Assessment 4: The Role of Identity, Image, and Reputation in Business

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MNG 81001: MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
ASSESSMENT 4

Contents
Theme1: Identity, Image and reputation..........................................................................................4
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Issue 1: Differentiating organisation through identity and image...............................................4
Issue2: Measuring and managing reputation...............................................................................7
Conclusions......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

Theme1: Identity, Image, and reputation
Introduction
In this section, the first part of the corporate communication function has been described
explaining about managing the identity, image, and reputation of corporate.
Issue 1: Differentiating organisation through identity and image
Corporate image and identity are considered as a two marketing tool. For business creation of
both utilise personnel from branding, copywriting, marketing, design and draws heavily on
behavioural psychology. Corporate identity concerns the visual appearance of the company. The
central part of this is the company logo, an annual report, website design, retail outlet design, and
company stationery both electronic and paper. It is not recommended to the company to radically
change the visuals of the company as it may confuse the consumers and lead to instability
perception and change in the values of the company. Corporate identity’s modernisation
becomes effective when it is easy to recognise the core visuals (Foroudi.et.al, 2014).
Maintaining and building corporate image require different skills and methods for creating a
corporate identity. The corporate image is the perception of the public, and it is crucial to handle
that perception. For creating an image in the minds of people, public relation personnel promotes
and protect the corporate identity. Managing negative stories of media is also included in this.
The company aims at aligning corporate identity with the corporate image so that the company is
viewed by the public exactly as the company aims to be seen.
It is the corporate identity and corporate image of the organisation which differentiates it with
the other companies. It has become a necessity due to the environmental changes to have
effective management of corporate communication and identity. The company with the clear
image reflecting the positive identity is as an opportunity for the company. With time, the
competition is increasing, and it has become difficult for companies to differentiate themselves
from each other. By communication of unique corporate identity, differentia factors are reached
at by the companies which add value in the minds of public of organisation. Identity can be

shaped through the corporate brands and logos, and company with the effective and proper
branding and logos impose strong image in the minds of consumers. The values, products,
service manifestation are the corporate identity which the company represents. The company has
a strong corporate identity can improve awareness of customers and can increase the competitive
edge of the company. The target audience can easily and instantly recognise the uniform
corporate identity. This knows a sense of culture and business personality. In shaping corporate
identity, values and culture of the company are crucial. A component of the brand identity of the
company includes slogans, package design, and logos. Some of the logos have become much
identifiable that they stand in the fro the name of the company in the customer’s mind. Coca-
Cola’s red ribbon, McDonald's golden arches, and Nike’s swoosh have grown as the recognized
icons around the world. If the company is not working on its identity and image then it will lack
behind from its competitors, so it is very important for all the companies to continuously work
on improving and innovating the identity and image in the corporate world so that more and
more consumer loyalty can be generated ultimately benefitting the company resulting in its
success and growth (Abratt & Kleyn, 2012).
When used consistently corporate identity create the recognition of brand which is priceless and
feeds directly to the bottom line. In the practice of corporate identity, corporate behaviour,
corporate design, corporate philosophy, and corporation communication concepts must be taken
into consideration. An effective tool for the company for corporate identity can be corporate
identity programs. With its proper use, corporate can catch its effects and essence with obtaining
a meaningful result. The money and time loss are yielded when it is done carelessly (Chen &
Chen, 2014).
The good corporate image establishes the trust, loyalty confidence, and strong relationship with
clients. A good image provides a good sense of security. It brings credibility and reputation to
the company. A strong corporate identity and corporate image can raise motivation among the
employees and inspire confidence in the institution's external target groups ((Theunissen, 2014).
More cost-effective media, integrated market communication, and consistent message are some
of the other benefits a company gets due to this. An enterprise with a good corporate image has a
better understanding of its objectives, and its direction by suppliers, employees, media, and
directors.

Identity management is important for the organisation. It is one of the perplexing problems. A
turning has been made by many companies towards access and identity management solutions
for helping manage user access. But there is confusion regarding the ownership of this either by
the IT or the organisation then the answer is, it is the organisation which manages to provide the
contractors and employees with the right access to the information which is critical. It is
important for the companies to deploy the identity management strategies for ensuring that they
meet challenges related to the security of an increasingly connected and business environment
based on the cloud (Cole & Salimath, 2013)

Issue2: Measuring and managing reputation
Corporate reputation refers to the collective assessments of the past actions of corporate and
company’s ability to deliver improvements in the business results to multiple stakeholders over
time. The reputation of the company matters a lot as it can explain why the customers should
choose your products and service in giving preference to somebody else and can differentiate the
failure and success. It is the reputations of the companies which attracts the customers and build
a good image in their minds and differentiate a particular company with the other one and helps
in gaining the competitive advantage (Anderson & Proctor, 2012).
It is an issue for organisations nowadays to measure and manage their reputation effectively. The
company has to face many challenges for managing as reputation. Damage can be caused to a
well-established reputation, which has been built up over many years, which cannot be even
repaired. The reputation of the company can be harmed by adversity (Clardy, 2012). The golden
opportunities can be squandered by the organisation for building a reputation through inept
management. Media play the powerful role in making as well as breaking the company’s
reputation. It is possible to measure the construct through time and make improvements in its
score. The company will be able to monitor the relationship between stakeholders and itself.
Through an external auditor, an organisation can measure its reputation over some time mainly
for the necessary credibility. For measuring the reputation, the decision should be made
concerning the group which the company wants to tackle and what issues it wants to assess
reputation. A Sampling and measurement instrument focuses on measuring the reputation of the
corporation on social issues (Martin & Burke, 2012).
Responsibility for the management of reputation vested in the management and board of
directors. Otherwise, the assignment of the same is made to the departments and offices serving
the marketing functions and corporate communication. Creation of corporate reputation is not the
only important practice for the enterprise but its sustainability and increasing reputation is also
important for generating the present and future confidence. At the time of managing the
corporate reputation, the organisation should focus on personality, image, performance, and
identity. Organisation’s corporate reputation is a key variable for improving the attractiveness
and capacity of organisation for retention of investors and clients.

The strong corporate reputation can be built by the practices of operations than by the
communication practices (Fombrun, 2012). Communication activities can significantly influence
corporate reputation. For enhancing the relationship of organisation with its stakeholders,
communication programs are valuable which creates the awareness of good practices of
operations. Stakeholder programs can help in strengthening the corporate reputation.
 For knowing the key stakeholders, research should be conducted.
 Plans should be set for extending the expectations of key stakeholders.
 Involvement of the CEO as the greatest champion of reputed programs
 The measure should be made regularly with the targets, and for improving the results, act
should be made.
 Assess the strength and weakness of stakeholders and focus should be made on the gap
between stakeholder’s perceptions and internal realities
 Main factors should be researched comprising the organisation’s reputation and align
them with systems, policies, programs in all the areas of functions
It is significant for all the organisations to be aware of the reputation’s importance and the risks
of the attendant. A good reputation can make enhancements in the business in good times and
protect it during bad times. It also helps the organisation in optimising the value of shareholders
by enabling it to attract high-quality staff and customers (Melo & Garrido‐Morgado, 2012).

Conclusions
It can be concluded that there is great importance in corporate communication functions. The
company having a strong corporate identity, image and reputation have a strong position in the
market. It emerges as a competitive company with a great competitive advantage having
customer loyalty and strong branding in the minds of customers. In the next section of the report,
the discussion is made of corporate responsibility, its importance and how it affects the
organisation positively.

References
 Abratt, R., & Kleyn, N. (2012). Corporate identity, corporate branding, and corporate
reputations: Reconciliation and integration. European Journal of Marketing, 46(7/8),
1048-1063.
 Anderson, A. H., & Proctor, S. T. (2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,291,474. Washington, DC:
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
 Chen, W. J., & Chen, M. L. (2014). Factors affecting the hotel's service quality:
Relationship marketing and corporate image. Journal of hospitality marketing &
management, 23(1), 77-96.
 Clardy, A. (2012). Organisational reputation: Issues in conceptualization and
measurement. Corporate Reputation Review, 15(4), 285-303.
 Cole, B. M., & Salimath, M. S. (2013). Diversity identity management: An organisational
perspective. Journal of business ethics, 116(1), 151-161.
 Fombrun, C. (2012). Corporate reputation: Definitions, antecedents, consequences. The
Oxford handbook of corporate reputation, 94-113.
 Foroudi, Pantea, Melewar, T.C. & Gupta, Suraksha (2014), ‘Linking corporate logo,
corporate image, and reputation: An examination of consumer perceptions in the financial
setting’, Journal of Business Research, vol. 67, no. 11, pp. 2269–2281.
 Martin, M. G., & Burke, R. J. (Eds.). (2012). Corporate reputation: Managing
opportunities and threats. Gower Publishing, Ltd.
 Melo, T., & Garrido‐Morgado, A. (2012). Corporate reputation: A combination of social
responsibility and industry. Corporate social responsibility and environmental
management, 19(1), 11-31.
 Theunissen, P. (2014). Co-creating corporate identity through dialogue: A pilot
study. Public Relations Review, 40(3), 612-614.