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MCR BRIEF

JUNE – SEPTEMBER 2013

Saturday, April 8, 2023

MCR Brief June-Sept 2013 2

TASK ONE APPROACH –ELEMENTS OF REPUTATION

1. Purpose and aims –

1. Terms of reference

2. Justification – scenario in the brief

2. Understanding the elements – bullet point 1

3. Determining gap between elements (standard theory) and organisation performance – bullet points 2 & 3

4. Recommendation/strategy of improving reputation – point 4

5. Measurement – point 4



ALIGNING CORPORATE IDENTITY AND IMAGE

Prepare a report in which you investigate the corporate identity and corporate image of your organisation. The widely held view is that internal and external stakeholders have varying perceptions of your organisation, which might have negative repercussions on your corporate reputation.

The aims of this report are to identify to what extent there are any gaps or discrepancies between your organisation’s corporate identity and corporate image and, in the light of this analysis, to make recommendations as to how these might be realigned further to strengthen the organisations corporate reputation.



REPORT – 4000 WORDSProduce a report, aimed at your CEO focusing on the following areas:

• Critically evaluate the concepts of corporate identity and corporate image and their impact on corporate reputation – consider different academic interpretations of these concepts, the range of elements they can comprise, such as corporate personality, and their role in contributing towards corporate reputation

• Critically evaluate the organisations corporate identity and corporate image – examine internal and external stakeholder’s perceptions, using appropriate measures explored above. The selected measures should be justified and applied to investigate the organisation’s current corporate identity and corporate image. You need strong application and evaluation skills.

• Critically assess the extent to which there are gaps or discrepancies between the organisation’s corporate identity and corporate image – and then provide insight into why these may have occurred. If the analysis identifies few gaps or discrepancies, you may want to explore how this situation has been strategically achieved.

• Recommend, with justification, how your organisation’s corporate identity and corporate image can be more closely aligned to enhance to enhance corporate reputation, including consideration of the political and financial consequences of implementing the recommendations – recommendations should be at strategic level and advise the organisation as to how it can manage these changes. Examine the extent to which the recommended changes could more closely align identity and image to strengthen the organisation’s corporate reputation. You will also need to refer to the political and financial consequences of implementing the recommendations.



CHOSEN ORGANISATION

Write a brief background to the organisation, (include its customer base

and product/service range, turnover, profits, structure) you will be using for this

assignment (two sides of A4 maximum)


6MCR Brief June-Sept 2013

PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT INDICATORS

MCR REPUTATION SPEAK



Performance Improvement Indicators

5 Ways to Improve Performance

Strategy

Presentation

Evaluation

Application

Knowledge

Reputational ‘SPEAK’




5 Ways to Improve PerformanceStrategic

Is the assignment written from an organisational level perspective?

Does the candidate deal with Corporate not Marketing Communications?

Does the candidate think beyond public relations?

Is there an understanding of the principle of reputational platforms?

Is there an awareness of environmental issues





Presentation

Would you present this ‘submission’ to a CEO?

Has the assignment been written well, has it been checked? (grammar, punctuation, in English and not SMS, spacing,

font size, not multicoloured)

Does this assignment benefit from the inclusion of copied diagrams and different fonts?

Does this answer the question?




5 Ways to Improve Your Performance

Evaluation

Has the candidate evaluated the validity of the models, concepts, and frameworks.....and of the way the organisation currently performs?

Has the candidate reflected upon the potential of the recommendations?

Has the assignment been written objectively, using a present, business tense, not subjectively, from a personal, ‘I’, ‘we’ orientation?




5 Ways to Improve Performance Application

Has the candidate used concepts and frameworks to understand and interpret corporate practice?

Has the candidate used evidence to support their comments, models, and recommendations?

(e.g Harvard APA, Company/Market Reports, Blogs, Weblinks)

Is there an awareness of any political and financial implications arising from any of the recommendations?





Knowledge

Is there sufficient and appropriate use of conceptual and theoretical materials?

Have any corporate materials been incorporated and evidenced?

Is there evidence of the use of relevant trade or market research, reports and associated data?



Performance Improvement Elements


Strategy, Presentation, Evaluation, Application,

Knowledge.

Please get ‘SPEAK’ing



Goodish Practice

Figure 8: Consolidated evaluation of stakeholder perceptions

StakeholderWhat do all

groups want?

What unique things do they

want?

How XXXX is perceived

(common themes)

How top competitors

are perceived

ConsumersTrustworthy

provider, good

reputation,

financially strong

Clear, simple

communication

Quality, choice &

flexibility

Common

expectations

should feature

strongly in

personality

Help navigating complexity,

make their lives simpler

Awareness is low

Perceptions of brands

in this category are

generic &

undifferentiated for

each stakeholder

group.

So improved

identity

management could

boost differentiation

Corporate

decision

makers

(relevant to

corporate

pensions)

Help managing and promoting

employee pension schemes

Lack of awareness is an issue

in terms of reassuring

employees in company

pension schemes

IFAs

Help navigating complex

regulatory and business model

issues

Lack of awareness is a

problem for some consumers



Good Practice

Cobweb diagrams can illustrate personality (van Riel and Fombrun, 2008) and brand expectations relative to competitors, as shown in figure 9 using previous XXXXXX brand research (XXXXXX, 2010c). The consumer and corporate decision maker brand maps of key competitors are broadly similar in shape, rating successful, professional and dependable as important. Competitors score higher than XXXXXX across most other attributes. These findings suggest that a more strategic approach to corporate identity and message XXXXXX conveys, could improve XXXXXX’s ratings relative to its competitors and reputation.



GOOD PRACTICE

Should the organisation decide to rebrand, managerial and colleague engagement via multi-channel communication will be essential. According to van Riel and Fombrun (2007) there are 4 key factors which drive managerial support for corporate branding: strategy (being publicly available), organisational drivers (and the degree of centralisation), employees (identification breeds support for corporate branding) and value (local managers need to believe it is valuable). Intuitively, these principles are sensible from a branding perspective however they require significant cross-disciplinary coordination and management resource.



GOOD PRACTICE

Cultural considerations are important. For example, what is the extent of customer orientation within each business? Senior manager interviews conducted as part of the research for this paper highlight that a powerful and dominant sales culture has pervaded XXXXXX resulting in the prioritisation of new business over retention. Over this time this culture, coupled with limited investment in IT infrastructure, has created complicated and expensive legacy service issues which our distribution partners and customers are now being made aware of. Should these issues publicly damage the reputation of XXXXXX, maintaining Company X’s existing brand could help protect its own brand equity.



CONCEPTS OF IDENTITY AND IMAGE

THE BASICS



DEFINITIONS

Image is taken to mean the view of the company held by external stakeholders, especially that held by customers

Identity is taken to mean the internal, that is the employee’s, view of the company, following Albert Whetten’s (1985) notion of ‘How do we see ourselves’

Reputation is taken to be a collective term referring to all stakeholders’ views of corporate reputation, including identity and image



© Chris Fill

Symbolism

Behaviour

Corporate Personality

Corporate Identity

Communication

CORPORATE IDENTITY

21

CORPORATE IDENTITY

Logo –TM

Name – typeface

Slogan or tagline

Packaging and uniforms

Colour and semiology

Brochure and advertising

Annual Report

Websites

Photography


IMAGE FORMATION

CorporateImage

Attitude & behaviour of employees

Experience

Corporate Social ResponsibilityPhysical

Environment

Financial Performance

Organisation Structure &

Culture

Quality of goods & services

CommunitiesCommunications

MCR Brief June-Sept 2013


23

IDENTITY, REPUTATION AND OUTCOME

MCR Brief June-Sept 2013

Environment

Culture history Strategy

Corporate identity mix

BehaviourCommunications

symbolism

Reputation

Outcomes

FinancialHRMSales



CORPORATE REPUTATION FRAMEWORK

Corporate

Personality

Corporate

Identity or

Brand

Corporate

Image

Corporate

Reputation

Corporate communication

Corporate Communication



ELEMENTS OF CORPORATE IDENTITY

Corporate identity Corporate imageCorporate personality

•Culture•Overall strategic purpose

•Products & services•Where made and distributed•How it communicates with stakeholders•How it behaves

•Influenced by identity•Values, beliefs and attitudes held about the organisation



FOUR FACETS (CRITERIA) OF CORPORATE REPUTATION

Corporate personality

Corporate identity

Corporate reputation

Credibility

Trustworthiness

Reliability

Responsibility

Fombrun 1996



DRIVERS OF REPUTATION

Indicators

• Cash flow

• Earnings

• Costs

• Capital expenditure

• Market growth

Financial performance

Sustainability

Indicators

Shareholders• Number of shareholder resolutions• Results of shareholder satisfaction

surveyCustomers• Satisfaction survey• Customer complaints• Third-party ratings and awardsEmployees• Employee turnover• Employee profiles (ability, gender,

race)• Employee satisfactionSociety• Boycotts, marches, incidents• License to operate • Direct action• Media reportsPartners• Quantity of partnerships accepted,

sanctioned or rejected on basis of stewardship criteria

• Health and safety records of partners

Indicators of reputational value taken adapted from: eCFO; C. Read et al, p115, Wiley, 2001



SOME REFERENCES

Davies, G. et al (2003) Corporate reputation and competitiveness. London, Routledge.

Van Riel, C.B.M. and Fombrun, C.J. (2007) Essentials of corporate communications. Abingdon, Routledge.



SOME USEFUL WEB SITES•www.gla.ac.uk/departments/reputationmanagement/aboutus/ •www.reputationinstitute.com/knowledge-center/•http://www.reputation-centre.org/en/about-us.html •www.money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/•www.henley.reading.ac.uk/executiveeducation/excellence/jmcr/cl-johnmadejskicentre.asp•www.mbs.ac.uk/research/corporatereputation/ •www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/reputation/ • www.brandchannel.com/papers.asp •www.edelman.co.uk/case-studies/corporate-reputation •www.harrisinteractive.com/services/reputation.asp• www.ipsos-mori.com/researchspecialisms/publicaffairs/reputationcentre/manreputation.ashx

http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/reputationmanagement/aboutus/

http://www.reputationinstitute.com/knowledge-center/

http://www.reputation-centre.org/en/about-us.html

http://www.money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/

http://www.henley.reading.ac.uk/executiveeducation/excellence/jmcr/cl-johnmadejskicentre.asp

http://www.mbs.ac.uk/research/corporatereputation/

http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/reputation/

http://www.brandchannel.com/papers.asp

http://www.edelman.co.uk/case-studies/corporate-reputation

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/services/reputation.asp

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchspecialisms/publicaffairs/reputationcentre/manreputation.ashx

http://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchspecialisms/publicaffairs/reputationcentre/manreputation.ashx



BUILDING TRUST IN A CORPORATE BRAND

TASK TWO – CASE STUDY (2000 WORDS, 40%)



THE ORGANISATION & STRUCTURE OF CASE STUDY

You may base the discussion on your own organisation or any organisation of your choice. The nature of the organisation must be clearly stated at the outset

Case study structure

• Introduction – outline briefly what the organisation does, what problems it is experiencing, and how you are going to approach the issues in the case write-up

• Theoretical concepts to consider the area of theory indicated in the question

• Apply concepts explored to what the organisation is actually doing (or not doing) in practice

• Present your solutions and recommendations about how the organisation can improve its use of the indicated area of theory to better support & improve its overall corporate reputation

• Be comprehensive and make sure the recommendations are in line with the previous evaluation of the organisation. The recommendations must be at strategic level and move logically from one to the next

• Short conclusion, not a summary. Briefly revisit the issues identified in the introduction and suggest how your recommendations might resolve them, and so round off your case study



CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE NATURE AND IMPORTANCE OF CORPORATE BRANDS & THE IMPACT THEY HAVE ON CORPORATE REPUTATION (10MARKS)

Discussion needs to be based on ideas about corporate branding, as indicated in the syllabus.

Explore the debates or arguments regarding corporate branding, the rise in importance of the corporate brand, and the impact it can have on corporate reputation

This task should be completed using theoretical concepts



CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE ROLE OF ‘TRUST’ IN CORPORATE BRANDS & HOW IT CAN BE CREATED AND MAINTAINED

Examine the role of ‘trust’ in corporate brands, including elements of trust – such as honesty, fairness and openness – and forces that influence trust.

You may also consider the concept of ‘trustworthiness’ and explore what strategies organisations can adopt to create confidence in their corporate brand and build up a perception in their stakeholders that they are trustworthy



CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE ORGANISATION’S CORPORATE BRAND & THE EXTENT TO WHICH IT IS TRUSTED BY ITS STAKEHOLDERS

Critically assess the chosen organisation’s corporate brand and evaluate what type of brand it is and the way it is communicated to various stakeholder groups.

It is also necessary to assess the extent to which the corporate brand is currently trusted by its stakeholders

In situations where the organisation does not have a strong corporate brand, candidates should consider why this is and how it can be rectified



RECOMMENDATIONS, WITH JUSTIFICATION, OF A STRATEGY TO POSITION THE CORPORATE BRAND MORE STRONGLY IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN & IMPROVE LEVELS OF TRUST & SHIELD ITS REPUTATION FROM CRITICISM

Make recommendations, with justification, as to how the organisation can strategically develop and position its corporate brand in order to both maintain and improve levels of trust amongst stakeholders.

These recommendations may include suggestions concerning reputation platforms and corporate positioning, or other changes that will support the corporate brand and protect the corporate reputation



SOME REFERENCES

BPP (2013) Managing Corporate Reputation, Bpp Publishing

Davies, G. et al (2003) Corporate reputation and competitiveness. London, Routledge.

David A. Aaker (1996) Building strong brands, CPI Bath Press, Bath

Van Riel, C.B.M. and Fombrun, C.J. (2007) Essentials of corporate communications. Abingdon, Routledge.

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