What Killed HTC and Kept Apple Alive? Brand Sustainability Comparison of Two Asian Countries

Massoud Moslehpour,Alaleh Dadvari,Ben-Roy Do,Ka Yin Chau,Victoria Seitz

doi:10.3390/su11246973

Abstract

Although brand sustainability is found essential for brand survival, establishing it has remained challenging. Brand sustainability requires a strong association between brand equity and consumer values. The current study attempts to discover critical components involved that may influence Indonesian and Taiwanese consumers to purchase smartphones such as Apple and High-Tech Computer Corporation (HTC). Primary data collection was conducted to gather data through an online field survey. Following a quantitative approach, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the link between research constructs and the proposed hypotheses based on two samples of 202 and 217 respondents in Taiwan and Indonesia, respectively. Results represent significant and non-significant direct influences underlining the significance of perceived quality and brand preferences when testing brand equity effects on how consumers value different brands. While price premium is found to be the most influential factor that shapes the formation of purchase intention for Apple brands among both Taiwanese and Indonesian consumers, perceived quality is also affecting Taiwanese brand preference for HTC. Furthermore, prestige value is revealed to be a predictor of brand preference among Indonesian HTC consumers. Research findings have important implications for decision-makers to motivate purchase intentions of smartphone users toward specific brands. The insights provided by the findings will assist marketers in developing brand strategies that influence Taiwanese and Indonesian consumers’ purchases of Apple or HTC products.

Highlights

Nowadays, the concepts of branding and sustainability are tightly intertwined [1]
Results show that the relationship between perceived prestige value and price premium for Apple is significant in Taiwan (β = 0.21, p < 0.05) and Indonesia (β = −0.25, p < 0.01)
The results of the study provide a deeper understanding of the sustainable relationships among brand equity subsets, price premium, brand preference, brand awareness, and purchase intention

Summary

Introduction

Brand sustainability provides remarkable competitive advantages for companies as it enables brands to differentiate from competitors, transmit company values, and build a secure connection between stakeholders and companies. What consumers are seeking to be satisfied can be meaningful through brand sustainability [2,3,4]. In this sense, brand equity is one of the most valuable assets to differentiate one product from another to sustain a competitive advantage and promote purchase intention [5,6]. The notion is based on the expectancy-value (EV) model [7], where consumers perceive the brand’s quality and expect products to function as expected, leading to purchase intention [8]. As the hardware and functionality of smartphones become comparable, user experiences become a crucial factor in determining brand equity and, purchase intention

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion