Corporate Religion - Softcover

Kunde, Jesper

3.53

38 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0273661116 ISBN 13: 9780273661115

Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2002

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The aim is to unite everything in a Corporate Religion. A religion that brings together the internal company and the external market in a shared, connected flow of understanding. CORPORATE RELIGION is about building a strong market position in a world where consumers no longer demand simply the product, but reliable companies and brands. The winners of the future will be those corporations who can handle the consequences of this change and implement strategies revealed in this book. It's about a shared vision and the courage to believe in a Corporate Religion. "Management has to unite the organisation around a strong idea, a shared vision, and then manage accordingly. That makes tough demands. In the company of the future there will only be space for believers. Dissenters must look elsewhere." It's about leadership and what is required for winning in the market place of the future. "Employees have the right to a leader who will stand at the front and lead them into the future. A leader who dares to believe, because without belief, it is impossible to have an opinion about the future." It's about internal-external integration, creating a bond between the internal culture and the external positioning, to consolidate the chosen market position. "Companies can be seen like people. The important factors are: how we perceive ourselves, how others perceive us and how we want to be perceived by others. The more integrated the three perspectives, the stronger and more consistent we are." And it's about how to implement the idea in the company. "I provide a number of models, 12 cases and a "timetable" explain how you set the process in motion. You cannot build a strong corporate religion without having strong working tools." In the future, building strong market positions will be about building companies with a strong personality and corporate soul.

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Review:

We all believe by now that brands are important, nay absolutely central, to business these days. In a cluttered, competitive world, a strong brand is the only way to stand out. But for Jesper Kunde, mere intellectual acceptance of this idea is not enough. You have to really believe. No, really, really believe in your own brand, if you are to stand any chance.

There can be no higher state of belief than a religion, offering total faith with a deep spiritual element. And that is exactly what Kunde is proposing: that your brand must become a Corporate Religion. "Only with a strong spirit at its foundation can a company achieve a strong market position. And make no mistake, it is a brand position that ultimately decides a company's success--or lack of it", he writes. He argues that today the product is still the main way a company communicates. But soon that will not be enough. The brand isn't merely a facade that is presented to the consumer. It must be a truth, a vision that informs everything the company does, internally and externally, anywhere and everywhere in the world.

Kunde, head of leading Danish marketing consultancy Kunde & Co, describes a brand hierarchy, starting with product, moving to concept brand, corporate concept and brand culture (where brands are so strong in the eyes of the consumer that they become the equivalent to the function they represent).He takes an holistic approach to both brands and organisations, which could lead to interesting but rather vague conclusions. The real value of this book is that while his vision is almost mystical, he constructs the stairway to brand heaven out of concrete. He discusses the minutiae of international organisation, looks at how the idea can be disseminated, looks at the implications for different types of company, talks about how to implement a corporate religion and focuses in detail on the implications for management and the organisation.

Although this is largely about marketing, it is fascinatingly and provocatively written in a way that makes it ideal for all marketers as well as anyone in the organisation who may be concerned that their organisation lacks true competitive edge. --Alex Benady

Review:

"I wish I'd written this Corporate Religion! It is a genuine original in a world full of 'me too' management books. To make a mark on 'the outside' - the traditional focus of 'branding literature' - a company needs soul, spirit, character and personality on 'the inside'. That obvious inside-outside link has never been made before. Bottom line: This is a timely, brilliant, readable, importnat book." Tom Peters I've previously said that the companies that are lasting are those that are authentic. If people believe they share values with a company, they will stay loyal to a brand. While many books deal with the specifics of either brand management, marketing, advertising, general management or value-driven organizations – Corporate Religion is a compelling, very persuasive and very how-to lecture of how to grow brands from the heart. Howard Schultz, Starbucks Coffee Corporate Religion steps right on the sore toes of so-called international companies, so I must swallow hard before holding to my conviction that only by carrying our weaknesses on a silver tray can we become stronger. This well-written book puts into words what we know to be true, and there's no getting away from it. The argumentation and methodology is here. We have no more excuses. It's the book I've been waiting for! Anders Knutsen, Bang & Olufsen
"Jesper Kunde has written a very readable and interesting book about what is possible and sensible to do with a brand. It is a good book about how to develop a brand from just being the name of a product to be, what Jesper Kunde calls, "the ultimate position." Something the consumers profess to as a religion... The book gets even better with the wide range of examples on how to use and abuse a brand"
Jens M. Roelsgaard, Jyllands Posten

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