Corporate branding and core values

What role do internal identity and core values play in corporate brand building? This research explored the concept of brand orientation and the integration of core values into business and brand strategies, using Volvo as a case study.

The aim of this research project was to focus on the internal identity and value foundation of corporate brands. In the Journal of Marketing Management (1999) I argued for a more brand oriented approach with brands as a resource and as a point of departure for business strategy. In an extensive field study of Volvo using multiple longitudinal embedded cases (the Volvo corporation and its five business areas), I systematically explored the role of the corporate core values in the brand-building process: from mission to internal brand identity (European Journal of Marketing, 2003). I coined this process as the core value-based corporate brand-building process, taking into account both the internal side and the external side of the process. Different types of values were categorized: values related to the organization, values summing up the brand (core values), and extended/customer values. The Volvo case illustrates the close link between business strategy and brand strategy.