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The primary purpose of this paper is to bring together apparently disparate and yet interconnected strands of research and present an integrated model of e‐consumer behaviour. It has a secondary objective of stimulating more research in areas identified as still being under‐explored.

The paper is discursive, based on analysis and synthesis of e‐consumer literature.

Despite a broad spectrum of disciplines that investigate e‐consumer behaviour and despite this special issue in the area of marketing, there are still areas open for research into e‐consumer behaviour in marketing, for example the role of image, trust and e‐interactivity. The paper develops a model to explain e‐consumer behaviour.

As a conceptual paper, the study is limited to literature and prior empirical research. It offers the benefit of new research directions for e‐retailers in understanding and satisfying e‐consumers. The paper provides researchers with a proposed integrated model of e‐consumer behaviour.

The paper links a significant body of literature within a unifying theoretical framework and identifies of under‐researched areas of e‐consumer behaviour in a marketing context.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how branding can facilitate small business development of new ventures.

A conceptual approach was used for understanding branding in new ventures. A model with eight propositions has been developed and then validated using ten existing case studies of exceptional entrepreneurs.

The key mechanisms proposed for branding to assist small business create new ventures include opportunity recognition, innovation, business model development, capital acquisition, supplier acquisition, customer acquisition, and success harvesting.

The paper helps redress a relatively lack of research into small business branding. Previous research has mainly focused on small business brand management of existing ventures. The findings are readily translatable to small businesses launching new ventures. The paper extends the existing small business branding literature into a new domain, having a strong entrepreneurial character.

The research aims to investigate the nexus between retailer corporate brand and sustainability practices. The literature linking these areas is relatively sparse. The point of departure is an existing conceptual model, to which another antecedent, customer perception of retailer environmental management practices, is added.

The quantitative research design strategy incorporates the development of a survey instrument, administered in telephone interviews, by trained interviewers. The context was Canadian discount department store retailing and a sample of 473 consumers.

The findings demonstrate that sustainability is a link, a brand association, between customers' perceptions of retailer sustainability practices, and their brand attitudes towards the retailer corporate brand.

The theoretical contribution is the development and testing of the extended model, affirming its validity.

The managerial implications can guide retailers in enhancing their brand reputation through better environmental management practices.

The study is pioneering in terms of conceptualising and empirically testing sustainability as a component of a corporate brand. This approach is able to control for other influences on the corporate brand.

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, propositions in an existing conceptual framework are empirically explored to note whether and how brand meaning gaps exist for internal and external stakeholders of a focal brand. Second, a typology of brand meaning gaps, characterised by meaning assonance and valence, offers new insight for brand management strategy.

The authors use case study methods to explore the research propositions about brand meaning gaps among stakeholder groups. The focal firm is The Black Dog Company of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts in the USA. Data from brand owners (internal stakeholders) and consumers (external stakeholders) are collected using in-depth interviews, observation, document analysis, and an online survey that includes a picture association task. Further inductive analysis of secondary data helps develop the typology of brand meaning gaps and dynamics.

The research propositions are supported. Brand meaning gaps exist between internal and external stakeholders, and they exist among two external stakeholder groups. Brand meaning for owners, primarily defined as family heritage, is largely unknown to consumers. Among consumers, brand meaning for stakeholder group 1 is “coastal New England”; brand meaning for group 2 is “dog lovers.” Although multiple brand meanings exist for stakeholders, the meanings are relatively assonant (harmonious) and positively valenced. The findings regarding the polysemic nature of brand meaning are useful to brand managers seeking to leverage offerings to multiple target markets. These findings, along with additional secondary data, serve as the basis for a typology of brand gaps and dynamics characterized by assonance and valence. Four types of meaning gaps may lead to situations where brands are beloved, on-the-cusp, hijacked, or facing disaster.

This work addresses calls from the literature to empirically explore brand meaning among multiple stakeholder groups.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether strategic promotion management approach is relevant to the small independent retailers. To address this question, we contrasted the promotion approaches of 397 small independent stores and 115 large retailers. The data were collected from clothing and shoe retailers across eight Australian capital cities. The key finding is that they do in fact adapt their promotion mix to suit their strategic needs. Thus although small independent retailers may lack the financial resources and managerial expertise of larger retailers, they have been found to possess some degree of sophistication in respect to their promotion mix management.

The paper aims to highlight the importance of corporate rebranding in branding practice, which is neglected in theoretical treatment, so an extended theory is to be developed.

From the literature, the existing state of the theory of corporate rebranding is articulated. That theory is extended by the development of six principles and by case research. The principles are illustrated in the case of a Canadian leather goods retailer which has implemented a major corporate rebranding strategy. The paper demonstrates the value of organisational single case studies as a precursor to further research.

The single case enables a more in‐depth analysis of how branding principles were applied to corporate rebranding. All six principles were supported, indicating the need for maintaining core values and cultivating the brand, linking the existing brand with the revised brand, targeting new segments, getting stakeholder “buy‐in”, achieving alignment of brand elements and the importance of promotion in awareness building.

Although corporate rebranding is often used narrowly in practice as renaming, this paper redresses the limited attempts to build theory in this area of marketing. It attempts to build a more sophisticated and substantial theory of corporate rebranding.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether multiple stakeholders imbue a single or multiple meanings to a city brand.

The branding literature hints at multiple stakeholders but most studies take a single stakeholder perspective. A two‐stage quantitative study was used to examine similarities and differences between two stakeholder groups. The context for the study is city branding.

The evidence suggests that different external stakeholders do have different brand meanings associated to a city brand. Each stakeholder group applies their own filter to interpret the meaning of the city brand. Essentially, a new conceptualisation of the city brand is provided.

Although the samples are reasonably large, it is important to apply the framework to other city brands to test for generalisability. Future research might also test the filter concept in the more general context of corporate branding.

Organisations need to recognise the multi‐faceted, multiple meanings of the brand as a whole. Corporate communication requires adjustment from a convergence approach to one that recognises different brand purposes for each stakeholder group. The ideas are readily usable in not‐for‐profit communities.

The paper joins a small number of studies that challenge the conventional wisdom that convergence of brand meaning across stakeholder groups is an ideal state. The paper develops a filter concept as a way of showing that different stakeholder groups might use a different filter or lens to interpret a city brand.

This paper compares the promotional practices and perceptions between two countries of disparate cultural backgrounds, namely Australia and Hong Kong. The paper argues that the preference for a particular promotional tool is influenced by the degree of cultural orientation as measured by Hofstede’s collectivism index. The central hypothesis is that countries with a higher score on the collectivism index are likely to favour personal selling promotion tools than will countries with a lower score. This hypothesis is tested with two separate samples of clothing and shoe retailers from Australia and Hong Kong. The hypothesis is supported from the statistical results.

This research paper aims to discuss the role of branding strategy in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

The literature on traditional brand management and strategic branding are first reviewed. Four critical constructs are identified, namely brand distinctiveness, brand orientation, brand‐marketing performance and brand barriers. The literature, in combination with (eight) case research interviews, has been synthesised to develop a new theory of SME branding.

The paper reveals that the theory identifies the ladder of SME brand orientation, moving from minimal brand orientation, to embryonic brand orientation to integrated brand orientation. Further, it is suggested that most SMEs will be on the lower steps of the ladder. A model of the brand strategy process has been formulated, specifying links between brand barriers, brand distinctiveness, brand orientation and brand‐marketing performance. The study puts forward some propositions about the pre‐conditions to move higher up the ladder, particularly to an integrated brand orientation.

The major limitation of this research is that it is based on eight case studies. It is suggested that a quantitative survey be carried out to enhance the generalisability of the model.

This paper makes original contributions in that it uses case studies to establish the relationship between the level of brand orientation and brand‐marketing performance; and conceptualises the four brand‐related constructs.

The paper seeks to investigate the role of branding in a B2B service context.

This paper focuses on a particular B2B service industry, namely leasing mall space to retail tenants. A quantitative study is undertaken of 201 mall tenants using SEM analysis.

The main finding was that brand attitudes were the most important influence on the contract renewal. Another major finding was that brand attitudes were mainly explained by service quality. Branding also played another, albeit minor role, in building trust between the supplier and the customers.

The results can be used by industrial firms to build stronger brands and, in turn, to use these brands to maximize customer retention.

This is one of the first studies to examine service B2B brands. It is also one of the first studies to examine the multiple roles that brand can play in B2B marketing.