How to build a conscientious corporate brand together with business partners: A case study of Unilever

Although a few scholars have suggested that the strategic alignment of the corporate brand's business partner network is essential to bring the corporate brand conscience to life, there remains limited research about the process of creating a conscientious corporate brand together with such a business partner network. Thus, this paper aims to investigate how a conscientious corporate brand is built together with its business partners. To address this research objective, we conduct a single case study of Unilever, comprising interviews with its managers and business partners. Findings show how Unilever: drives business and business relationships around a corporate brand purpose; embraces balanced stakeholder and temporal perspectives; promotes strategic co-creation initiatives; and reinforces the strategic alignment of its ecosystem of business partners. The findings contribute to the literature by identifying the elements and describing the process of conscientious corporate brand building with business partners.