Merlin Entertainment - the Reputational Issue

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recruitment image. Reputations are ‘aggregate perceptions by stakeholders of an organisation’s ability to fulfil their expectations’ (van Riel and Fombrun, 2007: 43)

Is multidimensional and is a snapshot that reconciles the multiple images of an organisation held by all of its constituencies. It signals the overall attractiveness of the company to employees, consumers, investors and communities (Blakstad and Cooper, 1995).

Fombrun (1996) defines reputation as the net perception of a companys ability to meet the expectations of all its stake holders.

De Chernatony & Harris (2001) similarly feel that stakeholder’s views are important and that corporate reputation is a representative evaluation of a brand’s identity.

Bromley (2001) defines reputation as an index of a company’s value. It is based on opinions about a person or organisation.

Griffin (2008) sees reputation as a sum of customer satisfaction, financial performance or other indicators.

Rather than its own standalone discipline, academics interpret corporate reputation from a variety of disciplines including strategic management, organisational theory, economics, marketing, communications, accounting and finance (Fomrum and van riel, 1997; Balmer 1998).

There is a need for service brand to employ more focus on reputation in comparison to product brands. This is due to the less tangible evidence representing the company available(Fill 2009).

A brands reputation communicated the company’s mission, quality professionalism, talent and role in the market (Downling, 1994).

Forces affecting Corporate Reputation of Alton Towers

-Give Justifications! Do not need to apply irrelevant components

Internal Forces

Internal forces allow organisations to develop either a positive or negative corporate reputation through the ability to control influences (Fill and Roper 2012). Internal forces such as corporate strategy, culture and use of resources are able to be controllable and applicable to many contexts (Fill and Roper 2012). Fill and Roper (2012) also mention how the ‘gaps’ between employees behaviour and brand promise can have a detrimental impact on corporate reputation. This ‘gaps’ can also be witnessed in relation to Alton Towers reputational issue. Employees at the theme park misunderstood a message from the op……..

This issues is also highlighted by de Chernatony (1999) who stressed the need to develop strong relationships with customer facing employees as customer will base their impressions of the company on them. The miscommunication from … to the ride operation staff, emphasised how this failure resulted in their reputation becoming cause for disrepute. The CEO of Alton Towers also issued a statement……

External Forces (PESTEL)

According to Roper and Fill (2012), External forces are primarily uncontrollable forces that affect an organisations reputation and can be examined using the PESTLE framework.

In relation to the Alton Towers Incident, Technological factors seem to be the strongest of the external forces effecting their corporate reputation. In recent years more and more people have begun to share their experiences of organisations through e-word of mouth, this has heavily contributed to Alton Towers reputational issue, by spreading the news amongst thousands (Marketing Week 2013). E-word of mouth is a powerful tool that comprises of the ability to influence a person’s view of a company, such as Alton Towers in the case (Cheungu and Thadani 2012).

Jones (2014) describes how social media platforms allow for a single individual to interact with many, pathing the way for a viral campaign. A Viral campaign is when instantly after news has been posted, it has been spread to many others who are then made aware of the situation (Ewing et al.2014).

Relational Forces (Porters 5 Forces. Partnerships, Mergers, Acquisitions)

• The way a organisation competes, interacts and conducts itself within relationships

• Associations through partnerships and other organisations

• Porters 5 forces encapsulates the various competitive pressures

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Problems of Alton Towers not building relationships with their customers, meet their expectations, leading them to leave..

1. Buyer Power

• Health and Safety concerns

2. Supplier Power

• Unique offering

• Largest/only provider

3. Threat of new entry

• Very small

4. Threat of Substitutes

• Different attractions

• E.g. London Dungeon, zoos

• Drayton manor theme park

Acquisitions, Mergers and Partnerships

• Merlin said its acquisition of the Tussauds Group would make it the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator after Disney.

• Merlin has bought the Tussauds Group from Dubai International Capital (DIC) for £1.03bn, and under the terms of the deal DIC will retail a 20% stake in the combined company.

• Merlin Entertainment has sold the property to entrepreneur Nick Leslau for £622m, and will rent them back under a 35-year lease.

• Research studies into the returns received by shareholders also demonstrate that acquisitions continue to produce negative average return (Gregory, 1997; Agrawal & Jaffe, 2000).

• Problems managing a new corporate identity are promotnent

• Merrgers do not result in amalgamated cultures, as experience shows that one will be pre-eminent

Brand Corporate Reputation Factors (BUILDING BLOCKS)

P34

P402

Corporate