Purpose: The purpose of this study is to inquire into and to provide an integrated framework of academics’ and practitioners’ conversations on corporate brand alignment. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review (with no time restrictions) was used to identify relevant journal publications from the years 2000-2013. Based on the retrieved articles, the Hegelian dialectic triad of “thesis, antithesis and synthesis” was used to inquire into conventional thinking on corporate brand management (i.e., through corporate brand alignment). Findings – The final sample of 59 articles brought to light a theory of corporate brand alignment, its recent contradictions and critiques and scholars’ attempts to unify them into an integrated framework. Three main perspectives emerged, suggesting that corporate brand could be managed through aligned (i.e., thesis), separated (i.e., antithesis) or mixed approaches (i.e., synthesis).

1. 1
CURRENT ISSUES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES
OF CORPORATE BRAND AND IDENTITY ALIGNMENT.
A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW
9H
GLOBAL BRAND CONFERENCE OF THE AM’S BRAND, CORPORATE IDENTITY
AND REPUTATION SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP.
THE TROUBLE WITH BRANDS: PROVOCATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES
Michela Mingione, PhD
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
UNIVERSITY OF ROME TOR VERGATA, ITALY
The revised and final version of the present research is available at: Mingione, M.
(2015) “Inquiry into corporate brand alignment: A dialectical analysis and directions
for future research”, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp.
518-536.

2. 2
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
Introduction
1
Methodology
2
Results
3
Descriptive findings
3.1
Agenda
Conclusion and directions for future research
4
Thematic findings
3.2

3. 3
Introduction.
Rationale, aim and method of the research
Coherence of the corporate identity/corporate image interface
(Kennedy, 1977; Dowling, 1986; Abratt, 1989)
EARLY STUDIES
EVOLUTION
OF THE TOPIC
Corporate brand and identity alignment
(Balmer and Soenen’s ACID Test - 1999;
Hatch and Schultz’s VCI Model - 2001)
LAST DECADE
Increasing academic and practitioner interest in brand,
corporate brand and identity alignment research issues
(Abimbola, 2009; Farquhar, 2005; Srivastava and Thomas, 2010)
2012
Critique to the ontological and objectivist
assumptions of alignment models, and calls for new approaches
(Cornelissen et al., 2012)
AIM OF THE RESEARCH: to build a knowledge base
for current and future monitoring of corporate brand and identity alignment
AIM OF THE RESEARCH: to build a knowledge base
for current and future monitoring of corporate brand and identity alignment
METHOD: systematic literature reviewMETHOD: systematic literature review
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it

4. 4
Methodology.
The review process
Defining the objectives
Preparing the proposal
Developing the protocol
PLANNINGTHEREVIEW
Selecting key words
Applying inclusion and exclusion criteria
Scanning references
CONDUCTINGTHEREVIEW
Provided 403 different abstracts
Provided 136 potentially relevant articles
Provided 62 potentially relevant articles
Defing additional inclusion and exclusion criteria
Qualified a total of 112 articles
Descriptive reporting Thematic reporting
REPORTING THE REVIEW
Excluded 86 articles
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it

5. 5
Descriptive findings (1/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
AUTHORS NUMBER
Balmer, J.M.T. 13
Schultz, M. 8
Hatch, M.J. 7
de Chernatony, L. 5
Stuart, H.; Davies, G.; Urde, M. 4
Chun, R.; Merrilees, B.; Powell, S. 3
Abratt, R.; Andriopoulus, C; Anisimova T.; Bickerton, D.;
Boatwright, P.; Cornelissen, J.; Gotsi, M.; Greyser, S.A.; Harris, F.;
Knox, S.; Miller, R.W.; Mosley, D.; Punjaisri, K.; Roper, S.; Wilson,
A.
2
FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE (n)
OF ARTICLES
BY PUBLICATION YEAR
AUTHORS PUBLISHING
(SEPARATELY OR CONJUNCTLY)
MORE THAN ONE PAPER

6. 6
Descriptive findings (2/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
STUDIES CLASSIFIED BY
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH METHOD
FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE (n)
OF ARTICLES BY JOURNALS
Type
Research Method
(Case Study)
Additional Research Methods and
Data Sources Number Percentage
Qualitative 51 70.8
Single (n=19)
Interviews 8 11.1
Grounded theory and interviews 3 4.2
Interviews and ethnographic analysis 2 2.8
Longitudinal and interviews 2 2.8
Longitudinal and participant
observation 2 2.8
Content analysis 2 2.8
Interviews and action research 1 1.4
Ideonomic study and interviews 1 1.4
Longitudinal and content analysis 1 1.4
Visual analysis 1 1.4
Interviews and focus group 1 1.4
Not reported 5 6.9
Multiple (n=15)
Interviews 9 12.5
Interviews and thematic analysis 2 2.8
Interviews and content analysis 1 1.4
Visual analysis 1 1.4
Content analysis 1 1.4
Grounded theory and interviews 1 1.4
Participant observation 1 1.4
Not reported 6 8.3
Quantitative (n=11) 11 15.3
Single (n=3)
Survey 1 1.4
Content analysis 1 1.4
Multiple (n=2)
Survey 8 11.1
Website analysis 1 1.4
Mixed (n=10) 10 13.9
Single (n=4) Interviews and surveys 4 5.6
Multiple (n=6)
Interviews and surveys 4 5.6
Interviews, content analysis and survey 2 2.8
Total 72 100

7. 7
Thematic findings
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it

8. 8
Alignment perspectives
EXTERNAL
PERSPECTIVE
Kennedy,1977; Dowling,1986;
Abratt,1989; Stuart, 1998;
Knox and Bickerton, 2003;
Lawer and Knox, 2008;
Campbell et al., 2010;
Anisimova, 2010;
Ross and Harradine, 2011;
Mc-Grath et al., 2013
IMAGE
Customers
Retailers
Partners
HOLISTIC
PERSPECTIVE
INTERNAL
PERSPECTIVE
CULTURE &
CORE VALUES
Employees & managers
Top and senior managers
CEO
de Chernatony ;1999; 2002;
Urde ,1999, 2003, 2009;
Davies and Chun, 2002;
Mosley, 2007;
de Chernatony and Cottam, 2008
Foster et al., 2010;
Kunerth and Mosley, 2011;
Robertson and Khatibi, 2012
Bendisch et al., 2013,
He and Balmer, 2013
Hatch and Schultz ,1997, 2001, 2002, 2009;
Balmer and Soenen ,1999;
Balmer, 2001, 2012a,b;
Davies et al., 2004;
Gylling and Lindberg-Repo , 2006;
Balmer et al., 2009;
Abratt and Kleyn , 2012;
Urde et al., 2013

9. 9
Effects of alignment (1/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
DELIVERY OF A POSITIVE BRAND
AND CORPORATE BRAND EXPERIENCE
(Alloza, 2008; Urde, 2003
Mosley, 2007; Simmons, 2009)
DELIVERY OF A POSITIVE BRAND
AND CORPORATE BRAND EXPERIENCE
(Alloza, 2008; Urde, 2003
Mosley, 2007; Simmons, 2009)
DELIVERY OF BRAND AND CORPORATE
BRAND PROMISE
(de Chernatony, 2002; Foster et al., 2010;
Girod, 2005 Urde, 2009; Balmer et al., 2009;
Balmer, 2012a)
DELIVERY OF BRAND AND CORPORATE
BRAND PROMISE
(de Chernatony, 2002; Foster et al., 2010;
Girod, 2005 Urde, 2009; Balmer et al., 2009;
Balmer, 2012a)
DELIVERY OF BRAND, CORPORATE
BRAND AND IDENTITY AUTHENTICITY
(Mc-Shane and Cunningham, 2012;
Robertson and Khatibi, 2012;
Boatwright et al., 2009; Kira et al., 2012)
DELIVERY OF BRAND, CORPORATE
BRAND AND IDENTITY AUTHENTICITY
(Mc-Shane and Cunningham, 2012;
Robertson and Khatibi, 2012;
Boatwright et al., 2009; Kira et al., 2012)
These effects
are deeply
inter-twined
and mutually influential
Balmer and Thompson; 2009
Balmer et al., 2009; Chiu et al., 2012;
Ghodeswar, 2008; Lawer and Knox, 2007
Mc-Grath et al., 2013

10. 10
Effects of alignment (2/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
strong corporate brand
(Balmer, 2012a, b; Balmer and Gray, 2003; Balmer and Thompson, 2009;
Balmer et al., 2009; Harris and de Chernatony, 2001;
Hatch and Schultz, 2001, 2003, 2009)
customer loyalty
(Anisimova, 2010; Rowley, 2007)
employees and sales person commitment
(Anisimova and Mavondo, 2010; Otubanjo and Amujo,
2012; Punjaisri et al., 2013)
intra-organizational and inter-organizational identification
(Berger et al., 2006)
successful corporate social responsibility
(Chong, 2009; Hildebrand et al., 2011)
customer and employees engagement
(Roberts and Alpert, 2010; Schultz and Hatch, 2003)
organizational control
(Glaser, 2008; Ramarajan and Reid, 2013;
Raynaud et al., 2009)
brand equity
(Bendisch et al., 2013;
Tradii, 2013; Urde, 2003)

11. 11
Conceptual challenges (1/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
 The alignment is a paradox and the ACID Test is “logically incoherent”,
as they under-evaluate the complexity of the corporate brand
that has to deal with a multiplicity of stakeholders
(Gyrd-Jones et al., 2013, Cornelissen et al., 2012)
 Corporate brand and identity alignment might hinder an organization’s capability
in the areas of innovation, flexibility and of any change’s promptness
(Gyrd-Jones, 2013; Karjalainen and Snelders, 2010; Morsing, 2006; Ramarajan and Reid, 2013).
A pluralistic corporate brand strategy in conjunction with
a hybrid and balanced approach have been suggested.
Thus, a corporate brand is “a constant flux, shaped by ongoing interpretations and of different audiences”,
and the alignment and the stakeholder approaches should co-exist
through a simultaneous leverage of consistency and differentiation
(Chun and Davies, 2006, Deephouse, 1999; Gyrd-Jones et al., 2013; Leitch and Motion, 2007).
ALIGNMENT PITFALLS
SOLUTION

12. 12
Conceptual challenges (2/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
It is better to have a superior identity than a superior image (Davies and Chun, 2002)
THERELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
IDENTITY&IMAGE.
CONTROVERSIALFINDINGS
A superior image could be more beneficial than superior identity (Roper and Davies, 2007)
and might determine positive effects on corporate personality
(Anisimova, 2010; Anisimova and Mavondo, 2010).
CORPORATE BRAND MISALIGNMENT
MIGHT EVEN BE
A STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE
(Balmer, 2012)

13. 13
Methodological challenges
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
ASSESSING THE CURRENT STATE OF RESEARCH

14. 14
Conclusion and
directions for future research (1/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
DESCRIPTIVE
FINDINGS
DESCRIPTIVE
FINDINGS
THEMATIC
FINDINGS
THEMATIC
FINDINGS
The evidence-based research on brand and identity alignment revealed an
established academic and practitioners’ conversation
Existence of three perspectives (external, internal, holistic),
all driven by a holistic approach
Existence of three main positive outcomes
(brand experience, brand promise and brand and identity authenticity)
Existence of conceptual (“bright side of misalignment”) and
methodological (intermediate stage of research) challenges

15. 15
Conclusion and
directions for future research (2/2)
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it
provide more quantitative research
integrate qualitative and quantitative methodologies
to achieve both deep insights and generalization
develop scales
to measure corporate brand and identity alignment
explore the interrelated relationships between
brand experience, brand promise and brand and identity authenticity
explore the “bright side”
of corporate brand and identity misalignment
FURTHERRESEARCH
SHOULD
FURTHERRESEARCH
SHOULD

16. 9H
GLOBAL BRAND CONFERENCE OF THE AM’S BRAND, CORPORATE IDENTITY
AND REPUTATION SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP.
THE TROUBLE WITH BRANDS: PROVOCATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES
16
Thank you for your kind attention!
Michela Mingione, PhD Student, Marketing and Communication
mingione@economia.uniroma2.it