Ithaca, NY -- Roundtables recently conducted by the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) at the School of Hotel Administration investigated the intersection of branding, ethics, and social media. In newly posted roundtable proceedings, participants in three roundtables examined how to maintain a strong brand, how to manage social media, and how to operate ethically. Success in all three requires clear communication, behaving with integrity, and maintaining connections throughout a company. The proceedings are available at no charge from the CHR. Cornell Brand Roundtable Finds Opportunities and Challenges Today's environment, characterized by instant communication and 24/7 operation, makes managing a brand more challenging than ever. Participants in the second annual Cornell Brand Management Roundtable see the potential benefits and perils of the the new branding environment, especially with the increasing use of social media. Powerful brands will continue to prosper, but weak brands will find it hard to survive the scrutiny found in this environment, as explained in the newly posted proceedings, "Branding Hospitality: Challenges, Opportunities, and Best Practices," by Chekitan S. Dev and Glenn Withiam. The roundtable proceedings are available at no charge from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research (CHR). Dev is an associate professor of marketing and branding at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, where Withiam is CHR's director of publications. "The fundamentals of brand management remain unchanged," said Professor Dev, who chaired the roundtable. "Even a strong brand can be damaged by instantaneous negative comments—whether they are true or false. The key strategy to offset attacks on a service brand is for employees at all levels to understand and live out their brand's promise. The best way to make that happen is to eliminate the "silo thinking" in the hospitality industry and connect employees across all departments, and to their customers."
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