KEY TERMS

Employer brand. = Is the perception of a company as an employer in the eyes of existing and
potential employees, directly connected with the employment experience or a
perception of how it is to work in/for the company. It relates to a mix of functional
(e.g. development of work-related knowledge), economic (e.g. material and
monetary awards), and psychological benefits (e.g. reputation and value of an
individual) that are provided by the employer and are connected with it. The
essence of the employer brand is that it emphasizes the unique aspects that the
company offers to its employees.

Organizational climate. = Describes the atmosphere in the organization, as perceived by its members; it is
the perception of the situation in the organization by its employees. It relates to the
contents, power, and state of organizational culture.
KEY TERMS
Employer branding. = Is a targeted, long-term strategy to manage the awareness and perceptions
of employees, potential employees, and related stakeholders with regard to a
particular firm or company that employers try to present as a good place to
work. The basic objectives of employer branding are to attract, acquire,
develop, and retain key human resources (employees) that the organization
needs for its successful operation.

Internal branding. = It encompasses the activities of a company that are aimed at getting employees
to accept the attributes of the corporate brand on rational and emotional levels.
The main objective of such activities is gaining competitive advantage on the
market by means of the people who are members of the company and represent
its brand. It is focused on achieving congruity between the behaviour and the
actions of employees and the corporate brand identity.
KEY TERMS
Organizational identity. = It relates to the cognitive and emotional relationship between an
individual and a group of co-workers in a company. It is defined as
the characteristics of an organization that are most central,
recognizable, and durable for the organization's members.

Organizational culture. = It is an expression of norms and behavioural patterns that evolve

through time in groups inside organizations. It is a context in which the
organization's identity and corporate brand form, transform, change,
and disintegrate.
CHAPTER TOPICS
1. Definitions
2. Ethical branding
3. Ethical branding missues
4. Misleading claims
5. Models of understanding CSR
6. What drives CSR
7. Societal expectations as the foundation of CSR
8. Implementation of CSR
9. Communicating CSR
10.Reporting CSR
11.Chapter summary
 In which
With what With what
Who Says what? To whom? channel?
(How) purpose? effect?

2 Corporate 3 Corporate 6 Stakeholder 7 Storytelling 9 Corporate 11

identity brand and management and issue associations: Organizational
branding and management in identity traits identification
communication times of change and corporate
4 Employer and crises image 12
branding Organizational
8 Corporate 10 Corporate commitment
5 Ethical communications associations: and social
branding and reputation and acceptability
corporate trust
social
responsibility

Book chapters in the classical communication model

Unit 4 review: Employee branding

What? Refer to ‘Psychological How?

contract’ page 50.
1. The process of employer
Relationship between branding
Refer to the
Corporate Current/Potential Diagram p.54
Employee
2. Internal marketing mix
Employer branding Employer brand.
Employee
See more in page 50 and section
Strategy VS Perception branding 4.3 Internal branding programmes

Why? Goals
Refers to section 4.1. Corporate and employee Attract, Acquire, Develop and Retain

Key human resources

 Unit 4 review: Employee branding process

Step1. Develop a proposal of key values Step2. Find candidates for employment Step3. Internal activities
Know WHO they are based on WHAT they had. Acquire new employees
Refer to section 4.3.
‘Internal branding
Individual Organization programs’
• Organizational culture &
identity
• Managerial style
• Existing corporate image
• Capabilities and quality of
current employee Works
• Image of company • Job Requirements
product/services • Values Goals
• Personality of individual and
organizational image Promise a work experience
Employer personas • Individual needs and
organizational structures

Corporate brand.
Characteristic of employee that the Similar to values and commitments
company wants? expressed to external audience via

Corporate brand.

Key values of the company?

UNDERSTANDING
ETHICAL BRANDING
Nguồn gốc của CSR

= Emphasizes the ethical commitments of the company and its morally and socially
responsible actions taken in the relationship with stakeholders and society; can be
manifested either on the product/service level or on the corporate level. The ideal is an
integrated version of both moral or ethical brands with their promise that an organization
and with it, all its employees, products, and services will be able to fulfil the set ethical
standards and will consistently implement moral decisions to which they have committed.
 Environmental Marketing Inc. (2007) recognized six false or
misleading environmental claims of greenwashing which
have been around the longest.

1. Hidden trade-off is based on emphasizing a single environmental attribute and at the same time neglecting
all environmental issues caused by the function or production of a certain product. Such claims are not usually
false, but are used to paint a more environmentally friendly picture of the product.
2. Vagueness refers to claims that are so poorly defined or vague that their real meaning is likely to be
misunderstood. Some examples of vagueness are claims such as a product being ‘natural', ‘eco', etc.
3. Fibbing refers to making false environmental claims. Most of these are misuse or misrepresentation of
ecological certification.
4. No proof is any environmental claim that cannot be substantiated by easily accessible supporting information,
or by a reliable third party or 'independent' agency certification.
5. The principle of the 'lesser of two evils' describes products harmful to environment or humans with
claims that may be true within the category, but no version of these products can eliminate their harmful effects.
6. Irrelevance is making an unimportant environmental claim that distracts the consumer from finding
environmentally preferable products.
 Unit 5: Ethical branding and its misuses

Term1. Greenwashing Term2. Bluewashing Term3. Sweatwash

Refer to corporations
that try to divert
attention from their
own factories’ practices,
ethically questionable
relationships toward
employees or

VS VS subcontractors, and
even child labor
 Unit 5: Ethical branding and its misuses

Term1. Greenwashing Term3. Sweatwash

Deceptive perception of the Ethically questionable
environmental behaviour or relationships towards
advantages of products and employees or subcontractors
services a company provides or even child labour
Term1. Bluewashing

Misuse of the United Nations flag

Term2. Deep Greenwashing in order to point to an association
with themes of human rights
Actions that follow the ethical codes,
while ignoring (inter)national
environmental agreements
If a company wants to build
its brand on ethical attributes,
This can only be efficient and
successful if ...

A very clear response is made to challenges

The principles of corporate social responsibility are

actually implemented
UNDERSTANDING
Corporate social responsibility (CSR).

= It is a form of corporate self-regulation and can be understood as society's expectations

of corporate behaviour that is socially expected or morally required and is therefore
justifiably demanded of a business. Social responsibility encompasses the economic,
legal, ethical, and discretionary expectations that society has of organizations at a given
point in time..
 MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING CSR

Anglo-Saxon German
Post-socialist Latin model Nordic–Dutch
model model

EXPLICIT IMPLICIT
MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING CSR

The Anglo-Saxon model discusses social responsibility in a narrow sense,

from the aspect of the company’s own interest. The key question arising from this
model is whether corporate social responsibility contributes to the company’s
profitability and competitiveness. Social responsibility is something that needs to
be measured in order to ensure the company's transparency in public, reduce
negative external impacts on the company, and maintain its reputation intact.
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxon model characterizes the system that has long been
model implemented in the USA and less so in the UK, where the role of the government
and the wider community in forming socially responsible policies is becoming
more obvious. The USA has also been increasingly following this trend. In
addition to the Anglo-Saxon model, there are at least four more equally
important models present in the European area that co-shape the ‘European’
concept of corporate social responsibility: German, Latin, Nordic-Dutch, and the
post-socialist model (Golob 2006).
MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING CSR

A typical characteristic of the German model is the formation

of legal framework for the operation of companies that are a
response to public expectations. These legal frameworks are
formed in dialogue among social partners with society
German representatives (employees) and the public playing an important
model
role. The German tradition is based on the system that gives a
vote to every actor/participant in the company and forms a so-
called collective discipline that clearly states its responsibilities.
Company policies in the German model are acceptable and
have meaning only if a broader consensus is built around them.
MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING CSR
The Latin model is partially similar to the German one. It
gives priority to for- mally written structures and rules, but with
an idea of a ‘higher ideal' of serving public interest behind
them, so a company as a cell of the society has to be
adequately regulated and controlled. The legal system in the
Latin
Latin model reflects general public interest, so the most important
model
factor for the company is to respect legal provisions. France is
the first state that demand social responsibility reports by law.
Social responsibility in the Latin model is especially expressed in
the relationship between the company and employees. The
legislation plays a key role in this model.
 MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING CSR

The Nordic-Dutch model supports the confrontation of

opinions, building a consensus and mutual adaptation. This
demands the formation of appropriate stakeholder networks,
needed for the company's functioning. The company's
Nordic-Dutch functioning is not primarily directed toward meeting owners' or
model
shareholders' interests. In Scandinavian countries and the
Netherlands, there is a high level of environmental and consumer
activism while at the same time, the spheres of environment and
consumer protection are legally regulated.
 MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING CSR

The post-socialist model is only in its development phase and its

characteristic is an emphasizing interest for problems of corporate
social responsibility. The model gives priority to the building of a
social state, supporting the role of civil society in socio-economic
questions, encouraging competitiveness, and concluding the period of
transition. It seems that countries included in this model are seeking the
Post-socilaist
model balance between the prevailing Anglo-Saxon model and its tendency
toward bigger competitiveness and profitability and establishing social
dialogue with various stakeholders, drawing from the ‘tradition’ when
the essence of a company was not its profitability, but its employment
possibilities.
 MODELS OF UNDERSTANDING CSR
EXPLICIT
Explicit social responsibility includes policies led by
companies to take over responsibility toward certain
social demands. It includes policies that are based on
volunteering as well as programmes and strategies led by
the company's interests in addressing problems in society
that need to be included in the process of corporate
social responsibility according to the company and/or its
stakeholders. The explicit model does not highlight the
power of the institutional framework; it depends only on
pressures of the informal public and stakeholders and
tries to alter them accord- ing to its own interests.
IMPLICIT
Implicit corporate social responsibility
is based on formal and informal state
institutions that are a tool for attaching
responsibility to companies. Implicit social
responsibility is based on values, norms, and
rules that are expressed through demands
toward companies to deal with social
questions. These demands are often
formalized as policies, regulations or laws.
WHAT DRIVES CSR Higher living Globalization
standard and interdependency

Higher
expectations

Environmental & societal

challenges
SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS AS THE FOUNDATION OF CSR

Caroll’s CSR Pyramid

IMPLEMENTATION OF CSR
INTERNAL

CSR
PROGRAMMES &
INITIATIVES

EXTERNAL
 INTERNAL

IMPLEMENTATION OF CSR
CSR
PROGRAMMES &
INITIATIVES

EXTERNAL

The internal dimension of socially responsible practices primarily involves employees and
relates to issues such as investing in human capital, safety, managing change, while
environmentally responsible practices relate mainly to the management of natural resources
used in production and to the production itself (European Commission 2001).

The external dimension of social responsibility refers to mutual relations with stakeholders
and the company's integration in its local environment. These are relations and effects on local
communities, business partners, suppliers and consumers, as well as policies of consistently
respecting basic human rights and environment protection but also active involvement in
achieving global environmental and social improvements (European Commission 2001).
 mandatory

REPORTING CSR Reporting CSR can be divided into three categories

solicited

voluntary

• Voluntary disclosure refers to textually mediated discourses about a company's

organizational activities, outputs and goals which are not readily observable to
stakeholders. The content of such disclosures is unregulated, because they are a result of a
voluntary decision of what to report on, usually in the form of standard reports or brochures.
• Solicited disclosure refers to disclosing information requested by stakeholders (van der
Laan 2004). Most typically it takes the form of a dialogue with the company or interviews,
standardized questionnaires, independent reviews, etc. The main idea of solicited disclosure
is the diminished control over the extent and nature of the disclosed information, which also
diminishes the company's power.
• Mandatory disclosure refers to legally prescribed regulations and also other forms of
regulation of demanded information that a regulator requests from the company.
 Corporate identity, Stakeholders' demands and expectations
Competences, and policies The framework of
communicating
corporate social
responsibility

Business Social and environmental

operations emphases

CSR
contents

Interactions and dialogue with

stakeholders

Social, economic, and natural context