44 Corporate Reputations, Branding and People Management
Compelling place
to invest
Compelling place
to shop
Compelling place
to work
Customer retention
Customer impression
Merchandise
selection
Merchandise
returns
Image
Attitudes to
work
Managers’
knowledge and
behaviour
Work structure
Teamwork
Training
Attitudes to
company
Job context
Ethical context
Promotion
Pay etc.
Value for
money
Associates’ behaviour

at bank branch level.
These data allowed them to test the simple proposition of the serv-
ice–profit chain that ‘satisfied and motivated employees produce satisfied
customers, and satisfied customers tend to purchase more, increasing the
revenues and profits of the organization’ (Gelade and Young, 2005, p. 2).
The key link here is customer satisfaction being the mediating variable
between employee attitudes and organizational performance (see Figure
2.1). The model Gelade and Young used involved a causal relationship
linking positive employee perceptions of team working, job enablers and
job support to organizational climate and commitment. These people
management variables were thought to be the lead indicators of sales
achievement, though mediated by customer satisfaction.
Their data provided high levels of support for positive correlations of
employee attitudes and climate evaluations with customer satisfaction
and sales performance at the business unit level of analysis, i.e. the banks.
From these data, they concluded that, in theory at least, an improvement
As you can see from this discussion on the RBV and related
ideas such as the service–profit chain, brands and reputations
are dynamically linked to HRM. However, we need to be a little
clearer about what brands, branding and reputations mean
and how they are linked. We shall now discuss this question in
a little more detail.
Developments in branding and definitions
Proponents of branding view brands as the central organizing
principle for good management of a business and the most
important intangible asset that an organization can possess. By
and large, most big organizations with well-known brands,
whether in the for-profit or not-for-profit sectors, offer com-
modity products or services that can be relatively easily substi-
tuted by others. One only need examine the competitive

dimension with the external view of marketers.
A brand is a promise made and kept in every strategic,
marketing and human resource activity, every action, every
corporate decision and every customer and employee
interaction intended to deliver strategic value to an
organization.
Chapter 2 Managing corporate brands and reputations 47
Box 2.2 Brands and business success
Jon Miller and David Muir (2004) are consultants who argue cogently
that brands and branding are, or should be, at the heart of business
and treated as a key approach to creating shareholder value. They
have identified five themes that are fundamental to understanding
brands:
■ Brands enhance the value of a product or service beyond its func-
tional value, so enabling organizations to gain by selling more
and/or charging higher prices. By generating better cash flows,
they help create shareholder value.
■ Brands are the source of alignment between an organization and
its stakeholders, providing the basis for continuity and trust. Trust
and loyalty, not just satisfied customers, are what generate revenues
and long-term sales performances.
■ Brands are the outcomes of behaviour – every action taken by mem-
bers of an organization has the potential to influence a brand repu-
tation, for good or bad. Brand promises create expectations that
are judged by the behaviour of organizational decisions and actions;
promises have to be matched by delivery in every action, decision
and customer interaction.
The value of brands
As noted in Chapter 1, the economic and social value of brands
to organizations is increasing significantly. Studies by academics

■ Brands can provide organizations with purpose and direction,
helping align stakeholders behind the brand. In this sense, brand-
ing should be part of the vision and mission of the organization.