Gestión de la identidad corporativa: Evidencias en el sector bancario

Corporate identity management is a key element for business success, especially in highly competitive sectors like banking. Focusing on this sector, this article attempts to answer three questions: what are the main factors underlying corporate identity management in banks? , how is it managed? and what are the main benefits? With these aims, it was developed a qualitative research study based on in-depth interviews with brand managers in seven of the biggest Spanish banks. The information obtained, which was categorized by QSR-Vivo software, indicates that behind identity management there are motivations and pitfalls that are internal and external to organizations. It was also found that the main factors that managers associate with corporate identity are culture, structure, strategy, behavior, communications and visual identity. There are also internal and external benefits from management, which lead to better economic-financial results. As a whole, results confirm the relevance of identity and show a number of variables which directly influence the bank competiveness. These results should be taken into account for both academic and managerial purposes.