Research Proposal: Costco's Corporate Reputation and Brand Value

This report presents a research proposal investigating the corporate reputation and brand value strategy of Costco Wholesale Ltd. The research aims to analyze the importance of corporate reputation in brand value development, critically examine Costco's brand value strategy, and evaluate the impact of corporate reputation strategy on brand value management. The report includes an introduction to the issue, a background of the organization, research aims and objectives, a literature review on corporate governance and brand strategy, and the proposed research methodology involving primary data collection through interviews with employees and data analysis using SPSS. Ethical considerations and a Gantt chart outlining the project timeline are also included. The study highlights the challenges Costco faces in maintaining a sustainable corporate reputation and the importance of brand value strategy in addressing dynamic market trends. The report underscores the significance of corporate governance in balancing stakeholder interests and meeting environmental and ethical duties.

Running head: CORPORATE STRATEGY AND GOVERNANCE
CORPORATE STRATEGY AND GOVERNANCE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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1. Introduction
The proposed research is fundamentally based on the corporate reputation and
brand value strategy of Costco Wholesale limited. It has been identified that organisations
in the wholesale sector acquire a large percentage of the markets and thereby, the rate of
consumption of natural resource is relatively high. Maintaining a sustainable corporate
reputation can be challenging at times. Thus, the context of the corporate reputation and
brand value emerge as the significant business issue. However, corporate strategy and
governance is not complete without considering brand’s corporate reputation and brand value
strategy. Thus, when investigating the corporate governance framework, the proposed
research also explores the corporate reputation and brand value strategy of Costco Wholesale
Ltd. Coscto is an American Multinational Corporation and it is the second largest retailer in
the world after Walmart; thereby, its corporate reputation and brand value strategy are two
core elements of Costco (Spencer-McDaniel Sr and Anthony 2012).
As put forward by Peterson,., Hyska and Patel (2017), corporate reputation is the
overall estimation in which a business is significantly held by its internal and external
stakeholders on the basis of existing or past actions and the probability of its future business.
While being something that is crucially important, several organisations do not give a second
thought about corporate reputation and this means if Costco Wholesale is good at taking care
of its existing consumers, a business may not notice the possibility of more businesses even if
the reputation is effectively managed. When it comes to brand strategy, it can be mentioned
that the brand needs to focus on developing business goals to develop brand values. Brand is
one of the valuable assets but it holds the potential to significantly influence the regular
performance and deliver a healthy return on the investment the business makes (Tricker and

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Tricker 2015). Thus, the proposed research will investigate how the brand develops its
corporate reputation and brand value strategy to address the dynamic market trends.
1.1 Background of the organization and the industry
Costco Wholesale UK Limited retailer of consumer products with its large offering
including automotive, bakery, butchery, cameras, catering, grocery, health and beauty, soft
drink, etc. Although, the organization is large retailer in UK but the brand takes hardly any
initiative in relation to corporate reputation strategy like engagement in CSR to address the
growing environmental concern (Farabi 2012). In addition, even though, Costco is an
incumbent player in the market, its corporation reputation is at stake due to poor strategic
approaches to corporate brand value management. There have been many new players in the
market with increasing brand values, which is most likely to conquer the markets of Costco.
1.2 Research Aim and Objectives
The aim of the proposed study is to investigate and analyse corporate brand value strategy of
Costco Wholesale Ltd.
Objectives
 To identify the importance of corporate reputation in brand value development of
Costo Wholesale Ltd.
 To critically investigate brand value strategy of Costo Wholesale Ltd
 To evaluate how the impact of corporate reputation strategy on brand value
management of Costo Wholesale Ltd
2.0 Literature Review

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According to Sneirson (2008), corporate governance is kind of a system rules,
practices and process through which the business can be directed and controlled. On the
contrary, Filatotchev and Nakajima (2014) mentioned that corporate governance can
fundamentally include the action of balancing the interest of organisation’s internal and
external stakeholders. Meeting the external stakeholders’ needs is all about meeting the core
environmental and ethical duties. Fulfilling the environmental duties have become a
significant requirement in business today and this need is driven by growing customer
awareness in relation social and environmental duties. According to Cone Global Consumer
Survey, almost 90% of global customers expect the brands to perform the operation ethically
(Rejchrt and Higgs 2015).
When it comes to wholesale sector, it can be mentioned that economic indicators
measuring retail and whole trade available from multiple sources with the inclusion of
government as well as the professional organisations. Avgouleas and Cullen (2014)
mentioned that in the coming decade, the wholesales may split into two distinct groups such
as distributors who further proof their business through innovation and reinvention and those
who maintain a business as usual strategy. Nonetheless, there have been a number of
disruptive forces which may shape the future of whole sale sector and these disruptive forces
are such as Amazon disrupting UK grocery sector and changing customer demands such as
the products that are environmentally sustainable (Filatotchev and Nakajima 2014).
3. Research Methodology
In order to identify and investigate the corporate governance issues of Costco
Wholesale Ltd, the proposed research would include a primary data analysis method.
Thereby, primary data analysis would help to identify the depth of the issue related non-
independent audit committee at Costco Wholesale Ltd.

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3.1 Data collection method
In order to perform the analysis, primary data will be collected from respective group
of employees working in Costco Wholesale Ltd. Thus, the primary data will be collected by
performing interview among the chosen organizational members. However, the data
collection would be done based on the sampling method. In the study, a non-probability
persuasive sampling method would be used in the study to choose the candidates who have
knowledge about the corporate governance issues.
3.2 Data Analysis
In order to perform the data analysis, first the collected data would be converted to
meaningful format such as digits and numbers. The data then would be represented with
graph and tables for interpretation. To perform the analysis statistical tools such as SPSS will
be used in the study.
3.3 Ethical consideration
To ensure that research does not encounter any ethical challenges, researcher will
hand over an ethical checklist form to people involved in the data collection process.
Moreover, it would be ensured that no respondent is forced to take part in the study.
Following the confidentiality clause, respondents’ identity would be hidden when using the
data.
3.4 Grant Chart
Task Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Week
7
Week
8
Week
9
Selection of topic
and search for

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justification
Constructing
literature
Selecting
appropriate
methods
Data collection
Data analysis and
representation
Reviewing the
outcomes
Conclusions and
recommendations
Submitting draft
of the project
Printing and final
submission

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References
Avgouleas, E. and Cullen, J., 2014. Market discipline and EU corporate governance reform in
the banking sector: Merits, fallacies, and cognitive boundaries. Journal of Law and
Society, 41(1), pp.28-50.
Farabi, Y., 2012. Competition among the North American Warehouse clubs: Costco
Wholesalers versus Sam's Club versus BJ's Wholesalers. GRIN Verlag.
Filatotchev, I. and Nakajima, C., 2014. Corporate governance, responsible managerial
behavior, and corporate social responsibility: Organizational efficiency versus organizational
legitimacy?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(3), pp.289-306.
Mackintosh, M., Chaudhuri, S. and Mujinja, P.G., 2011. Can NGOs regulate medicines
markets? Social enterprise in wholesaling, and access to essential medicines. Globalization
and health, 7(1), p.4.
Peterson, E.A., Hyska, J. and Patel, D., 2017. Human Rights Law, Corporate Governance and
Globalization. JL Bus. & Ethics, 23, p.63.
Rejchrt, P. and Higgs, M., 2015. When in Rome: how non-domestic companies listed in the
UK may not comply with accepted norms and principles of good corporate governance. Does
home market culture explain these corporate behaviours and attitudes to
compliance?. Journal of Business Ethics, 129(1), pp.131-159.
Sneirson, J.F., 2008. Green is good: sustainability, profitability, and a new paradigm for
corporate governance. Iowa L. Rev., 94, p.987.
Spencer-McDaniel Sr, J.A. and Anthony, P., 2012. Sustainable Solutions Paper: Several
Strategic Analyses of Costco Wholesale Corporation.

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Tricker, R.B. and Tricker, R.I., 2015. Corporate governance: Principles, policies, and
practices. Oxford University Press.