Friday, December 7, 2007

The Soul of The Corporation in Knowledge@Wharton

The Soul of the Corporation: Managing Your Company's Identity(Podcast with Transcript)McDonald's operates the biggest restaurant chain in France. The company's franchisees are French, as are their employees, and they also source their supplies from France. And yet, most people in that country regard McDonald's as an American firm that is undermining the French way of life. That is a good example of how the question of corporate identity has become complex and confused today because of globalization, according to Hamid Bouchikhi, professor of management and entrepreneurship at ESSEC, and Wharton management professor John Kimberly. The two are authors of a new book titled, The Soul of the Corporation: How to Manage the Identity of Your Company (Wharton School Publishing). How can a company cut through this confusion and use the notion of identity as a source of competitive advantage? Kimberly answers that question and others in an interview with Knowledge@Wharton. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1858.cfm