School of Business, Public

Policy and Social

Entrepreneurship

Business Research
How do Nascent Institutions build their Brand?

Submitted by: Srikant Sharma

Roll No.- S153F0036

Business Research
How the Nascent Institutions build their Brand?
Purpose The purpose of the paper is to understand that how the institutions go for their
brand building as brand has become an essential part for the success of an institution or
organization. Branding has not always been a matter of attention, not even for companies with an
understanding of the possible advantages of a strong brand.

Research Methodology Exploratory Methodology through the interview of one of the

Branch Manager of the Banking Institution is the research methodology adopted for this
study. Data is collected through both primary and secondary sources.
Research Limitation This study is relying only with the Indian Context and might not be
applicable over the other geographies. Also, the interview is held with one of the Branch
Manager and not with the Chief Manager of the Indian Bank.
Introduction The aim of this paper is to understand that how an organization or an institute
go for its brand building i.e. what methods and approaches they have adopted in order to
build their institution in a brand. Branding has not always been a matter of focus, not even for
the companies that had the advantage of a strong brand. But, during the last decade, branding
has emerged as a top priority of any organization, because of the growing realization that a
brand is a most important factor and a valuable asset that an organization or an institution has.
An important aspect of branding is the focus on brand intangibles- aspects of brand image
that do not involve physical, tangible or concrete attributes for benefits (Levy 1999). Brand
intangibles are a common means by which marketers differentiate their brands with
consumers (Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis1986) and transcend physical products (Kotler and
Keller 2006). Intangibles cover a wide range of different types of brand associations, such as
actual or aspirational user imagery, purchase and consumption imagery, and history, heritage,
and experiences (Keller 2001). Branding helps in building reputation and customer base for
an organization thus, is crucial for its success. De Chernatony (1999) said that a company has
to put greater focus on a companys internal role as a brand builder and focus on developing
attitudes and behaviour of the staff and employees. Kapferer (2008) also acknowledges the
relevance of relationships within branding and stated that a brand is above all a relationship,
which involves deep emotional contacts and loyalty.
Institute
The term institution has gained importance in recent years exhibiting the growth and progress in
institutional economics and the use of the concept of institution in several other disciplines. The
creation of a new business or an institute is a process. The word institute is derived from a Latin word
institutum, which signifies purpose, design, plan, ordinance, instruction etc. As per the Oxford
English Dictionary, the word institute has been used since the Renaissance in French and English,
which generally has four meanings. Firstly, it means purpose, secondly an established law, a custom
or an organization, thirdly, an element of instruction or a principle and lastly a society or an organized
group instituted to promote something. According to North, an institution or an organization includes
political parties, firms, trade unions, schools, universities and so on.

Branding
Branding theory and practice has evolved in the recent years. Branding has become one of the most
crucial aspect of a business which is sometime considered only to be an advertising function, but it is
more than establishing the name for a company or a product line. Branding is one of the business
strategy that creates value, reputation, trust for a business and for the products or services of a
business. It is essential in creating value for the products of a company and to establish a competitive
advantage. When the brands were introduced, the identity of the brand was established by the brand
name, brand promise, logo and packaging, but now it has grown to consist the whole development
process of creation of a brand, name of brand, brand identity, and sometimes brand advertising.

INDIAN BANK
Introduction
Indian Bank was established on 15 August, 1907 as part of the Swadeshi Movement. It is one of the
commercial banks that deals with the general public, and is engaged in accepting deposits and making
loans to the larger number of populations, firms and other institutions, thus creating credit in the
economy.
Vision
To be a Competitive and Strong Bank with commitment to excellence and focus on adding value to
customers, shareholders and employees with adherence to best practices and core institutional values
shared throughout the organization.
Mission
The mission of the Indian Bank is To be a Common Mans Bank- to provide all financial products
and services.
*Under one roof
*At affordable cost
*In a fair and transparent manner to all our customers

Discussion between Interviewer and Interviewee/Interview Guide

Please tell about your institution?
The bank was established as a public sector state-owned company about a century ago, with
the objective of to be more and more customer friendly and customer centric in its business
practices and extending prompt and timely services to all its customers. It has its headquarters
in Chennai, India. The bank believes that customers are the priority that should be served in
any way. Currently there are around 20464 employees and 2537 branches of Indian Bank in
India.
How long have you been associated with the Indian Bank and what you like about it?
I have been working here only for the last 20 years and one thing that made me do so is the
quality of staff and the working environment.
What are the measures and steps adopted by this institution to amplify its customer base?
Customers are the most important visitors on our premises on whom our business is dependent, in fact
they are the priority for the bank. In todays time, it is believed that time is money, so, the bank is
providing facilities and services like Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, Mobile Application,
RTGS/NEFT/CMS facility, E-payment of taxes through which, without actually coming to the bank
branch the customer can avail the banking services from anywhere, thus saving time. The bank is also
available for giving Personal Loans, SME and Agricultural Loans. It is also offering Wealth
Management Services to HNIs and Corporates.

Apart from all these, the bank has also tied-up with other institutions like United India Insurance Co.
Ltd., HDFC Standard Life and Kotak Insurance in order to provide excellent customer services.

How the bank has performed in recent years?

Lying and performed within the guidelines of RBI, the performance of the bank is quite well as it has
crossed a business of Rs. 300630 Crores in 2015. As of 2015, the Operating profit and Net profit of
the bank are Rs. 3013.71 Crores and Rs. 1005.17 Crores respectively, which are the good indicators
for its future growth.
What are the promotional strategies, or steps and measures that are undertaken by your bank in order
to build and improve its brand image?
Recently, the Government of India has announced that Indian Bank is the second strongest bank in
financial terms after State Bank of India. Talking about the improvement of brand image, the bank has
tie-ups with other institutions such as United India Insurance Co. Ltd., HDFC Standard Life and
Kotak Insurance in order to serve customers in a well manner. The objective of the bank is to be
customer friendly and customer oriented. So, in order to provide good services to the customers the
bank has imposed the mid-days of the months, as a day when customers can bring their problems and
complaints to the respective branch manager. It is also serving many schools and the colleges of many
universities by collecting theirss student fees and in maintaining their finance records too.

What are the other initiatives that your bank has opted for in recent years?
The bank is operating in 1523 villages of the country and is serving around 4000 people in rural areas.
It has also established 45 specialized exclusive Microfinance branches known as Microsate, across to
cater to the needs of Urban poor through Self Help Group and Joint Liability concepts.
Has your institution won any rank or award for its performance?
In 2010, the bank was ranked as No.1 among Public Sector Banks for customer service by Hindustan
Times. Fastest growing bank and second best bank for 2009 by Businessworld. It has also received
several awards for its work related to Self Help Groups. The bank was awarded for the excellence in
Agricultural Lending from Union Minister of Finance and was also awarded for the Micro-Finance
activities in Tamil Nadu from the side of NABARD.

Literature Review
The central concern of brand building literature experienced a dramatic shift in the last decade. The
traditional definition of brand was the name associated with one or more products and services of a
company. During the recent years branding has become a matter of concern and a top priority for
every business and institution because they started to realize that branding is a vast and rapidly
growing field and is the most valuable intangible asset for an organization. Customers are the base for
any organization to build its brand. Wong and Merrilees (2005), stated that the small-sized,

medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and big rms can build brands, but the ways in which they
approach to do so are different. Young institutions have specic branding needs due to their
lack of resources (Abimbola and Vallaster, 2007), lack of internal structures and processes

(Rode and Vallaster, 2005), and fundamental need to build a reputation (Petkova et al., 2008)
and nd clients.

References
-DUMITRIU, Roxana (2012), The Role of Branding in Marketing Strategy,
University of Craiova.
-Gallagher, Mark and Savard, Laura, what is Branding, A comprehensive
look at the origin and function of branding.
-Joao de Pina Cabral (2011), What is an institution. Institute of Social
Sciences, University of Lisbon.
-Hirsch. Melanie, Whats in a name? The Definition of an Institution of
higher education and its effect on for-profit postsecondary schools.
-Keizer. Piet, the concept of institution: context and meaning, Tjalling C.
Koopmans Research Institute.
-www.indian-bank.com