Towards an integrated approach to corporate branding - findings from an empirical study.

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 6^th 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]