Managerial corporate brand orientation: explication, significance, and antecedents

• Published in: The journal of brand management Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Author: Balmer, John M. T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 2022; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: Brand identification; Brand management; Business and Management; Commentary; Corporate culture; Corporate identity; Corporate image; Employees; Management; Managers; Marketing; Mindfulness; Philosophy; Social identity; Stakeholders; Strategic management; Brand orientation; Corporate identity; Corporate brand image; Social identity theory; Corporate brand orientation; Managerial corporate brand orientation; Corporate brand identification
• ISSN: 1350-231X; 1479-1803
• DOI: 10.1057/s41262-021-00265-3

The article formally introduces, and explicates, the nature, significance, and antecedents, of managerial corporate brand orientation notion. It emphasises that managerial corporate identification is a key precursor of managerial corporate brand orientation and is an incontrovertible requisite for a strong, and authentic, organisational-wide corporate brand orientation. Because of critically important bilateral, and synergistic, corporate brand/corporate identity relationships, managerial corporate brand orientation requires a dual corporate brand/corporate identity managerial identification. It enunciates the importance of social identity theory to managerial identification. It articulates a basic three-stage process underpinning managerial corporate brand orientation which entails: managerial comprehension of the corporate brand/corporate identity; managerial perceptions of the corporate brand/corporate identity; and managerial identifications with the corporate brand/corporate identity. Given the ongoing custodial and leadership roles of managers in nurturing a corporate brand-based organisational philosophy and culture, the article deliberates on the importance of recruitment, induction, training, acculturation, appraisal/ promotion, in fostering managerial corporate brand orientation.