City and a company cooperation in reputation management: Győr city and the Audi Hungaria

Abstract

Because on the market of the consumer goods there is a race for customers, 21stcentury cities compete for inhabitants, tourists, investors and international companies. In this competition, a huge scale of city marketing tools is available from among which the city’s image and good reputation and its conscious framing are one of the most important ones.

The economy of the dynamically developing Győr experienced several system changes: it had transformed from a commercial city into an industrial one and, nowadays, it has been transformed into a dynamically developing center. Today Győr is the sixth biggest city in Hungary, home of more than 130 thousand inhabitants. It is the center of the Kisalföld region, the county seat of Győr-Moson-Sopron County. It is an episcopal seat, a city rich with history. It is the third richest city of monuments in Hungary, home of the Champions League winner women handball team of Győri Audi ETO KC and also a university city. These are undoubted facts about it, which, in the second decade of the 2000s, are declared by the slogan “Future is being built in Győr!”.

The city’s economy is based ‒ after several model changes ‒ on the car manufacturing industry. Its main leg is the Audi Hungaria Zrt., and other important contributors are the suppliers connecting organically to it. Therefore, no wonder that economic prosperity has their mark not only in economic indices but also in the city’s image and in the identity of inhabitants. The blooming economical background has its positive effects on the near zero unemployment rates and on fully booked accommodation facilities. On the other hand, it also needs new, qualified workforce, and on weekends and in periods with lower business intensity it could serve more leisure tourists. In attracting young, high-educated inhabitants, Audi Hungaria’s reputation serves the city’s needs. But, are there any tourists willing to visit a destination with a strong industrial reputation? In order to attract leisure tourists, how should the city balance being Hungary’s third richest settlement on monuments and being the Hungarian citadel of car manufacturing?

Nowadays in Hungary, there are more and more cities focusing on managing their reputation, but we cannot find another city like Győr, who is working so closely with their stakeholders in order to build and maintain its positive outlook.