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8/3/2019 Corporate Success - Contributions of Internal Branding Practices in MAFOI
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CONTRIBUTIONS OF INTERNAL BRANDING PRACTICES TO
CORPORATE BRAND SUCCESS
IN
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DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE
I hereby declare that the work, which is being presented in this project, entitled
Contributions of Internal Branding Practices to the corporate success in Mafoi
Randstad is an authentic record of my own work carried out by me under the
supervision and guidance of
This project was undertaken as a part of the Research Project as per the curriculum of
I have not submitted the matter embodied here in this project for the award of any other
degree/diploma.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am thankful to my respected of my institute, for his continued guidance and
invaluable support.
The successful progression of this project also gives me the opportunity to acknowledge
and appreciate my friends and library staff who provided me much needed stimulating
suggestions and encouragement in order to steer this project towards completion.
Last but not least I would like to acknowledge my respondents for the constant support
and help in the successful completion of my project.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter No. Subject Page
Declaration by the candidate (i)
Certificate of Guidance (ii)
Acknowledgement (iii)
Executive Summary 1
Objective of the Research Undertaken 3
Literature review 4
Chapter 1About the Research topic 9
- Introduction to the Topic 10
- Case study 37
Chapter 2Report of Research 43
- Objective of Research 43
- Research Methodology 46
Chapter 3Results and Analysis 48
Chapter 4Conclusion and Suggestions 55
Chapter 5Findings 57
Chapter 6References 58
Chapter 7 Annexure 59
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Background
Internal branding provides the foundation through which HR professionals and workforce
can contribute to the organizations success. In a rapidly changing business environment,
organizations are recognizing the value of a workforce that is not only highly skilled &
technically adept, but more importantly a workforce that can learn quickly, adapt to
change, communicate effectively, and foster interpersonal relationships.
Internal Branding is the set of strategic processes that align and empower employees to
deliver the appropriate customer experience in a consistent fashion.
Objective
The main objective of this study is to investigate how internal branding practices can
contribute to successful corporate brand building.
Summary of findings
Internal branding is a multi-disciplinary practice requiring cross-functional teams for both
programme design and institutionalisation. It is a key factor in business and brand
success, being the bridge between business strategy and implementation. A substantial
component of the bridge is the employee. It is necessary to understand what is important
to employees i.e. the drivers of employees engagement - pride/confidence,
reward/recognition, and consistency - as well as methodologies for developing and
sustaining internal branding initiatives. The root from which all brand initiatives spring,
is the set of values associated with the brand. Best practice companies devote a lot of
energy developing and promulgating their brand values.Implementing and sustaining internal brand initiatives requires the application of a wide
variety of techniques. A key to implementation is encouraging appropriate employee
behaviours therefore Human Resources plays a strong role in ensuring effective
implementation.
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In the future, internal branding will become both increasingly important and more all
encompassing.
Implications
The successful implementation of the Internal Branding Best Practices Study can build
the bridge between strategy and execution. Significant improvements to customer
experience and loyalty ratings can be achieved once this connection is made, assuming
that an organizations brand promise is well researched and meets current customer
needs.
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OBJECTIVE OF THE RESEARCH
Primary objective
The purpose of this study is to investigate how internal branding practices can contribute
to corporate success.
Secondary objective
To know whether the employees have imbibed the vision and core values of the
organization.
To drive the desired behaviour of the employees to deliver on brand promise.
To know whether to involve HR functional in internal branding.
To know whether the corporate culture contribute to corporate and internal brand
building.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
A brand is not an icon, a slogan, or a mission statement. It is a promise a promise your
company can keep. First you find out, using research, what promises your customers
want companies like yours to make and keep, using the products, processes and people in
your company. Then you look at your competition and decide which promise would give
you the best competitive advantage. This is the promise you make and keep in every
marketing activity, every action, every corporate decision, and every customer
interaction. You promote it internally and externally. The promise drives budgets and
stops arguments. If everyone in the company knows what the promise is, and knows that
they will be rewarded or punished depending on the personal commitment to the promise,
politics and personal turf issues start to disappear.
CORPORATE BRANDING
Core values
The importance of focusing inwards when building corporate brands has been highlighted
in recent work by Urde, which focuses on core values as the main building blocks of
corporate branding (Urde, 2003). According to Urde (2003), successful corporate brands
are built when there is a strong relationship between the organization, its members, and
the brand. There are three different types of values which should be identified and
developed and corporations should focus on internal value creating processes in brand
building:
Values that are related to the organization (what it is and stands for)
Values that summarize the brand identity (core values)
Values that are experienced by customers (added value)
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Source: Urde,
Urde (2003) claims that organizational values and core values do not have to be the same
and that organizational values can be more internally focused. In the initial stages of the
branding process, organizational values should be translated into core values which guide
the organizations efforts. In a second step, core values should be translated into added
value for customers. Importantly, Urde (2003) states that core values are central to
internal brand building as the goal for the organization is to live these values. Therefore,
it is important that employees understand the core values and are in agreement about
them. If this is achieved, the common values converge to give the corporate culture its
character (Urde, 2003).
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Organizational identity-Organizational values
Identity of consumer
-Added values
Brand identity
-Core values
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Vision-Culture-Image model
Hatch and Schultz (2003; 2001) share Urdes (2003) belief that brands should be built
from within the company as they declare that nothing is more powerful in forming brand
images than external stakeholders direct and personal encounter with the organization.
The strategic importance of corporate branding therefore lies not only in its positioning of
the company, but in creating internal arrangements (e.g. organizational structure, physical
design and culture) that support the meaning of the corporate brand (Hatch & Schultz,
2003). Managers should analyze and build the corporate brand by using the concepts
strategic vision, organizational culture and corporate image (Hatch & Schultz, 2003;
Hatch & Schultz, 2001):
IMAGE
CULTURE
VISION
CORPORA
TEBRANDIN
G
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Successful corporate brands build their vision from redefinitions and reinventions of core
values rather than revolutionary shifts from one set of values to another. Such successful
brands also assure that their internal culture supports the vision and that the vision and
culture are aligned with stakeholders image of the corporation. In particular, the gaps
between vision, culture and image should be evaluated to better align them (Hatch &
Schultz, 2001):
Vision - Culture gap: how are managers and employees aligned?
Culture - Image gap: how are employee attitudes and behaviors aligned with outside
perceptions?
Vision - Image gap: is management taking the firm in a direction that stakeholders
support?
A vision-culture gap may build up if senior management moves the company in a
strategic direction that employees do not understand and support. A vision-image gap
may develop when there is a conflict between outsiders images and wants and senior
managements strategic vision. And a culture-image gap may grow if external images of
the company are not supported when stakeholders are directly in contact with the
organization.
Brand identityWhen conducting a study within the field of corporate branding, it is important to
mention that certain authors argue that identity is the central concept in corporate brand
building (see e.g. Balmer & Gray, 2003; Balmer, 2001; Harris & de Chernatony, 2001; de
Chernatony, 1999; Ind, 1997). However, Balmer (2001) argues that there is a fog
surrounding the concept of corporate identity as there is no consensus concerning which
elements identity comprises of. For example, corporate identity is explained as how a
company expresses and differentiates itself in relation to its internal and external
stakeholders (Balmer, 2001; Hatch & Schultz, 2000) whereas organizational identity
refers to how organizational members perceive and understand who they are and what
they stand for as an organization (Hatch & Schultz, 2000). Due to this theoretical
ambiguity, models which focus explicitly on identity have not been directly included
when formulating the research questions. Balmer (2001) proposes that identity may be
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divided into a mix comprising of: strategy, structure, communication and culture. The
author has included all of these elements in the study by applying frameworks presented
by Hatch and Schultz, 2003; 2001 (strategy and culture), Vallaster and de Chernatony,
2006, Burmann and Zeplin, 2005 (structure, culture, communication) and Bergstrom et
al, 2002 (culture and communication). Therefore, although not directly referring to
identity, the author implicitly acknowledges this concept.
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CHAPTER 1
ABOUT THE RESEARCH TOPIC
ABOUT THE RESEARCH TOPIC
WHAT IS INTERNAL BRANDING? THE DEFINITION
Internal branding is the set of strategic processes that align and empower employees to
deliver the appropriate customer experience in a consistent fashion. These processes
include, but are not limited to, internal communications, training support, leadership
practices, reward & recognition programs, recruitment practices and sustainability
factors.
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While many companies do not use the words internal branding, they describe the
activities that build the bridge between strategy and execution. They used expressions
such as:
Living the corporate values.
Leveraging the corporate brand strategy to reinforce brand requirements internally
and reach out to potential recruits externally.
Activities, processes and communication involved in empowering associates.
Create and demonstrate consistent brand experience at all touch points.
According to Bergstrom et al (2002) the core elements of internal branding are effective
brand communication to all employees, convincing employees of the brands value and
relevance and linking every job in the organization to delivery of the brand essence.
Bergstrom et al (2002) claim that these core elements should be implemented through an
approach labelled the 5 Cs (below). Commitment, culture and communication are
included in this study.
Internal Branding: Delivering Solutions through Employees
The aim of marketing has long been to carry the brand message to the public. This is not
done for altruistic reasons but to simply entice them to buy the product or service that you
sell. But did you know that your brand is carried by your people as much as by your
marketing?
A few years ago, the management mantra ""If you take care of your employees, they will
take care of your customers" appeared out of the customer service function leading to
new development in internal branding. Interestingly, the marketing function did not
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follow-suit straight away and has only recently started to engineer internal marketing
strategies to ensure that employees are well versed in the brand attributes and values.
Internal Branding: What is it?
Internal branding, internal marketing, internal communicationscall it what you
will. In the end, it's all about making sure your employees are brand advocates. Brand
advocacy goes beyond being courteous to the first customer in the morning. It's aboutbeing fanatic about the brand, otherwise, it's just a job. And that's where the problem lies,
for many of your employees, it's just a job. One they could easily give-up for another
offering them a 5% salary increase.
Internal branding is not about building loyalty even though it's one of the side
benefits. It's not about managing to retain your best employees, it's about developing a
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marketing story so compelling that people want to work for you and those who do, carry
themselves with pride and honor. Now, your marketing story can never be a lie. Building
your business on a promise you can't deliver is the surest way to fail. It has to be real and
believable by both your customers and employees. And the latter can be more difficult
than the former.
Most marketing stories are written for customers often making the company's
employees smile and joke about the story.' Is yours written in a way that your employees
believe? And would they tell you if they did not?
So your brand is a story. A story you tell both your internal and external public.
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BRAND-CENTERED
HR ACTIVITIES
BRANDCOMMUNICATION
CULTURE FITEMPLOYEE
KNOW- HOW
BRAND
LEADERSHIP
BRANDCOMMIT
MENT
BRANDCITIZENSHIP
BEHAVIOR
BRAND
STRENGT
H
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WHY IS INTERNAL BRANDING IMPORTANT?
The more we have studied internal branding the more convinced we have become of the
crucial role internal branding plays in the successful implementation of business strategy.
A companys most powerful means of delivering a defined brand experience is through
the intermediation of its employees and by effectively delivering on the brand promise.
Only in this way can business strategy successfully be executed, enabling business plans
to be achieved. Or put more succinctly - ignore internal branding and you are likely to
imperil your business.
Given that brand has moved towards being a customer experience concept, the ability of
employees to deliver that experience has become increasingly salient. The importance of
the role of employees in service and service-related industries is immutable.
It is initially counter intuitive that, at a time when technology and virtual communicationwould appear to be creating greater impediments to direct human contact between
business and customer, that when those contacts do occur, they are of increasing
importance to both sides. This is a notable point in our findings. This is not restricted to
the realm of business-to-customer; it is just as relevant in the realm of business-to-
business. One of the primary reasons given by a steel company for its ability to continue
to make money while the majority of its competitors went bankrupt is because its
employees from the shop floor up to senior management clearly understood and were
able to deliver on the brand promise.
Furthermore, it is not just management that recognizes the importance of internal
branding. In 2006s quantitative survey, over 70% of marketers not involved in internal
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STRUCTURE FITDISPOSABLE
RESOURCES
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branding said Yes to the question Is internal branding important to you as an
employee?, with a remaining 25% saying Sometimes.
The successful implementation of internal branding can build a bridge between strategy
and execution. The most important component of that bridge is employees; hence the
importance of the human resources perspective.
If employees are important to internal branding, what is important to employees in
this context?
From the discussion with human resource professionals it became apparent that three
elements are fundamental to the success of an employee internal branding strategy and
implementation. These are:
(a)Pride/confidence - Engendering and sustaining pride/ confidence in the company.
(b) Reward/recognition - Having appropriate employee reward and recognition systems
connected to the brand promise.
(c) Consistency - Consistency in practice of supporting human resources programs and
processes over time.
These three can be grouped together into the loosely defined concept of employee
engagement (often measured by myriad attributes in employee satisfaction surveys). All
the best practice companies in our research had a methodology for estimating employee
engagement and considered it a critical component of continued successful business
implementation.
How are pride /confidence in the company engendered?
The Importance of Values
The centrepiece of brand from which everything else stems is the set of values with
which it is associated. Without exception, all of the companies that participated in this
research emphasized the paramount importance of the role that values played in their
internal brand.
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In order to illustrate the nature of these values, a list of values taken from half a dozen
of respondents is provided below. (The number in parentheses represents the number of
respondents who referred to that particular value.)
Client passion
Creativity
Accountability (x 2)
Enthusiasm (x 2)
Excellence (x 2)
Caring
Team work (x 3)
Service (x 3)
Quality
Innovation
Integrity (x 5)
Spirit
Insight
Respect (x 2)
Commitment
Responsibility
Diversity
It is immediately apparent that the subject of brand values is not as straightforward as
might initially be thought. In particular some of these values can only be comfortably
applied to internal branding; team work, or diversity while others have a greater
application to the external brand promise, i.e., service or responsibility as examples.
There was a mixed response to this dichotomy amongst the companies being interviewed.
Some explicitly acknowledged it, and had two separate lists of values; one for application
internally and one associated with the public corporate brand. Others deliberately chose
values that had both internal and external application so that they could have just one list
and yet others tended to fudge the issue by including both types in one list and relying
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on appropriate interpretation. Most companies lists of values were short; almost all had
fewer than six encapsulating words.
It is clear that it is not just the words themselves that are important but also the meaning
and nuances ascribed to them in the context of the company. For example responsible in
one context means we obey the law and in another means we will ensure our customer
uses our products in a careful manner. In a third it means we must make a sound profit
for our stockholders. Furthermore, for the international companies in our research, there
were translations that were adapted to fit the local environments.
The manner in which the values are developed is important. Amongst the respondents
there was a strong degree of agreement as to how values should be developed. All
subscribed to the view that the process was extensive, expensive and time consuming.
Overall, some four or five stages to the process can be identified and those involved in
the core development team include not only the very senior management but also good
cross-functional representation. Most of our respondents used the services of an outside
consultant as either a facilitator or an expert in the process.
How are the values developed?
The first stage (the quest for meaning): Generally involves a large amount of analysis
and research. Competitive analysis, external research or best practices, re-visiting internal
research, mapping employees experiences, focus groups with employees and on
occasion with clients, non-clients and suppliers too. In many cases local teams
represented different geographic functions and specialties. The questions being asked in
all these inquiries are deceptively simple:
Who are we?
What do we do?
How do we operate?
What do we want to be when we are successful?
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How are we different from our competition?
Clarity of response to these questions is crucial and difficult to achieve.
The second stage (placement relative to the ideal): Involves the development of key
drivers and metrics and the identification of gaps between best practices and internal
practices. Often this stage is also interactive with different attributes and interpretations
being taken back to constituent groups for applicability and accuracy testing.
The third stage (relationship to the brand and corporation): Develops and aligns the
values into themes, putting them through the corporate brand filter. The thorny question
of should they be the same, the same but a little different, or different from the values
associated with the corporate brand is tackled here.
The fourth stage (prioritization & communication): The final polishing and the
development of concrete behaviour to be associated with the values, the on-going
communication messaging and channels, the implementation of measurement process,
the rollout plan.
The fifth stage (going forward): The development of maintenance programs and ways
to keep the values fresh and relevant .
Motivation in general
Although the values alone do not make the internal brand, all aspects of employees
engagement needs to be addressed, including work environment and climate; growth and
learning; relationship to immediate supervisor; the senior leadership, recognition and
compensation, etc. These are not addressed here being broader human resources topics,
except to the extent that they directly influence internal branding.
Senior leadership
There was unanimity amongst all respondents that without the direct and intimate
involvement of the President/CEO in the development of the internal brand the initiative
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would be unlikely meet with much success. Simultaneously, the requirement for cross
functional involvement needs to be recognized.
Budget
Most internal branding initiatives, both in terms of development or maintenance, came
from some other budget; general human resources, marketing or public relations. Thus
resources were often carved from other initiatives. All respondents said a nice to have
would be a dedicated and secure internal branding budget.
Advertising
Some of the respondents use their own external advertising as a means for engendering
pride and confidence in the company, i.e., external advertising is deliberately created to
appeal to the work force within the company, so that the employee can identify with the
values being espoused.
How to sustain pride and confidence
Even companies where internal branding has been a way of life for over thirty years still
faced this challenge. From this most recent set of interviews it would appear that many of
the initiatives put in place to maintain the vibrancy of the internal brand have been
initiated from human resources.
Employee intake
Prior to the commencement of employment, some human resource departments have
instigated an interview process whereby prospective employees are measured against
their ability to align themselves with the brand values. Specific skills and attitudes are
tested as part of the recruitment process in order to improve the chances that future
employees will be able to deliver on the brand promise and client experience determined
by the business strategy. One company goes as far as recruiting most employees as part
time casual initially in order to enable human resources to evaluate their suitability for the
corporate culture before they become full-time.
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Orientation
The prevalence of having new employees go through orientation programs is increasing
and this is often due to a desire to introduce them directly to internal brand values and
behavioural expectations.
Furthermore, these orientation programs are becoming more formal and in-depth rather
than the normal floating between departments. One of our respondents has a full two day
off-site program for all employees included in their orientation program. Another has a
full one-year orientation program for all employees from the shop floor up and yet
another has a series of web-based training modules specifically on brand values that have
to be completed by all new entrants.
Training
Apart from training programs specifically designed around imparting internal brand
values and desired behaviours, the companies we interviewed included an element of
brand application in all their training courses even if the course is meant as a pure product
training course.
Structural Alignment
Several of our respondents re-distributed the allocation of resources within the company
to make them more aligned to the declared brand values. For example, one respondent
who had a strong customer service value cut a large number of head-office and
administrative positions and reallocated them to the front line and store front positions.
Another two companies re-structured their compensation and career path tracks to
encourage promotions from the existing employee pool. The purpose of these shifts was
to increase the sustainability of the internal brand values and behaviours and inculcate
them more intensely into the corporate culture. Appreciation of the power and benefit of
consistency over time is manifest to them.
Implementation: requires identifying, recognizing and rewarding the
desired brand behaviours
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Behaviour identification
All the respondents had some form of description of the desired behaviours necessary to
deliver the brand that were in direct alignment with the brand values. However, these
varied considerably in descriptive style, detail and length. For example one list included
the following Hand raiser not finger pointer, Radiator not drain, We not me.
Whereas others had the more formal Everyone must be considered an individual, We
must constantly strive to reduce our costs and We act in an efficient and pragmatic
way.
All agreed that the behaviours had to be absolutely clear and preferably simple. One
company that had a high immigrant intake in the workforce even used pictures by way of
explanation.
Some had their behaviours limited to customer treatment protocols designed to deliver a
consistent quality customer experience, while others had more general descriptions of
behaviours which could be applied to relationships both internally and externally.
There was uniform agreement that one of the most effective ways of communicating the
desired behaviours was through stories, whether they were case studies displayed in
videos or print or communicating the circumstances around a particular award. Stories
provided tangible evidence and context for behaviours that could be easily illustrated and
remembered. Also mentioned was the need for a multitude of communication tactics in
order to consider the internal constituents ages and ethnic backgrounds.
Recognizing and celebrating the right behaviours
Most of our respondents have a formal system of recognising behaviours that
demonstrate the brand values. These take the form of an internal nomination process
where usually the brand value being demonstrated has to be identified. This is often a
tiered process whereby an initial small award is given and recognised in the local group
of employees that is then entered into a quarterly bigger award, which in turn is eligible
to be entered into the annual award. The top award, usually given a name like The
Chairmans Club, is awarded to those employees who consistently or significantly
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demonstrated behaviours aligned with the brand. Again, stories play a pivotal role here
and the inspirational draw is a powerful motivator.
Leading edge organizations are now not only focusing on the end results of the
behaviour, i.e., the what, but also the how; is the thinking and process involved in
achieving the result aligned with the values too? For example, good customer service at
the expense of mistreating other employees is not acceptable.
Rewarding the right behaviours
Almost all of the respondents have the brand values and associated behaviours embedded
in their employee performance evaluation systems. In the more sophisticated
organizations this was in the form of part of a balanced score card approach.
In one organisation all employees performance review criteria are linked to the
achievement of the internal brand values and thus all their salaries and raises are tied to
their commitment and recognition of the internal brand.
Another organisation expressed a more cautious view that linking too much
compensation to internal brand behaviours exposed employees to the possibility of being
punished for non-compliance which might be counter-productive.
Nothing works better than example
Everyone agreed that it is vital for senior management to walk the talk and demonstrate
the behaviours associated with the brand values. However, as our 2006 survey found,
only 22% strongly agree with the statement management walks the talk with respect to
brand values. There is room for improvement!
MEASUREMENT
Two aspects of measurement were considered: the resources devoted to internal branding
and the return on those resources; and, the measures of how effective internal brand
initiatives are in changing behaviour and the customer impact.
Measuring the resources devoted to internal branding
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Not one of the respondents directly measured the dollar value of resources devoted to
internal branding. As noted earlier, most would prefer a dedicated budget rather than
having to carve off slices of other budgets, as is the present practice.
All agreed that the process of developing internal brand values is expensive and at the
same time there is a strong gut-feeling that the payback in business terms is considerable.
However, isolating the returns directly attributable to internal branding is considered by
most organizations as a non-starter.
Measurement of the effects of internal branding initiatives
The whole question of the best method for evaluating employee engagement is a hot topic
and too big a subject to be tackled here.
All participants use some form of employee survey to measure the effects of their internal
branding initiatives. Some ask very explicitly linked questions such as Are you aware of
the values?, Did you understand the values?, Can you implement the values into your
daily activity?, How? Some also use a survey to evaluate senior managements
compliance: Do managers follow the corporate values? They take corrective actions for
those who score poorly.
Some companies have undertaken research to establish the qualities and values that exist
in comparable high performing organisations and then track these in their own employee
opinion survey.
Most use some attribute of desirability as an employer either in external rankings of best
employers, or in the form of monitoring their position in internal questionnaires as a key
metric.
One organization monitors how often their values are directly associated with their name
in external media, i.e., every time the company name appears in the media, the
surrounding text is searched to see if any of their brand values are also mentioned or
linked.
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Why does One Need to Focus on Internal Branding?
Seen in this light, it's easy to understand why you should develop your internal branding
strategy. The benefits are tremendous: better informed employees potentially becoming
happier with their jobs, their lives, etc. resulting in happier customers coming back for
more. As most companies are not built on altruistic grounds, no business is truly a
democracy, the focus on your employees is a real business strategy aimed at increasing
your revenue and controlling your costs in a non-manipulative manner. How's is that for
benefits?
It's often easier to identify the negative than the positive (ask any executive who has
gone through a SWOT analysis.) And in the case of internal branding, the result of not
doing is simple: Your company could fail. The problems you face today are often due to
a lack of proper communication or understanding which can be addressed by explaining
your values in details (an internal branding tactic) allowing your employees to make a
daily decisions with customers based on a sound principles.
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Formal vs. Informal Internal Branding
Building your brand to ensure that your employees buy-in the storyis often moredifficult
than to create one for consumers. Why is that? It seems that the internal knowledge
employees have of the company prevents them from believing what is often referred to as
the marketing message' (pronounce this with a derogatory tone.) A brand message that is
at odd with the real culture top management stands for is a sure way to fail. So the
marketing story' starts at the top. If your top management doesn't believe in it or even live
it every single day, how can you expect your employees to do so?
There are two ways to go about building your brand internally. The first one is to
simply match what you say to what you do. It's a simple strategy but often difficult to
implement as it requires a real connection between who you are as CEO, your actions and
your brand. SMEs are at an advantage as the CEOs are closer to the operations and can
therefore oversee the brand story and its implementation throughout the organization (and
don't be fooled, branding is the CEO's problem, not the marketing department.) It's harder
for bigger corporations and this case a formal approach might be the best approach.
A Five Step Recipe:
1. Define your brand/marketing story (and get your employees involved)
2. Align your brand and your culture
3. Understand the employee touch points where your brand is playing a part
4. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate and Communicate some more
5. Your brand evolves, don't let it go stiff
It's a simple enough process but matching your brand to your culture, and vice-versa is
often easier said than done and you might be wise to ask for external help. Once done, it's
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all about implementing it day-in, day-out without fail, discouragement or doubt.
Remember, there is a direct link between what you do everyday and your brand.
Point 5. is important. The traditional logic is that a brand, once defined, should remain
unchanged until it's accepted by your target markets. This still stand true in many cases
but you'll soon find out that peripherals attributes, such as products, will change
overtime, sometimes even redefining your brand in the process.
It's all in the Tactics
The development of any strategy should always start with a deep definition of the target
markets. In this case, the employees. Do you truly know them? What are theircharacteristics? Aspirations ? You need to define your internal market thoroughly just as
would an external target market. Once done, you can properly identify your objective
(including ROI), the most appropriate strategy, tactics, schedule and budget. The
planning part is important but it's all in the tactics. In internal branding, what you do is
more important that what you say. Here are a few examples of standard tactics that will
help you develop your internal branding:
Brand Benefit Communications
Company Celebrations
Internal Branding Campaigns
Intranet Communications
New Employee Orientations
Newletters/E-Newsletters
Organizational Development
Rewards & Recognition Events
Team Building
Which one should you choose? It depends on three factors: time, labor and money. Your
strategy and tactics will depend on which one you have most of (and who has time these
days?)
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Should HR be involved?
Before proceeding further, the answer is yes.
If you look at the list of tactics above you could quickly decide that this the responsibility
of human resources, and many marketing manager would quickly agree. I disagree. As a
marketer, if you are lucky to have a progressive HR Director, you will reap tremendous
benefits by developing an internal branding strategy with him or her and work together in
the implementation. Going further, internal branding is a company exercise and your
employees should be involved. While the idea of creating an internal branding committee
could quickly defeat the purpose, having people from different functions involved
throughout the year is certainly a good idea.
Can you Measure Internal Branding?
Like all branding related activities, measuring it is as difficult as measuring advertisingeffectiveness. Short of putting your employees to a test, conducting regular checks on
their brand awareness, support, etc. is useful. Doing an internal brand audit on a yearly
basis could be considered as part of your internal branding strategy anyway.
Conducted yearly, the Internal Brand audit can become your measuring yardstick.
Covering the different angles your brand offer, it is a helpful tool and can be as simple as
a survey or as complex as you want it to be. The simpler the better though as its aims is to
both reinforce the value of the branding message and identify areas of improvement.
Leadership
Who is in charge of internal branding?
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In the research, there was not one company that had expressly dedicated one individual's
responsibilities to internal branding". More often than not, it was one of a laundry list of
responsibilities in a marketing executive's mandate, parked alongside the responsibilities
of advertising, branding, direct marketing, merchandising, etc. One of the reasons for this
lack of clear responsibility is the cross functional nature of the task. This responsibility
was usually delegated to the marketing department in general. The logic for it being part
of the marketing department's role is that the marketing department is the most involved
in the interaction between company and customers. Thus, following on from the
definition, it is this functional unit that needs to join company brand with customer
experience.
The CMA Internal Branding Research Survey of 2005 confirms that the responsibility for
internal branding resides within the purview of marketing:
Development of internal branding strategies tends to be shared by the marketing group
and executive team with more than one-quarter mentioning internal branding as a
marketing responsibility and 72% stating that the executive team holds some
responsibility. External agencies are utilized by one in five of the companies surveyed.
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AREAS WITHIN ORGANIZATION RESPONSIBLE FOR DEVELOPING INTERNAL
BRANDING STRATEGIES
11
21
28
41
72
77
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Other
External agency
Public relations
Human Resources
Executive team
Marketing
Percentage
When asked if these were the same groups responsible for external branding strategies,
almost six in ten companies (59%) suggested that the same groups build internal and
external branding strategies.
Even if internal branding is nominally anchored in the marketing function, it is clear that
both human resources and the executive team need to be intimately involved with internal
branding initiatives.
Notwithstanding the fact that the leadership for internal branding might be anchored in
one functional unit, it is vital to note the importance of the role of all management to
"walk the talk" and the apparent lack of them actually doing so. Only 22% of respondents
in the CMA survey strongly agree with the statement "management walks the talk with
respect to brand values." Clearly there is a need for senior executives to demonstrate that
it is they who are in charge, i.e. Leadership.
The Implementation Table demonstrates that this critical component of senior
management should be formalized and rewarded in best practice organizations.
Overall, as a best practice, responsibility for strategic development and implementation
for internal branding should be vested clearly with one senior level individual or group of
individuals who have wide reach and access across functions. They also should be
measured and rewarded for their success in this key area of brand management.
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Key Challenges
What are the challenges for internal branding?
There was a consensus amongst several of the companies participating in the research
that the overarching challenge for internal branding is how to translate the company's
brand values into physical employee behaviours. In order to achieve this objective,
companies employ a plethora of implementation techniques.
The breakdown of the key challenges from the CMA survey is as follows:
One of the major challenges inhibiting the success of this translation is that internal
branding touches marketing, human resources, brand management, operations, front line
management and strategy. Several of the best practice companies have come close to
overcoming these functional silos in their internal branding efforts.
Nevertheless, for most companies, the inability to cross the boundaries between divisions
fluidly in internal branding efforts presents a major challenge.
The lack of alignment between employees values and company values emerged as a
challenge from the CMA survey: "The low proportion (7%) of respondents who think
their brand values provide guidance as to how to treat other employees suggests that
brand values do not address human interrelationships in a meaningful way."
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KEY CHALLENGES OF INTERNAL BRANDING
32
3
1
1
2
3
4
4
4
5
8
9
12
15
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Did not answ er
Other
Defining Brand Values
Measuring Effectiveness
Budget
Prioritizing Internal Branding
Articulating Relevance of Internal Branding
Organizational Structure
Culture
Time Availability
Getting Executive Commitment
Getting Buy-In
Consistency
Communication
Interestingly, several companies that have found "keeping the momentum going" to be a
real challenge were identified in the qualitative research. Since involving themselves in a
variety of communication and employee involvement initiatives, their challenge is "what
next?"
Finally, and not surprisingly, measurement is a challenge.
Implementation
Internal Branding Techniques and Tools
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There is a range of internal branding techniques and tools in alignment with the range of
requirements of leading organizations. The newness of this field of brand management
has engendered a wide variety of practices. The following presents an inventory of
current practices, serving as a summary of implementation methods captured through the
most recent CMA qualitative study of Internal Branding Practices.
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Additional observations
Several organizations did not identify specific internal branding practices as such, stating
that it is part of human resources or that branding is part of everything they do. In
particular, not-for-profits stated that the passion of their cause fuelled employee
connection to organization and brand values. Internal branding appears to be subject to
the requirement of continual evolution; the key challenge is keeping it fresh and relevant
to both the employee and customer.
Measurement
What is measured?
Measurement emerged as one of the challenges for internal branding efforts as is clearly
demonstrated by the CMA survey: Only 28% of those involved in internal branding
actually measure the effectiveness of their efforts. Without spending information and
some sort of effectiveness measure, it is difficult to even approximate a ROI, something
that is often needed to justify ongoing internal branding programs.
DO YOU MEASURE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL BRANDING
INITIATIVES
13
58
28
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Not sure
No
Yes
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Measurement of the effects of internal branding is still in its infancy. In the research,
there was a consensus that an external measurement of a brands impact on consumers
was the easiestmethod of having some form of measurement. This starts from the pure
business metrics of retention, un-aided awareness and such, up to client satisfaction.
Identified in CMA's 2004 study on brand measurement, the best practice method is to
have comprehensive metrics around "customer experience." None of the research
participants had reached this plateau with confidence.
There was also consensus that appropriate internal measures were more difficultand at
the same time more desirable than external measures. How do you measure the
effectiveness of front line and internal staff living the brand? At present, employee
surveys are the main tool used. A corollary question is how do you recognize and reward
such behaviours?
Again, surveys and 360 feedback programmes are the main tools used.
None of the research participants were satisfied that they had the measurement of internal
branding initiatives at a satisfactory level. Tools like balanced scorecard and peer
ratings/reward programmes are steps in the right direction.
Internal Branding Measurements
From the findings, the following table summarises present practices in measuring the
effectiveness of internal branding initiatives:
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How brand promise is delivered - internal branding the reality
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CASE STUDY
CONTRIBUTIONS OF INTERNAL BRANDING PRACTICES TO
CORPORATE SUCCESS IN MAFOI
COMPANY OVERVIEW:
Finding skilled resources and retaining them is a challenge that many companies face. Ma
Foi Randstad has over two decades of experience in Human Resource Management and
Consulting helps find the right candidates for different companies, partner with them in
maximizing potential of their human capital and optimizing HR processes.
Over the years, it has built up strong partnerships with companies in India and abroad;
helped build successful companies by identifying the best candidates for them, many of
whom have gone on to create their own success stories. With human capital being the
most valuable asset for your company today, Ma Foi Randstad make sure that companies
get the best in the business. Its wide suite of services lets companies leverage their human
capital and optimize the performance of their employees.
Its services have developed based on international best practices and learning from
thousands of assignments executed by it over the years, and are adapted to suit its clients
businesses. Be it the right talent for different organization, or a cost-effective consulting
solution, or a training program, or solutions for enhancing HR processes, its services are
customized.
PRESENCE IN INDIA
Ma Foi Randstad is a part of Randstad, the worlds second largest HR services company.
Started in 1992, it has grown into a full spectrum HR services provider for clients
worldwide. It has helped shape the careers of more than 2,80,000 individuals. It has
provided a variety of HR services to thousands of organizations that include more than
250 organizations in Fortune-500 list.
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Ma Foi Randstad, offers one of the finest HR services portfolios ranging from Executive
Search, Temporary Staffing, Recruitment, Specialists-on-Contract, Consulting,
Outsourcing, Training and HR Automation. Its vast network of offices across the country
helps it to serve its customers better.
It continues to focus on developing customized and innovative HR services, leveraging
on its unique strengths of geographical presence, providing the full spectrum of HR
services and the experience of working with the largest number of customers, candidates
and flexi-employees.
PRESENCE ACROSS THE GLOBE
Randstad was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Diemen, the Netherlands.
Randstad Holding NV is listed on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam, where options for
stocks in Randstad are also traded.
Randstad specializes in solutions in the field of flexible work and human resources
services. Services offered include: regular temporary staffing and permanent placement
to in-house, professionals, search & selection, and HR Solutions. The acquisition of
Vedior, by the Randstad Group in 2008 has made us the second-largest HR services
provider in the world. It is ranked among the top-three HR services providers in
Argentina, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Greece, Cyprus,
India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. It is
also becoming a force to reckon within Australia and the United States of America. At
the end of the year 2009, Randstad had approximately 25,500 employees working from
over 4,100 branches and in-house locations in 44 countries across the world. Randstad
generated revenue of 12.4 billion in 2009.
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THE INDUSTRIES IT CATERS TO:
Banking, Financial Services & Insurance
Consumer, Retail & Services
Energy & Infrastructure
Information & Communication Technology
IT Enabled Services
Manufacturing
Pharmaceutical, Healthcare & Life Sciences
Media, Entertainment & Hospitality
BELIEVES IN BEST HIRING
As a company setting up a base in India, anyone would want only the best people
working in the organization. Ma Foi Randstad looks at things in the same way and hence
helps to confront challenges in understanding the availability of talent pool, attracting the
right talent, understanding compensation levels and creating a platform for growth.
It helps in:
Identifying the talent pool where availability is high.
Doing a feasibility check on the location for establishing an office.
Compensation survey, recommending the right salary range.
Framing a HR policy manual.
Staffing the complete organization across levels and functions on a turnkey model.
Every potential candidate undergoes an in-depth interview process in order to determine
their personality, motivation and long term goals. Skills, experience and references are
thoroughly checked. While looking for the ideal candidates it typically cast the net wide
open by an advertisement to assist candidate search process and build your employer
brand.
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Secondly, it has designed an assessment centre comprising of various selection tools.
This helps to zero down on the ideal candidate. For critical hires in such scenario, it
tends to expand scope of the matching process it looks at matching amongst the
potential boss, potential employee and overall culture of the organization. It is called Job
Fit, Boss Fit and Company Fit. This helps in putting the best candidates forward and
raises process efficiencies.
INTERNAL BRANDING AT MAFOI
Consistent Messaging.
Measuring Stakeholder Connect
Critical for Creating Sustainable Brand Experience.
More Relevant in Turbulent Times
Develop a deep emotional connect between the brand and the employees
Business Philosophy, Value System & CRM Policy to contribute to it.
Brand Personality & Values Aligned with Corporate Vision & Business
Philosophy
InculcateBRAND VALUESamongst allINTERNAL STAKE HOLDERS
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Objectives & Reasons for conducting internal branding at MAFOI:
Employees were unable to understand and identify the Corporate Vision, they were not
satisfied with the companys remuneration. Communication channel was complex.
This had a major impact on the productivity of the company, it was not growing at the
pace it was supposed to be.
Here are some of the problems that organization encountered when trying to implement
new brand management programs:
Senior management was not focused on the brand
Senior management had a short attention span how do we garner their support and
resources over time?
Some senior leaders did not seem to be bought into the brand management concept at
all
The organization is highly fragmented and resistant to change
The organization is internally focused
How to shift people's focus from their functional "silos" to cross-functional ownership of
the brand?
The organization's culture did not reinforce the brand
The organization's operations and systems did not support the brand
The brand message was only one of many among all the corporate messages
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How to get from brand promise to brand
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REPORT OF THE RESEARCH
OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT
Primary objective
The purpose of this study is to investigate how internal branding practices can contribute
to corporate success.
Secondary objective
To know whether the employees imbibed the vision and core values of the
organization.
To drive the desired behaviour of the employees to deliver on brand promise.
To know whether to involve HR functional in internal branding.
To know whether the corporate culture contribute to corporate and internal brand
building.
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SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the research survey is to know the strengths and the areas needing
improvements (possible blind spots) at various executive levels.
The study then goes on to evaluate and analyze the findings so as to present a clear
picture of different factors of internal branding contributing to the productivity of the
company.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Significance to the hr professionals/executives:
This is a limited study which takes into consideration the responses of 20 people. This
data can be explorated to take in the trends in different organization. The significance to
the HR Professionals lies in studying these trends that emerge from the study.
Significance for the researcher:
To facilitate and provide all the useful information of the study and also provide an in-
depth knowledge about the different factors contributing to the corporate and internal
brand building.
Implications for practitioners :
As an interesting implication, Corporate Brand Managers may have to accept that the
notion of one corporate culture may be difficult to achieve in large corporations or
corporations with spread-out workforces. Instead, it is likely that recognizing various
subcultures within the organization and utilizing their respective strengths in brand
building (although within a main cultural framework) would increase the brands strength
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internally, and thus also increase its external strength. Interestingly, the study seems to
reflect that best-practice corporate brand building is carried out more and more on
employees terms.Practitioners may therefore further strengthen their corporate brands if
employees are viewed both as part of the corporate brandand as internal audiences which
should be informed of the brands value and how this value can be affected.
This may be specifically important in the development of internal communication
methods as well as in the acknowledgment and involvement of employees in brand
building. Corporate brand building should be carried out by appointing leaders
throughout the company who deliver brand related messages directly to employees,
acknowledge their contributions to the organization and brand and directly involve them
in everyday brand building activities.
Concerning the contributions of HR-practices to corporate branding, practitioners may
benefit from involving the HR-function not only in more traditional areas such as
recruitment and phasing in of new employees, but also in more explicit brand building
activities such as internalization of core values among current employees and in internal
brand auditing. In this way, internal branding practices are likely to be rendered more
effective and the corporate brand strengthened.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is considered as the nerve of the project. Without a proper well-
organized research plan, it is impossible to complete the project and reach to any
conclusion. The project was based on the survey plan. The main objective of survey was
to collect appropriate data, which work as a base for drawing conclusion and getting
result.
Therefore, research methodology is the way to systematically solve the research problem.
Research methodology not only talks of the methods but also logic behind the methods
used in the context of a research study and it explains why a particular method has been
used in the preference of the other methods.
RESEARCH DESIGN
Exploratory & descriptive experimental research
The research is primarily both exploratory as well as descriptive in nature. The sources of
information are both primary & secondary.
A survey was carried out among different employees working at all the levels working in
the organization in order to assess the importance of various factors contributing to the
corporate and internal brand building.
SAMPLING METHODOLOGY
Sampling Technique:
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Initially, a rough draft was prepared keeping in mind the objective of the research. A pilot
study was done in order to know the accuracy of the Questionnaire. The final
Questionnaire was arrived only after certain important changes were done. Thus the
sampling came out to be judgmental and convenient.
Sampling Unit:
The respondents who were asked to fill out questionnaires are the sampling units. These
comprise of employees working at different levels in the organization.
Sample size:
The sample size was restricted to 20.
Sampling Area :
The region of research is organization in New Delhi.
LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH
1. The research is confined to only Delhi and does not necessarily shows a pattern
applicable to all of Country.
2. Some respondents were reluctant to divulge personal information which can affect
the validity of all responses.
3. The sample size was restricted to 20 only. This was because of paucity of time.
4. In a rapidly changing industry, analysis on one day or in one segment can change
very quickly. The environmental changes are vital to be considered in order to
assimilate the findings.
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RESULTS AND ANALYSISRESEARCH QUESTIONS
It is believed that a study of these concepts offer the greatest potential to develop current
knowledge of the ways in which internal branding practices can contribute to corporate
brand success.
Core values as well as vision have been argued as building blocks which lay the
foundation of corporate branding.
Furthermore, corporate culture has been highlighted as an essential building
block in corporate and internal branding which guides employee behaviour.
Internal communication is also proposed as a vital element in internal branding,
which influences brand commitment and strengthens the brand internally.
HR involvement in brand building has been argued to influence brand
commitment as well as increase the incorporation of the brand into work
activities and increase employee brand attitude.
In relation to these researchers works it is of value to identify how the four presented
branding concepts as well as HR-practices, when implemented as internal branding
practices, can contribute to corporate brand success:
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The following five research questions have thus guided the study (RQ1-5):
1. How can core values contribute to corporate and internal branding?
2. How can vision contribute to corporate and internal branding?
3. How can corporate culture contribute to corporate and internal branding?
4. How can different internal communication methods contribute to corporate and
internal branding?
5. How canHR-practices contribute to corporate and internal branding?
METHOD
The study was initiated by reviewing current literature within corporate and internal
branding in order to develop appropriate research questions. The research questions
guided the selection of cases and directed the design of interview questions used in data
collection consisting of interviews.
They also influenced the collection of documents and web based information. Cases were
studied individually in order to write individual case reports. This facilitated data analysis
and assured greater validity and reliability. Importantly, data analysis was guided by the
research questions.
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DATA ANALYSIS
1) Do core values contribute to the corporate and internal brand building?
Yes No
20% 80%
ANALYSIS
According to the above pie chart 80% out of the total interviewed people are of the belief
that they have imbibed the core values of the organization and understand its significance
in corporate and internal brand building.
2) According to you what kind of function the internal brand building is?
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Simple Little bit complex Complex
5% 30% 65%
ANALYSIS
In the above pie chart only 5% out of the total interviewed people find that internal brand
building is a simple process, the another 30% respondents find that it is a little bit
complex process where as 65% of the respondents find to a great extent that internal
brand building is a very complex procedure.
3) Is it true to say that corporate culture contribute to internal brand building ?
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30%
5%
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YES NO
100% 0%
ANALYSIS
As the above pie chart shows that all the respondents are of the belief that corporate
culture contributes to corporate and internal brand building. Corporate culture is seeded
by the CEOs of the company.
4) Does different internal communication methodscontribute to corporate and
internal branding?
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Yes No Some extent Large extent
50% 0% 20% 30%
ANALYSIS
In the above pie chart, 50% out of total respondents are of the belief that different internal
communication methods contribute to corporate and internal branding ,0% believe that it
has no connection with corporate and internal branding, 20% of the respondents believe
that to some extent different internal communication methods contribute to corporate and
internal branding whereas 30% of the respondents believe that to large extent the
different internal communication methods contribute to corporate and internal branding.
5) Do the HR-practices contribute to the corporate and internal brand building?
Yes No Some extent Large extent
20% 20% 40% 20%
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30%
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ANALYSIS
According to the above pie chart, 20% out of total respondents are of the belief that the
HR-practices contribute to the corporate and internal brand building , 20% of the
respondents believe that the HR-practices do not contribute to the corporate and internal
brand building , 40% of the respondents believe that to some extent the HR-practices
contribute to the corporate and internal brand building where as 20% of the respondents
believe that to large extent the HR-practices contribute to the corporate and internal brand
building.
CONCLUSION
Internal branding is truly a cross-functional practice. Having now spoken to Human
Resource professionals we can confirm that internal branding is not just the purview of
marketing departments. However, it is not unexpected that there is some specialisation.
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The marketing executives we spoke to tend to be more involved in the development of
brand strategy particularly as it relates to the business. For example, they are more deeply
immersed in questions relating to customer experience, corporate image, business
development and design, and collateral materials that support brand values. Human
Resource professionals tend to be more concerned with tactics and implementation. They
are mostly immersed in matter of compensation, employee attributes and behaviours and
recruitment.
Success requires both!
Core values can strengthen corporate brands if they are united with cultural
values.
Core values contribute to external corporate brand building by adding value tocustomers.
Core values contribute to corporate and internal branding by acting as an
organizational structure or cultural element which guides employee behaviour.
Core values contribute to corporate and internal branding by internally indicating
how the vision is to be achieved.
An abstractly formulated vision contributes to corporate branding more as a
management tool which sets the strategic direction for the company than an
internal branding tool which can guide brand-related employee behaviour.
Corporate culture contributes to corporate and internal branding by acting as a
self-sustaining organizational structure which transmits brand-related values and
behaviours to employees.
Corporate culture can strengthen corporate brands if the main cultural framework
allows cultural interpretations within subcultures.
Corporate culture can strengthen corporate brands if subcultures co-exist in
harmony.
Central communication methods which apply a pull-principle contribute to
corporate and internal branding by motivating employees to search for and apply
brand related information in their work.
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Forums for personal interaction contribute to corporate and internal branding by
enabling employees to develop and deepen their brand understanding and
commitment.
Internal communication can greater contribute to corporate and internal branding
if corporations evaluate how employees prefer to search for and process
information and design communication channels accordingly.
HR-practices can contribute to corporate and internal branding through:
Brand-related recruitment
Phasing in of new employees
Brand training or brand internalization among current employees
Internal brand auditing
FINDINGS
Three trends are becoming stronger in the immediate future
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(i) More walk the talk
As employees who have grown up with internal branding as a way of life and understand
its power and importance enter senior management, so the large gap between senior
managers actually walking the talk and not, will be closed.
Also there is a proliferation in the number of stories surrounding senior management
walking the talk, often as iconic figures, and successful companies. West Jet is a good
Canadian example of this.
(ii)Suffusion into all parts of the company
As those involved in internal branding increasingly have success with front line
employees and directly with customer experience, so they will begin to extend their
expertise and methods back into the corporation and involve those employees who do not
have direct customer experience but have influence nonetheless. The non-frontline
employees will become touched by internal branding.
(iii) Social Responsibility
A Bank of Nova Scotia study discovered that 61% of Canadians would change their job if
their employer demonstrated poor corporate social responsibility practices. This is an
indicator of our third trend for the future; internal branding values are going to become
increasingly influential. Furthermore, they will have to include a stronger sensitivity to
environmental and social responsibility concerns as well as community involvement.
REFERENCES
The handbook of brand management-Arnold, D.
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Building brand commitment: a behavioral approach to internal brand
management- burmann, c. And zeplin, s. (2005
Marketing management. 9th edition. New york: prentice hall- kotler, p. (1997).
Vision, values, and courage: leadership for quality management- snyder, n. H.,
dowd, j. B., jr., & houghton, d. M. (1994).
http://www.instituteforbrandleadership.org/internalbranding.pdf.
http://www.mafoirandstad.com
http://www.google.com
http://www.hrcite.com
ANNEXURE( QUESTIONNAIRE)
1) Do core values contribute to the corporate and internal brand building?
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2) According to you what kind of function the internal brand building is?
3) Is it true to say that corporate culture contribute to internal brand building ?
4) Does different internal communication methodscontribute to corporate and
internal branding?
5) Do the HR-practices contribute to the corporate and internal brand building?
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QUESTIONNAIRE
Name Designation.. Organization.
Objective
This is sent to you as a part of my MBA project I am undertaking on the topic
contribution of internal brand practices to corporate success.
From the organizational point of view this questionnaire is a part of development
exercise to know the strength and the areas needing improvements (possible blind
spots) in terms of different factors contributing to the internal brand building.
Questionnaire to assess the importance of each factor of internal brand building
contributing to the corporate success
Please rate the importance of each competency using the 5-point rating scale
Do core values contribute to the corporate and internal brand building? 5
According to you what kind of function the internal brand building is? 4
Is it true to say that corporate culture contribute to internal brand building ? 3Does different internal communication methods contribute to corporate and
internal branding?
2
Do the HR-practices contribute to the corporate and internal brand building? 1
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PROJECT SUMMARY
1. Working Title :
2. Purpose of Study :
3. Objective of Study :
4. Hypothesis for Study(if any) :
5. Methodology
Research Design :
Data Collection Approach :
Sampling Method :
Measuremet Technique :
6. Proposed Table of Contents of the
Project Report :
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EVALUATION SHEET FOR RESEARCH STUDY
PROJECT
Students Name : _____________________________________________
Roll No. : _____________________________________________
Evaluators Feedback : _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
Did the student contact you regularly for discussion? : YES/NO (please tick)
Marks Awarded : ______________________________________________
(Out of 40)
Signature of Evaluator
Name :
Date :
ATTENDENCE FOR FINAL PROJECT REPORT
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Name of the Student :
Course :
Roll No. :
Name of the Supervisor :
S.No. Date Time Progress of Report (Remarks) Signature of Student Signature of Supervis