Impact of value-adding services on quality, loyalty and brand equity in the brewing industry

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of logistics value-adding services and perceived service quality on brand equity among B2B customers of a brewery company.

Design/methodology/approach

A theoretical model is developed and tested using survey data from 173 hotel, restaurant and catering (HoReCa) industry customers of a brewery company in Finland.

Findings

Value-adding services play an important role in building the brewery company’s brand equity through perceived service quality. Besides a direct impact on overall service quality, an indirect impact is detected through the operational dimension of service quality in logistics.

Research limitations/implications

A broader data set would be needed to generalize the findings also beyond the brewery business and the HoReCa industry customers in Finland.

Practical implications

To increase brand equity, value-adding services like logistics can play an important role for B2B customers. This study is important for practitioners and academics, as there has been little quantitative research available regarding value-adding services in the context of service quality and brand equity research.

Originality/value

This paper combines logistics as value-adding service to customers’ willingness to pay extra profits to cooperate with service producer.

Citation

Juga, J., Juntunen, J. and Paananen, M. (2018), "Impact of value-adding services on quality, loyalty and brand equity in the brewing industry", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 61-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-10-2016-0071