Corporate Identity

Now available in paperback, Corporate Identity is a fascinating account of the role image has played in organizations ranging from Napoleon's empire to the Confederate States of America to modern corporations such as Coca-Cola, BMW, Apple, and Sony. Olins demonstrates how identity is crucial to market share, how it plays a central role in expansion and diversification, how it is vital to both effective recruitment and the way people work together inside a company, and how it is directly related to profitability. Corporate Identity makes a convincing case for the importance of corporate image to a company's success. Identity must have a secure place in the hearts and minds of managers, along with finance, research and development, product quality, personnel management, and other corporate assets. As Olins observes, "In the end, it is economic power that wins the day. But economic power derives increasingly from moral, aesthetic, and cultural power. The organizations that can marshal these strengths will lead the world in the twenty-first century."