Hanan receives second master’s degree in HR Management
MUSCAT: Hanan bint Yousuf Al Balushi, Corporate Communication Manager of Haya Water, received a second master’s degree in Human Resource Management in a research entitled “The Impact of Structured Brand Management System on Business Performance at Omani Firms”. The researcher highlighted the concept of Brand Management which is considered to be the most recent in the Arab world, despite its spread and identification in Europe and the United States of America since the beginning of the last century, and the importance of firms in Oman to have clear and modern systems to manage their corporate identity and reputation in order to achieve sustainability and competitive advantages.
Personal observation
Hanan stated that the selection of the research topic came as a result of her personal observation that there is no unified agreement to define the concept in the Sultanate and the lack of awareness of the importance of policies and systems to fully manage identity and institutional reputation in many commercial and service institutions. In addition, brand enhancement budgets are the first items to be dramatically reduced during financial crises.
Hanan added that companies in the public and private sectors in the Sultanate of Oman are seeking all means to achieve success, continuity and uniqueness to provide the best services to overcome the competitors or the challenges faced by these institutions. However, the multiplicity of these competitors and the multiplicity of these challenges and changes in market requirements lead many institutions to fail to stand still, especially those institutions that do not have a clear road map to manage their corporate identity. For this purpose, this research came to guide the researcher to know the role that such strategies and systems may play in order to achieve continuity, excellence and uniqueness.
During her research, the researcher tried to answer a number of fundamental questions such as the need for strategies and systems for the management of corporate brand, the positive effects of these systems on the overall performance of the institution, including the financial performance and the positive relationship between successful management of reputation and the attraction of talents to work and continue with the same institution and the important role of CSR and its impact on enhancing prestige and identity.
The researcher concluded that the concept of brand management transcended visual elements such as colour and logos to include the company’s top strategies, vision, mission, values, communication with others and all services provided to customers.
Hanan highlighted in her research that there is a need for more future research in the same field to achieve more accurate and realistic results on brand management and financial performance of any organisation.
It is worth noting that the researcher is a graduate of Sultan Qaboos University, specialising in English language and literature and holds a master’s degree in translation from the University of Salford - UK and this is her second master’s degree from the Liverpool University.