Art Collections as a Strategy Tool: a Typology based on the Belgian Financial Sector

The reasons why organizations sponsor artistic and cultural events have attracted much scholarly attention. However, the subject of why organizations create and develop their own collections has been under-investigated. This is especially striking in the financial sector, where several companies are well known for their substantial art collections. This article addresses two distinct aspects: why financial institutions in Belgium have begun to create their own art collections and how they have gone about developing them, and the categorization of actors according to their acquisition policies and their managerial objectives.