CORPORATE & ORGANIZATIONAL MARKETING?
Since the 1950's various concepts have captured the imagination of scholars and practitioners (organizational identity, corporate identity, corporate branding, corporate image, corporate reputation and corporate communications). Each of these concepts has their own intellectual roots and practice based adherents and whilst individual corporate-level concepts provide a powerful, and radical, lens through which to comprehend organizations, individual perspectives are necessarily limited. For this reason an integrated approach to marketing at the organizational and institutional levels would seem to be highly desirable and thus the need for both organizational marketing and what Balmer (1998) calls corporate marketing.
Corporate marketing has a general applicability to entities, whether they are corporations as well as other categories such as business alliances, cities, government bodies and departments, or branches of the armed forces and so on.
Key Questions and Constructs
Source: John M.T. Balmer and Stephen A. Greyser, 2003, Revealing the Corporation, Routledge. Reproduced by www.corporate-marketing.org with the permission of Routledge.
Organizational marketing can apply to various kinds of organizations from Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) through to charitable, publicly funded or large multinational companies, however it is not restricted to such traditional business enterprises. Further, it is concerned with organizational level issues relating to the marketing of the organization, while also considering the interaction between its various products and services with various stakeholders. For example, client or consumer psychology, identity and behaviour are also considered to have a part to play.
Key for both corporate and organizational marketing is their common concern with multiple exchange relationships with multiple stakeholder groups and networks, both internally and externally (e.g with and between owners, managers and employees) and externally with various constituencies. Another feature is the importance accorded to the temporal dimension with there being fidelity not only to present relationships but those of the past and those prospective relationships of the future. Such a perspective has traditionally characterised mutual entities such as Building Societies, Co-operatives and Partnerships: John Lewis in the UK being one such example.
Balmer’s (1998) historical analysis of corporate-level constructs sine the 1950s reveals the ascendancy of various concepts during different time frames. Each has attracted the attention of scholars and practitioners alike and appears, in part, to reflect the zeitgeist of a particular epoch. For instance, the concern with corporate image during the 1950's and 1960's and the current interest in corporate brands which dates back to 1995.
This is also reflected in the special editions of the European Journal of Marketing that have appeared in 1997, 2001, 2003 and 2006 which have focussed on concepts such as corporate identity, corporate brands, corporate communications, corporate image and corporate reputation. These special editions have provided a forum for different ontological and epistemological issues to be aired relating to the above.
Raising the Corporate and Organizational Marketing Umbrellas
Synthesising of corporate-level concepts such as organizational identity, corporate identity, corporate branding and corporate communications, corporate reputation and so on offers the promise of a critical breakthrough in the conceptualisation of organizations by marketing and other scholars: thus the need to raise the umbrella terms of organizational marketing and corporate marketing.
These terms provides a vortex that is not only pristine but also powerful and practical. A vortex that synthesises the myriad of corporate level perspectives, and concepts, that have emerged from the 1950's onwards Balmer (1998). The orchestration of these concepts provides the cornerstone of Balmer’s corporate marketing mix.
In conclusion, corporate and organizational marketing should be seen as more of a philosophy rather than a function. For this reason the mix elements should be seen as informing an organizational-wide philosophy rather than as encompassing a mix of elements to be orchestrated by a particular department.
Copyright: Balmer J.M.T. and Powell. S.
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