Strategies moulding brand reputation building in the early 21st century

Abstract

Since the mid-1990s, the changing political, economic and social environment and globalisation have contributed to change business behaviour in South Africa. Nowadays, business strategies are built alongside sustainable business goals, with renewed emphasis on quality and brand reputation management. Business intelligence (BI) systems and research demand show clear emphasis on customer brand franchising and brand citizenship in particular. Brands are no longer used only as marketing communication tools. Nowadays, brand companies seem well aware of stakeholders’ concerns with non-financial business aspects and are responding through re-branding, improved customer relations and good corporate citizenship behaviour. Consequently, direct customer feedback via customer satisfaction and franchise-building research, as well as corporate citizenship image and perception surveys have emerged as key research tools that generate business intelligence used to build and protect company reputation. The way in which contemporary research designs are constructed to guide reputation building and protection, and how these inputs are used to guide business reputation strategies form the core of this article. The discussion reveals that corporate reputation and brand management functions are increasingly being synchronised in support of customer-based brand equity, customer franchise and reputation building. This suggests substantial communality between the management functions relating to corporate reputation and branding. Corporate branding and reputation are anticipated to evolve as a core business strategy aimed at building and protecting corporate identity and image. To meet this endeavour, companies will continue to brand their identity and image and create brand awareness and customer relations to enable stakeholders to differentiate company products, services and features from competitor offerings, but will simultaneously strive to enhance customer loyalty. Customer care and ethical behaviour will probably lead the thrust in creating positive corporate reputation. As long as corporate reputation building and branding are pursued, the demand for business intelligence information related to these topics will remain a priority and will guide future marketing and communication strategies in building and protecting corporate reputation.     

Korean elites: Social networks and power

During the period of rapid industrialisation, Korean business elites sought to establish a ruling alliance of state officials, politicians, business owners, and professional managers that formed a social coalition to influence the state and society as a whole, reinforced through extensive social and political networks with various ruling groups. The elite community has generated a high degree of self-recruitment and social closure through school, marriage and kinship networks. In this way, the leading sector of the Korean business elite has formed complex, often contingent, relations with the state elite, and acts as an integral part of the upper class in society.     

On a Sociology of the Media

This article presents a detailed examination of the mass media's influence on candidate visibility and candidate awareness in House elections, using media markets as the vehicle for analysis. Simple comparisons reveal striking media market effects on both visibility and awareness: Voters are much more likely to report contact with the candidates in “media market districts"—House districts where there is a close fit between the local television market and the district's boundaries. Candidate recognition figures are also markedly higher in the media market setting. These findings indicate that the mass media have the potential to strongly influence competition in House races: Challengers are able to use the media advantages in media market districts to overcome the exposure gap associated with the incumbency advantage. Closer inspection reveals that these effects hold true even after controlling for other factors, most notably the spending activities of the candidates. These results suggest a substantial media influence on candidate awareness and thus on competition in House races.     

Communicating about child sexual abuse with the public: learning the lessons from public awareness campaigns

Despite numerous public awareness campaigns child sexual abuse (CSA) remains a significant global issue affecting millions of children. This suggests that such campaigns have had minimal impact, and the paucity of good quality empirical evaluation makes it difficult to establish what has worked and what has not. This article considers how different and evolving approaches to public awareness campaigning on CSA since the 1990s have influenced (or not) attitudinal and behavioural change. The article reviews a number of key initiatives from around the world and identifies common themes that can inform campaigning and prevention efforts. Recommendations for further research efforts, social problem framing, and targeting are offered. The article concludes by arguing that more recent multi-faceted campaigns which combine a range of messaging methods are more likely to turn public awareness campaigning into public action campaigning.     

透析植入式广告

目前我国植入式广告正处于起步阶段,作为一种新型广告传播模式,我们有必要清晰了解和把握该种广告模式的本质内涵,用发展性的眼光正确理解、有效发挥其良性传播效力。     

论长株潭“两型”社会建设视野下生态道德意识的培养

长株潭"两型"社会建设的本质就是实现生态化发展,而实现生态化发展最根本最有效地手段是提高全体社会成员生态道德意识。为此,要从政府决策宏观层次、企业中观层次和社会公众微观层次三方面来提高生态道德意识,同时,还应发挥学校教育在环境道德意识培养中的特殊作用以及加强环保部门组织协调作用。     

少数民族大学生政治观教育探析

加强少数民族大学生政治观教育对于少数民族地区优秀人才的培养具有十分重要的意义。少数民族大学生政治观教育必须以马克思主义政治观、邓小平政治观和“三个代表”重要思想为指导 ,以中华民族凝聚力教育、祖国统一和民族团结教育、爱国主义教育为重点内容。     

“内圣外王”与先期儒学发展的张力

孔子"仁"与"礼"的思想体系体现了他的圣王理想的追求,他认为领袖群伦应兼具"圣"与"王"的双重资格.儒学与君主专制的互限互依,它既是儒学发展的张力,又是儒学获得永久活力的限制,使儒学在发展历程中始终无法摆脱君主专制的阴影.     

萧红与三毛"女性意识"与"自由意识"解读

萧红与三毛都是极富才华的女作家,尽管她们生活的时空不同,命运也不相同,但她们都具有自觉的生命意识萧红在抗击"男权文化"方面慷慨悲歌,尽显女性意识的自觉;而三毛在张扬"自由生命"方面独步世界.她们都在自己的时代活出了精彩,自觉的生命意识使她们的人生与众不同,这才是其构筑自己独具韵味的具有生命自传特色的艺术世界的前提.     

论想象竞合犯的诉讼进路选择

实体法上的想象竞合犯表现出较为特殊的结构矛盾,亦即一行为与数犯罪之间的内在矛盾。在付诸刑事司法实践时就存在着两种不同的进路:从处断结论为一犯罪出发的诉讼进路实际上预先地限定了单一诉讼客体的范围,事先对犯罪事实进行了取舍;从结构解析出发的诉讼进路则将想象竞合犯所涉及的数罪均作为独立的诉讼客体分别予以确认,很好地实现了犯罪构成的整理功能,虽然也需要对想象竞合关系与"一行为"进行揭示,但整体上符合人权保障的基本要求,是目前较为理想的进路选择。