By Lerisca Lensun

AS markets change, organisations need to adapt to new circumstances and stimulate innovation for growth potential. Being open to innovative ideas, approaches, and systems is imperative in today's fast-changing world. The question to ask is what is the role of a corporate brand in this? If a corporate brand is weak or incoherent, innovation may do little for the success of the company. For long-term growth, strengthening the corporate brand and innovation are two concepts companies must embrace.

What is innovation?

To some companies, innovation is about new product development rather than across-the organisation philosophy. To others, innovation is the job of the research and development department and not of every employee. Innovation is risky and rarely rewarding. These traditional concepts of innovation are reasons why most organisations are not innovative enough.

The word 'innovation' has its origins from the Latin word 'nova', which means new. Generally, innovation is the introduction of a new product, service or process. A more elaborate definition would be 'the embodiment, combination, or synthesis of knowledge in original, relevant, valued new products, processes or services.' There are many definitions of innovation - it is all of the above and more. As Thomas Kuczmarski, author of the book Innovation pointed out, innovation is 'a mindset, a pervasive attitude, or a way of thinking focused beyond the present into the future vision'.

Imagine a world without innovation. All companies would reach the point of diminishing returns with their current offering because everyone is doing the same thing and that results in the erosion of product/service differentiation that is so important in brand building. Businesses would not be profitable and productivity would be low.

How is corporate branding linked?

In November 2005, Majken Schultz, who published Corporate branding: purpose/people/process with Yun Mi Antorini and Fabian Csaba, explained that corporate branding 'is about finding a path in a changeable and dynamic age that paradoxically requires that the organisation develops, while also being able to hold on to its identity'. This statement reflects not only the role of corporate brand for innovation, but also the fact that to build an effective corporate brand, innovation must be involved. The purpose of corporate branding is to define an organisation's uniqueness and differentiation and further, the flexibility to change and yet be stable.

Embracing change

So how does a corporate brand stay true to the identity of the corporation while embracing change at the same time? Companies need to innovate to survive in the marketplace, but that innovation must create value that is relevant to the needs and wants of external stakeholders and to organisational identity.

Sing Lun is one company that has successfully accomplished this. Before 2004, an international quota system had guaranteed Sing Lun access to European and US market.

When it was abolished in 2004, Sing Lun fought back by further internationalising its operations and adding new products in its portfolio.

Since 2006, Sing Lun has evolved from a pure OEM manufacturer to a supply chain manager with design capabilities. Its portfolio of products now covers knits, woven and sweaters.

Mark Lee, the CEO of Sing Lun, faced resistance and fear of change from his employees initially as it was a completely new manufacturing process for them. With a strong resolve to see this through, Mark and his team wholly committed to bring about this change.

Sing Lun succeeded in innovating yet stayed true to the root of its identity - to be a quality apparel provider to its customers. It has never failed to consistently provide absolute customer satisfaction by delivering reliable quality, service excellence and effective cost competitiveness. The company continues to focus on improving what it is best at, which is to manufacture and distribute quality apparel.

The power of trust

Innovation alone does not guarantee success in the marketplace. A strong corporate brand enhances success rate. Many innovative start-up firms failed not because of insufficient marketing activities, but through the lack of intangible asset. The corporate brand is one of the most valuable intangible assets of a company. The quality and trust signals that corporate brands add to products can help mitigate the unknown aspects of new technologies: both the unknown risks associated with buying into new platforms or technologies; and the unknown nature, uses and exact workings of new product. In a B2B (business to business) context, the risks are higher, and the need of a strong corporate brand for innovation success is more crucial.

An innovative edge

This argument of the interdependence between the two variables of the corporate brand and innovation has characterised the business world of the 21st century; innovation remains very important, but since companies can now reverse-engineer their competitors' products more easily than ever before, organisations need to keep looking for ideas that can give them an advantage.

Companies who strive to be the brand of tomorrow must continue building the corporate brand from strength to strength. And that in essence is why corporate branding is becoming as important as innovation for sustainability and growth.

The writer is a research analyst at StrategiCom, a firm specialising in B2B branding. She can be reached at lerisca.lensun@strategicom.com

This article was first published in The Business Times.