Search results

Underlines that the development of a new European market for a UK company has to be strategically planned. Examines the introduction to the Dutch market of a particular northern UK beer product, suggesting that the use of strategic tools and a traditional marketing plan is essential while the development of heuristic devices could point out the tactical path to follow.

Briefly outlines Whitbread Beer Company’s activities and background, giving some reasons for the ailing market it has encountered. Details two teams – customer management and customer service management – which were initiated to combat this. Enumerates areas of improvement, from basics such as understanding customer needs, to providing a meaningful customer service, using BPR. Concludes with some recommendations for establishing a process of leading quality and improvement.

Analyses the factors responsible for recent changes in the property strategies of UK brewers, particularly a report by the MMC. Considers the extent of horizontal and vertical integration, and diversification, within the brewing industry. Concludes that while many recent changes may have occurred anyway, the MMC report officially broke the link between brewing and retailing, opening the way for property professionals in public house management.

Addresses the importance of brands in the assessment of market power. Traditional approaches to assessing market power are fraught with problems because they ignore the power of brands, and are constrained by the classification of companies within domestic markets. Introduces a model for assessing market power which uses brand value as the basis of market power measurement. The model emphasises the importance of brands and acknowledges the international nature of markets. It has the further benefit of being forward‐looking rather than focusing on the past performance of companies. Using this model, it is suggested that within the UK beer market, the threat is from the owners of powerful non‐domestic brands rather than from large UK brewers. The analysis of the beer market represents a pilot study for the model proposed in the paper. The brand valuation model itself needs refining before the proposed model can be validated on a widespread basis.

This article considers the attempted change to the image of an established brand by studying the semiotics within the brand’s historical advertising campaigns. The use of semiotics to study the interpretation of messages is discussed, and the link between interpretation of messages and advertising effectiveness in changing brand image is explored. The authors deconstruct advertisements of a brand to provide a model containing opposing dialectics that may aid managers by highlighting alternative symbolic messages contained in advertisements. Oncwe identified, these alternative symbolic messages may be used to help change brand image and influence advertising effectiveness. Although the study focuses upon a major brand of beer, this is an industry in which there are numerous small firms, and many of those have constrained marketing budgets, and thus need to make sure that their advertising is effective. Equally, entrepreneurial marketing is not to found only in the small firm, and the case study discusses a radical and imaginative brand repositioning of a well established product.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the Journal of Product & Brand Management is split into six sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Marketing strategy; Customer service; Pricing; Promotion; Marketing research, customer behavior; Product management.

The article is based on research carried out in 1995 on a sample of UK‐based retailers that were involved in international joint ventures and international buying alliances. The research identified the differences and comparison between these forms of alliances in terms of the competencies and skills that were being transferred between members of the alliances. The findings suggest that joint venture relationships appear to be closer and of a more strategic nature in achieving competitive advantage than buying alliances. Joint ventures appear to make a greater contribution to product strategy and learning than do alliances. However, little difference was found between the two alliance forms in terms of skill transfers.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the Marketing Intelligence & Planning is split into seven sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Marketing Strategy; Customer Service; Sales Management/Sundry; Promotion; Marketing Research/Customer Behaviour; Product Management; Logistics and Distribution.

Argues that empowerment programmes aim at inducing “entrepreneurial” behaviours and attitudes in employees, and that this aim ignores a fundamental internal inconsistency. Further, the traditional structure of formal organizations excludes a number of the conditions necessary to sustain such behaviour. Poor or diminished job security, the absence of real ownership stakes for employees, the continued power of formal authority, all militate against the objectives of true empowerment. In addition, the lack of adequate “reality‐testing” mechanisms for internal communications puts organizations seeking to reap the benefits of an empowered culture in a difficult and possibly dangerous position. Uses evidence from senior HR/OD executives in organizations which have introduced empowerment to substantiate the claims made.