<p>Abstract</p><p>Title: Företag X” the hidden power” a study of internal communication, culture and internal branding. Företaget X has in real life a different name.</p><p>Number of pages: 42 (49 with enclosures)</p><p>Author: Charlotta Babington Thorszelius</p><p>Course: Media and Communication Studies C</p><p>Period: Autumn 2007</p><p>University: Uppsala University, Sweden</p><p>Purpose/Aim: To analyze the internal communication, culture and internal branding of an insurance company and how they can improve these company tools can be improved.</p><p>Material/Method: qualitative method using interviews, analysis of internal communication policies and observations.</p><p>Main results: The policy documents do not match how the internal communication works in every day life. There is a structure that is working and the information flows through the different levels. The vision and goals are difficult to understand as they are written in a complicated way. The words that carry the values of the company are well known and everyone stands behind them. The staff is happy, content and pleased to be working for Företaget X. There is a strong culture with a lot of the basic underlying assumptions shown as artefacts. This also shows in the strong brand which has been built on the strength of the federation of 24 local companies, at the same time acting on a local market.</p><p>Key words: internal communication, culture, internal branding, ambassadors, communication flow, sensemaking in organizations</p>

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Research Questions: Which factors affect the internal brand implementation? Which factors regarding the perception of internal branding are shared and differ between two geographical locations within an organization? Purpose: The aim of this study is to mark and analyze internal factors within an organization in order to get an understanding of how there can sustain and develop the internal brand. Further, the purpose is to describe and analyze the differences in how aspects of internal branding are perceived by two geographical locations. Method: The study has primarily a quantitative research method and a deductive approach where the results from the collected data was analyzed through various tests in the statistic program SPSS. Conclusions: Through various analysis methods, the authors were able to find out which factors that had the strongest effect on internal branding. The conclusion further on reveals that there are two specific factors with a positive effect on the internal branding implementation as a whole. These factors consist of internal marketing and internal communication. Lastly the results also culminate in the shared and divergent perceptions of internal branding among employees within an organization.

Internal branding in universities has been acknowledged in marketing literature as an important area of research. In the context of higher education institutions, employees play a crucial role in the branding process. Research within the current spectrum of internal branding indicates some ambiguities surrounding internal branding in higher education. Yet very few studies are available in the field of internal branding within universities to explore employee behaviour in brand support. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to examine, from the academic staff’s perspective, the relationships between internal branding in universities and employee brand support and also the relevant underlying mechanisms (specifically, the mediating effects of internal branding aspects, i.e., 1. brand-centred training and development activities and 2. internal brand communications) in a Thai university context. This study employed a mixed methods approach with a dominant quantitative component, involving semi-structured interviews (with 19 respondents) and a pilot survey (with 95 respondents) to collect data for the development of measurement scales. Afterwards, the main survey (with 347 respondents) was conducted in order to test the research hypotheses and the proposed conceptual model. In addition, information from the semi-structured inteviews is used to explain the relationships found in this study after hypothesis testing. Based on a review of the existing literature in a range of fields (including higher education management, brand management, organisational identity, organisational culture and behaviour, corporate communication, human resource management, marketing management, government policy and leadership), this study proposes a conceptual model of the positive relationships between internal branding activities in universities (internal brand communications and brand-centred training and development activities) and employee brand support. In addition, the transformational leadership characteristics of the immediate leader (idealised influence or charisma; inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individual consideration) are also included in the model as determinants of internal branding activities and employee brand support. Brand-centred training and development activities and internal brand communication activities are proposed as mediators of the relationships in the model. The proposed conceptual model is developed on the basis of marketing control theory (Jaworski, 1988) combined with transformational leadership theory (Burns, 1978), social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) and Lewin’s (1947) change theory. From the statistical findings, together with upport from the literature and the in-depth interviews during the exploratory stage, this study finds positive relationships between brand-centred training and development activities, internal brand communication activities, the transformational leadership characteristics of the immediate leaders and employee brand support. However, an unexpected outcome is that the relationship between internal brand communication activities and employee brand support is not significant. This outcome indicates that the brand-centred training and development construct fully mediates the relationship between internal brand communication activities and employee brand support. Therefore, in order to create employee brand support behaviours among academic staff, institutions cannot rely solely on their internal communication activities. This finding highlights a crucial role for brand-centred training and development activities in building employee brand support in the context of higher education. In addition, the study finds that, given transformational leadership characteristics, an immediate leader of academic staff not only affects their brand support behaviour, but also either initiates or influences internal branding activities in the institution, thereby creating employee brand support among academic staff. Therefore, institutions which want to build employee brand support from the academic staff should ensure that the immediate leaders of their academic staff’ should manifest transformational leadership characteristics. Finally, this investigation is expected to be of value in advancing current knowledge about internal branding in universities and also be useful to higher education management and public policy-makers who want to encourage academic staff to support their university’s brand.

The internal marketing concept speciefies that an organization's employees is its first market. The demands on companies to meet employee needs increases with the skills and knowledge employees possess, which acts as a competitive advantage. The internal marketing terms "Employer Branding" and "Employer Attractiveness" are still considered to be underdeveloped. Employer Branding refers to the process of marketing that companies use to target desired employees and retain current employees. To find and attract the right work force effectively, companies are required to have a strong Employer Brand. The IT consulting industry shows that job seekers have more power than employers, which creates a intense competition for labor. The aim of this study is to examine how employees at an IT consulting firm perceive the organization's Employer Brand along with what the company's recruitment target market is seeking in a potential employer. Based on a theoretical model; Employer Brand Predictive Model and with the help of two empirical studies, research can demonstrate whether or not the IT consulting firm’s existing Employer Brand is considered to be compatible against recruitment target market’s conditions. The study shows empirical indications that the IT consulting firm’s lacks external brand awareness and absence of a clear strategic aim for selecting the appropriate recruitment target market. / Det interna marknadsföringskonceptet anger att en organisations anställda är deras första marknad. Kraven på företag att uppfylla anställdas behov ökar i och med den kompetens och kunskap de besitter vilket utgör en konkurrensfördel. Inom intern marknadsföring är begreppen ”Employer Branding" och "arbetsgivarens attraktionskraft" fortfarande underutvecklade. Employer Branding hänvisar till den process av marknadsföring som företag använder sig av för att attrahera en önskad målgrupp och behålla personal. För att hitta och attrahera rätt personal krävs det att företagen har ett starkt Employer Brand. IT-konsultbranschen visar på att arbetssökande har mer makt än arbetsgivare, vilket skapar en tydlig konkurrens om arbetskraft. Denna studie undersöker hur medarbetarna på ett IT-konsultföretag uppfattar organisationens Employer Brand samt vad företagets rekryteringsmålgrupp söker hos en potentiell arbetsgivare. Utifrån en teoretisk modell; Employer Brand Predictive Model och med hjälp av två empiriska undersökningar kan studien påvisa om IT-konsultföretagets existerande Employer Brand anses vara homogen gentemot rekryteringsmålgruppens villkor. Studien visar empiriska bevis på IT-konsultföretagets brist av extern varumärkeskännedom samt avsaknad av en tydlig strategisk avgränsning för val av rekryteringsmålgrupp.

Internt varumärkesbyggande handlar om att på något sätt säkerställa att ett företags varumärkeslöfte anammas av de anställda så att varumärket verkställs i praktiken och i och med det möter de förväntningar som varumärket skapat hos kunden. För att företag ska lyckas förmedla sitt budskap till kund så är det därför viktigt att företag lyckas förena de anställda med företagets varumärke. De anställdas beteende kan fungera som en språngbräda till att förverkliga varumärket, eller det motsatta, genom att de inte handlar i enlighet med varumärket kan det försvåra för varumärket att bli trovärdigt och pålitligt. Ledaren har en viktig roll internt varumärkesbyggande och denne fungerar både som den strategiska länken mellan de strategiska beslut som kommer från huvudkontor och anställdas genomförande.Forskningsområdet internt varumärkesbyggande fokuserar främst på hur ledningen ska arbeta för att kommunicera varumärket samt hur viktiga de anställdas är då de förverkligar varumärket. Därmed är det intressant att undersöka ledarens roll i internt varumärkesbyggande då perspektivet till stor del uteblivit inom forskningsområdet. För att generera en djupgående förståelse för detta, grundar sig arbetet på en kvalitativ fallstudie på företaget Coop där följande problemformulering besvarats:"Hur upplever butikschefer på Coop internt varumärkesbyggande och sin roll när företaget genomgår en varumärkesförändring?"Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka aspekter som hindrar och möjliggör för butikschefer att sprida varumärket inom organisationen. Med vår studie kommer vi att bidra till forskningen med ytterligare kunskap om ledarens roll i det interna varumärkesbyggandet.Studiens resultat påvisar aspekter som hindrar ledaren att sprida varumärket vidare i organisationen i form av brist på information, tidsbrist och tolkningsutrymme. Aspekter som möjliggör för ledaren att sprida varumärket består kunskap &amp; förståelse, arbetsdagen, översättning av abstrakta ord, uppföljning och förankring.

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Internal branding (IB) evolved from marketing to engage employees in a company's strategic planning. IB has been studied extensively in the hospitality industry, but not with human resource (HR) departments. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to assess the effectiveness of corporate training designs in instilling IB corporate values in global employees of a multinational hotel chain to determine whether European core values could be transferred across different cultural backgrounds. Structured interviews on IB were conducted with 22 HR practitioners of a luxury hotel chain to capture essential information through the lived experiences of the participants, all of whom were involved in how the design of such training programs can instill corporate core values in employees across national cultures. Transcribed interview responses were analyzed using the simplified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method to generate textual and structured descriptions to capture IB from their perspectives. The analysis revealed (a) that the HR employees were sensitive to certain core values that did not readily translate to overall brand and employee loyalty, as well as good company-employee working relationships, and (b) the importance of designing effective yet standardized training materials that addressed cultural differences or could be adapted as needed. These findings can help to promote more effective global brand recognition and provide HR specialists with knowledge to educate trainers about better techniques to deliver training across different cultures and engage employees on core values. Employees will be happier performing their roles, have increased job satisfaction, and demonstrate improved levels of productivity.

<p>In the past years the competition in the restaurant trade in Umeå is increasing. There is more choice for the customers and thereby the restaurants have to work harder to attract customers. One way is to Market themselves differently.</p><p>In this research we are studying one way of diversifying Service Marketing, namely through people. Especially in the restaurant sector the frontline employee is an essential part of the service. We argue that by improving the Internal Marketing a business can ensure, through Human Resource Management, to have a service-minded and customer-oriented workforce, motivated to deliver Service Quality. Further, by strengthening the Internal Branding the workforce will work in unity with the internal and external brand, being more willing and committed to deliver high quality services. We aim to find that through having well trained frontline employees the customer will know a difference and have a better experience when visiting the restaurant.</p><p>Three restaurants in the Umeå market have been chosen for our study. To collect data from these restaurants we have conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews. The contributions of this study were that training, and especially learning by doing and experience, is crucial in learning ones job according to the respondents. Also that having a good balance between having standard procedures and employee empowerment could improve the Service Quality through reliability in the service delivery. Last but not least, a concept of Reciprocal Commitment was developed showing the importance of a business investing in the employee, training being part of that investment, to get the employee to invest his/her time and commitment in the business.</p><p>Through this study we have developed a model showing the influence and benefits of training in the selected restaurants. We have realised that training is not the only way, but plays an important role in Marketing through people.</p>

This paper examines how internal branding can be integrated into the management control system to overcome the challenges faced by divisionalised companies regarding goal congruence and suboptimisation. A theoretical synthesis pointing out the similarities between management control and internal branding has been used together with the obtained information from interviews to create a new model on how to integrate internal branding into the management control system. Four organisations were included in the empirical research, namley SAS, Länsförsäkringar, Handelsbanken and LiU, which all have divisionalised structures. All of the organisations are in some way using internal branding, implicitly or explicitly, to control behaviour. Our results show that internal branding on its own is not sufficient to control the behaviour within the organisation. However, integrated in the management control system and combined with the general informal control, internal branding is a rather inexpensive and effective way of coordinating divisional behaviour. We argue that a deeper understanding for behavioural control is needed and that internal branding should be given more importance within the management control area.