Branding through renaming for strategic alignment in service organisations
The overall goal of this study was to develop a theoretically based and empirically
grounded process framework to understand radical organisational renaming within
service industries, particularly Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The specific
research aim was to analyse organisational renaming as an option to rebrand and
reposition an unhealthy brand image and to identify and define renaming factors and
processes that successful radical renaming utilise. The research design was a semistructured,
qualitative, multiple-case study format that incorporated open-ended
interview questions with 49 stakeholders from three separate institutions and secondary
research data from printed documents, web sites and outside media sources.
The early literature review for this study supported the premise that renaming is
complicated and driven by individual strategic organisational goals that center around
eliminating or softening negatives and strengthening or even creating new positives.
This research uncovered the brand flux nature that precedes radical renaming and
identified the various processes associated with revitalizing, rebranding, repositioning
and renaming which resulted in a Brand Flux Model that depicts how the flux nature of
branding critically impacts renaming. Additionally, it identified twelve distinct factors
that were grouped into a four stage process framework model; this Process
Model describes the importance placed on each impact factor as well as how the order
of the factors influence the overall success of a renaming. Strategic placement on the
model represents the continuing strategic realignment and co-created nature inherent in
renaming within a service industry. A template that highlights the significance of
realigning 8 Principles of Renaming to the strategic goals of the institution was also
developed. 
The study contributed to the areas of branding, rebranding and repositioning by defining
terms and proposing nuanced definitions, including a working definition for radical
renaming. It culminated with the development of the Brand Flux model and a proposed
Renaming Process Model that tracks renaming in a service environment. This
qualitative research format and accompanying models and processes can be used to
study renaming in a variety of industries.