Die korporatiewe beeld van Nedbank by 'n geselekteerde groep kliënte

Abstract

Each and every organisation has a corporate image, often regarded as an asset. A corporate image is the perception of the organisation by all its clients. The fact that one is dealing with the perception of individuals, leads the researcher to identify the different factors which co-determine the organisation's corporate image, being among others the corporate identity and service of the organisation. The latter being more tangible. A corporate identity means the sum of all the ways an organisation chooses to identify itself to all its clients. A service on the other hand is a deed performed by one party for another. Several studies have already been done on the corporate image of organisations. No such study has been done on the corporate image of Nedbank. The aim of this research project is first and foremost to study the corporate image of Nedbank by means of the corporate identity and service, and secondly to study the context in which Nedbank's corporate image was established, being a total communication-approach. The corporate image of Nedbank in the context of a selected group of clients was addressed by the following research questions: What is a selected group of clients' perceptions of Nedbank's corporate identity and service and how did Nedbank try to establish its corporate image by means of advertising, direct marketing, publicity and public relations? Existing clients of Nedbank Potchefstroom acted as respondents. A questionnaire was used as data collection method. The questionnaire was developed to test perceptions of the bank's corporate identity, service, advertising, direct marketing, publicity and public relations. The results were analyzed by means of the following statistical methods :a) t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to establish the influence, if any, demographic variables have on client's perceptions of Nedbank's corporate identity, service, advertising, direct marketing, publicity and public relations. b) Cronbach's alpha-coefficient method as an index of the above mentioned variables' internal consistency and c) factor analysis with varimax orthogonal axe rotation for assessing the inter relationships among a large set of variables for purposes of reducing the large set to a smaller set of hypothetical factors. No significant differences occurred between any of the demographic variables' influences on the clients' perceptions of Nedbank's corporate identity, service, advertising, direct marketing, publicity and public relations. The results indicated that the clients have positive perceptions of Nedbank's corporate identity, service, advertising, direct marketing , publicity and public relations. The items that measured the corporate identity, service and total communication showed high internal consistencies : corporate identity (0.624); service (0.809); total communication (0 .772); all the variables (0 .833). The third statistical method used, the factor analysis conducted on each of the above mentioned variables separately, revealed that the different statements/questions grouped together, measured the appropriate variable. In conclusion, the results indicated positive client perceptions of Nedbank's corporate identity, service and total communication, thus upholding the hypothesis in chapter one. By using this research project as a basis, Nedbank would be able to undertake a national research project thus determining the overall perceptions of Nedbank's clients towards the bank.