This study is the first to investigate the use of Aboriginal art for marketing purposes. Over 2000 major enterprises in Europe and North America collect art, but in Australia relatively few do. Research has established that art collections contribute to corporate identity, but this has not been studied in Australia. Using a qualitative case study approach, this exploratory study investigates how art collections are used to support the work of three Australian banking and law firms whose collections include Aboriginal art. We asked respondents from each firm how and why they collected Aboriginal art and their perception of the role of art in symbolizing their firm’s values and culture. Aboriginal art was found to contribute to a firm’s identity and corporate social responsibility, especially when collections included the work of emerging artists and more challenging political content. It also presented a friendly face to Aboriginal clients. For firms in overseas markets, Aboriginal art served to signal a firm’s Australianness.
AbbottS. (1994). Corporate art consulting. Allworth Press.
2.
AndersonC.DussartF. (1988). Dreamings in acrylic: Western desert art. In SuttonP. (Ed.), Dreamings: The art of Aboriginal Australia (pp. 89–142). Braziller and Asia Society Galleries.
3.
ArgentiP.FormanJ. (2002). The power of corporate communication: Crafting the voice and image of your business. McGraw-Hill.
Attride-StirlingJ. (2001). Thematic networks: An analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 1(3), 385–405.
6.
BalmerJ. M. T. (2013). Corporate heritage, corporate heritage marketing, and total corporate heritage communications: What are they? What of them?Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 18(3), 290–326.
7.
BalmerJ. M. T. (2017). Foundations of corporate heritage. Routledge.
8.
BeaumontJ.FennerF.McDonaldJ. (2012). The land and its psyche. NewSouth Publishing.
9.
BeckerH. S. (1982). Art worlds. University of California Press.
10.
BelkR. W. (1995). Collecting in a consumer society. Routledge.
11.
BirkigtK.StadlerM. (1986). Corporate identity: Grundlagen, Funktionen, Fallspielen. Verlag Moderne Industrie.
12.
BraunV.ClarkeV. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
13.
BrillM. (1985). Using office design to increase productivity (Vol. II). Environmental Design Research Association.
14.
Burns ColemanE. (2005). Aboriginal art, identity and appropriation. Ashgate Publishing.
15.
CharmazK. (2000). Grounded theory: Objectivist and constructivist methods. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research, (pp. 509–535) (2nd ed.). SAGE.
16.
CorbinJ. M.StraussA. (1990). Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria. Qualitative sociology, 13(1), 3–21.
17.
DayD. (2014). The art market down under: A case study of Australian Aboriginal art market regulation and U.S. art market implication. Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law, 23(1), 133–164.
18.
DenzinN. K. (1994). The art and politics of interpretation. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 500–515). SAGE.
19.
DuboisA.GaddeL.-E. (2002). Systematic combining: An abductive approach to case research. Journal of Business Research, 55(7), 553–560.
20.
DussartF. (2006). Canvassing identities: Reflecting on the acrylic art movement in an Australian Aboriginal settlement. Aboriginal History, 33, 156–168.
21.
EsterbergK. G. (2002). Qualitative methods in social research. McGraw-Hill.
22.
GibsonP. (2006). Corporate collectors: Many corporate collections are being replaced by challenging new media, and art consultants are directing the change. Australian Art Review, 11(July-September), 68–71.
23.
GlaserB. G. (1992). Basics of grounded theory analysis: Emergence vs forcing. Sociology Press.
24.
GlynnM.BhattacharyaC. B.RaoH. (1996). Art museum membership and cultural distinction: Relating members’ perceptions of prestige to benefit usage. Poetics, 24(2–4), 259–274.
25.
GrönroosC. (2000). Service management and marketing: A customer relationship management approach (2nd ed.). Wiley.
26.
HalinenA.TörnroosJ.-A. (2005). Using case methods in the study of contemporary business networks. Journal of Business Research, 58(9), 1285–1297.
27.
HarrisP.Reiff HowarthS. (2012). Best practice in corporate arts. Wapping Arts Trust.
28.
HarrisP.Reiff HowarthS. (2014). A celebration of corporate art programs worldwide. Wapping Arts Trust.
29.
HatchM.SchultzM. (1997). Relations between organisational culture, identity and image. European Journal of Marketing, 31(5), 356–365.
30.
HoekenH.RuikesL. (2005). Art for art’s sake? An exploratory study of the possibility to align works of art with an organization’s identity. Journal of Business Communication, 42(3), 233–246.
31.
JacobsonM. (1993). Art and business: New strategies for corporate collecting. Thames & Hudson.
32.
JohnsonV. (2010). Once upon a time in Papunya. University of New South Wales Press.
33.
JukićD.DunkovićB. (2018). Analysis of corporate identity from the aspects of intercultural communication in the sphere of art. In Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference: Trade perspectives 2018 - contemporary aspects and role of international trade (p. 205).
34.
KadushinC.HechtS.SassonT.SaxeL. (2008). Triangulation and mixed methods designs: Practicing what we preach in the evaluation of an Israel experience educational program. Field Methods, 20(1), 46–65.
KeytonJ. (2005). Communication and organizational culture; A key to understanding work experiences. SAGE.
37.
KottaszR.BennettR.SavaniS.MousleyW.Ali-ChoudhuryR. (2007). The role of corporate art collection in corporate identity management: The case of Deutsche Bank. Marketing Management, 10(1), 19–31.
38.
KottaszR.BennettR.SavaniS.Ali-ChoudhuryR. (2008). The role of corporate art in the management of corporate identity. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 13(3), 235–254.
39.
LerpoolL.RavasiD.van RekomJ.SoenenG. (2007). Organisational identity in practice. Routledge.
40.
LindenbergM.OosterlinckK. (2010). Art collections as a strategy tool: A typology based on the Belgian financial sector (Working paper). Centre Emile Bernheim, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
41.
LowishS. (2006). A landmark show. Meanjin, 65(1), 122–124.
42.
MartorellaR. (1990). Corporate art. Rutgers University Press.
McLeanI. A. (2013). Surviving “the contemporary”: What Indigenous artists want, and how to get it. Contemporary Visual Art + Culture Broadsheet, 42(3), 167–173.
46.
MichaelsE. (1988). Bad Aboriginal art. Art and Text, 28(March–May), 59–73.
47.
MilesM. B.HubermanA. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. SAGE.
48.
MitchellA.KingN. (1997). Art for art’s sake? Management consultancies’ art collections. Management Consultancy, (March), 24–28.
49.
MoureauN.Sagot-DuvaurouxD. (2012). Four business models in contemporary art. International Journal of Arts Management, 14(3), 44–56.
50.
MyersF. R. (2002). Painting culture: The making of an Aboriginal high art. Duke University Press.
51.
MyersF. R. (2006). Collecting Aboriginal art: Two case studies. Visual Anthropology Review, 21(1/2), 116–137.
52.
OlinsW. (1989). Corporate identity: Making business strategy visible through design. Harvard Business School Press.
53.
PittM.BennettJ. (2008). Workforce ownership of space in a space sharing environment. Journal of Facilities Management, 6(4), 290–302.
54.
RobertsonI.ChongD. (2008). The art business. Routledge.
55.
RothwellN. (2013, August9). Fragile picture of the future. The Australian, p. 15.
56.
RyanA.FahyJ. (2003). A relationship marketing perspective of sponsorship of the arts in Ireland. Irish Marketing Review, 16(1), 31–42.
SchroederJ. E.BorgersonJ. L. (2002). Innovations in information technology: Insights from Italian Renaissance art. Consumption Markets and Culture, 5(2), 153–169.
59.
WangY. (2016). Art for work: Corporate art programs for the 21st century (Master’s thesis). American University.
60.
WhettenD. A. (2006). Albert and Whetten revisited: Strengthening the concept of organizational identity. Journal of Management Inquiry, 15(3), 219–234.
61.
WoodsideA. G.WilsonE. J. (2003). Case study research methods for theory building. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 18(6/7), 493–508.
62.
WorthingtonA. C.HiggsH. (2004). Art as an investment: Risk, return and portfolio diversification in major painting markets. Accounting and Finance, 44(2), 257–271.
63.
WuC.-T. (2003). Privatising culture: Corporate art intervention since the 1980s. Verso.
