Search results

The study here responds to the view that the crucial problem in strategic management (research) is firm heterogeneity – why firms adopt different strategies and structures, why heterogeneity persists, and why competitors perform differently. The present study applies complexity theory tenets and a “neo-configurational perspective” of Misangyi et al. (2016) in proposing complex antecedent conditions affecting complex outcome conditions. Rather than examining variable directional relationships using null hypotheses statistical tests, the study examines case-based conditions using somewhat precise outcome tests (SPOT). The complex outcome conditions include firms with high financial performances in declining markets and firms with low financial performances in growing markets – the study focuses on seemingly paradoxical outcomes. The study here examines firm strategies and outcomes for separate samples of cross-sectional data of manufacturing firms with headquarters in one of two nations: Finland (n = 820) and Hungary (n = 300). The study includes examining the predictive validities of the models. The study contributes conceptual advances of complex firm orientation configurations and complex firm performance capabilities configurations as mediating conditions between firmographics, firm resources, and the two final complex outcome conditions (high performance in declining markets and low performance in growing markets). The study contributes by showing how fuzzy-logic computing with words (Zadeh, 1966) advances strategic management research toward achieving requisite variety to overcome the theory-analytic mismatch pervasive currently in the discipline (Fiss, 2007, 2011) – thus, this study is a useful step toward solving the crucial problem of how to explain firm heterogeneity.

The purpose of this paper is to revise the concept of positioning to differentiate between fundamental approaches to it and chart a scheme of schools of positioning.

An extensive literature review traces the roots and evolution of the concept. Two approaches to positioning are explored and related to the paradigms of market and brand orientation. Based on current theory and practice, different schools of positioning are identified and categorized along a market- and brand-orientation spectrum. Metaphors differentiate schools of positioning, illustrated by case examples.

Positioning is a key concept in marketing, branding and strategy. However, its theoretical and practical usefulness is in peril due to its many meanings, applications and overall vagueness. There is a need for a theoretical overview of positioning, which the literature currently lacks. Two approaches to define a brand’s position are identified and introduced: market- and brand-oriented positioning. Five principal schools of positioning show how these are different and why differentiating between them matters. The choice of school implies the market- and/or brand-oriented approach to positioning.

Further empirical case-based research might investigate when, what and how different positioning schools are applied in practice. The brief cases in this paper indicate a dynamic over time regarding the applications of the brand- and market-oriented school of positioning. An in-depth theoretical and practical investigation of the dynamics of positions would be of value for the research field.

The distinction among different schools of thought helps bridge the gap between the theory and practice of positioning. A specific positioning objective can guide management in the selection of a particular school of positioning, which enables management to make more insightful conscious choices regarding its opportunities, limitations and consequences.

Position and positioning is of relevance in society in broad terms, e.g. in sports, politics and culture. Positioning strategy is discussed and implemented in different industries (business-to-business and consumer), for all kinds of brands (including, for instance, corporate brands) and for “brands” in the very widest sense (such as places or people).

This paper relates positioning to the fundamental discussion of brand and market orientation. It integrates positioning research and provides a structured overview of the concept.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the brand core and its management over time. The aim is to develop a framework for managing the core of a brand for continuity and change.

A longitudinal case study of the Volvo brand’s core and its management serves as the empirical basis for a qualitative analysis of the “brand core” using rhetorical perspectives.

The management of the brand core for both continuity and change is an unsolved paradox in strategic brand management literature and practice. Existing conceptualisations offer little or no guidance regarding managing a brand’s core over time. The Volvo brand has evolved by adding and shifting mindsets, which has kept its core surprisingly stable.

The new framework mitigates a paradox and, by defining the brand core as a point of reference, allows for brand management to address both continuity and change and consider a range of stakeholders while doing so. The integration ofs rhetoric into the framework makes it applicable to product, service and corporate brands, or indeed anything that can be considered a “brand”. The brand core is defined as “an entity of core values and a promise”.

By shifting perspectives on a brand’s core over time, change and development are stimulated while preserving its inner values and promise.

The brand core framework integrating rhetoric theory was supported by a longitudinal case study to resolve a strategic brand management paradox.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the applicability of the strategic place brand-management model (SPBM) for a product-place co-branding context, focussing on Sri Lanka’s tea industry.

Conducted as an exploratory case study, pattern matching and explanation building methods are employed to analyse data from secondary sources such as archival data and documentation.

Strategic components of place branding in SPBM are applicable for product-place co-branding, as evidenced in Sri Lanka’s tea industry, although key strategies appear to be reactive rather than proactive in this context.

The findings provide reassuring guidance to practitioners on applying strategic place branding models in product-place co-branding settings, given the unique risks associated with product-place co-branding.

Given the novelty of and the need to advance knowledge on product-place co-branding as a component of place branding, this study extends extant literature on the use of SPBM in a successful product-place co-branding setting. Additionally, it extends the value of place branding concepts for industries other than popularly studied tourism.

This study aims to investigate the impact of strategic and institutional (normative) corporate social responsibility (CSR) on brand value and brand reputation, based on the strategic and legitimacy theory of CSR. It argues that because CSR strengths represent firms’ proactive approach to satisfy their stakeholders’ interests, the authors expect that this proactive approach is likely to generate an accumulated level of reservoir of goodwill that is positively related to the level of brand value. In contrast, the authors would expect that social irresponsibility (CSR concerns), as a measure of firms’ reactive position to stakeholders’ interests, adversely affects the incremental change in this reservoir of goodwill.

This paper measures strategic CSR using CSR strengths and normative (institutional) CSR from CSR concerns scores from the MSCI ESG (Kinder Lydenburg Domini). This paper measures the level of brand value from the Interbrand listing, and it measures the brand reputation based on changes in brand value and brand ranking from Interbrand’s 100 global brands.

This paper finds evidence to support the authors’ theory that one-, two- and three-year lagged CSR strengths positively affect the level of brand value. This study also finds empirical evidence to support the authors’ hypothesis that CSR concerns adversely affect changes in brand value and brand ranking. This study concludes that the differing impacts of CSR strengths and CSR concerns help the authors better understand the impacts of firms’ pro-action and reaction to stakeholders’ interests ion brand values and ranking.

The findings indicate that strategic CSR enhances brand value, while socially irresponsible activities that are against social norms, values and ethics adversely affect the companies’ legitimacy and adversely affect changes in brand reputation.

This research offers a new perspective to distinguish the differing impacts of CSR strengths and concerns on brand value and brand reputation.

This research aims to investigate the impact of incorporating product shadows in brand advertising on consumer brand evaluations.

Three studies were designed using experimental approach to demonstrate how the presence of a product’s cast shadow in a brand’s promotional frame implicitly influences brand evaluations differently for experiential vs functional brands.

The presence of a product’s cast shadow in a visual frame implicitly complements abstract processing of an experiential brand but hurts a functional brand’s concrete gestalt by acting as visual noise, thereby improving an experiential brand’s overall evaluation in comparison to a functional brand.

Current findings highlight the importance of using appropriate visual elements (especially subtle elements such as product shadows) to ensure communication consistency between the firm-formulated brand concept and the consumer-perceived brand image.

Experiential (vs functional) brand images are harder to build and maintain. Current findings show that a mere presence of the product’s shadow in an experiential (vs functional) brand’s ad frame reinforces the experiential brand image by acting as a consistent element in the experiential brand’s ad frame that enhances the overall ease of product evaluation. Hence, product shadows should be used as strategic tools by brand managers, rather than a random ad-execution choice.

This research makes an initial attempt to explore the relationship between product shadows and consumer brand perceptions. It provides a deeper understanding of the underlying process (based on associative networks memory model, construal level theory and processing fluency model) that influence specific brand perceptions (experiential vs functional) when a product is showcased with its shadow in a promotional frame.

This paper contrasts research streams in corporate brand management (CBM) with perspectives on corporate strategy (CS). The aim is to examine whether CBM research is as diverse as research on CS and to identify potentially new research perspectives within CBM.

First, the main dimensions to capture approaches and directions in general strategy research are carved out and integrated into a framework for subsequent analysis (strategy descriptor cube). Second, research streams within CBM are clustered into predominating schools. Third, the framework is then used to classify the identified schools, allowing further evaluation. In doing so, an innovative view on the status of and developments in CBM research is provided.

Most schools of CBM are built on rational and prescriptive approaches, while political and emergent conceptions are hardly addressed. Thus, from the strategy-derived dimensions, approaches to CBM are surprisingly homogenous, with only one school diverging from the dominating pattern. A variety of perspectives as found in strategy research cannot be validated for CBM. Alternative conceptualizations to CBM in terms of assumptions about the genesis of strategic directions and the perspective of analysis might provide impetus for progress in CBM research.

The question arises why emergent and political perspectives have not been seriously pursued in the past decades of brand research. Researchers might seize opportunities to be further stimulated from the many faceted research approaches in CS. Further dimensions for description, as well as alternative clusterings of CBM schools, should be discussed.

A broadening of perspectives, including potentially a more attentive reception of agile trends in CBM, might become increasingly relevant for CBM practitioners. As new realities shape the present and future of corporate brand building, new paradigms should be explored and tested.

The corporate brand strategy link is evidently important; however, to date, few papers have such a focus. This is the first paper to apply reasoning and perspectives that have contributed to significant developments in CS research to the current situation in CBM research. It introduces a novel way to analyze and discuss developments between and within CBM schools.

This research aims to clarify the nature of the links between brand architecture and brands portfolio. Although these two themes have been the focus of significant research, the question of a link between the two concepts has not truly been asked; and yet the major role of brands raises the question of brand optimisation and balance at the core of an individual company.

After having clarified the two concepts by way of synthesising various works, the paper examines the similarities, differences, complementarities and oppositions between these two methods of organising and utilising brands.

This work shows that brand architecture corresponds, in its essence, to a hierarchical relationship approach between brands; whereas the brands portfolio concept corresponds to a non‐hierarchical method of organising the brands within themselves. The combination of these two approaches allows going beyond the idea of competition at the individual brand level and rather to replace that with a metadimension better suited to reconcile the needs expressed by consumers with organisational logistics and company profitability.

The research may assist managers in better understanding and controlling brand regrouping because the research illustrates some benefits for a company that executes well‐coordinated multi‐brand management.

The discussion distinguishes clearly the concept of brand architecture from the one of brand portfolio and shows their contribution to a stronger link between marketing and strategy.

This paper aims to propose a dynamic and holistic framework that combines the brand portfolio audit with the brand architecture redesign.

Depicting from an extensive review on the frameworks of brand audit and brand architecture, a dynamic approach to brand portfolio audit and brand architecture strategy was developed, and later applied and tested in three B2B and B2C companies.

The paper suggests an eight-step framework to guide practitioners when auditing a specific brand portfolio and designing a revised brand architecture strategy. Additionally, a Brand Audit Scorecard was developed to enable and sustain brand portfolio audits, divided into three dimensions (brand equity, brand contribution and strategic options).

Further research should aim at testing the proposed framework in different types of companies and countries.

This paper contributes to the brand audit and brand architecture literature by proposing a holistic framework that is not static.