Stability and Change: How Firms Construct the Meaning of Corporate Identity, 1970-2005

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate how the meaning of corporate identity was constructed in the Nigerian banking industry between 1970 and 2005. By developing an empirical analysis of how this industry constructed the meaning of this concept during this period, this study provides insight into one of the least studied aspects of industry evolution. The semiotic analysis of nine corporate advertisements published by the three largest banks in Nigeria indicates that the construction of the meaning of corporate identity witnessed a movement through a series of stable but changing constructs namely generic corporate personality, distinctive corporate personality, transformative and innovative corporate personality. It is hoped that the emergence of these constructs will extend the current discourse and provide a fresh insight into the ongoing debate over the meaning of corporate identity, which is currently fraught by disagreement.