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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/02634509810224428. When citing the article, please cite: Stuart Laverick, (1998), “Case study - the leveraging of brand equities to create a category champion: Nestlé’s management of Crosse & Blackwell”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 16 Iss: 4, pp. 241 - 248.

Explores the issue of brand bonding, ie. the “linking” of the corporate house brand and product brands within an organization’s portfolio. In examining the marketing of the Mini motor car in Japan it becomes clear that the approach to brand bonding may vary spatially, depending on perceptions target markets have in relation to the core values of the house and product brands.

The paper focuses on how Nestlé, the Swiss based food multinational, is attempting to reinvigorate its long established British sub‐ house brand Crosse & Blackwell so that it can spearhead the company presence in key sectors of the UK food market. Brand bonding, the process which involves the transfusion of brand equities from corporate and product assets and associations, is applied. The role integrated marketing communications effort is playing in securing the desired position for Crosse & Blackwell, namely that of an innovative, convenient, tasty solution to food needs, is examined. The issue of the optimal presence for the house brand Nestlé is raised.

This paper re‐visits the perennial question “Why do some firms perform better than others?” by focusing on the resource‐based view of strategy and in particular the role of generic organisational capabilities in the achievement of overall performance and competitive advantage. Presents findings based on data collected from 194 manufacturing small to medium‐sized enterprises. The analysis confirms the authors’ contention that generic organisational capabilities have a positive impact on strategy deployment and on the achievement of overall performance. The findings indicate that generic capabilities enable firms to manage for the future by focussing on customer’s needs and requirements, while at the same time managing crises and problems arising in their operating environment. A further analysis comparing the emphasis on generic capabilities by both high and low performing firms found that high‐performing firms emphasised capabilities to a far greater extent than low‐performing firms. This implies that generic capability is one of the main drivers of performance. The analysis suggests that firms seeking high overall performance would be well advised to ensure that they actively consider their generic capabilities as the basis of their strategic direction. In short, alignment of the generic capabilities and strategic planning is a prerequisite for high performance.