Exploring the logics of corporate brand identity formation

The purpose of this paper is to explore and analyze the logics at work when companies decide what corporate features to communicate; which eventually also accounts for their corporate brands' identities.

As a case in point, the paper focuses on the concept of “family business” and investigates the rationale among companies to make particular reference to being such a company on their web sites – a decision the authors interpret as part of the corporate brand identity formation. Interviews are carried out with 14 CEOs in 12 small and medium‐sized family enterprises in a Swedish context. The paper employs a discourse analysis to distinguish patterns of corporate feature selection.

The results highlight how decisions that define corporate brand identity are not necessarily a consequence of rigorous marketing planning, but are sometimes made without concern for marketing matters. Three logics for the selection and formation of corporate brand identity features are identified: the habit, organic and intended logics. On account of these findings, a three logics model of corporate brand identity formation is developed, proposing differences between intuitive, emergent and strategic processes. In the intuitive process, managers construct brand identity based on tradition, instinctive beliefs and self‐perception. In the emergent process, the decision surfaces from active interplay between self‐perception among managers and the company's identity. In the strategic process, the decision is a product of an explicit brand strategy with focus on corporate communications.

The sample size is small. No large firms are included. The paper focuses on one corporate feature, namely, being a family business.

Research on corporate brand identity is still largely conceptual. Drawing on empirical findings, this paper contributes to available theory and to practical insight.