Bradford-based academic publisher MCB is setting its sights firmly on the business market with a global brand re-launch.

The company is to unveil its new image and name, Emerald, at a meeting of the Special Libraries Association in San Antonio, Texas, next Sunday. Attended by leading US companies like Microsoft, the event has been chosen as the perfect place to emphasise the firm's new focus on the management sector. The re-branding has been steered by Leeds firm Out-Think.

Named after MCB's successful electronic arm, Electronic Management Research Library Database, the Emerald brand is designed to give the firm a more forward-looking, and business-oriented, image.

Marketing director, Bill Russell, said: "Our new positioning is supported by the world's widest ranges of journals in key subject areas of management, including marketing and human resources. The move to the Emerald brand builds on the success of our leading product, the Emerald Fulltext Database, which has seen the number of organisations using it triple over the past 18 months. We are particularly attacking the management market with our Texan launch, but we're also aiming to consolidate our academic position with a second launch in San Francisco later this month."

Founded in 1967 by a team from the Bradford Business School, MCB has grown into a worldwide force which employs 140 staff with a turnover of £18 million in 2000.

Head of Out-Think, Chris Blythe, has high hopes for the new brand. He said: "Our approach enabled us to marshal the considerable energy, knowledge and enthusiasm present within the Emerald team towards the creation of a really powerful new proposition for their business.

"It's the kind of case study and management approach that I hope other SME business managers might learn, or perhaps even draw inspiration, from!"