This paper presents a systematic and complete overview of the scientific literature in the field of place marketing and place branding research. A total of 1172 articles published between 1976 and 2016 in 98 different journals were analyzed and meticulously classified into categories and subcategories according to disciplinary approach, method used and perspective adopted. This literature review thus provides a detailed overview of the state of the art and reveals various trends and developments in this emerging field of study. Among other things, it demonstrates that the field suffers from a lack of conceptual clarity, diverging definitions and a weak theoretical foundation, which means it addresses a very broad range of research topics. In addition, the field lacks empirical evidence and explanatory articles, meaning that the numerous hypotheses concerning the effects of place marketing activities on attractiveness remain unsubstantiated. The review also underscores the literature’s lack of interest in the political and institutional contexts of places, although this information is crucial in terms of public management. Moreover, this work notes that the rhetoric of consultants is given pride of place, with the publication of numerous prescriptive articles focused on sharing best practices. Finally, this study notes the existence of a significant number of critical articles.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01340352/document

Place marketing and place branding: A systematic (and tentatively exhaustive) literature review

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been an articulated practice for over 7 decades. Still, most corporations lack an integrated framework to develop a strategic, balanced, and effective approach to achieving excellence in CSR. Considering the world’s critical situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, such a framework is even more crucial now. We suggest subsuming CRS categories under Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) be used and that they subsume CSR categories since SDGs are a comprehensive agenda designed for the whole planet. This study presents a new CSR drivers model and a novel comprehensive CSR model. Then, it highlights the advantages of integrating CSR and SDGs in a new framework. The proposed framework benefits from both CSR and SDGs, addresses current and future needs, and offers a better roadmap with more measurable outcomes.

/pdf/sustainable-development-goals-sdgs-as-a-framework-for-1yznhige.pdf

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a Framework for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Prior literature in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has largely focused on investigating its relationship with organizational-related outcomes, whereas the impact of CSR on consumer behavior is largely ignored in the recent literature. Further, most of the prior studies have investigated CSR with a philanthropic viewpoint, but its importance in achieving marketing-related outcomes is something that is to date, underexplored. Hence, the aim of the present study is to investigate the impact of CSR communication through social media on consumer loyalty with the mediating effect of consumers’ brand admiration in the banking sector of Pakistan. The banking sector was selected due to the reason that this sector is homogenized in nature and creating consumers’ loyalty due to this homogenized character of this sector is challenging. The data of the present study were collected from different banking consumers through an adapted questionnaire on a five-point Likert scale. A total of 448 fully filled questionnaires were received which included 289 male and 159 female banking consumers. The results of the present study revealed that CSR communications through social media have a positive impact on consumer loyalty, and consumers’ brand admiration partially mediates this relationship. The findings of the present study would help policymakers from banking institutions to use CSR strategy from the perspective of marketing which is undoubtedly very important for every organization in the current digital age.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/4/2319/pdf

CSR Communication through Social Media: A Litmus Test for Banking Consumers’ Loyalty

Study on the influencing of B2B parasocial relationship on repeat purchase intention in the online purchasing environment: An empirical study of B2B E-commerce platform

Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of corporate brand equity on firm performance but have not yet investigated moderating effects on this relationship from other dimensions of firm strategy. This study puts forward a contingency model of the relationship between corporate brand equity and firm performance and investigates the moderating effect of one important contingency variable which is the firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy. It is tested on a panel dataset of 62 US firms/corporate brands. The results of this study corroborate previous evidence that corporate brand equity has a significant positive impact on market-based performance, measured by market share, as well as on financial performance, measured by Tobin's q. In addition, the findings indicate that CSR plays a complementary role, positively moderating the relationship between corporate brand equity and firm performance. That is, there is a synergistic connection between brand equity and CSR which increases long-term value over and above the direct impact of corporate brand equity.

Brand equity and firm performance: the complementary role of corporate social responsibility

In the present study, we intend to contribute to the rebranding literature by investigating: (a) the relative change in customer based brand equity (CBBE) of a brand before and post an evolutionary rebranding announcement; (b) the relative change in CBBE with respect to the market position of the brand (leader/follower) in case of evolutionary rebranding; and (c) the relative effect of a specific type of change in brand element (logo and/or slogan) on the consumer attitudes and CBBE. We use cue utilization theory and information integration theory along with rebranding literature to establish our hypotheses. We test our hypotheses using a 2 × 2 (with repeat measures) and a 2 × 3 full factorial design in succession. We find the CBBE of an established brand to diminish following rebranding news while that of a less-established brand to be enhanced. We also find a differential effect of the rebranding types on the consumer attitudes and CBBE that is subject to the relative brand position in the market. The academic implications of the study lie in the exploration of the effects of rebranding on consumers. The practitioner implications include suggestions for the effective use of rebranding as a strategy.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/bm_2015_21.pdf?abstractid=2635457&mirid=1&type=2

To brand or to rebrand: Investigating the effects of rebranding on brand equity and consumer attitudes

This study aims to delve into the influence of corporate social responsibility on the corporate brand performance of Indian business-to-business (B2B) companies.,The corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices have been measured through CSR disclosure index (CDI), generated by surveying annual reports/CSR reports/websites of 131 Indian B2B firms. The same was mapped to corporate brand performance of these firms, measured as customer-based corporate brand equity, which was measured through a questionnaire-survey of purchasing managers and users working in firms that are customers to the above-mentioned firms.,The result reveals the positive influence of CSR practices in shoring up corporate brand performance.,CDI has been developed based on CSR reporting across the stakeholder groups. However, the impact has been mapped onto one stakeholder category, the customer. The sample period was only one year, and the data is cross-sectional. Future studies may investigate the long-term effect of CSR using longitudinal data on larger data sets.,This study will encourage Indian B2B firms to practice CSR not only for conforming to the regulatory requirements but also as a strategic tool in strengthening the competitive advantage.,It is the first study of its kind to evaluate the imprint of corporate social responsibility, measured based on CSR reporting by firms, on corporate brand performance. It looks into the return earned by firms from the resources invested in CSR activities.

Does CSR disclosure enhance corporate brand performance in emerging economy? Evidence from India

Voluntary disclosures by firms have been gaining traction among the stakeholders as the inadequacies of mandatorily disclosed information are getting conspicuous. The customers are one of the most important stakeholder groups for any firm. This paper looks at how the extent and quality of voluntary disclosures by the supplier firms influence the impression that is formed in the minds of the users/buyers in the customer firms is manifested through the strength of the supplier brand. Consequently, we probe the effect voluntary disclosures have on corporate brand equity. This study has assessed the corporate brand equity of the firms directly from their customers which lends authenticity to the measured strength of the brand. This way the self-reporting bias is precluded from our research. The study was done on Indian B2B firms which is very crucial because business buyers pay more critical attention to the disclosures of their vendors. The findings strongly support that the better and more are the disclosures, stronger is the brand equity of the brands.

Impact of Voluntary Disclosures on Corporate Brand Equity

The relationship between market orientation (MO) and one of its most important consequences – firm performance – has received considerable attention in marketing research. Performance has been largely judged through financial or objective measures. This paper connects assimilation of MO in firms with corporate brand performance since academics have not used judgmental or market-based measures in assessing performance. We have introduced customer-based corporate brand equity to obtain a rounded idea of firm performance. This is achieved through a dyadic study, instead of self-assessment, wherein the marketing chiefs of B2B firms and their respective organisational customers are surveyed to gauge the effects of incorporating MO. We have shown that corporate brand performance is enhanced significantly in the presence of organisational innovativeness. From a practitioner’s perspective, the study details the organisational actions to be taken to assimilate MO and how those can be exploited to enhance corporate...

Market orientation and customer-based corporate brand equity (CBCBE): a dyadic study of Indian B2B firms

The purpose of this paper is to study practices associated with corporate brand alignment enacted by marketing managers in an emerging business to business market.,The “Marketing-as-practice” perspective is used to examine brand alignment-related practices. A five months fieldwork was undertaken wherein primary data were collected using in-depth interviews of 30 managers representing steel, mining, energy, engineering consulting and Information Technology/Information Technology-Enabled Services' sectors along with observational data from event sites and industry meets. Secondary data stemmed from marketing plans and events' rosters. Data were analysed adopting the practice turn.,The constitution of three practices concerning brand alignment is unearthed: (1) practice of identifying key stakeholders, (2) practice of narrativization of brand promises and (3) practice of engaging key stakeholders.,This study highlights the dynamic nature of corporate brand alignment requiring a continuous gap analysis to verify coherency between internal and external brand elements. It also highlights the elicited relation between alignment, authenticity and advocacy. Suggestions for further research are provided.,This study elucidates managers' role as intrapreneurs in the process of alignment and provides a possible solution to the new marketing myopia which impairs stakeholder management.,This research identifies that brand alignment is not an abstract concept but a set of practices that help convert the symbolic capital held in brands into cultural and social capital.

Soumya Sarkar

Papers

To brand or to rebrand: Investigating the effects of rebranding on brand equity and consumer attitudes

Does CSR disclosure enhance corporate brand performance in emerging economy? Evidence from India

Impact of Voluntary Disclosures on Corporate Brand Equity

Market orientation and customer-based corporate brand equity (CBCBE): a dyadic study of Indian B2B firms

Corporate brand alignment in business markets: a practice perspective