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Marketers frequently lament the lack of representation of marketing in the boardroom and the short tenure of CMOs. The most common explanations offered are that marketing is not perceived as a strategic discipline and that marketers do not demonstrate a strong enough understanding of how the business makes money.

Financial accounting is how “score is kept” in terms of business performance. It is, therefore, in the self-interest of marketers to become familiar with financial reporting. Doing so will allow them to understand how marketing activities are recorded. In addition, academic researchers need to understand the meaning of the financial measures that they often use as the metrics of success when researching marketing strategy questions.

This is especially important since financial reporting generally does not recognize assets created by marketing investments. In order to substantiate a claim that “brands are assets”, marketers must be able to explain how the financial accounting rules misrepresent economic reality and why managers might use a different set of principles for management reporting.

We argue that the misrepresentation of market-based assets has two forms of negative impact for marketers: external and internal. The external problems are that financial statements are not especially informative about the value of marketing for the providers of capital and do not provide a true portrait of the economic resource base of the company. The internal problems are that marketers cannot point to valuable assets that they are creating, nor can they be effectively held accountable for the way that these assets are managed given that the assets are not recorded.

We do not expect immediate radical changes in financial reporting because financial accounting rules are designed with the specific interests of the suppliers of capital (debt and equity) in mind. To influence financial accounting developments, such as encouraging greater disclosure of marketing activity in the notes to the published accounts, marketers must be able to communicate in language understood by accountants and the current users of financial accounts. To aid this we provide guidance for marketers on the purpose and practices of accounting. We also discuss how academic marketing researchers might wish to adjust financial accounting data to capitalize a proportion of marketing expenses for companies where marketing is a primary driver of business performance.

Companies in all industries are searching for new sources of competitive advantage since the competition in their marketplace is becoming increasingly intensive. The resource-based view of the firm explains the sources of sustainable competitive advantages. From a resource-based view perspective, relational based assets (i.e., the assets resulting from firm contacts in the marketplace) enable competitive advantage. The relational based assets examined in this work are brand image and corporate reputation, as components of brand equity, and customer value. This paper explores how they create value. Despite the relatively large amount of literature describing the benefits of firms in having strong brand equity and delivering customer value, no research validated the linkage of brand equity components, brand image, and corporate reputation, simultaneously in the customer value–customer loyalty chain. This work presents a model of testing these relationships in consumer goods, in a business-to-business context. The results demonstrate the differential roles of brand image and corporate reputation on perceived quality, customer value, and customer loyalty. Brand image influences the perception of quality of the products and the additional services, whereas corporate reputation actions beyond brand image, estimating the customer value and customer loyalty. The effects of corporate reputation are also validated on different samples. The results demonstrate the importance of managing brand equity facets, brand image, and corporate reputation since their differential impacts on perceived quality, customer value, and customer loyalty. The results also demonstrate that companies should not limit to invest only in brand image. Maintaining and enhancing corporate reputation can have a stronger impact on customer value and customer loyalty, and can create differential competitive advantage.

There has been much research on city marketing, but some practical aspects remain unaddressed. One challenge is the development of a distinctive city identity. Traditional marketing tactics often ignore, deny, and marginalize the city identity. A more integrated and holistic approach is needed. As a complementary tool, city branding can overcome the shortcomings associated with traditional marketing. The purpose of this chapter is to show through case studies how two cities with different conditions went about developing their respective brand identities and illustrate how the identities were established through brand elements and promoted through coordinated marketing programs. Based on the two case studies, this chapter presents a process model for developing an identity in city branding. The model accommodates two different approaches to developing city identities. The first is applicable in the situation where a city is already strongly identified with its prominent existing heritage and cultural assets. The second is applicable in the situations where a city does not have prominent existing assets.

This paper focuses on the role of manufacturer brands for resellers within retail channels. This topic is important because of the strategic value of manufacturer brands and the increasing influence of resellers within channels of distribution. Much of the branding research emphasizes a customer-brand knowledge perspective; however, emerging perspectives suggest that brands are also relevant to other stakeholders including resellers. In contrast, channels research recognizes the manufacturer sources of market power, but does not consider the impact of manufacturer “push and pull” strategies within channels. Existing theoretical frameworks, therefore, do not address the reseller perspective of the brand. As a result, the research approach is a multi-method design, consisting of two phases. The first phase involves in-depth interviews, allowing the development of a conceptual framework. In the second phase, a survey of supermarket buyers on brands in several product categories tests this framework. Structural equation modeling analyzes the survey responses and tests the hypotheses. The structural model shows very good fit to the data with good construct validity, reliability, and stability. The findings show that manufacturer support, brand equity, and customer demand reflect the manufacturer brand benefits to resellers. A key contribution of this research is the development of a validated scale on manufacturer brand benefits from the point of view of a reseller. This research shows that the resources that relate to the brand, not just the brand name itself, create value for resellers in channel relationships.

The chapter aims to consider current approaches to brand management and brand value assessment with substantive analysis of the positions of Russian and foreign scientists.

Considering the numerous definitions outlined in scientific and educational literature, the author's definition of the term ‘brand’ is given; the history of development and current approaches to the definition and identification of the role and importance of branding in large international and domestic companies are analysed; attention is focused on the features and stages of branding in companies. Particular attention is paid to the essence and relationship of strategic company management and brand valuation.

The authors reveal proactive branding as a transition from unbranded goods to consumer loyalty. A matrix of brand strategies is drawn up. Professional marketing standards for entrepreneurs are systematised. The management of the brand's life cycle in the matrix ‘profitability – the cost of the brand’ is proposed.

The authors define prospects and provide recommendations for improving the practice of brand management and brand value assessment, making it possible to increase the effectiveness of strategic marketing business management.

This chapter presents a critical analysis of the wealth current practices of multinational firms as wealth predators; and relevant references from the theory of multinational corporations and globalization from a Marxist perspective. The Marxist approach has also contributed to a theory of the self-expansion of capital (internationalization of the circuits of capital) on a global scale, within an analysis of the differentiation and of inequality.

The failure to manage the firm's brand successfully with trading partners is a potentially fatal obstacle to success in today's hypercompetitive global economy. Strong brands serve as an important point of differentiation for firms, assisting customers in their evaluation and choice processes. Considerable research exists on the branding of consumer goods, and the literature on business-to-business (B2B) brands and service brands is increasing. However, research on branding in the context of B2B services is relatively sparse. This paper integrates research in B2B brands and service brands to explore B2B service brands. The paper reports a multiple methods study of brands and brand management in the logistics services industry as a specific case of B2B service branding. The study addresses two research questions that are relevant for B2B service brands. First, how are brands perceived when the customer is an organization rather than an individual? Second, how do brands differentiate intangible offers that customers often consider as commodities? The first study reports data collected in an exploratory investigation comprised of depth interviews with representatives of logistics services firms and customers. The study supports the extendibility of Keller's brand equity framework into the B2B services context. The second study tests the framework using data collected in a mail survey of logistics service providers and customers. Results suggest that brands do differentiate the offerings of logistics service providers and that brand equity exists for this commodity-like B2B service. However, findings reveal differences in perceptions between service providers and customers. Specifically, brand image is a stronger influence on customers' perceptions of service providers' brand equity, whereas brand awareness is a stronger driver of the service providers' perceptions of their own brand equity. The paper discusses implications of these differences for managing B2B services.