Authors: Jaana Tahtinen; Jenny Sandbacka; Satu Natti
ABSTRACT
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore in detail the internal and external corporate
branding activities of micro-sized industrial business services companies.
Design/methodology/approach – An abductive research approach and a case study method
were used. Data was gathered with thematic interviews from three sources, a case company,
its distributors, and its end customers.
Findings – A model for building a corporate brand identity and image in a micro-sized
industrial business services company was formed. Key activities, including defining company
values and the business idea, designing, managing and stabilising the service process,
utilising holistic corporate communications, networking as well as activating and retaining
stakeholders and utilising feedback, for building a corporate brand were identified.
Research limitations/implications – Because the importance of the internal branding can be
presumed to rise with personnel, the repeatability of this study is weakened by the case
organization being a micro company. Several suggestions for future research can be made
based on this study: the causality of the presented model’s connections with quantitative
methods, the network branding and service company brand hierarchies.
Practical implications – This paper shows how a micro company can build its brand, without
the need of extra resources. Moreover, it suggests ways of utilizing external resources, by
exploring how the company’s stakeholders can participate in the branding process.
Originality/value- This study expands the service branding literature to industrial services
micro companies by identifying activities that can be utilised by them.
Keywords Corporate branding, business-to-business, stakeholders, networking
Journal: ( – )
Web Address:
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Conference: Glasgow, Scotland (2011)