Branding Capabilities Research Articles

Market orientation and hotel performance: investigating the role of high-order marketing capabilities

PurposeUsing the resource-based view (RBV), the purpose of this paper is to examine the potential mediation effect of customer relationship management capability, branding capability and service innovation capability on the established link between market orientation (MO) and hotel performance. It further investigates the complementarity between these capabilities in relation to hotel performance.Design/methodology/approachThe survey data were collected from 216 UK hotels. AMOS 23 was used to analyse the research data.FindingsThe link between MO and hotel performance appears to be indirect via customer relationship capability, branding capability and service innovation capability. The three capabilities also appear to play different complementary roles when affecting hotel performance.Practical implicationsThe current study offers hotel managers a ranking of the contribution of individual capabilities to hotel performance. It also helps them to make better investment decisions in developing the right capability combinations to enhance their hotel performance.Originality/valueThe research is based on integrating MO and RBV into a single framework to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between MO and high-order marketing capabilities and how these factors shape hotel performance.

Starbucks: Driving Growth Through New Dining Occasions

In 2008, Starbucks was in crisis as a result of undisciplined growth and loss of focus, and its stock declined almost 70%. In August of that year, Howard Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, came out of retirement to take over as the CEO. The company regained its footing by refocusing on its core and driving strong organic growth. By 2014, the stock price had reached $40, an all-time high. To prevent history from repeating itself, Schultz wanted to ensure that Starbucks' growth strategies not only addressed market opportunities, but also were aligned with the company's brand image, assets, and capabilities. Starbucks announced a five-year growth plan in December 2014 with ambitious goals that included nearly doubling its revenues from $16 billion to $30 billion, doubling operating income, and expanding its footprint to more than 30,000 stores globally by 2019. The growth plan consisted of seven specific growth strategies, one of which was the New Occasions strategy. The objective of New Occasions was to drive growth by diversifying Starbucks' revenues beyond breakfast to the lunch, afternoon, and evening dayparts. Starbucks created specific offerings for each daypart, called the Lunch, Sunset, and Evenings programs. The case focuses on evaluating these three occasions-based growth opportunities and identifying the best path forward.

The Influences of Market Orientation, Branding Capability and New Product Development Capability on Export Competitive Advantage

The Influences of Market Orientation, Branding Capability and New Product Development Capability on Export Competitive Advantage

Branding capabilities and SME performance in an emerging market

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test the effect of brand regulations on the relationship between enterprises’ branding capabilities (internal and external) and performance. It also examines the hypothesized relationship effects across manufacturing and service-based enterprises.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses data from 384 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within an emerging market setting. Moderated hierarchical regression was used to examine the theoretical interrelationships between branding capabilities and enterprise performance within the boundaries of regulations.FindingsResults from the study suggest that both internal and external branding capabilities positively affect enterprise performance. However, the effect is confounded as brand regulations attenuate the relationship between enterprises’ branding capabilities and performance. Varying outcomes across manufacturing and service-based enterprises are also assessed.Originality/valueThe study suggests that policy makers should review regulations on businesses, particularly those relating to the small business sector. Regulations that ameliorate activities of SMEs should be implemented to promote existing enterprises, and attract new ones for industrialization in emerging markets. The findings provide evidence for issues of potential research and managerial interest, with implications for both policy makers, small business owners and the academic community.

Branding and outcomes in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): a resource–capability approach

The study investigates the relationships of enterprise resources and branding capabilities with branding efforts and branding benefits. It examines the differential effect of physical resources and branding capabilities on enterprises’ branding efforts and outcomes. Empirical data for the study were drawn from 304 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. The hypothesized relationships were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The study found that resources and capabilities possessions might not be enough to produce the optimum branding benefits for enterprises. A better result, however, emerges when these resources and capabilities are integrated with well-coordinated branding efforts of the enterprises. The study offers several implications for managers of small businesses based on the findings of the study.

A Study on the Impact of Branding, CEO, and Global Learning Capabilities on Export Sales Performance of Korean Fashion Firms*

A Study on the Impact of Branding, CEO, and Global Learning Capabilities on Export Sales Performance of Korean Fashion Firms*

Strategic marketing patterns and performance implications

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to create the taxonomy of firms based on the nature of the relationship between market-based resources and marketing capabilities. Anchored in the configuration theory, the present study aims to explore simultaneous roles of market-based resources, i.e. customer orientation and competitor orientation, and marketing capabilities, i.e. the execution of marketing practices and activities within a firm, on firm performance.Design/methodology/approachA self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data from chief executive officers or top managers of 220 firms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a transitional economy in South Eastern Europe.FindingsDrawing on a configuration approach via the latent class analysis, the authors empirically derive four distinct strategic marketing patterns, namely, marketing super achievers, marketing-focused virtuosi, marketing drifters and marketing mass pushers. The findings also highlight how business performance outcomes differ as a function of a class membership.Research limitations/implicationsCross-sectional research design and focus on a single country are main limitations of the present study. Thus, longitudinal studies in the context of developed and fast-reforming transition economies are advisable for future work.Practical implicationsThis study enhances the knowledge on how a firm can configure or bundle its market-based resources and marketing capabilities to produce desired outcomes. Findings suggest that joint attention to building market-oriented culture and developing marketing capabilities seems to pay off. However, the authors found that a lack of market knowledge can be substituted by the firms’ ability to build effective promotional and branding capabilities. Thus, the present study adds to the emerging dialog on the relative importance of alternative strategic orientations in achieving superior business performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the strategic marketing literature by examining the synergistic effect of market-based resources and marketing capabilities on firm performance using a configurational approach. It also provides support for the equifinality proposition, suggesting that different “bundles” of market-based resources and marketing capabilities can lead to similar level of performance outcomes.

Marketing and branding in Islamic countries, challenges and capacities

In this paper, after presenting the basic concepts, capabilities and challenges of branding and marketing in Muslim countries are examined. The main objective of this paper is to describe and explain the challenges of branding and marketing potential in Islamic countries and expressing its potential capacities. Method of study is library and studying is primarily descriptive and analytical. This paper shows that there are a lot of areas and opportunities for branding and marketing in Islamic countries. On the other hand, many factors can create barriers to the growth of the brands coming from the Muslim world. However, if the right strategies are used, these challenges are not insurmountable. Creating products with a unique identity, based on basic goals and values of Islam and a reviving culture of innovation and development of innovative and competitive marketing strategies are of proposed methods to eliminate obstacles in the Islamic branding and marketing. Keywords: Islamic branding; islamic marketing; islamic branding challenges; islamic branding capabilities

Business-to-business sponsorship opportunities: Examining UPS’s functional congruence with the NCAA

Business-to-business themed sponsorships can be powerful marketing platforms, giving companies the ability to demonstrate and communicate their performance capabilities. Having a functional congruence, when the sponsor has a participatory role in the event, is a unique advantage for some sponsors. Demonstrating a functional congruence addresses a critical distinction between business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing approaches identified in the literature, with business-to-business buying decisions more focused on brand reliability. This article examines how United Parcel Service (UPS) executes its business-to-business themed, functional congruence sponsorship with the NCAA. It focuses on the logistical services that UPS performs in putting on the NCAA college basketball tournament. This cooperative indirect customer marketing approach shows how UPS uses the popularity of the NCAA Tournament to communicate its brand theme and brand capabilities. A case study of an actual business-to-business themed sponsorship provides a practical example that makes the overall understanding of business-to-business marketing more complete.

Brand value co-creation in a digitalized world: An integrative framework and research implications

We present an integrative framework of brand value co-creation with theoretical underpinnings in joint agencial experiencial creation of brand value. Central to this framework are brand engagement platforms entailing both relational activities and offerings, at the intersection of joint agency of experiencial co-creators (whether in their role as customers, employees, partners, or any other stakeholder) and co-creational enterprises as organizing the practice of brand value co-creation (whether in their role as innovating or marketing offerings, or managing network relations). Using two illustrative examples of Starbucks and Apple, we discuss how brand value co-creation is enacted through brand engagement platforms, embodied in brand experience domains, and emergent from brand capability ecosystems, valorizing outcomes with stakeholding individuals. Subsequently, using another illustrative example of Nike, we discuss the concept of co-creational enterprises as a nexus of co-creational platforms of engagements, and elaborate upon the organizational practice of brand value co-creation in a digitalized world. We conclude with several implications for future brand research.

Restoring luxury corporate heritage brands: From crisis to ascendency

The characteristics of enduring corporate heritage brands often include remarkable, but fluctuating histories. The current article presents a longitudinal, retrospective study of two corporate heritage brands, Tiffany & Co. and Burberry that experience structural corporate heritage brand decline, followed by recovery. A major contribution of the article is demonstrating how long-established corporate heritage brands can overcome a structural brand crisis, by restoring corporate heritage. Another contribution is the identification of the roles of heritage custodianship and core brand competencies in facilitating management of corporate heritage. The study offers a holistic, three-stage, corporate heritage brand recovery framework. The proposed conceptual framework to guide corporate heritage brand recovery utilises three key concepts: corporate brand vision; core brand values; and core brand capabilities.

The role of branding capability for innovative companies

Purpose– This paper is devoted to describe how innovation should be branded and bridge the gap between branding and innovation, where the role of branding capability is crucial. The study aims to discuss the link between branding and innovation, both theoretically and empirically.Design/methodology/approach– On the basis of current resource-based theory and dynamic capabilities theory and brand management, the research explores the role of branding capability for innovative companies. For the empirical part, an event study is first used to calculate the abnormal returns from new product announcement. Second, different regression models are analyzed to check the effect of branding capability on the stock market reaction to new product announcements made by those innovative companies.Findings– The stock market response to new product announcements is related to branding capability, but negatively. The reason could be that the more famous the brand is, the higher expectations the investors would hold with its new products.Research limitations/implications– The empirical study is based on the computer/electronics industry, and the pooled sample consists of those strong brands in the marketplace, which is not representative for the innovative companies as a whole. Thus, this paper has limited scope to generalize the results.Practical implications– With the development of wireless communication technologies, the new offerings from innovative companies would not be simply categorized by tangible devices or intangible services. Moreover, the brand alliance strategy in the tablet and handset market, or even PCs and netbook market, is much more complicated than simply choosing partners.Originality/value– The main contribution of this paper is to extend the prior researches in branded innovation and fill in the gap between innovation and brand.

An exploration study to find important factors influencing on brand in car accessory market

Article history: Received May 12, 2013 Received in revised format 25 June 2013 Accepted 27 June 2013 Available online July 1 2013 Supplying car accessory is one of the most important growing industries in the world. Every year, millions of cars are produced and people need to have the access to necessary car accessory. In this paper, we present an exploration study to detect important factors influencing car accessory market. The proposed study designs a questionnaire in Likert scale consists of 16 questions, distributes it among 200 experts and analyses it using factor analysis. Cronbach alpha and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy are calculated as 0.823 and 0.863, which validate the overall questionnaire. The results indicate that there are three influencing factors including brand capability, brand characteristics and consumers’ believe. © 2013 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Grounded Theory Approach to Consumer-brand Engagement: The Practitioner's Standpoint

Since currently there is no established, unitary and shared theory on consumer–brand engagement (CBE), this exploratory study is aimed at inductively proposing a preliminary conceptual framework of CBE disclosing the knowledge embedded in marketing practice. Our study is designed according to a Grounded Theory approach and it is focused on how practitioners conceive and pursue CBE through their branding strategies and tactics. Findings reveal that CBE is seen by practitioners as a dynamic and process-based concept evolving in intensity on the basis of the brand capability of increasingly intercepting consumers' desires and expectations using all possible physical and virtual touchpoints between brand and consumers. CBE appears as an overarching marketing concept encapsulating different consumer decision-making dimensions, from brand preference to brand purchase. Furthermore CBE emerges as a multi-dimensional construct that beyond traditional cognitive, emotional and conative dimensions seems to be based on emerging experiential and social dimensions that appear as its central elements.

Achieving customer satisfaction in services firms via branding capability and customer empowerment

PurposeThe goal of this paper is to investigate how market sensing (market orientation) and customer linking capabilities (service branding and customer empowerment capabilities) enable firms to achieve superiority in customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve this goal, a conceptual model was developed, specifying the mediating role of branding and customer empowerment capabilities in the relationship between market orientation and customer satisfaction. The model was tested using partial least squares, on 266 responses obtained via an online survey conducted amongst executives of services firms in Australia.FindingsThe findings show that possessing a strong service branding capability and co‐opting customer involvement through customer empowerment in the marketing effort is essential for services firms to realize the potential value of market orientation. This is important if the firm wants to translate the understanding gained from market intelligence (via market orientation as the “know‐what” capability) into superior customer satisfaction.Practical implicationsThrough interaction activities that centre on utilizing market intelligence and shared sense of brand meaning, customer empowerment practices help institutionalize market orientation and service firms branding capability.Originality/valueThis study offers a greater understanding of the underlying processes (i.e. service branding and customer empowerment capabilities) which market orientation works through to contribute to customer satisfaction.

Branding capability of technology born globals

Born globals – young, rapidly internationalising small and medium enterprises – face the signifi cant challenge of building an international brand with scarce resources. In this article, we study international brand strategy and implementation of such fi rms, and defi ne the components of brand value to customers in technology B2B markets, which many born globals operate in. On the basis of the fi ndings, we discuss specifi c branding capability of technology born globals. A longitudinal in-depth case study of a Danish technology born global has been undertaken. The richness of data collected over 2.5 years (25 per cent of the firm's history) allows for the observing of strategies, activities and discussing related organisational capabilities. We fi nd that superior technologies and the founder's strong brand vision are the enabling factors for building an international brand. Continuous technological leadership and focused marketing activities lead to customer pull for building an ingredient B2C brand. In our brand value model for technology B2B markets, tangible performance-, price- and distribution-related components have shown to be of the highest importance. The study provides evidence of the possibility of building an international technology brand based on technological excellence and without expensive marketing communication campaigns. (Less)

Brand management to protect brand equity: A conceptual model

Corporate and product brands are increasingly accepted as valuable intangible assets of organisations, evidence of which is apparent in the reported financial value that strong brands fetch when traded in the mergers and acquisitions markets. However, while much attention is paid to conceptualising brand equity, less is paid to how brands should be managed and delivered in order to create and safeguard brand equity. In this article we develop a conceptual model of corporate brand management for creating and safeguarding brand equity. We argue that while legal protection of the brand is important, by itself it is insufficient to protect brand equity in the long term. We suggest that brand management ought to play an important role in safeguarding brand equity and propose a three-stage conceptual model for building and sustaining brand equity comprising: (1) adopting a brand- orientation mindset, (2) developing internal branding capabilities, and (3) consistent delivery of the brand. We put forward propositions, which, taken together, form a theory of brand management for building and safeguarding brand equity. We illustrate the theory using 14 cases of award-winning service companies. Their use serves as a demonstration of how our model applies to brand management practice.

Opportunities and pitfalls of Chinese agricultural businesses to become international brands

This study investigates the differences in implementing the five stages of the marketing concept by Chinese agricultural businesses with the aim to internationally brand their products. Interviews were held with 13 Chinese CEOs and marketing managers from different product groups. The results show a negative picture of Chinese organisations that attempt to implement the marketing concept. Of the five stages of the concept, only the fifth stage – controlling the marketing programme – was implemented in a positive way (by 77% of the organisations surveyed). This pioneering study provides useful knowledge for any agri-business firm in China and in other emerging country firms in order to improve their international marketing and branding capabilities.

Global competitiveness in the Datang hosiery cluster, Zhejiang

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the development and characteristics of industrial clusters in the province of Zhejiang, China with particular emphasis on the hosiery industry in the town of Datang.Design/methodology/approachThe study used case study methodology and data triangulation techniques based on archival research and reports of statistical agencies both at central and local government level.FindingsIndustry clusters assist in regional economic development by increasing local competitive advantages and creating an industrial regional identity through specialisation which attracts resources, labour and capital for investment. The industrial cluster in Datang has been stimulated by the local entrepreneurial climate, effective local networks and support from local government.Practical implicationsThe hosiery industrial cluster in Datang is in a less‐developed rural region characterised by low‐level labour intensive industrial activity. Their ability to compete internationally is hampered by low levels of innovation. The global networks are controlled by buyers of product. Design and/or innovation capability could be improved by developing strategic alliances with Italian producers in the same industry.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to our understanding of the problems facing industrial clusters in provincial China which, as yet are unable to match the design and branding capabilities achieved by clusters in similar industries in Castel Goffredo (Italy) where outstanding design and branding have enabled them to build a dominant position in the European market in higher added‐value products.

A configurational perspective of branding capabilities development in emerging economies: The case of the Chinese cellular phone industry

When the world’s markets converge with globalisation, firms are competing within and beyond national boundaries. In a global market, the multinational corporations (MNCs) from developed economies enter emerging economies, and local firms compete within or outside their domestic markets.1 Research on emerging economies has increasingly gained attention of researchers because the unique political, economic and institutional factors in these economies generate interesting research questions and provide rich contexts for theory development and theory testing.2,3 However, previous research in this domain tends to focus on MNCs with a static view of global competition.4–6 Research with a focus on the dynamics of global competition is needed in order to address the following three questions: First, what are the competitive advantages of MNCs that give rise to their market dominance when first entering emerging economies? Secondly, how do local firms develop and reconfigure their capabilities to compete with financial and marketing juggernauts like MNCs? Thirdly, how do MNCs and local firms learn from each other and develop their capabilities in response to rapid market and institution changes in emerging economies?