Corporate identity: concept, components and contribution

This article provides an overview of the corporate identity concept. Corporate identity is now widely recognised as an effective strategic instrument and a means to achieve competitive advantage. It can be used to gain competitive advantage as customers identify with all aspects of a business, including its social, cultural and ethical policies and not just with the company's products and services. Despite the increase in academic and corporate interest in the topic, a universally accepted definition of corporate identity remains elusive. In consequence, misunderstandings between brand, corporate brand, employee brand and corporate identity are common. This is a result of the fact that corporate identity is associated with a wide range of functions including business strategy, philosophy of key executives, corporate culture, behaviour and corporate design, which are both interdependent and unique to each organisation. The management of corporate identity means having a core business philosophy which is embedded in the mission and vision statements of an organisation and disseminating the values asserted by them to its employees via management communication as well as to its external stakeholders via expression of its visual systems, behaviour and communication activities.