Utilising a change management perspective to examine the implementation of corporate rebranding in a non-profit SME

The purpose of this article is to use a change management perspective to investigate how a non-profit SME conducted corporate rebranding and determine in this important new context the usefulness of the principles of corporate rebranding developed by Merrilees and Miller primarily in relation to large for-profit organisations. Research is based upon case study of an Australian non-profit SME health insurance organisation that recently conducted corporate rebranding. Via a change management perspective incorporating a discourse transformation framework, semi-structured in-depth interviews with managers and employees examined the rebranding process and explored manager and employee experiences of the journey. The rebranding was successful. Crucial was thorough situation analysis, well-developed implementation plan, and early buy-in from employees subsequently involved throughout the implementation process. Although evidence of all principles of corporate rebranding was detected within the actual rebranding process utilised, various refinements to the principles are recommended. These refined principles can guide practitioners in future corporate rebranding exercises. The research contributes by successfully introducing a change management perspective utilising a discourse transformation framework into examination of corporate rebranding. The research also extends the principles of corporate rebranding to a new context and importantly provides suggested refinements to the principles.