Today’s competitive environment tends to push corporations to differentiate themselves. One aspect of this process is seen in institutions’ building their own cultures. This construction involves a process that utilizes various elements, and also requires self-awareness. While in the process of identity creation, self-aware corporations accurately reflect their corporate culture; corporations with low selfawareness reflect themselves incorrectly. This situation is so important that it actually determines the line between success and failure. In a similar manner, being the first or second company in entering the market has an impact on the corporate culture. The absence of competition or the nature of competition pushes corporations to undertake certain behaviors. Culture (or personality) of corporations —which are considered organisms— varies according to competition. Therefore, it can be said that being the firstborn brand in the market, or being a second-born brand, shapes the corporate culture, too. The original contribution of this study is to link Adler’s birth order concept with corporate culture.

The aim of this study is to advance how birth order affects the expressions of corporations by associating Adler’s birth order concept with them. Nevertheless, the results are not generalizable, and the data are only relevant for this case. Indeed, this study only provides data on the relationship between the two brands and prepares ground for future research. Discourses and the meanings of visual elements in advertisements are analyzed. The nature of expression strategies of the corporation is determined by analyzing discourses and visual items, and they are evaluated in the context of Adler’s concept. In other words, the firstborn corporation’s expression strategy is compared with the characteristics that Adler attributes to the firstborn child, while the second-born corporation is compared with the second-born child.

This study focuses on the concepts of corporate culture, corporate identity, corporate image, and Adler’s birth order concept. Corporate ‘philosophy’ is the essence of the corporation. In other words, it indicates the basic views of the core members of the corporation about the corporation. It is a product of the thought of the founder and the manager. Corporate ‘culture’ is the ultimate personality of the corporate that is the result of the combination of many different factors. This structure is formed by adding employees’ values to corporate personality. Therefore, it is a mixed structure. As culture is the central factor that determines the behavior of people in society, corporate culture determines the behavior of corporations. Corporate ‘identity’ is how a corporation reflects its culture, or manifests its corporate self-expression. This identity is reflected via logos, emblems, colors, actions, etc. and it helps to create the image of the corporation for the stakeholders. ‘Corporate image’ is the perception that arises from the integration of corporate identity and stakeholders’ worldviews. Therefore, corporate identity and image are not the same. In short, corporate identity is framed by a corporation’s activities, while the corporate image is the perceptions of target audiences. Contrary to the corporate identity, image is not always based on facts. The consumers perceive corporate identity and hence create their own views of corporate image as a result of their experiences and expectations. ‘Corporate reputation’ refers to the sum of images created by society: consumers, investors and employees, etc. It is a perceptual representation of the combination of past events and future expectations. Just as with humans, identity arises from a certain cultural background. Therefore, culture precedes identity. Image is the result of reflecting on that identity. Adler’s place in the institutionalism literature stems from the features that he attributes to the formation of personality. Adler defines the first child as the representative of tradition, a responsibility-bearer, who is power-oriented and a leader; the second (median) child is independent and competitive; the youngest child has a tendency to shun conflicts and is attentionfocused. The only child is defined as being centrist and is likewise prone to display attitudes of sovereignty. At this point, the data presented has institutional characteristics, drawing from the nature of the competition between first- and second-born children.

The results of this study may reveal that corporations are imbued with certain characteristics according to “birth” order, just as with human families. While many other factors are influential in shaping corporate culture, birth order appears to be quite influential and yet seldom considered. Adler’s approach may now recognized in institutional settings by relating some of the features he specified to corporations. In this context, the frequently-used expression “institutions are living organisms” takes on new meaning. 

This study focuses on corporate culture and, contrary to previous studies, it approaches the matter from a different angle. Indeed, starting from the intersection of the disciplines of psychology and communication, this study then emphasizes various psychological dimensions in the formation of corporate culture. Corporate culture research can benefit from multidisciplinary contributions. Corporate discourse and action play a key role in success as well. To sustain itself, a corporation must be able to understand itself and the environment or habitat in which it thrives. Consequently, there is value in understanding basic psychological factors pertaining to it.