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Revealing the Corporation: Perspectives on Identity, Image, Reputation, Corporate Branding and Corporate-level Marketing John M.T. Balmer and Stephen A. Greyser (Foreword by Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge) Rout/edge, London and New York; 2003; ISBN O 415 28421 X; paperback, £40; 352pp
With Revealing (be Corporation .. ., John Baimer and Stephen Grcyscr have produced an attractive, pleasantly readable and instructive anthology of literature on organizational identity, image and communication. It gives a nice history of how thinking in this area developed. It might interest students, practitioners and scholars in the field of corporate communication. For students, it offers a nice overview of classical articles and hidden gems in the field and shows how thinking about the concept developed. They may also benefit from the questions for discussion and reflection which B aimer and Greyscr raise at the introduction of each section. For practitioners, it offers a useful overview of accessible articles and arguments why identity, image and corporate communication cannot be neglected. In the editorials, Ualmcr and Grcyscr provide ample lists of points that should not be overlooked. For scholars, it is a reminder of historical work, and the way the anthology has been marshaled provides a nice way of putting historical work into perspective. They should bear in mind, though, that the book focuses on practitioner-written classics, because, as Balmer and Grcyscr argue in their Chapter 1, many of the areas covered have been practitioncr-lcd.
The book consists of 16 chapters, accompanied by editorial introductions and questions for further reflection, divided over six sections. After their introductory article in section 1, Balmcr and Greyser collocated five articles into the section 'The Quintessence of the Organization'. The success of Balmer and Grcyscr's search for hidden gems is illustrated by their Chapter 2, which renders the speech Wally Olins gave on December 6, 1978 for the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Trades in London. Olins distinguishes three kinds of organization. First are organizations which have a clear idea of their ideas, business and priorities. The other two groups are more likely to be clients of outside helpers, such as consultants and academics. These comprise on the one hand, organizations whose culture, behavior pattern and way of life are so much part of the...