Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Information Systems (IS) as an integrated technology has been introduced recently to facilitate the demanding operational and financial environment of the enterprises. The implementation process and the adoption of such systems is considered as a significant parameter influencing the success of operational performance and financial governance and could support the competitive advantage practices within the organisations. However, GRC literature is limited regarding the analysis of the implementation and adoption success. Therefore, there is a need for further research and contribution about these systems and more specifically their implementation process. Consequently, this investigation and analysis can provide an insight of this process by examining the aspects of the implementation, the lifecycle phases followed and the enterprise value drivers in each of these phases. Therefore, a framework was developed for structuring the analysis of this implementation including all these three elements as these were provided by the theoretic background. The empirical context of this research includes three field investigation studies based on the experience of key implementation stakeholder groups as participants. These investigation studies were analysed using thematic techniques following an interpretative qualitative analysis approach. It was proved that organisations have, directly or indirectly, followed specific lifecycle phases when they implement GRC systems as these are also described in the framework. Also they should consider specific aspects about the GRC systems and enterprise value drivers for the different lifecycle phases but also for a holistic approach of the implementation process. Hence new GRC implementation projects can use the phases and the analysis of these elements to facilitate and ease their decision-making and strategic planning before launching the implementation project. The analysis of the GRC implementation proved that a strict GRC environment can be established in the organisations through the successful implementation of a GRC technology. The implementation process of such technologies would require a preparation for the organisational environment in order the implementation project to succeed the GRC goals and the system to be integrated and optimised harmoniously within the enterprise environment. This study provides insight of how this implementation projects could be planned and developed and gives a directive blueprint for preparing organisations hosting such technological initiatives. The results of all field investigation phases, which can be considered as the contributions to theory and practice of this research, can have twofold implications: initially the development of a theoretical framework based on enterprise systems theories, and also an analysis of the GRC implementation process in specific. The framework is designed to structure the analysis of the GRC implementation aspects, the lifecycle phases and the enterprise value drivers of the GRC implementation process. This framework is used for visualising and structuring a specific analysis of the GRC adoption and success, and therefore this analysis can be used by practitioners and researchers to further evaluate and analyse this process. Furthermore, organisations can use this analysis for decision-making processes; as this analysis can provide a primary view for the implementation projects.

Corporations follow different strategies to leverage their existing brands. One of these is brand extension, which is the extension of an existing brand to a new product category. In this strategy, corporations have two alternatives, one of which is the family brand extension. Here, the new product is introduced under the corporate name along with the extension’s category name (e.g. Sony mobile, Nestlé mineral water, and Gillette shampoo). The second alternative is the brand endorsement. In this alternative, the extension is given a new name. Moreover, the corporation’s name is presented as the endorser in the extension brand structure and communications (e.g. Scandic by Hiliton, Courtyard by Marriott). However, the focus will be on the extension brand name, rather than the corporate name. The endorser’s main role is to provide credibility and substance to the endorsed brand, while maintaining the endorsed brand’s freedom to establish its unique associations and personality. It is well-known that, in the family brand extension, the perceived fit between the parent brand and the extension product category moderates consumers’ judgement of the extension (i.e. the new product which is introduced under the parent name). However, widely-diversified corporations (e.g. Nestlé, Unilever) often endorse their products to leverage their corporate credibility. The proliferation of using a corporate name to endorse products in the case of corporations with diversified product portfolios puts the importance of the fit on the corporate endorser, and the endorsed product brand under scrutiny. Specifically, it raises the following questions: to what extent is the perceived fit between the corporate brand endorser and the endorsed brand really important in an endorsement context? What is the relative importance of fit and endorser credibility in an endorsement context, and why? In the current research, it is proposed that both corporate credibility and fit affect consumers’ judgement in an endorsement context. However, the endorser credibility is more important. It is also proposed that corporate credibility is more important than fit because it is more diagnostic, which makes the endorser credibility more recallable for the consumer. The current research results have shown that, when consumers can easily recall information related to the endorser credibility and the fit between the endorser and the endorsed brand, both endorser credibility and fit has an effect on the endorsed brand. However, endorser credibility has a stronger effect on the endorsed brand judgement than fit. Moreover, the results have shown that fit moderates the effect of corporate credibility only when the endorser credibility is high. When consumers have difficulty recalling information, fit does not moderate the effect of the endorser credibility on the endorsed brand. The current research findings have been obtained by conducting two experiments. In Experiment One, corporate credibility and perceived fit were manipulated in an endorsement context. Consumer judgement of the endorsed brand was measured by the perceived quality and purchase intention. Experiment Two was conducted to study the impact of the information accessibility on the effect of the endorser credibility and fit on the endorsed brand judgement. Endorser credibility, fit and information accessibility were manipulated in an endorsement context. Perceived quality and purchase intention of the endorsed brand were also used to measure the consumers’ judgement of the endorsed brand.