Corporate identity, image and reputation

Identity

: -A company’s identity is the visual manifestation of the company’s reality as conveyed through the organization’s name, logo, motto, products, services, buildings, stationary, uniforms and all other tangible pieces of evidence created by the organization and communicated to variety of constituents.
Corporate identity is the reality of the corporation—the unique, individual personality of the company that differentiates it from other companies.
Corporate identity—the reality and uniqueness of the organization—may be broken down into four component parts:
Corporate strategy: - Strategy is the overall plan that determines the company's product/market scope and the policies and programs it chooses to compete in its chosen markets.
Corporate culture: - Corporate culture is the shared values and beliefs that the organization's members hold in common as they relate to each other, their jobs, and the organization. It defines what the firm's personnel believe is important and unimportant, and explains to a large degree why the organization behaves the way it does.
Organizational design: - Organizational design refers to the fundamental choices top managers make in developing the pattern of organizational relationships. It encompasses issues such as whether basic tasks should be organized by function or product division, the company's overall configuration, the degree of decentralization, the number of staff personnel, the design of jobs, and the internal systems and procedures.
Operations : -Operations, the fourth and final component of corporate identity, is the aggregate of activities the firm engages in to effect its strategy. These activities become part of the reality of the corporation and can influence its identity in a wide variety of ways.

Shaping of identity: -

A vision that inspires: -Most central to corporate identity is the vision that includes the company’s core values, philosophies, standards, and goals. Corporate vision is a common thread that all employees, and ideally all other constituencies as well, can relate to.
Names and logo: -Companies often institute name changes either to signal identity changes or to make their identities better reflect their realities. Logos and another important component of corporate identity-perhaps even more important than names because of their visual nature and their increasing prevalence across many type of media.

• How to manage the identity process
• Conduct an identity audit
• Set identity objectives
• Develop designs and names
• Develop prototypes
• Launch and communicate
• Implement the program

Image: -Image is a reflection of an organization’s identity .it is the organization as seen from viewpoint of its constituents. Depending on which constituency is involved, an organization can have many different images.

CORPORATE IMAGE:- Corporate image is the reputation of the firm with the various audiences that are important to it. These groups that have a stake in the company are known as stakeholders. Stakeholders are affected by the actions of the company and, in turn, their actions can affect the company. Consequently, its image in the eyes of its stakeholders is important to the company.

Theory of Corporate Image:-In the process of managing corporate image, the fundamental variables are:

• Corporate communication
• Corporate image
• Feedback

Corporate identity is the reality of the corporation—the unique, individual personality of the company that differentiates it from other companies.
Corporate communication is the aggregate of sources, messages, and media by which the corporation conveys its uniqueness or brand to its various audiences. Corporate image is in the eye of the beholder—the impression of the overall corporation held by its several audiences.

Objectives of corporate image

The objective in managing corporate image is to communicate the company's identity to those audiences or constituencies that are important to the firm, in such a way that they develop and maintain a favorable view of the company. This process involves fashioning a positive identity, communicating this identity to significant audiences, and obtaining feedback from the audiences to be sure that the message is interpreted positively. An unsatisfactory image can be improved by modifying corporate communication, re-shaping the corporate identity, or both.

The principal stakeholders with whom most large corporations must be concerned are:
Customers
Distributors
Retailers
Financial institutions
Analysts
Shareholders
Government regulatory agencies
Social action organizations
The general public
Employees.

Obviously, each of the various stakeholder groups is likely to have a somewhat different perception of the corporation because each is concerned primarily with a different facet of its operation. Thus, consumers are principally interested in the price, quality, and reliability of the company's products and services. Financial institutions are concerned with financial structure and performance. Employees are mainly concerned with wages, working conditions, and personnel policies. Logically, then, a company should tailor its communication to each stakeholder group individually to address the special concerns of that group.

However, maintaining a consistent image among the several stakeholder groups is also vital. Both employees and the general public have an interest in the overall prestige of the firm and the reputation of its products.

A social action group's criticism, whether economically effective or not, is bound to influence some customers and affect the company's public reputation. A regulatory agency such as OSHA would focus narrowly on the firm's safety record and policies, but the company's employees and their labor unions also have a stake in these matters.
Corporate image, or reputation, describes the manner in which outsiders perceive a company, its activities, and its products or services. A company that mismanages or ignores its image is likely to encounter a variety of problems.
"Reputation problems grow like weeds in a garden," Davis Young wrote in his book Building Your Company's Good Name. "Direct and indirect costs escalate geometrically."

Some of the warning signs that a business might have an image problem include: -
High employee turnover,
The disappearance of major customers,
A drop in stock value
Poor relationships with vendors or government officials.

If an image problem is left undressed, a company might find many of its costs of doing business rising dramatically, including the costs of product development, sales support, employee wages, and shareholder dividends. In addition, since the majority of consumers base their purchase decisions at least partly on trust, current and future sales levels are likely to suffer as well.

CORPORATECOMMUNICATION:- Corporate communication provides the link between corporate identity and corporate image. It should be defined in the broadest possible sense, because companies communicate identities in many different ways. Communication can include almost anything the company does; from the way telephones are answered to the involvement of company employees in community affairs. Some of the principal sources of corporate communication include company and product names and logos, formal statements (mission statements, credos, codes of ethics, annual reports, advertising copy, and company slogans), and behavior during important events. These events encompass scheduled events such as open houses and anniversary sales as well as unscheduled events such as lawsuits or negative press coverage.
FEEDBACK:- Feedback is essential to the management of corporate image. Business owners and managers need accurate information on how they and their company are perceived if they are to make sound decisions. Ideally, feedback should be continuous. As a practical matter, continuous feedback can be elicited from salespeople, clients, employees, and other local business owners. Based on such input, modifications may be made in the company's communication methods or, if warranted, a formal study of the corporate image may be initiated. In addition to systematically utilizing internal sources, it is prudent to undertake a serious review of the business's reputation (both internally and externally) on a regular basis.

Example: - The business climate in the United States has become one of environmental complexity and change. This has forced many business enterprises to significantly alter their strategies to better compete and survive. The acceleration of product life cycles is another vital dimension of the turbulent business environment. Globalization has been still another catalyst in the rise of corporate image programs, as companies have sought ways to spread their reputations to distant markets.

Personal Experience: -Now a days all companies are trying to enhance their corporate image by corporate Advertising or by doing social responsibility activities. All companies use logos and symbols. Example: -Accenture has a symbol (>), which explains that they provide services greater than customer expectations.

Reference: -
http://www.answers.com/topic/corporate-image?cat=biz-fin
http://www.corporatecommunicationsvoodoo.com/labels/Corporate%20Identity.html
Corporate communication by Paul A. Argenti