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In markets that are increasingly competitive, building strong business-to-business (B2B) brands is a key success factor. With this in mind, the first chapter of the book presents the current research on B2B branding and discusses the main topics of the book by presenting internal branding, external branding, and the contemporary perspectives on B2B branding. After a review of these topics, the chapter analyses each of the following chapters by presenting their short introductions.

This research examines and analyzes the impact of employee branding and employer branding in multinationals that exceeded the national boundaries in globalization. The motive of the research is to identify the significance of employer and employee branding for the success of the multinationals. The emergence of a MNC culture in India is widespread, and it promotes an employee-oriented philosophy by making all the amenities available to the employees. Multinational organizations focus on employee and employer branding to achieve the desired goals. Employee branding is a new term in the service industry that emphasizes the internal marketing of the organization Infront towards the external image of a company. India has a significant presence of service sectors as in the top 10 around the world. Employment rate in the service sector in India is more that 32.33% as per the collected data by the World Bank in 2020, wherein the large number of employees contributing their services in the different fields becomes a matter of concern for a company’s policies. This research was conducted on a population sample size of 204 respondents working in multinational organizations of Gurugram, India, using convenience sampling through a structured questionnaire. Data analysis of the survey was coded in Ms-excel 2015 and SPSS-21. Primary and secondary data are used in this study. Primary data are collected through questionnaire method, and secondary data are collected through journals, books, websites etc. This study will help human resource managers to improve HR policies and organization culture and to increase employee branding to gain desired success in organizations.

This final chapter of the book provides an up-to-date overview of research on B2B branding. The chapter discusses the current academic endeavors and propositions from researchers in the field, while focusing on the discipline of B2B marketing. It furthermore elaborates on the importance of brands and branding for decision-making processes by discussing the role of B2B buyers and sellers. Additionally, branding as part of marketing has been reviewed from its historical background and the first attempts to develop its conceptual background. The chapter then focuses on business buyers and their main characteristics with regard to brand relevance. Finally, the key challenges of developing a strong B2B brand are presented and discussed, after which future research avenues and upcoming trends within the B2B branding context are considered. Digitalization and the digital context are identified as important areas to know in the future, as they are increasingly becoming important stages for marketing activities within the B2B domain. The digital context is a specific platform to explore further. In addition, the intangible aspects of B2B branding that are still unknown to many managers and academics, such as emotions in situations of interaction and sales are explored. From a thematic point of view, sustainability issues will become increasingly important to handle in organizations, which will put pressure on B2B marketers, as sustainability can be communicated through the corporate brand and related branding efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the various activities and processes undertaken by a particular national tourism organization (NTO) in carrying out its goal of developing a destination brand.

A single qualitative case study is primarily employed, though the study draws on data from multiple sources of information.

The study affirms the co‐creation and stakeholder viewpoints from having modeled the branding process and outlining the complex interaction of destination‐branding activities in the country‐level context. The study provides a critical discussion of the different approaches to branding, and the adoption of branding philosophies, in the destination context.

Though this paper is based on a single country case study, it provides a strong and empirically grounded framework for identifying, in‐depth, several key destination branding processes and activities in great detail.

The co‐creation view of brands and branding is a neglected area in destination‐branding literature. Destination‐branding research, in particular, lacks grounded models that profoundly describe branding activities. This study contributes to the lack of empirically grounded knowledge of destination branding.

Branding is an effective marketing strategy tool that has been used with frequent success in the past. Today, branding is experiencing a new popularity resulting from new, innovative applications. Although there have been instances where branding has been less than successful, marketers are beginning to find the appropriate applications in a given setting. Issues and problems concerning branding strategy today include the selection of a brand name. This fundamental issue will impact on the success of a branding strategy. Once a name is selected, marketers have to choose the advertising strategy to support and communicate the name. Finally, keeping the brand in a strong position is a critical concern. New areas of branding include corporate, industrial, and service branding. These nontraditional branding environments are becoming the future for marketers using branding strategy. To add to the new branding areas, there are new branding techniques. These techniques include brand extensions and ingredient branding. New strategies, techniques, and arenas for branding have to be managed. The organization must support and identify with the strategy. The goals, objectives, and mission of any organization should be in line with the branding strategy employed.

This paper aims to explore the rationale, the process and the outcomes and risks of place branding in rural China.

An in-depth case study analysis, including interviews, has been conducted.

Place branding in the case of China is practiced and dominated through administrative entities by using subsidies and regional development programs to coordinate, organize and promote local agricultural resources. Although this government-led place branding has effective effects on rural development, it is unsustainable and unstable because it lacks sufficient market and stakeholder participation.

The effectiveness of place branding in China has been examined and proved.

The government’s role in place branding in China should be adjusted. The government should position itself as a service and auxiliary role. Simultaneously, it should strengthen market-oriented operations and stakeholder participation in place branding.

This paper is one of the first contributions to examine the impact of place branding as a rural development policy tool in China, and the in-depth case study examines and proves the effectiveness of place branding in rural China.

This study aims to quantitatively consolidate the research conducted over the past four decades on how internal branding activities drive employee commitment. It summarizes several operationalizations of internal branding and tests the moderating effect of employee’s personal characteristics and job characteristics on the relationship between internal branding and employee commitment.

This paper uses meta-analysis as the research methodology. The analysis includes a sample of 65 studies (from 62 published works), yielding 226 effect sizes (coded into 82 composite effect sizes) over an aggregated sample of 21,706 respondents.

This study finds that brand communication, brand-centered human resource management (HRM), training and development, organizational support and culture, brand-centered leadership and an excellent reward system are the key operationalizations of internal branding. Furthermore, employee’s personal (education, age and gender) and job (tenure, work status and level of customer orientation) characteristics significantly moderate the internal branding–employee commitment relationship.

Limited empirical literature on some of the internal branding operationalizations such as brand-centered HRM and rewards has curbed the scope of moderator analysis.

This paper proposes some effective ways of implementing internal branding strategies and provides support for boundary conditions that brand managers should consider to strengthen the impact of internal branding activities on employee commitment.

As per the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the few quantitative consolidations of four decades of research on the internal branding–employee commitment relationship.

This study aims to develop a moderated mediation model that enables the examination of the direct relationship between brand orientation (BO) and export performance, the mediating effects of external and internal branding capabilities on the BO-export performance link, and the moderating influence of institutional environment, i.e. regulatory turbulence and policy support.

A time-lag primary data was collected from two-wave survey of 684 cross-industry exporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using an online-email based survey technique, and the research model was validated using ordinary least squares regression analysis in SPSSV.27 and Hayes’ PROCESS macroV.2.13.

Regression findings indicate that the relationship between BO and export performance is not direct, but rather mediated by means of both external and internal branding capabilities. It further helps to uncover the dual role of institutional environment, with regulatory turbulence weakening and policy support strengthening the indirect influences of BO on export performance via external and internal branding capabilities.

This study advances branding literature by conceptualizing and empirically testing the role of BO associated with internal and external branding capabilities and, subsequently, with export performance.

The research findings indicate that brand-oriented SMEs must actively engage in the development of branding capabilities to improve their export performance.

While brand creation is essential for the success and growth of SMEs competing in the worldwide marketplaces, there is a dearth of research explaining the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions through which BO influences export performance.

The purpose of this study is to, first, analyze the past years of research on international branding and, second, building on an early literature review, to analyze patterns in the field and suggest future research.

The analyzed papers were compiled using the Web of Science and Scopus databases. The author searched papers published between 2007 and 2023 that used terms related to international branding in their title, abstract and keywords.

This paper structures and identifies key institutions, papers, regions and authors in the field. It provides an overview of the past years of research in the area. The study identifies important gaps in the literature and suggests further research dealing with, for example, the B2B sector and emerging markets.

Despite the increase in international branding studies, few literature reviews have been published since 2007. This review fills this research gap. It identifies future research areas dealing with branding in the B2B sector, branding in emerging markets, branding process and implementation studies using longitudinal methods and more practical research.