The strategic role of communication in management and the contribution of corporate museums

Authors

  • Marta Maria Montella

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7433/s125.2024.13

Keywords:

corporate communication, total relationship marketing, heritage marketing, corporate museum, Italian situation, museum service-output

Abstract

Purpose of the paper: The paper aims to highlight the potential of corporate museums as a tool for corporate communication and to offer an overview of the current performance of Italian corporate museums in this regard.

Methodology: The paper moves from the analysis of the main assumptions of the economic-managerial literature, with particular regard to the issue of the relational dimension of strategies and corporate communication on the one hand and corporate museums on the other. At the same time, it leverages an empirical survey conducted on Italian corporate museums.

       Findings: While there is a high and widespread awareness on the part of corporate museum management about the potential of these institutions to direct all stakeholders for the benefit of the enterprise, differences emerge regarding the implementation of the most effective strategies and tools to achieve all the value possible/optimise the value achievable.

       Research limits: The main limitation of the research is the national sample size under investigation.

Practical implications: The paper aims to contribute to both the advancement of theoretical studies and managerial practice, including highlighting strategies and actions that can be implemented to improve the performance of corporate museums in terms of corporate communication.

Originality of the paper: The paper focuses on corporate museums' contribution to the strategic role of communication in management, approaching the topic from theoretical and empirical perspectives.

References

AAKER D.A. (2009), Managing brand equity, Simon and Schuster, New York.

ANDERSON E.W. (1998), “Customer satisfaction and word of mouth, Journal of Service Research, vol. 1, n.1, pp. 5-17.

ARGOTE L. (2012), Organizational learning: Creating, retaining and transferring knowledge, Springer Science & Business Media, New York.

BALMER J.M.T. (2001), “Corporate identity, corporate branding and corporate marketing-Seeing through the fog”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 35, n. 3/4, pp. 248-291.

BALMER J.M.T. (2013), “Corporate heritage, corporate heritage marketing, and total corporate heritage communications: What are they? What of them?”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 18, n. 3, pp. 290- 326.

BALMER J.M.T. (2017), “Advances in corporate brand, corporate heritage, corporate identity and corporate marketing scholarship”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 51, n. 9/10, pp. 1462-1471.

BALMER J.M.T., CHEN W. (2017), “Corporate heritage brands, augmented role identity and customer satisfaction”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 51, n. 9/10, pp. 1510-1521.

BLOMBÄCK A., SCANDELIUS C. (2013), “Corporate heritage in CSR communication: a means to responsible brand image?”, Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 18, n. 3, pp. 362-382.

BROWN R.H., DAVIS-BROWN B. (1998), “The Making of Memory: The Politics of Archives, Libraries and Museums in the Construction of National Consciousness”, History of the Human Sciences, vol. 11, n. 4, pp. 17-32.

BURGHAUSEN M. (2022), “Towards a Co-Creational Perspective on Corporate Heritage Branding”, in Iglesias O., Ind N., Schultz M., (edited by), The Routledge Companion to Corporate Branding, Routledge, London, pp. 345-363.

BURGHAUSEN M., BALMER J.M.T. (2014), “Corporate heritage identity management and the multi-modal implementation of a corporate heritage identity”, Journal of Business Research, vol. 67, n. 11, pp. 2311-2323.

CASAGRANDE V. (2000), “Semiotica degli spazi museali”, La memoria dell’impresa, vol. 4, pp. 23-25.

CASEY A. (1997), “Collective Memory in Organizations”, Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. pp. 111-151.

CERQUETTI M., MONTELLA M.M., SARDANELLI D. (2022), “Corporate museums as heritage vehicles: a comparative analysis between family and non-family businesses”, Corporate Governance and Research & Development Studies, vol. 2, pp. 1-22.

CHRISTENSEN L.T., CORNELISSEN J. (2011), “Bridging corporate and organisational communication: review, development and a look to the future”, Management Communication Quarterly, vol. 25, n. 3, pp. 383-414.

CHRISTODOULIDES G., DE CHERNATONY L. (2010), “Consumer-based brand equity conceptualisation and measurement: a literature review”, International Journal of Market Research, vol. 52, n. 1, pp. 43-66.

COHEN M.D., BACDAYAN P. (1994), “Organizational routines as stored in procedural memory. Evidence from a laboratory study”, Organization Science, vol. 5, n. 4, pp. 554-568.

COLEMAN L.V. (1943), Company Museum, American Association of Museums, The American Association of Museums, Washington DC.

CORBETTA G., SALVATO C. (2012), Strategies for longevity in family firms, Palgrave MacMillan, London.

DU S., BHATTACHARYA C.B., SEN S. (2010), “Maximizing Business Returns to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Role of CSR Communication”, International Journal of Management Reviews, vol. 12, n. 1, pp. 8-19.

ESPOSITO DE FALCO S., VOLLERO A. (2015), “Sustainability, longevity and transgenerational value in family firms. The case of Amarelli”, Sinergie Italian Journal of Management, vol. 33, n. 97, pp. 291-309.

FALKHEIMER J. (2014), “The power of strategic communication in organizational development”, International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, vol. 6, n. 2/3, pp. 124-133.

FERRERO G., (edited by), (2013), Marketing e creazione del valore, Giappichelli, Torino.

FONTANA A. (2013), Manuale di Storytelling: raccontare con efficacia prodotti, marchi e identità d’impresa, Etas Libri, Milano.

FREEMAN R.E. (1984), Strategic Management: A stakeholder approach, Pitman, Boston.

GAROFANO A., RIVIEZZO A., NAPOLITANO M.R. (2020), “Una storia, tanti modi di raccontarla. Una nuova proposta di definizione dell’heritage marketing mix”, Il capitale culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, vol. 10, pp. 125-146.

GERLOFF E.A. (1993), Strategie organizzative, McGraw-Hill, Milano.

GIARETTA E. (2004), Vitalità e longevità d’impresa: l’esperienza delle aziende ultracentenarie, Giappichelli, Torino.

GILODI C. (2002), “Il museo d’impresa: forma esclusiva per il corporate marketing”, Liuc papers, n. 101, pp. 1-37.

GOLINELLI G.M. (2010), Viable Systems Approach. Governing Business Dynamics, Cedam, Padova.

GORDON I. (1998), Relationship Marketing, John Wiley, Toronto.

GRIFFITHS J. (1999), “In Good Company? Do Company Museums Serve the Company, its Marketing Department, its Employees or the Public?”, Museum News, vol. 10, pp. 35-38.

GRÖNROOS C. (1994), “From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing”, Management Decision, vol. 32, n. 2, pp. 4-20.

GRÖNROOS C. (2000), Service Management and Marketing: A Customer Relationship Management Approach (2nd ed), Wiley, Chichester.

GUATRI L., VICARI S., FIOCCA R. (1999), Marketing, McGraw-Hill, Milano.

GUMMESSON E. (1987), “The New Marketing-Developing Long-Term Interactive Relationships”, Long Range Planning, vol. 20, n. 4, pp. 10-20.

GUMMESSON E. (2008), Total Relationship Marketing, Elsevier, Oxford.

GWINNER K.P., GREMLER D.D., BITNER M.J. (1998), “Relational benefits in services industries: the customer’s perspective”, Journal of The Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 26, pp. 101-114.

HANSEN C.D., KAHNWEILLER W.M. (1993), “Storytelling: an instrument for understanding the dynamics of corporate relationship”, Human Relations, vol. 55, n. 8, pp. 989-1010.

INVERNIZZI E., ROMENTI S., (edited by), (2013), Progetti di comunicazione per la reputazione aziendale, FrancoAngeli, Milano.

INVERNIZZI E., ROMENTI S. (2015), “Adopting an Entrepreneurial Perspective to the Study of Strategic Communication”, In Holtzhausen D., Zerfass A., (edited by), Handbook of strategic communication, Routledge, New York, pp. 214-228.

JOHNSON D. M., GUSTAFSSON A. (2000), Improving Customer Satisfaction, Loyal and Profit: An Integrated Measurement and Management System, John Wiley & Sons, New York.

KAPFERER J.N. (2012), The new strategic brand management: Advanced insights and strategic thinking, Kogan Page Publishers, London.

KINNI T. (1999), “With an Eye to the Past: Transmitting the Corporate Memory”, Corporate University Review, vol. 7, n. 1, pp. 24-27.

KITCHEN P.J., TOURKY M.E., DEAN D., SHAALAN A.S. (2013), “Corporate identity antecedents and components: toward a theoretical framework”, Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 16, n. 4, pp. 263-284.

LAMBIN J.J., SCHUILING I. (2012), Market-driven management: Strategic and operational marketing, Bloomsbury Publishing, London.

LEONI L., CRISTOFARO M. (2021), “Technology adoption in small Italian museums: an empirical investigation”, Il capitale culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, vol. 23, pp. 57-87.

LIVINGSTONE P. (2011), “Is it a Museum Experience? Corporate Exhibitions for Cultural Tourists”, Exhibitionist, Spring, pp. 16-21.

MAGAGNINO M., FORONI L. (2010), Monografie istituzionali d’impresa, QuiEdit, Verona.

MARTINI U. (2000), “Marketing relazionale e nuove modalità di generazione del valore per il cliente”, Sinergie Italian Journal of Management, vol. 51, pp. 3-47.

MARTINO V. (2010), La comunicazione culturale d’impresa. Strategie, strumenti, esperienze, Guerini, Milano.

MARTINO V. (2013). Dalle storie alla storia d’impresa. Memoria, comunicazione, heritage, Bonanno, Acireale-Roma.

MATTIACCI A., PASTORE A. (2013), Marketing: il management orientato al mercato. Hoepli, Milano.

MELEWAR T.C., JENKINS E. (2002), “Defining the corporate identity construct”, Corporate Reputation Review, vol. 5, n. 1, pp. 76-90.

MILLER D., LE BRETON-MILLER I. (2005), Managing for the Long Run: Lessons in Competitive Advantage from Great Family Businesses, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.

MISIURA S. (2006), Heritage Marketing, Elsevier Oxford.

MITHAS S., KRISHNAN M.S., FORNELL C. (2005), “Why do customer relationship management applications affect customer satisfaction?”, Journal of Marketing, vol. 69, n. 4, pp. 201-209.

MONTELLA M.M. (2018), I musei d’impresa. Heritage e total relationship marketing, Studi MOA, Roma.

MONTELLA M.M., SILVESTRELLI, P. (2020), “Heritage e relationship marketing per le imprese agroalimentari italiane”, Micro & Macro Marketing, vol. 29, n. 1, pp. 71-92.

MONTEMAGGI M., SEVERINO F. (2007), Heritage marketing: la storia dell’impresa italiana come vantaggio competitivo, FrancoAngeli, Milano-Roma.

NAPOLITANO M.R., DE NISCO A. (2017), “The great beauty. The role of cultural heritage and place identity in the international marketing strategies of made in Italy”, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, vol. 13, n. 2, pp. 99-175.

NAPOLITANO M.R., RIVIEZZO A., GAROFANO A. (2018), Heritage Marketing. Come aprire lo scrigno e trovare un tesoro, Editoriale Scientifica, Napoli.

NOTHHAFT H. (2010), “Communication management as a second-order management function: Roles and functions of the communication executive - results from a shadowing study”, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 14, n. 2, pp. 127-140.

PARASURAMAN A. (1987), “Customer-oriented corporate cultures are crucial to services marketing success”, Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 1, n. 1, pp. 39-46.

PULH M., MENCARELLI R., CHANEY D. (2019), “The consequences of the heritage experience in brand museums on the consumer–brand relationship”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 53, n. 10, pp. 2193-2212.

RINDELL A., SANTOS F.P., DE LIMA A.P. (2015), “Two sides of a coin: Connecting corporate brand heritage to consumers’ corporate image heritage”, Journal of Brand Management, vol. 22, n. 5, pp. 467-484.

RIVIEZZO A., GAROFANO A., NAPOLITANO M.R. (2016), “Il tempo è lo specchio dell’eternità”. Strategie e strumenti di heritage marketing nelle imprese longeve italiane”, Il capitale culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, vol. 13, pp. 497-523.

RIVIEZZO A., GAROFANO A., NAPOLITANO M.R. (2021), Corporate Heritage Marketing: Using the Past as a Strategic Asset, Routledge, London.

ROSE G.M., MERCHANT A., ORTH U.R., HORSTMANN F. (2016), “Emphasizing Brand Heritage: Does it Work? And how?”, Journal of Business Research, vol. 69, n. 2, pp. 936–943.

RUST R.T., ZAHORIK A.J. (1993), “Customer satisfaction, customer retention, and market share”, Journal of Retailing, vol. 69, n. 2, pp. 193-215.

SALMON C. (2017), Storytelling: Bewitching the modern mind, Verso Books, London.

SCHEIN E.H. (1998), Culture d’impresa. Come affrontare con successo le transizioni e i cambiamenti organizzativi, Raffaello Cortina Editore, Milano.

SHETH J.N., PARVATLYAR A. (1995), “Relationship marketing in consumer markets: antecedents and consequences”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 23, n. 4, pp. 255-271.

SIANO A., VOLLERO A., BERTOLINI A. (2022), “From brand control to brand co-creation: An integrated framework of brand paradigms and emerging brand perspectives”, Journal of Business Research, vol. 152, pp. 372-386.

SIMCIC BRØNN P. (2014), “How others see us: leaders’ perceptions of communication and communication managers”, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 18, n. 1, pp. 158-179.

SIMONE C., MONTELLA M.M., LAUDANDO A. (2022), “I musei d’impresa: collegare il patrimonio, il marketing e la creazione di valore. L’esperienza italiana”, Il capitale culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, vol. 26, pp. 141-168

SPIELMANN N., CRUZ A.D., TYLER B.B., BEUKEL K. (2019), “Place as a nexus for corporate heritage identity: An international study of family-owned wineries”, Journal of Business Research, vol. 129(C), pp. 826-837.

STANTON W.J. (1984), Fundamentals of Marketing, McGraw-Hill, New York.

STEIN E.W. (1995), “Organizational memory: Review of concepts and recommendations for management”, International Journal of Information Management, vol. 15, n. 2, pp. 17-32.

STEYN B. (2002), “From Strategy to Corporate Communications Strategy: A conceptualization”, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 8, n. 2, pp. 168-183.

STOGNER M.B. (2009), “The Media-enhanced Museum Experience: Debating the Use of Media Technology in Cultural Exhibitions”, Curator: The Museum Journal, vol. 52, n. 4, pp. 385-397.

SVENSSON G. (2001), “Glocalization” of business activities: a “glocal strategy” approach”, Management Decision, vol. 39, n.1, pp. 6-18.

TENCH R., VERČIČ D., ZERFASS A., MORENO Á., VERHOEVEN P. (2017), Communication Excellence. How to Develop, Manage and Lead Exceptional Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, London.

URDE M., GREYSER S.A., BALMER J.M. (2007), “Corporate brands with a heritage”, Journal of Brand Management, vol. 15, n. 1, pp. 4-19.

VALLINI C. (2005), “I musei aziendali veneti in rapporto al web”, Economia della cultura, vol. 15, n. 2, pp. 241-246.

VAREY R.J. (2000), “A critical review of conceptions of communication evident in contemporary business and management literature”, Journal of Communication Management, vol. 4, n. 4, pp. 328-340.

VERNUCCIO M., CESAREO L., PASTORE A., KITCHEN P. (2022), “Managerial and Organizational Perspectives on Online-Offline Integration within Integrated Marketing Communication: Toward a Holistic Conceptual Framework”, International Journal of Advertising, vol. 41, n. 3, pp. 519-540.

ZELLWEGER T.M., NASON R.S., NORDQVIST M. (2012), “From Longevity of Firms to Transgenerational Entrepreneurship of Families: Introducing Family Entrepreneurial Orientation”, Family Business Review, vol. 25, n. 2, pp. 136-155.

ZENA P.A., HADISUMARTO A.D. (2013), The study of relationship among experiential marketing, service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. ASEAN Marketing Journal, vol. 4, n. 1, pp. 37-46.

ZERFASS A. (2008), “Corporate communication revisited: Integrating business strategy and strategic communication”, In Zerfass A., van Ruler B., Sriramesh K., (edited by), Public Relations Research, Springer VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden.

Downloads

Published

2024-11-25