Corporate Brand Representations in B2B Companies’ Websites

Abstract

In the business-to-business (B2B) domain, the corporate website is an effective platform for communicating to stakeholders the corporate brand (CB) features, such as personality and values. Despite the growing importance of websites as a primary means for corporate communication, research on the dimensions that companies ought to use relevant for online corporate branding is limited. This study examines the representations of CBs on the websites of B2B companies in two emerging markets—Brazil and India. The study provides insights into how B2B companies operating in these markets are managing their corporate branding. In particular the research establishes dimensions used for the representation of the CB in the company’s website (e.g., CB personality, CB values). In addition, the study investigates whether the representations of CB have an impact on the company’s financial performance.

We analyzed Brazilian and Indian B2B companies’ websites, focusing on the pages containing corporate information and/or information about the parent company. The data collection and analysis were developed in 2 stages, entailing a pilot study and a main study. The pilot study aimed at developing and refining the description of the ways companies used for representing their CB in the websites. It further allowed for the testing of the coding procedure. The main study incorporated the final description of the CB dimensions and performance measures based on the stock index data from Bloomberg. The analysis included websites from 158 Indian and 158 Brazilian B2B companies. Findings allow the specification of relevant elements that should be used to express the CB in an online setting. The study proposes that the following dimensions should be considered to express the CB: CB values; CB personality; CB heritage, and company demographics. The study’s context of two emerging economies showed the stability of the dimensions when applied to companies from two different emerging countries. The study further showed a positive impact of the level of CB online expressions on business performance. The research allows drawing managerial recommendations and avenues for future research.