Corporate Identity Management : A case study of Corporate Identity within Linnaeus University 

Abstract: Linnaeus University was created January first, 2010 and set step in to a market where the competition between universities is increasing. It’s in fact increasing to a degree where universities might be forced to shut down as a result of the competition. As the competition is growing, schools marketing efforts is getting more professional. Many universities now have a well thought out strategy for attracting students and to get a competitive advantage. In order to accomplish this it’s essential for organizations to acquire and retain some uniqueness that cannot be imitated by competitors and in the last two decades there has been an increasing attention paid to corporate identity management as a source of competitive advantage. Most researchers perceive corporate identity as an organization´s presentation of itself to its various stakeholders and the way it distinguishes itself from similar and/or competitive organizations.Using a qualitative research method we studied the case of Linnaeus University. The purpose of this research was to study how Linnaeus University is using their corporate identity in their communication against students and employers. After analyzing the results of our empirical study and reflecting on the theoretical framework we concluded that Linnaeus University places great emphasis in their identity, that it is of great importance to them and that they have put a lot of effort in their corporate identity and how they mediate it in their communication. They have a clear picture of they see the university and how they want to communicate the identity, the basis for this is clarity and a strong internal communication strategy. In accordance with the theoretical framework Linnaeus University has a good corporate identity management and the university is so far a success.We believe that there is further research that should be carried out in the field of corporate identity and image in the world of academics. More qualitative as well as quantitative empirical research would be interesting, especially to use a comparative research design investigating both several universities and potential students.