[Abstract to: Narrative + Innovation, Karlshochschule International University, Karlsruhe, 15. - 17.9.2010
http://www.narrative-innovation.org./]
The concept of a brand is one of most uttered concepts, when talking about successful market oriented ways of management. Even the widely receipted critical discussion introduced by Naomi Klein’s „No Logo“(2002) could not harm this idea. You find large compilations of empiric results and many micro theories instead of a holistic process model in the typical textbooks (Esch 2001). All in all economic and management theories are lacking an integrated model for managing complex meanings and believe systems, as brands and enterprises themselves stand for. In any way, semiotic could be such a holistic model for corporate signs and meanings – may be the only one.
But there is another – even better reason – why management should have a closer look on semiotics. In most of the bigger companies you find a certain department, called corporate communication. However, speaking of corporate communication is totally misleading because corporate activities which run under the label of ‘communication’ are at the best a deficient form of a communication process. Mostly they do not present even that. Communication is the initial human process of coordinating interaction and believe systems. But corporate communication is missing most of its constituent factors (Ungeheuer 1987). There are no chances for exchanging the rolls of speaker and listener. There does not exist any intentionality. There are no para- or meta-communicative processes to coordinating the personal relation or to assure understanding.
Hence, there are two scientific concepts which are more appropriate to describe and to manage these corporate processes. On the one hand, there is the concept of rituals and at the other hand we have the concept of sign processes (semiosis). For a leadership and management oriented perspective, semiotic delivers clearly the better solution. Last but not least, the presentation will discuss the outline, the advantages, and the open issues of ‘corporate semiosis’ as a new scientific management tool based on a pragmatic melange of modern semiotic, e.g. of the ideas of Pierce, Jacobson and Rossi-Landi.
Literature:
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______ (2007), Der Erfolg des Zeichens Coca-Cola in Deutschland. Eine semiotische Analyse, Saarbrücken: VDM
Esch, Franz-Rudolf Esch (2001) (Hsg.), Moderne Markenführung. Grundlagen – innovative Ansätze – Praktische Umsetzungen, 3., erweiterte und aktualisierte Auflage, Wiesbaden: Gabler
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Klein, Naomi (2002), No Logo! Der Kampf der Global Players um Marktmacht. Ein Spiel mit vielen Verlierern und wenigen Gewinnern, München: Riemann (Random House)
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Peirce, Charles Sanders (1991), Vorlesungen über Pragmatismus, Hamburg: Meiner
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______ (1992), Between Signs and Non-Signs (hsg. von Susan Petrilli), Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins
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Ungeheuer, Gerold (1987), Vor-Urteile über Sprechen, Mitteilen, Verstehen, in: Kommunikationstheoretische Schriften I: Sprechen, Mitteilen, Verstehen (hrsg. von Johannes G. Juchem), Aachen: Rader (ASSK 14)
