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Issues management can help to meet important challenges which companies face by managing their corporate brand. Firstly, issues management helps to identify issues that are of particular relevance to corporate stakeholders in order to strengthen the corporate brand identity. Secondly, it can enhance integrated communication by supporting internal coordination processes. Those contributions of issues management to corporate branding are important to strengthen the corporate reputation. We present findings from a qualitative study on the issues management practice of eleven multinationals. The results show that the importance of issues management for proactive corporate brand and reputation building is acknowledged. However, only few firms have actually implemented adequate processes and structures to support corporate branding with the help of issues management. Suggestions for potential improvement are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the findings of an empirical study among communication executives in eleven multinational companies we propose an increasingly integrated approach to corporate branding. Key aspects which support our claim are the growing importance of the financial community, the augmenting skills shortage driving competition for current and future employees, and the enhanced transparency of corporate activities being greatly supported by the particular characteristics of the Internet. In order to achieve greater integration and eventually a favourable reputation we propose an organisational model combining centralisation and team organisation which particularly aims to support integration across the various functions responsible for stakeholder relations. Extracts from this research were presented at the 6th International Conference on Corporate and Marketing Communications, Queen΄s University, Belfast 23–24 April, 2001. The authors want to thank the interview partners for giving us precious insights in their work, our industry partners for their financial support, and Kalle Becker, Victor Porak, and Anna-Lisa Wolters for their help in conducting this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]