The Transformation of a Corporate Brand towards Global after the Acquisition : A case study from a Finnish Company

Abstract

In the increasingly emerging business environment, to achieve sustainable growth, top managers have paid more attention to the importance of corporate brand values than they did in the early 2000s. Providing such high quality and diverse product/service portfolio is no longer enough for firms to stay ahead from competitors. Corporate brands on the other hand help firms to stay unique, more relevant, and more purposeful to both internal and external stakeholders. In addition, corporate branding generates a strong link between the so-called ‘Brand Talk’ and ‘Brand Action’. Thus, shifting a focus on corporate branding from product branding, firms can enhance their credibility and strengthen brand relationships with their consumers and other key stakeholders. The main purpose of this study is to understand how the corporate brand of a Finnish firm is defined after being acquired by a foreign firm; and how this affects the Finnish firm’s corporate brand value. If there are any standardizations or adaptations carried out to remain and resonate with the core brand value of the Finnish firm. A qualitative research method is therefore chosen for this study by conducting four semi-structured interviews from the managerial perspective.

More often, when an acquisition occurred, the acquired company is strongly influenced by its acquirer in terms of changing the corporate brand name, applying new strategic approaches, relocating employees within the organization, among others. In contrast, the company of this study maintains its ‘corporate heritage’ and operates independently, at the same time receives supports financially and strategically from the acquirer. It respects the capability of the management team of the acquired company, and well trust established between these two companies. The key findings mainly support the importance of evaluating the corporate brand performance after the acquisition and confirming the crucial impacts of the acquisition on the corporate brand value. More importantly, this study contributes to strategic implementations as the nature of the corporate branding concept. Understanding the significant values of corporate branding results in a more sustainable, stronger alignment across the organizational functions and business units in designing strategic plans.

Since this is a single case study with the focus on the Finnish food industry; therefore, the research outcomes cannot be applied successfully to organizations outside Finland and from other sectors. For future research suggestions, conducting research on the same subject with the multiple-case studies across industries/cultures would provide crucial contributions to the existing corporate branding theory.