<p>The phenomenon of notional employees has started to occur, since companies are facing an increased challenge to break through the marketing clutter. The phenomenon makes it possible for companies to communicate the increasingly important intangible values of a brand.</p><p>The purpose with this thesis is to explore and illustrate how organizational core values are communicated through notional employees.</p><p>The phenomenon of notional employees was researched from both a company and customer perspective, where a multiple case study research was made. Interviews were held with the authors of the notional employees and focus groups were held among consumers.</p><p>Communication of core values via notional employees follows four steps.</p><p>First the notional employee and its character is created. This step is followed by communication of core values through the notional employee. Thirdly, the type of values which has been communicated needs to be analyzed. Finally, if true core values are not communicated, communicative adjustments are required.</p><p>These steps are presented in “The Core Value Communication Wheel”.</p>

Le Costa Rica s’est construit comme une société homogène sans valorisation ni représentation des classes populaires. Dans les discours savants et dans le champ politique, la faible représentation des couches inférieures des classes populaires est généralement expliquée par leur atomisation. Incapables de se retrouver autour d’intérêts communs, ces groupes ne pourraient exister collectivement dans l’espace politique institué. À revers de ces analyses, cette thèse interroge l’émergence de porte-parole et leur accès à la politique instituée à travers l’étude de carrières de dirigeants de deux quartiers populaires à San José. En l’absence d’une structuration clientélaire ou corporative, ces dirigeants sont en général considérés comme des acteurs isolés ayant tout pouvoir sur une clientèle de voisins apathiques. Or, leur leadership repose sur des liens personnalisés et localisés et sur des logiques d’unification. Pour résoudre les problèmes locaux, les dirigeants s’attachent à mettre en forme des attentes autour desquelles leur voisinage peut se retrouver. Mais, leur action se déroulant hors de structures d’encadrement préétablies, leur position est précaire. Face aux échecs des projets qu’ils portent et à la position inconfortable que cela leur vaut localement, certains dirigeants tentent de poursuivre leur engagement en entrant en politique. Or, cela est rendue difficile par une gestion partisane des carrières militantes peu favorable à ces groupes sociaux. Ainsi, à travers une analyse par le bas des modes d’action de ces dirigeants, cette thèse contribue à l’analyse des formes d’engagement et de politisation populaires se déroulant à la marge de la politique instituée / In academic discourse as much as in the political field, the poor representation of the lower classes of Costa Rican society is generally attributed to the fact that they are dispersed. Unable to gather into communities of interest, these groups could not exist collectively in the political field. Taking an opposite position to these analyses, this thesis investigates the emergence of spokespersons and their access to the political field by studying the neighbourhood’s leaders’ careers. These leaders are generally considered to have all power over a clientele of apathetic neighbours. However, if their leadership relies on the strength of personalised and localised ties, made and kept by a range of exchanges of goods and services, this investigation sheds light on processes of unification. In order to resolve local problems, the leaders focus on rationalising, even perhaps inciting needs that their neighbours can rally behind. Faced with regular failure and the subsequent uncomfortable position this leaves them him, some leaders can attempt to pursue a career in the political establishment. However, their entry in politics is particularly difficult due to the political parties who manage political careers and are not in favour of urban working class groups. Through a bottom-up approach, this thesis contributes to the analysis of the forms of political engagement and the politicization of the lower classes, which can happen on the margins of the political field