**1. Introduction**

Consumer brand knowledge is multidimensional and needs to be understood and accounted for, in order to provide the right perspective and background for research on branding as it relates to consumers (Keller 2003). This research aims at developing a concept that defines the relationships among brands and analyzes the influences on brand identity and the reputation of corporate brands. The context under study is higher education. We propose a model for higher education institutions which integrates the particularities of brand relationships in the management of corporate brand identity and reputation. Academics and professionals value reputation as a precious asset, as it reduces stakeholders' uncertainty about the future and increases the value of goods and services. Where branding is concerned, the strength of reputation lies in the corporate brand's promise, therefore companies should keep it as a means of managing corporate reputation (Argenti and Druckenmiller 2004). The scientific community believe that brand reputation depends on brand identity, so a good brand reputation is the result of a good management of that identity.

While brand relationships are known to have impacts on brand identity, the literature on this subject is scarce. Relationships have been traditionally positioned in the theory of networks among companies (Ford et al. 2003; Hakansson and Ford 2002; Hakansson and Snehota 1989, 1995). Although previous studies may acknowledge the influence of brand relationships on the identity of organizations (Hakansson and Snehota 1989, 1995), no empirical studies have supported this.

In the current context, where the environment is increasingly dynamic and transformations are difficult to predict, the development of technology results in increasing interactions among corporate brands, as well as between corporate brands and their consumers. These end-users are now, more than ever, considered as cocreators of brands (Hatch and Schultz 2010; Madden et al. 2006; Payne et al. 2009; Prahalad and Ramaswamy 2004; Da Silveira et al. 2013). Similarly, we argue that the identity of a corporate brand is developed as it adapts to consumers' demands. It develops alongside other recognized brands to build an identity with a desirable reputation among all stakeholders, especially consumers.

In line with the development of the proposed model regarding branding, a number of researchers, Kapferer(1986, 2008), Fombrum (1996, 2006) and Vidaver-Cohen (2007), focus on reputation.Other recent studies on reputation in higher education (Priporas and Kamenidou 2011; Suomi 2014) were based on the reputation of researchers and consultants, so that the model could provide insights from academics with responsibilities in the field. The current study is intended to constitute policy advice to general managers and to those in positions of responsibility for higher education brands. This study is distinctive because it:


This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 highlights the relevant literature and describes the structure of the proposed framework for managing corporate brand identity under a relational approach. Section 3 provides an explanation of methods used to assess the concept of corporate brand relationships and the structural model, together with a brief description of the sample. The hypotheses and definitions of the measures used are provided in this section. Section 4 reports our findings and summarizes the model validity and applicability. Section 5 offers a brief discussion of the results and draws the conclusion together with recommendations for future research.
