Search results

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the relevance of conducting brand management research in a family firm context and to identify future research directions by reviewing and structuring the existing literature.

The potential consequences of being a family firm on internal organizational processes and stakeholders’ external perception are depicted. Afterwards the literature considering brand management research in family firms is reviewed systematically (n=41) and structured by applying the Organizational Viewpoint Framework. Relevant research questions are derived based on the findings and their practical relevance is tested.

The contributions are threefold. First, depicting the effects of being a family firm on the organization and its stakeholders highlights the relevance of conducting brand management research in family firms. Second, structuring the literature regarding the effects of being a family firm on organizational identity, intended brand image, construed brand image, and reputation helps derive research questions of theoretical and practical relevance that will serve the field as a guide for future research directions. Third, by extending the Organizational Viewpoint Framework originating from brand management research with the element of being a family firm, a further attempt at bridging both research fields is undertaken.

This paper represents an important next step in the development of this research field by highlighting the importance of conducting brand management research in a family firm context and by structuring existent research to depict future research opportunities with theoretical and practical relevance.

Although place branding is increasingly popular in research as well as in local, regional and national political agendas, the theoretical foundations of the place branding discipline are still underdeveloped. By embracing the stream of identity-based studies, this paper aims to attempt to demonstrate that place brands can be usefully approached through an emphasis of their cultural traits and the practical connection between culture, identity and image.

In constructing its theoretical arguments, the paper challenges the place branding model propounded by Kavaratzis and Hatch (2013), and uses practices as units of analysis. The paper conducts a brief review of the principal tenets of practice theory(IES) and uses structuration theory as a theoretical device to demonstrate how this theory can provide a (still lacking) theoretical anchorage for the place branding process.

The usefulness of structuration theory for understanding the place branding process is analysed at both the strategic and tactical levels by means of two illustrative examples. Structuration theory proves to be a solid theory which links the constitutive elements of the place branding process, i.e. culture, identity and image, and to inspire further theoretical elaborations and empirical efforts grounded on this theory.

This is the first paper which uses practice theory(ies) in general and structuration theory in particular to explain the place branding process. The theoretical arguments advanced provide valuable guidance for further theoretical elaborations and empirical applications.

Following a bibliometric approach, this study examines research on brand and branding in family businesses (FBs) to identify influential sources and main areas of knowledge, proposes an integrative framework that provides a holistic perspective of this field with an interdisciplinary cross-fertilization view and explores new avenues for future research and practice.

Based on 449 bibliographic references retrieved from the Web of Science database through a systematic process, the authors employed bibliographic coupling analysis to visualize the relationships among key works in the field and subsequently performed a literature review to deepen the analysis.

The bibliographic coupling analysis structured the existing research into six thematic clusters. Four of them follow an internal perspective and focus on FB identity and its influence on the construction of corporate brand identity, whereas the other two follow an external perspective that explores how FB brands are communicated and perceived by stakeholders and the influence of corporate brands and branding on FB image and reputation. Drawing from an in-depth review of the literature, this study offers a novel integrative framework, together with a set of proposals with managerial and theoretical implications.

The proposed framework aims to clarify the relationship between internal identity and management to build and communicate a FB brand. The study also shows the symbiosis that exists among family values, corporate reputation, brand equity and awareness in FBs. The existing interconnection between the family and business generates unique associations that are difficult to imitate.

This study is the first documented attempt at a bibliometric analysis of brands and branding in FBs, which serves to clarify the linkages between different research streams and connecting marketing, organization and FB literature to guide future research. Moreover, the integrative framework provides researchers and practitioners with a better understanding of its scope, highlighting the importance of corporate brand strategies beyond the boundaries of marketing departments.

This study evaluates the factors related to the creation of a human brand in the brand inception stage.

Employing content analysis of expert reviews, we establish the role played by valence (positiveness), depth (number of statements) and timing of subjective and objective critical reviews for human brands. To address these issues, we employ generalized estimating equations to model numerical ratings of celebrity reviews evaluating a nascent human brand.

The findings show that subjective reviews have the potential to influence the probability of survival of a human brand in the brand inception period, are increasingly consequential during the inception period stages and are more influential than objective reviews. We also found that the valence of objective reviews can negatively and significantly relate to human brands in their late inception stage.

This is the first research to demonstrate the importance of critical reviews in building human brands, with a focus on the first moment of a brand's inception. More importantly, this research enriches our understanding of the larger process of personal brand building as it may emerge over time.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role that pre-merger identification plays within a post-merger setting. Social Identity Theory (SIT) has conflicting reports on the role that pre-merger identification plays in post-merger integration. The current research explores a case study where enhancing pre-merger identification resulted in positive post-merger identification and intergroup relations; progressing knowledge in the field by analysing the contextual factors that facilitate this outcome.

The research follows a case study design applying integration method for the study of changes over time. Two sets of in-depth semi-structured interviews underwent content analysis to derive thematic findings. Case detail was also provided to frame the results.

Findings of the research showed that the integration strategy used to facilitate pre-merger ingroup identification reduced the perceived status differences between groups, moderately improved ingroup relations, and significantly improved intergroup relations.

For strategic planners involved in managing change during a merger, the findings provide an alternative integration strategy to be used within a joint-brand structure. The research also provides several analysis points that managers can use to design appropriate integration strategies.

The findings are important for the application of SIT to mergers and acquisitions, which commonly view pre-merger identification as a barrier to integration. The current study outlines the contextual factors which strengthen the relationship between pre-merger identity and post-merger identification.

This study aims to revisits the meaning of corporate identity (CI) in practice to identify its key dimensions and the interrelationships between them and to provide insights on how to operationalize the construct.

This study is based on a comprehensive literature review and qualitative research consisting of 22 semi-structured interviews with senior managers from 11 UK-leading companies, and three in-depth interviews with corporate brand consultants who worked closely with these firms in cognate areas.

The study identifies the following six key dimensions of CI in the UK industry: communication, visual identity, behavior, organizational culture, stakeholder management and founder value-based leadership.

The focus on UK leading companies limits the generalizability of the results. Further studies should be conducted in other sectors and country settings to examine the relationships identified in the current study.

This study identifies the salient dimensions of CI and, for the first time, the role of founder transformational leadership, employee identification and top management behavioral leadership as key dimensions and sub-dimensions of CI. The study also provides novel insights about the measurements for these dimensions. Additionally, this study introduces a model for the interrelationships between CI dimensions and their influence on corporate image, based on rigorous theoretical underpinnings, which lays the foundation for future empirical testing.

The objective of this article is to conduct a case study of the Supermalt brand of malt beer, which has become the preferred beverage of Afro‐Caribbean consumers in Brixton on a very limited marketing budget.

The article uses the concepts of personal identity and brand identity in a qualitative study to explore how Brixton‐based Afro‐Caribbean consumers construct their self‐identities and the brand identity of Supermalt. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 14 Afro‐Caribbean consumers. Each interview was divided into three parts. The first part focused on consumers' self‐identities. The second part explored the role of food and beverage products in the construction of self‐identities. The final part focused on the construction of brand identity for Supermalt.

The article provides information on the self‐identities constructed by Afro‐Caribbean informants. The food and beverage consumption of informants reflects their mixed cultural identity. The brand identity Supermalt appears to be malleable, with ample room for consumer co‐construction. Perceptions of brand identity differ markedly among informants, who are all able to construct Supermalt as one of their own.

The findings are based solely on semi‐structured interviews with a small sample of Afro‐Caribbean consumers. The findings are therefore not generalizable.

The Supermalt brand represents an interesting case for companies aiming to develop strong brands with a limited marketing budget. Based on the Supermalt case, suggestions are made regarding branding in relation to ethnic minorities.

This article provides a study of a brand that has become strong within a narrowly defined group of consumers.

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how brand management research has evolved to inform future hospitality research agendas that are both theoretically and practically innovative and relevant.

A review of leading tourism and hospitality journals, augmented by a review of leading mainstream marketing and services journals, over the past 20 years was undertaken. Focusing on papers with an emphasis on the brand, as reflected in the title, over 263 articles were reviewed.

In contrast to the more established mainstream literature, brand management research in the hospitality literature is limited in both its depth and breadth. In seeking to go beyond mere replication, and in consideration of industry needs, the review informs the articulation of an integrative research framework that reflects the extant literature and illuminates new research pathways that, in anticipation of making a significant contribution to brand management theory, will enhance hospitality academic and practitioner understanding of brand management.

The comprehensive critical review affords insight into areas of brand management research innovation, both from a topic and methods perspective. The proposed research agenda not only reflects industry priorities but also responds to gaps within academia’s current understanding of brand management theory, particularly within a service context. Grounded in classical theories and industry insight, the pursuit of topics advanced in the research agenda are expected to make a significant contribution to the theoretical understanding of the brand management concept in an applied setting, in addition to providing timely and relevant insight to practitioners seeking to stand out from the crowd.

With brands dominating the hospitality landscape, insight derived from thought leading and innovative research is needed. With no comprehensive review of brand management research within the tourism and hospitality literature, clarity with respect to what is known and, more importantly, what is not known is not apparent. This paper addresses this paucity and, in doing so, gives hospitality academics a clear pathway to conducting meaningful and relevant brand management research from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

The purpose of this article is to propose an overall framework for brand community formation that separates antecedents that lead to the formation of a brand community from those outcomes that are associated with established communities.

The authors approached this review through an interdisciplinary literature review that delineated psychological, structural and behavioral processes that underline the formation of the brand community, often illustrated by contemporary cases in the sport industry.

The findings outline 18 different constructs, categorized in three overarching dimensions, separating structural, behavioral and psychological constructs. The authors posit these 18 constructs are at the heart of brand community formation. These constructs provide managers with a guide to inform their efforts to form a new brand community.

It is emphasized that brand community formation is a complex process that is paradoxical in nature and requires organizations to balance a non-interventionist approach that would allow for consumer empowerment, with a pro-active approach that creates conditions for a successful brand community formation process.

The purpose of this paper is to use user-generated content (UGC) on social media platforms to infer the possible place brand identities of two famous metropolitan areas in Bangkok, Thailand, namely, Khaosan Road and Yaowarat (Bangkok’s Chinatown), both of which are famous for their street vendors and nightlife. These two places are interesting study sites because of recent identity conflicts among their stakeholders. The method developed in this research can help other places to better understand place brand identities and, as such, effectively plan for and manage those places.

The author used content analysis to study 782 user-generated images on Flickr and 9,633 user-generated textual reviews of Khaosan Road and Yaowarat from TripAdvisor and Google Maps’ Local Guide. MAXQDA was used to code all the images. User-generated textual reviews were studied using Leximancer. The author also introduced a positivity of concept analysis to identify positive and negative components of place brand identity.

The author developed a place brand identity framework that includes three pillars, namely, place physics, place practices and place personality. Content analysis of the images generated 105 codes and a count of the frequency of the codes that represent place brand identity. Content analysis of textual reviews created the concepts in the three pillars and identified the positive and negative concepts for both places. The results of both image and text analyses showed that street food vending is one of the most salient components of place brand identity for both Khaosan Road and Yaowarat.

The author suggested several place branding strategies for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration such as turning Khaosan Road into a music scene for both visitors and locals, controlling excessive and aggressive commercialism, sponsoring the production of creative and authentic content, initiating a compelling online campaign that focusses on the items sold in Yaowarat, hosting a spotlight event such as a seafood festival and improving hygiene and walkability.

Both the advancement of digital technologies and the complexity of stakeholders create a need for empirical studies on place branding involving the participation of the widest possible range of stakeholders and studies on the influence of social media. This research is the first to use both image and text analyses to study place brand identity from UGC. The use of both analyses allows the two methods to complement one another while mitigating the weaknesses of each.