The impacts of "marketing activities intended for an ethnic group" on the corporate reputation

The huge economic potential of ethnic markets has led many businesses to develeop different marketing strategies for different ethnic groups. Turkish companies are recently assessing this relatively new marketing strategy. It is important to gain a better understanding of ethnic marketing and its impact on the perceptions of the stakeholders. Understanding and adopting this strategy before the other players in the market may create a competitive advantage.This study examines whether ethnic marketing activities effect the reputation of the companies, as perceived by the ethnic groups they target. In the theoretical framework, first the concept of corporate reputation is reviewed, with a focus on the dimensions of being a reputable company as found in the literature. Second, the concept of ethnic marketing is examined; the definitions, principles and activities of ethnic marketing is summarized. In the research phase, qualitative approach was adopted to understand how Kurdish people perceived the ethnic marketing activities and how these affected the reputation of the company that conducts those activities. Semi-structured one-to-one interviews were conducted with Kurdish people living in Turkey. The interviews were then transcribed and analysed to find out emerging themes and ideas. The results show that ethnic marketing activities may have a direct effect on corporate reputation.Key Words: Corporate Reputation, Corporate Reputation Management, Ethnic Marketing