Exploring the effects of brand elements on signaling and identifying family firm identity

Abstract

One of the main targets of a company is to be distinctive, to be different and to stand out in today’s competitive marketplace. On a general level, the firm’s identity is one of the most important intangible assets and as such one prerequisite for competitive advantage (Aaker 1991). It is supposed that communicating this identity to external stakeholders by building up a unique organizational image that reflects a company’s “most central, enduring and distinctive features” (Whetten & Mackey, 2002, p. 394) increases sales and leads to a better firm performance (Kärreman & Rylander 2008). To capitalize on these positive impacts, an organization has to effectively communicate this identity to external audiences (Balmer & Greyser 2002) and stakeholders have to be able to get to know a desired identity or positioning (Balmer & Greyser 2002) which means that stakeholders have to identify the organization (Balmer 2001).