The Names of U.S. Industrial Corporations: A Study in Change

Boddewyn, J.

doi:10.1179/nam.1967.15.1.39

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Naming an enterprise after that territory would be a satisfying confirmation of such a connection. Boddewyn (1967), Room (1982), Walasek (1983), and Rami and Arias (2007) expressed similar ideas regarding placeinspired enterprise names. In a particularly innovative investigation, Walasek (1983, 198) even singled out electric utilities for their "common use of geographic names" such as the aforementioned Corn Belt Electric Cooperative (now Corn Belt Energy).¹ Entrepreneurs often name their businesses in the hope that the moniker itself will influence favorably potential customers of their products and services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Corn Belt as an Enterprise-Naming Custom in the United States

Sublett

2021

names

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Enterprises, be they for-profit businesses or not-for-profit organizations, require names to differentiate themselves from other entities. Over a span of more than a hundred years entrepreneurs, corporate boards, and organizational founders have chosen to use Corn Belt or some spelling variant to identify their enterprises, perhaps believing that naming after this admired agricultural region will bless their enterprise with its longevity, productivity, and favorable image. This essay looks at the beginnings of Corn Belt as a vernacular term for an agricultural region, picks up the earliest uses of Corn Belt as an inspiration for enterprise names, tracks Corn Belt enterprises through time at one of the core locations of the naming practice, and presents the enterprises that in 2020 greeted the public with Corn Belt in their names.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Corn Belt as an Enterprise-Naming Custom in the United States

Sublett

2021

names

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“…One area of research that addresses tensions between isomorphism and differentiation for new ventures but that has received little attention is the choice of start-up names during an industry's evolution, which is surprising because a firm's name is infused with meaning and serves as an identifier, and naming a firm is a strategic decision that signals to stakeholders what a firm stands for (Boddewyn, 1967). Organizations select names to convey to internal and external audiences what is central, enduring and distinct about them (Albert and Whetten, 1985; Chuang and Baum, 2003; Glynn and Abzug, 2002; Lee, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demystifying entrepreneurial name choice: insights from the US biotech industry

Stoyneva

Vracheva

2022

NEJE

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PurposeDrawing from legitimacy and institutional entrepreneurship theory, this study assesses the naming patterns of entrepreneurial firms in the US biotechnology industry.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a mixed-methods design of content analysis and regression to analyze a sample of 441 entrepreneurial biotechnology firms, for which data were obtained from Net Advantage. The authors track changes to the proportion of firms with naming attributes, such as name length and type of name. The authors also examine variability in those characteristics during the industry's evolution, comparing freestanding to acquired start-ups.FindingsStart-ups select names that are longer, more descriptive, begin with rare sounds or hard plosives and have stronger discipline- or technology-specific links during nascent years of the industry. As the industry evolves, entrepreneurs are more likely to select names that are shorter, more abstract, begin with hard plosives and have stronger industry-specific links. The naming patterns of freestanding and acquired companies differ, and companies that conform to industry pressures tend to remain independent.Originality/valueUnlike extant studies that assess established industries, the current study identifies shifting trends in the naming patterns of entrepreneurial firms in an emerging industry. By focusing on start-ups, the authors expand research on organizational naming practices, which focuses traditionally on name choices and name change patterns of incumbents. By using marketing and linguistics methods when analyzing organizational name attributes, naming patterns in these attributes are identified, including name length, name type, starting letter of the name and link to the industry.

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“…In addition, although names may not capture the entirety of a firm's identity, to most of the people, corporations are "nothing but a name" (Boddewyn, 1967). Howe (1982) claimed that the company's name is one of its public images and a poor choice of name may be an obstacle for the firm to overcome, while a clever, such as amusing and informative, name may have a positive influence on individuals' perceptions of the company.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does “Resetting” by Changing Corporate Name or Industry Category Appeals to Institutional Investments?

Huang¹,

Cheng

2020

CMR

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We investigate whether firms changing their names or industry categories once and more than once would affect institutional shareholdings. By utilizing 5,733 observations of the Taiwan Stock Exchange listed firms, we apply multiple regression models firstly and Petersen regression models for further investigation to enhance the robustness of the empirical results. We then disclose several important findings as follows. First, institutional investors might not prefer holding the shares of the firms changing their names more than once. We infer that the performances of the firms changing names more than once might be doubtful. Second, institutional investors might decrease the shareholdings of the firms with industry categories changed. We claim that institutional investors might suspect these firms probably existing corporate governance issues. Besides, we argue that, to our best understanding, this study might fill the gap in the existing literature due to that the issues, firms changing their names or industry categories once or more than once, seem rarely explored in the relevant studies.

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The Names of U.S. Industrial Corporations: A Study in Change

Cited by 9 publications

References 0 publications

Corn Belt as an Enterprise-Naming Custom in the United States

Corn Belt as an Enterprise-Naming Custom in the United States

Demystifying entrepreneurial name choice: insights from the US biotech industry

Does “Resetting” by Changing Corporate Name or Industry Category Appeals to Institutional Investments?

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