Strategic management of corporate and product brands: an integrative framework for architecture, alignment and portfolio value creation

Аннотация

In contemporary market conditions, brands function not only as identifiers of products but also as strategic assets shaping organizational identity, stakeholder trust, and long-term competitiveness. This conceptual article develops an integrative framework for the joint strategic management of corporate and product brands. Although prior scholarship has produced important 
insights into customer-based brand equity, corporate branding, internal branding, and portfolio design, these streams have often remained analytically fragmented. In practice, however, firms increasingly create value through the interaction of corporate and product brands within complex architectures and portfolios. Drawing on key theoretical contributions, the article identifies six 
interrelated dimensions of joint brand management: brand architecture, positioning, innovation and extension, internal alignment, stakeholder co-creation, and reputation governance. The analysis demonstrates that value creation depends on the degree of alignment between the corporate brand platform and product-level execution. When this alignment is strong, firms can generate credibility transfer, stronger legitimacy, and portfolio resilience. When alignment is weak, dilution, inconsistency, and reputational spillovers become more likely. The article contributes by integrating customer-based and stakeholder-oriented branding perspectives into a single conceptual framework and by translating that framework into a governance agenda for managers responsible for multibrand growth, innovation, and long-term brand legitimacy