facilitates a variety of avenues for research.

There is common theme within the literature that a store represents the tangible and intangible values of the company's commercial and retail organisational philosophy. Given this, it could be considered as a brand, with all the associated competitive advantages that correspond to this entity. Operationally, a store's brand competitiveness can be viewed from the image it transmits and the impact it has in the minds of consumers. However, as markets and consumer tastes vary between countries, there have been calls for further inquiry into how the domestic store brand image, with its inherited competitive advantage, can be transferred abroad. A means for achieving this is via a standardised transfer strategy. In the international marketing literature, standardisation is referred to as the identical offering of the entire marketing mix in several different countries. Likewise, within the context of retail intenationalisation, standardisation is defined as the faithful replication of a successful domestic store concept abroad. Despite all the citations found within the wider literature on international retailing the notion of standardisation lacks of clear definition when concern upon the transfer of store brand image. Thus, the aim of this thesis is to provide an insight into the debate of store brand image standardisation in international retailing. From the limitations identified in the existing literature, a new research framework is proposed for examining store brand image standardisation. The framework includes the conventional 'Store Image per se' comparative process, where examination is undertaken from a store image attribute perspective between markets. In addition, two new elements are introduced. First, the comparative process of 'Relative Marketplace', where a comparison of the domestic and foreign store image is conducted within their relative markets. Second, the 'Store Image Dimension perspective', where the two comparative processes, 'Store Image per se' and 'Relative Marketplace', are examined after the store image attributes have been aggregated into broader dimensions. This proposed framework was employed to examine the store image transferability of the Spanish limited line food discounter DIA. Through a pluralist methodological approach of both qualitative and quantitative methods, a shopper survey was conducted in Spain (the home market) and Greece (a host market) to measure the company's store brand image between and within its marketplaces. From the juxtaposition of the three components of the proposed framework, the results indicate that store brand image standardisation should be examined from an 'Absolute,' and 'Relative' standpoint. Moreover, depending on the standpoint undertaken to examine the transfer of the store brand image, standardisation can be conceptualised in three ways. 'Absolute Standardisation': A standard to be applied by faithfully replicating the store's domestic image into a host market; 'Core Standardisation': A standard to be secured by faithfully replicating the store's domestic unique selling proposition, that satisfies the needs of global markets while maintaining intact the company's entire concept; and 'Relative Standardisation': A standard to be achieved by faithfully replicating the store's domestic positioning into the host market. It is argued that these three aspects of store brand image standardisation should not be viewed as distinctive concepts, but rather as a transitional process of two ends of the same continuum.

Place branding scholars and practitioners increasingly highlight the influence that corporate image can exert on the image of the country of origin (COI). Yet, there is remarkably little theoretical and empirical research on this influence. In this qualitative and quantitative study the researcher aims (1) to analyse whether corporate image affects COI; (2) to identify consumer-related and company-related factors that affect the influence of corporate image on COI; (3) to examine the influence of corporate image- (net valence and consistency) and corporate-related factors (number of corporate brands and accessibility) on COI; (4) to investigate the moderating effects of corporate familiarity, business familiarity and consumer ethnocentrism on the influence of corporate image-related factors on COI; and (5) to describe the COI not only in terms of lists of attributes, but also in terms of holistic impressions. This study focuses on the case of Spain and is based on empirical evidence provided by undertaking, firstly, in-depth interviews with 13 place branding experts and, secondly, a face-to-face survey of 300 British people aged 18 and over living in London or Greater London, selected using a multi-stage area sampling technique. The findings reveal (1) the statistically significant positive impact of corporate image on one dimension of COI (political beliefs); (2) six consumer-related (awareness of the corporate brand’s COO; power of the corporate brand image; strength of the corporate brand-country association; brand image fit; brand image unfit; strength of the industry-country association) and four company-related (extent to which the company plays up or down its COO; the company’s international and market visibility; the number of corporate brands operating in the market) factors that influence the impact of corporate image on COI; (3) that corporate image- and corporate-related factors explain collectively 10 per cent or over of variance in the affective dimensions of COI and a smaller proportion of variance in the cognitive dimensions of COI; (4) that business familiarity has a significant effect moderating the influence of net valence on COI; and (5) that tourism is the dominant element of the image that British people have of Spain. Theoretical (conceptual model, first study testing the influence of corporate image on COI) and managerial (guidelines for selecting corporate brands to be included in country branding campaigns) implications of these findings are considered, and finally, limitations of the study and future research directions are suggested.

Thesis submitted in full fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of philosophy (Marketing) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. November 2017. / With increased competition in the banking industry, particularly in developing economies, United Bank of Africa Plc (UBA) in Nigeria has been thriving. The bank is a multinational financial services provider, which operates in 22 African countries. It also has offices in the US, UK and France. UBA has about 626 global branches and serves more than seven million retail, commercial and corporate global customers. Positioned as a pan-African bank, the UBA Group is firmly in the forefront of driving the renaissance of the African economy. It is also well positioned as a one-stop financial services institution, with growing reputation as the face of banking on the African continent. UBA Plc has grown over the years from being just a brand name to a house hold name in Nigeria. In 2011, it was reported that UBA’s total assets was worth about $12.3 billion. The bank is also gearing to be one of the dominant and leading banking brands in Africa. While the measurement of UBA’s asset worth is important as it reveals information of its financial performance, it can be more important to measure the worth of its intangible assets, which is being captured from the assessment of its brand equity. Brand equity does not only comprise of an organization’s intangible assets, but does reflect the values consumers hold of a brand and can also secure long-term commercial and competitive advantages for companies. With the notion that the value or power of a brand lies in what customers perceive in their minds concerning the brand, most studies have measured brand equity mainly from the customer-based brand equity (CBBE) perspective using Aaker’s (1996a) and Keller’s (1998) models. Aaker’s (1996a) model is however considered to be the most comprehensive CBBE model and it measures brand equity from five dimensions – brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty and proprietary assets. While CBBE can secure long-term market performance, it is being recommended that the contribution of employee-based brand equity (EBBE) should also be measured. This is particularly important in the service sector, such as banking, where “what is delivered is less important than how it is delivered”. More so, with the increasing importance of internal branding, there is a need to measure EBBE, which assesses how knowledgeable, happy and committed employees are willing to deliver on the brand promises to build brand equity. v In addition to the importance of measuring both CBBE and EBBE, there is also the need to further compare the extent to which both CBBE and EBBE predict market performance, an outcome anticipated, but rarely empirically tested. This study therefore employs Aaker’s (1996) CBBE model and Kwon’s (2013) EBBE model to examine the sources of UBA’s CBBE and EBBE respectively and the extent to which each of the equities drive market performance indicators, such as consumer purchase intention, willingness to pay a price premium and brand preference. A positivist research paradigm with a quantitative survey of 182 UBA employees and 178 UBA customers were used to test the hypotheses. The relationships hypothesized in the conceptual model were empirically tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results indicated that the conceptual model satisfactorily fitted the data and provided reasonable explanations among variables. In terms of the relationships, it was found that UBA’s CBBE was accounted for by brand associations or image and brand loyalty. UBA’s overall CBBE positively and significantly affected all the market performance indicators of purchase intention, willingness to pay a price premium and brand preference. UBA’s EBBE which was found to be positively and significantly driven by role clarity and brand commitment could only positively and significantly predict the bank customers’ willingness to pay a price premium. Conclusively, it was found that while UBA’s EBBE make some contribution to the bank’s market performance, its CBBE is the major driver of its performance. This study theoretically contributes by not only empirically testing Aaker’s (1996b) CBBE and Kwon’s (2013) EBBE in the Nigeria’s banking sector, but by also showing how both models explain market performance. Practically, the study reveals sources of CBBE and EBBE, which not only UBA should prioritize in improving their market performance, but other service sectors in Nigeria and the continent should take special note of. Keywords: Brand equity, customer-based brand equity (CBBE), employee-based brand equity (EBBE), United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, market performance, structural equation modelling (SEM), consumer purchase intention, willingness to pay a price premium and brand preference / GR2018

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) advertising is a type of corporate image advertising which promotes the CSR-based identity of a company in order to build and/or improve a socially responsible image. A CSR-based image and a good reputation for CSR at large has been regarded as a reservoir of goodwill which can function as a buffer against negative publicity. With this in mind, this thesis examines the effectiveness of CSR advertising for the purpose of insulating a firm from the negative impacts of crisis news by creating a positive image as a socially responsible company. This study also investigates the influences of favourable attitudes toward the CSR ad and how the level of attribution of crisis responsibility to the company modifies the effectiveness of CSR advertising as a buffer. As part of this process, the news frames which describe the crisis from either an accident perspective or a preventable-incident perspective and the ad-appeals (i.e., information-based and affect-based ad-appeals) were manipulated to test how they influence the effectiveness of CSR advertising when acting as a buffer. Adopting a quantitative methodology, this study collects data through web-based experiments with online panellists utilising fictitious video commercials and crisis news scenarios concerning a fictitious company. The results indicated that people who were exposed to the CSR ad prior to reading the crisis news tended to be less influenced by the news than those who were not exposed to the ad in terms of their perceptions of company image and both their attitudes and behavioural intentions toward the company. CSR advertising was equally effective at reducing the damage to company image and attitudes toward the company in both different news frame conditions and using both different ad-message type conditions. The results imply that if people perceive CSR-based images of a company through CSR advertising successfully, they tend to maintain these perceptions of the company even after they process any negative information about the company, and this is still true even if their evaluations of the responsibility for a crisis were not influenced by CSR advertising. As part of the research process, this study found that positive attitudes towards the CSR ad significantly and directly influenced both the company image and attitudes toward the company. However, when people processed the crisis news after viewing the CSR ad the direct impact of attitudes toward the ad on attitudes toward the company disappeared. This indicates that the 'affect-transfer' from attitudes toward the ad to attitudes toward the company occurred under advertisement-only conditions. When negative publicity was processed, the crisis information may act as a latent inhibitor of the affect-transfer effect and the company image variable became a full mediator.

The Research Topic and the Need for It: This thesis starts with a review of what the literature says about the importance of corporate image and how it needs to be managed as a strategic asset. However, the problem is there is no model that shows what corporate image comprises and explains how its various components interact with one another so that it can be managed. The result is a number of confusing and contradictory definitions and unproductive discussions about things like whether corporate reputation and corporate image are different or synonymous. In response to this need, it is suggested that corporate image comprises three different image perspectives; namely, Self Image, Projected Image and Perceived Image and that it is only when these are defined separately and regarded holistically that corporate image can be properly defined, understood and managed. Objective: The objective of this research was to develop and test this model using triangulated approaches in which data could be acquired and understood from different sources. To this end questionnaires were developed by document analysis, consultation and discussion. This research was conducted in two very different organisations - a new university campus and a sugar co-operative. In the interests of confidentiality they have been renamed Barton University's Kingsley Campus and Sunstate Sugar Co-operative Association Limited. Data was input into both SPSS and HIPSYS computer programs for the Kingsley Campus research and into HIPSYS for the Sunstate Sugar research. For both research sites the results were discussed with members of all response groups so that accurate interpretations of the data could be made and additional meaningful data acquired. For Kingsley Campus, response groups included all Academic and General Staff of Kingsley Campus for the Self Image and the Projected Image, and for the Perceived Image all Current and Past Students, a representative sample of Grade 12 high school students, advanced diploma students of Kingsley TAFE, and Community Leaders. In all 3,693 questionnaires were distributed and 934 completed questionnaires were processed. For Sunstate Sugar, response groups included all employees for the Self Image separated by Management, Supervisors and Workforce, all Board members and all Employees who interface with the growers (members of the co-operative) for the Projected Image, and all members of the co-operative for the Perceived Image. In all 1830 questionnaires were distributed and 916 completed questionnaires were processed. Findings: The results from the Kingsley Campus research showed that the Projected Image needed to be more effectively targeted at the Grade 12 target group. The results from the Sunstate Sugar research showed that its Perceived Image was affected by its Self Image as well as by its Projected Image and that its Self Image in particular needed to be made more positive. The results from both organisations suggest that a positive corporate Self Image influences the Projected Image and can have as much impact on the Perceived Image as does the Projected Image. In exploring and discussing the results of this research, each organization derived recommendations which led to their developing action plans for the more effective management of their corporate image. These results indicate that the model created has eliminated a gap in the literature, diffused the confusion regarding what corporate image is, and provided a structure and a methodology by which corporate image can be identified and managed. It has been shown to have considerable utility.