Once the company's value position has been defined, it will affect the concept of the entire company. The value position defines the direction and the values the company must be managed by. As such it places demands on everything from products to communication.

In companies with a Corporate Concept there is a clearly defined consistency between product, concept, profile, organisation and communication. What also signifies a Corporate Concept is a deep and credible relationship between consumers, company and brand.

The philosophy
Often the company allows its position to be defined by the latest product. When the company lacks a clear direction it will end up with an unclear profile. New products are rarely developed from a conscious effort to strengthen the company's position.
As a consequence of this, one disconnected idea will follow another when the company markets its new products. And when the organisation lacks a clear image of what the company wants, it will be unable to contribute optimally to strengthening the company's market position. Over time, the missing focus will make the company point in several different directions. This makes the company's position unclear and therefore weak.

If on the other hand, the company is given one manageable direction, it will be coherent. And when the entire company pulls in the same direction, the market position will be strengthened.

The model
In order to create a credible brand, a clearly defined and consistent coherence must exist between product, concept, profile, organisation and communication. The company's mission can be applied as a dynamic management tool.

• Mission: Expresses the company's raison d'être
• Product: How do our products contribute to the mission?
• Concept: The company and marketing concept must support and strengthen the values that the mission is based upon.
• Profile: Everything contributes to positioning the company, including the passive communication such as logo, design, packaging etc.
• Organisation: All employees and business partners in the value chain must understand the mission and the company's value set and contribute to delivering the desired position via their behaviour.
• Communication: The communication must be planned as a consistent and long-term effort so that it expresses the value position that the company wants to own. Furthermore, an efficient way of reaching the desired target groups must be ensured.

How to use the model?
Once the company's value position has been defined it will affect the concept of the entire company. The value position defines the direction and the values the company must be managed by.
As such it places demands on everything from products to communication. For instance, strategies for product range, development and management must take their starting point in the value position. Høng® serves as a concrete example. Previously Høng® was an umbrella brand for quality cheeses. However, the market position was too weak and Høng® was consequently repositioned as 'The moulded cheese expert'. This meant that a big part of the product range was cut out and the product development was focused around the development of new moulded cheeses.

In the same way employees must be well equipped to deliver the desired position. One tangible example is SAS, which under the management of Jan Carlsson wanted to own the position 'The business man's airline'. This entailed an upgrade of the service level. SAS therefore sent all their employees on 'smiling courses' to generate an understanding of how they could contribute to SAS's desired position through their behaviour.

Try to make a rough evaluation of the consistency of your company's Corporate Concept - and whether your company is managed according to one clearly defined direction.

Read more:
Corporate Religion, Company´s personality, The Value position, Brand Systems, Brand Value Chain, The books.