Small but sophisticated: Entrepreneurial marketing and SME approaches to brand management

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the entrepreneurial marketing (EM) and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) brand management knowledge. It explores the brand management practices of four entrepreneurially driven market innovators. The authors add theoretical and practical insight by distinguishing the brand management approaches of small- and medium-sized firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use purposive sampling to select 15 producers of high or medium value-add from the food and beverage industry. Data include secondary sources and two rounds of in-depth interviews, first, between the project leader and CEO/founder of each company and, second, between members of the project team and functional managers of the organisations. Data were coded, analysed and agreement reached between the co-authors.

Findings

Four firms were characterised as having integrated brand orientation (Wong and Merrilees, 2005) and as using market innovation as an EM practise. All four use brand management practices for the purpose of positioning, differentiation and communicating brand identities, values and associations to customers. The smaller companies concentrate their practices on building and communicating identities. The medium-sized firms exhibit greater management of risk by building positive brand associations, controlling brand identities, leveraging alliances and creating separate brand identities for new products.

Originality/value

This paper offers three original insights. First, that market innovation can be considered EM and is used by entrepreneurial SMEs. Second, smaller SMEs have a reductive and pragmatic focus on developing and communicating brand identities. Finally, medium-sized entrepreneurial organisations use risk management in their branding strategies by utilising strategic alliances and creating separate brand identities for new products.

Citation

Renton, M., Daellenbach, U., Davenport, S. and Richard, J. (2015), "Small but sophisticated: Entrepreneurial marketing and SME approaches to brand management", Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 149-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRME-05-2014-0008