The Expressive Organization Linking Identity Reputation And The Corporate Brand

This book challenges current beliefs about organizational identity, reputation, and branding. It contains a wealth of new ideas for finding the elusive answers to questions troubling contemporary organizations. How does an organization create a strong reputation? What are the implications of corporate branding on organizational structures and processes? How do organizations discover their identities? These are some of the vexing problems addressed in this book by a diverse international team of contributors. According to the authors, the future lies with 'the expressive organization'. Such organizations not only understand their distinct identity and their brands, but are also able to express these externally and internally. In order to thrive in an era of transparency and customer choice, the authors argue, organizations will have to be expressive.

This text contains a collection of the most recent thinking on organizational identity, reputation, and branding and challenges a numer of well-established theories and concepts within a variety of disciplines and business fields.

Organizational Identity presents the classic works on organizational identity alongside more current thinking on the issues. Ranging from theoretical contributions to empirical studies, the readings in this volume address the key issues of organizational identity, and show how these issues have developed through contributions from such diverse fields of study as sociology, psychology, management studies and cultural studies. The readings examine questions such as how organizations understand who they are, why organizations develop a sense of identity and belonging where the boundaries of identity lie and the implications of postmodern and critical theories' challenges to the concept of identity as deeply-rooted and authentic. Includes work by: Stuart Albert, Mats Alvesson, Blake E. Ashforth, Marilynn B. Brewer, George Cheney, Lars Thoger Christensen, C.H. Cooley, Kevin G. Corley, Barbara Czarniawska, Janet M. Dukerich, Jane E. Dutton, Kimberly D. Elsbach, Wendi Gardner, Linda E. Ginzela, Dennis A. Gioia, E. Goffman, Karen Golden-Biddle, Mary Jo Hatch, Roderick M. Kramer, Fred Rael, G.H. Mead, Michael G. Pratt, Anat Rafaeli, Hayagreeva Rao, Majken Schultz, Howard S. Schwartz, Robert I. Sutton, Henri Taijfel, John Turner, David A. Wherren, and Hugh Willmott. Intended to provide easy access to this material for students of organizational identity, it will also be of interest more broadly to students of business, sociology and psychology.

Corporate branding and communication is big business. Companies throughout the world invest millions in strategies which aim to reinvent their profile in subtle yet important ways. The investment must be working, but what is it being spent on, and how do these rebranding exercises work? Including contributions from academics and practitioners, this important collection unravels the complexities of this growing field of study. The text is split into three coherent sections, focusing in turn on identity, communication and reputation. Case studies are used throughout the book to illustrate important issues, such as the basic principles of visual communication, the importance of reaching both internal and external stakeholders, and the challenges faced by companies working in multi-cultural environments. This book brings clarity and new theoretical insights to an important aspect of modern business. It is an invaluable companion for all students, researchers and practitioners with an interest in marketing, communications and international business.

Emphasizes that the organization itself, rather than the products created and marketed by the corporation, represents the main point of differentiation and competitive advantage in the marketplace. This book argues that the field of corporate branding isundergoing fundamental changes and becoming more cross-disciplinary and strategically driven.

Using a five-facet framework, this book furthers understanding about collective identities by bringing together contributions from various management disciplines.

With the latest insights from the world of communication studies into the nature of corporate reputation, this new addition to Wiley-Blackwell’s series of handbooks on communication and media reflects the growing visibility of large businesses’ ethical profiles, and tracks the benefits that positive public attitudes can bring. Serves as the definitive research collection for a fast-growing field featuring contributions by key international scholars Brings together state-of-the-art communication studies insights on corporate reputation Identifies and addresses the lacunae in the research literature Applies new theoretical frameworks to corporate reputation