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In recent years and due to market demand and environmental regulations, firms have been changing their procedures regarding document production, handling, and filling. There has been a paradigm change in document sustention in order to attain such changes, from paper-based to electronic forms, resulting in the Digitization and Paperless Office Program (DPOP). The literature on digitization and paperless processes is profuse, nonetheless, it is outdated, uses only single or multiple case study approaches, and is limited to specific industries, such as healthcare or higher education. To overcome this gap, this research analyses the current implementation of the DPOP in five major sectors by using a country scale approach, consequently, this research study contributes to strengthening the literature in this area of knowledge. The methodology used is quantitative and is based on a questionnaire distributed to the most important economic sectors (education, health, trade, industry, and services) in Portugal. The results show that a DPOP positively impacts companies, as it increases profitability and, in most cases, is a sine qua non condition for negotiating with clients. Additionally, it favours companies’ image, reduces costs, and contributes to environmental sustainability. This research provides new insights into how firms using a DPOP may contribute to dematerialization and paper consumption reduction. It is also original as it covers multiple sectors using a country approach.

This paper extends the current knowledge of corporate website favourability (CWF) by developing a comprehensive conceptual model of its influence on corporate image, corporate reputation, loyalty and identification. The paper reviews previous studies on corporate websites from the perspectives of marketing, management, corporate identity and corporate visual identity in order to inform our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of CWF. The propositions and the conceptual framework present an approach by which a corporation can design and manage a favourable corporate website. A number of important contributions are offered: first, the paper adds to the understanding of CWF; second, it discusses the antecedents of CWF by drawing upon the existing literature; third, it is beneficial for practitioners in shaping CWF strategies and fourth, it offers possible consequences of CWF and provides a framework for future testing.

The paper deals with corporate image of banks perceived by Czech Millennials (generation Y) with emphasis on financial services area. First, paper presents the theoretical framework of corporate image and identity, subsequently strategies of positioning are described in the first chapter. The major part of paper is devoted to primary marketing research. For purpose of collecting data, the method of questioning was chosen. The questionnaire was given to 236 respondents living in the Czech Republic. Because the survey was focused on Millennials, respondents had to be 23 – 40 years old. The survey was distributed in the spring 2017. The primary research dealt with the factors which are supposed to be important in building the image of the bank from the Generation Y perspective. The aim of the paper is to investigate the relations between educational attainment and perceptions of Czech Millennials (Generation Y) in chosen factors, which can create the image of the banks. Results mainly showed that educational attainment is not the significant element for determining the perceptions of these factors.

Purpose: This paper reports on the findings of an analysis of the visual branding of over 630 airline tail fins as they appeared in 2000 and 2012. Design/methodology: Unlike existing studies of airlines’ visual identities that rely on a snap shot in time and examine all airlines, this paper focuses on changes that have occurred in the visual branding of full-service carriers (FSCs) and low cost carriers (LCCs) between 2000 and 2012 using a semiotic content analysis. Findings: The results confirm that there have been significant changes in the visual content of FSC and LCC tail fins and the way in which these airlines portray non-price competitive characteristics. The research shows that while an increasing number of LCCs now use aircraft tail fins to display their corporate name, FSCs are increasingly employing icons of nationhood. This suggests that while LCCs are trying to appeal to a wide passenger demographic who value low fares over service, FSCs are responding to the competitive threat by explicitly drawing on the cultural rhetoric of symbols of sovereign national identity to differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market. Originality/value: This paper builds on previous analyses of this type focusing on temporal comparisons and suggesting differing strategies adopted by LCCs and FSCs.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how international companies (can) use real estate as a means to reinforce corporate identity and to express brand values in order to evoke a positive image in today's competitive world. Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature, seven case studies including analysis of company documents and in-depth interviews with marketing experts and real estate advisors, and a cross-case analysis showing the translation of brand core values in real estate strategies of these multinationals. Findings – The findings show that brand values are incorporated in the location strategy, building strategy, workplace strategy and at portfolio management level by all companies, but in different ways and with different focus points. Most commonly used brand values are “Green” values, i.e. sustainability, reliability, transparency, innovation and people oriented. Branding policies take into account both internal stakeholders such as the employees and external stakeholders such as customers and investors. Research limitations/implications – The number of interviews is rather small and limited to Dutch staff members of multinationals. Reliability of the findings was enforced by triangulation through connecting the interview findings to literature and strategic documents. Additional empirical research is needed to further explore which strategic choices can be made and in particular what are the actual costs and benefits of “branding by real estate”. Practical implications – The different ways to translate corporate brand values in real estate and the conceptual framework that has been developed to describe the step-by-step approach – from defining a vision to translating corporate culture and corporate identity into a well-considered real estate strategy – can be used by policy makers and real estate managers in real estate decision-making on strategic, tactical and operational level. Originality/value – The paper links findings from corporate real estate management with insights from marketing theory and adding value by real estate.

Corporate visual identity plays a dominant role in the corporate identity and corporate image literature and is a key factor in conveying the identity of an organisation. In contrast, non-visual cues have been widely ignored by academics so far. This paper aims to expand the restricted visual concept by taking a holistic perspective incorporating all sensory stimuli based on the various ways of human perception. In detail, the five human senses (i.e. seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching) are considered as the basic framework for a more holistic construct. This paper presents a broad literature review that examines existing research on all five sensory dimensions. The review clearly shows that even though other sensory dimensions can have significant effects, apart from visual identity, research in the corporate identity and corporate image area on sensory dimensions such as scent and sound is rare. Consequently, this paper proposes the construct of corporate sensory identity. The proposed construct incorporates all five sensory dimensions in a consistent way which reflects all senses by which an organisation can convey its identity to all of its internal and external stakeholders.

For a long time, corporate identity, corporate image and corporate reputation have been studied from a number of academic perspectives, due to their intangibility and their significant role in gaining an organization's competitive advantages. Recent business circumstances (for example, the economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemy) bring new challenges for companies and their long-term survival. The aim of this paper is to review the constructs of corporate identity, corporate image and corporate reputation, and, thus, to remove or reduce the misunderstanding of the three constructs in the relevant literature. After a thorough theoretical review, some influential conceptual models were examined, pointing out the role of communication in the whole process of corporate marketing.

Today, the banking sector plays a significant role due to the substantial increase in the number of banks and has become an intensely competitive field. The purpose of this paper is to strengthen knowledge of retail banking services by finding the interrelationships between service justice, service quality, social influence, and corporate image concerning service satisfaction and loyalty. In addition, we sought to determine the moderating effect of bank ownership (i.e., state-owned and private sector banks) on the above relationships. Data were collected at random through online surveys that were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Empirical findings revealed that service justice and quality have a significant effect on service satisfaction and customer loyalty. Social influence has a significant effect on customer loyalty, but not on service satisfaction, however, corporate image is positively related to service satisfaction, but not to customer loyalty. Understandably, service satisfaction was assumed to have a fundamental relationship to consumer loyalty. However, moderation results indicated that state or private sector ownership of banks was an equally important moderating factor for almost all dimensions relevant to customer loyalty, other than service justice, social influence, and service satisfaction. The study presents theoretical contributions and considers the managerial implications for banking services that are potentially applicable to other financial institutions.

This paper investigates the factors influencing on customers’ purchase decision of residential properties in Selangor, Malaysia. The study measures the effects of quality, price, location, promotion and corporate image on purchase decision by distributing some questionnaire among 312 randomly selected residents from some selected destinations at Selangor, Malaysia. Descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis are used for analyzing the data. The findings reveal that quality, price, location, promotion, and corporate image positively and significantly influence on customers’ purchase decision. The results also indicate that location is the most important factor followed by price, quality, corporate image and promotion plays the smallest role on customers’ purchase intention. The study discusses the results and give constructive suggestions for promoting sales figures.

The banking industry is currently at the forefront of the development of technolo¬gy-based service delivery, and the survival of banks depends on their ability to deal with the environmental challenges. Due to these challenges, many banks are faced with an identity crisis and increased customer migration rates that negatively affect the levels of business profitability. Croatian market ads additionally challenge almost 30 banks currently operating with customers that are extremely price sensitive. Research shows that in the banking sector, a favorable image is considered a critical aspect of a company’s ability to maintain its market position, as the image has been related to core attributes of organizational success. This paper studies the dimensions of corporate image, focusing on the corporate image concept in the Croatian banking industry as perceived by consumers and its possible impact on their choice of banks. The purpose of this study is to give an insight and provide a deeper understanding of how the banks, by developing a strong and consistent corporate image using corporate communication activities, ensure a long-term source of sustainable competitive advantage and influence on customers’ end choice. A study was carried out in Croatia during 2019 using 250 respondents-consumers who used different types of banking services in different banks. Series of ANOVA analysis shows how the perception of the corporate image of the bank and its influence on the customer’s choice of the bank, bank loyalty and the quality of the bank services varies depending on some demographic and social variables. Results pose implications for bank communications and service positioning within customer segments. This research raises ideas for future studies as well.

The aim of this paper is to examine the direct impact of marketing and medical tools on the symmetry of physicians’ prescription behavior in the context of the Pakistani healthcare sector. This research also investigates the moderating influence of corporate image and customer relationship in an association of marketing &amp, medical tools, and the symmetry of physicians’ prescription behavior. The survey involved a research sample of 740 physicians, comprising 410 general practitioners and 330 specialists. A series of multivariate approaches such as exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analyses, and conditional process analysis are employed. The findings of the study showed that marketing &amp, medical tools have a direct, positive, and significant influence on physicians’ symmetrical prescription behavior. Corporate image and customer relationship have also a significant impact as moderating variables between marketing &amp, medical tools, and the symmetry of prescription behavior of physicians. The outcomes of this research are beneficial to marketers and medical managers in the pharmaceutical industry.

This paper firstly examines the literature on the linguistic devices of rhetoric in financial disclosure. Secondly, it suggests avenues for future research on the value of executive financial discourse by regarding language as an asset. Using an exploration of the business communication and business discourse literature on financial disclosure over 15 years, it discusses the language issues identified in the literature on the CEO's letter to shareholders and the annual report from a linguistic perspective. Two linguistic devices offer further insights into the value of executive financial discourse: metaphorical expressions and discourse markers.

Many firms see Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as necessary investments in the community where the firms operate in order to ensure and safeguard sustainable operation for the future. This paper investigates the causal relationship between the antecedents and consequences of consumer expectations and evaluation to CSR activities. The original contribution of this study is that it focuses on the perceptions of female consumers on CSR activities of a multinational company. The research employed 175 women in the Greater Jakarta region as respondents, which consists of 92 housewives and 83 career women. Respondents are existing customer of a multinational consumer goods firm operating in Indonesia . Analysis was performed using the Structural Equation Modeling. Final model showed that customer’s evaluation on the firms’ financial and ethical statements positively influences expectations and evaluations, while Consumer evaluation of a firms’ CSR has indirect effect on Consumer’s Trust, Loyalty and Perceived Risk. Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Consumer Expectations and Evaluation, Consumer Trust and Loyalty, Corporate Image, Perceived Purchase Risk.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained global awareness in recent years. The proponents of CSR state that a good corporate reputation may be beneficial to an organization. This research paper reviews the theoretical basis of CSR, and by adopting a qualitative methodology examines the characteristics of CSR strategies and CSR communication tactics of eight companies in Cyprus market through personal in-depth interviews. Results reveal that CSR has a positive impact on the company's employees, the environment, stakeholders and the general public, and highlight that CSR is an important ingredient for the success of the organizations in the Cyprus market. © 2014 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Corporate reputation (CR) has become a fashionable topic due, among other reasons, to the recent financial and economic crisis and spreading corporate scandals. Given its interdisciplinary character and intangible nature, CR has been a frequent issue in many disciplines, but scarcely present in the business ethics field. This neglect is odd since a good reputation is one of the most valuable consequences of doing the right things and the things right. In this paper, we intend to explain this absence through three hypotheses: a) business ethics literature largely identifies corporate reputation and corporate social responsibility; b) corporate reputation overlaps with corporate image and corporate identity, resulting interchangeable constructs; and c) business ethics scholars have focused on the negative side of the reputation phenomenon, highlighting reputational risk more than benefits. Based on a bibliometric analysis of the top journal of business ethics literature over a recent decade (2002-2011), we finally confirmed the three hypotheses although c) only partially. In addition, the findings of this study will allow for a deeper understanding of the link between looking good and doing well.

Research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has notably increased in recent years and many scales for measuring CSR image have been developed in academic literature. Due to the contextual character recognized in the implementation of CSR strategies, in this paper a new scale based on stakeholder theory is developed to evaluate customers’ perception regarding the CSR performance of their banking service providers. The proposal of reliable measurement tools for evaluating customers’ perception is especially relevant for companies because of their significant role in influencing the design and implementation of corporate strategies. Results demonstrate the reliability and validity of this new scale in two different samples. In the banking industry, CSR includes corporate responsibilities toward customers, shareholders, employees, society, and all legal and ethical requirements of banking institutions. Nevertheless, different kinds of banking institutions have specific CSR images, which reveal different strategic approaches to CSR.

This article analyses the impact corporate social responsibility has on corporate image, basing the findings theoretically and empirically. The first part of this article focuses on a theoretical concept of corporate social responsibility. The authors analyze different definitions of corporate social responsibility, review chronological development of this concept and reveal similarities between different definitions. Positive and negative positions towards corporate social responsibility are presented and compared. The second part of this article reveals the theoretical concept of corporate image and the constituting factors. After discussing different definitions of corporate image, concluding remarks are made. The authors of this article discuss the topicality of corporate image management subsequently and name the factors that form corporate image, laying out the basis to manage particular factors. The first two parts of this paper provide a theoretical basis for further discussion. The third part of this article outlines insights for causality between corporate social responsibility and corporate image as well as links between the two. Concluding the reviewed literature and the newest empirical data, it is noted that corporate social responsibility has positive impact on corporate image. Positive impact can be seen through various phenomena: positive consumer attitude, positive word of mouth, etc. [...], Marketingo teoretikai ir praktikai pabrėžia, kad socialinės atsakomybės raiška tampa vis svarbesne įmonės charakteristika, lemiančia vartotojo sprendimą renkantis prekę ar paslaugą. Globaliu mastu populiarėjant socialiai atsakingos veiklos principams, socialinė atsakomybė suprantama kaip aktualus veiksnys, kuriantis įmonės įvaizdį, suteikiantis konkurencinį pranašumą, diferenciacijos galimybę, lemiantis verslo sėkmę. Remiantis išanalizuota moksline literatūra, teigtina, kad socialinės atsakomybės raiška formuoja įmonės įvaizdį, tačiau pasigendama teorinių ir empirinių tyrimų, atskleidžiančių socialinės atsakomybės ir įmonės įvaizdžio sąsajas. Straipsnio tikslas – teoriškai pagrįsti ir empiriškai patikrinti socialinės atsakomybės raišką formuojant įmonės įvaizdį Lietuvoje. Tyrimo metodai: mokslinės literatūros lyginamoji, loginė ir apibendrinamoji analizė, empirinis kiekybinis tyrimas. Apie įmonės socialinės atsakomybės sąvoką daug diskutuoja marketingo mokslo teoretikai ir praktikai, tačiau vieningo apibrėžimo neranda. Ankstyvieji įmonės socialinės atsakomybės modeliai daugiausia dėmesio skyrė įmonės veiklai, kuriai nėra tiesiogiai teikiamas dėmesys ekonominių ar teisinių normų. Pastaruoju metu vis daugiau dėmesio skiriama įmonės filantropinei veiklai. Universaliausią apibrėžimą pateikia World Business Council for Sustainable Development: įmonės socialinė atsakomybė yra tęstinis verslo vienetų įsipareigojimas verslo veikloje vadovautis etikos normomis ir prisidėti prie ekonominės plėtros, gerinant darbuotojų ir jų šeimų, bendruomenės ir visuomenės gyvenimo kokybę plačiąja prasme. [...]

PurposeTo analyze whether perceived corporate reputation and customer satisfaction are directly associated with customer intention.Design/methodology/approachUsing structural equation modeling, the study is based on the responses to a written questionnaire of 462 customers of a large German utility.FindingsA non‐significant and weak relationship was found between corporate reputation and switching intention. The postulated impact of customer satisfaction on customer switching intention was confirmed. Corporate reputation and customer satisfaction were found to be strongly correlated.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample includes only one company's customers, so the findings may not be generalized to other industries. Future research in other service industries is called for.Practical implicationsThe threat of customer defection in deregulated markets requires power supply companies to examine the marketing instruments and measures required to inhibit customer willingness to switch power suppliers. This study demonstrates the need to focus on monitoring and increasing customer satisfaction.Originality/valueThe importance of reputation and satisfaction will ultimately be assessed on the basis of their customer‐related consequences and their economic relevance to companies. The construct of corporate reputation has attracted significant attention among marketing scholars, although almost no work can be found that focuses on the most important stakeholder group, namely customers. This paper addresses this research gap. The identification of context‐specific reputation and satisfaction effects on customer defection offers both practical implications for marketers and contributes to the theoretical knowledge base of an increasingly important domain in services marketing.

This paper analyses the influence that image associations have in the perceptions and satisfaction with the Spanish bank industry. For that, the role of location, personnel, social responsibility and perceived price fairness as determinants of global impression and satisfaction with the entity is examined. Moreover, it also studies if socio-demographic variables and the fact that the client is customer of a traditional or saving bank moderate the relationships. To fill these aims, structural equation modeling is employed with a sample of 300 clients of the Spanish banking industry. Results show different paths of influence of the associations over the satisfaction. Besides, differences among segments are found, what highlights the importance of offering differentiate services in this market.ResumenEste trabajo analiza la influencia que las asociaciones de la imagen tienen en las percepciones y en la satisfacción de los clientes de la banca española. Para ello se examina el papel de la localización, el personal, la responsabilidad social y la justicia en precios como determinantes de la impresión global y de la satisfacción con la entidad financiera. Además, se estudia si las características demográficas y el hecho de que el cliente trabaje con un banco o caja de ahorros moderan las relaciones planteadas. Para alcanzar los objetivos se utiliza la metodología de ecuaciones estructurales en una muestra de 300 clientes de bancos y cajas españolas. Los resultados de este estudio evidencian distintos patrones de influencia de las asociaciones sobre la satisfacción. Además, se observan diferencias entre segmentos, lo cual subraya la importancia de ofrecer servicios diferenciados en este mercado.