Brand, Identity and Reputation: Exploring, Creating New Realities ...

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Abstract Systematic Review on B2B Branding: Research Issues and Avenues for Future Research Joona Keränen, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland Kalle A. Piirainen, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland Risto T. Salminen, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland The economic value of business-to-business (B2B) transactions is significantly greater than that of consumer transactions (Hutt & Speh, 2010, p. 4), but traditionally preponderance of branding research has been conducted in the context of consumer products (Lynch & De Chernatony, 2004; Webster & Keller, 2004). Consequently, a number of past studies lament the status of B2B branding research, claiming that it has been under-researched (Roper & Davis, 2010), scarce (Roberts & Merrilees, 2007) and lagging behind industry practice (Mudambi, 2002). However, as business markets have become more intense under the pressures of commoditization, globalization and growing customer power, B2B firms are increasingly seeking competitive advantage by branding their products (Mudambi, Doyle, & Wong, 1997; Walley et al., 2007). In today´s hypercompetitive B2B market, a strong brand may be the only truly sustainable competitive advantage (Kotler & Pfoertsch, 2007). It is even argued that ―brands are one of the most valuable intangible assets that firms have‖ (Keller & Lehmann, 2006). As a response to the increasing industry attention, recent years have witnessed the publication of a vast number of B2B branding papers, and recent special issues devoted to B2B branding in such journals as the Journal of Brand Management (2004), the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing (2007), Industrial Marketing Management (IMM, 2010) and the upcoming special issue in IMM evidence the current importance of this topic. In addition, B2B branding is highlighted as a prominent area requiring further research in a recent literature review examining the future avenues of B2B marketing (Sheth & Sharma, 2006). However, despite this recent interest on B2B branding, extant literature remains still fragmented, and areas with limited or inconclusive research warrant further examination (Glynn, Motion & Brodie 2007; Kuhn, Alpert & Pope 2008). Academics have for long raised a concern about the lack of systematic investigation on B2B branding (e.g. Cretu & Brodie, 2007). Yet to date, most of the literature overviews concerning the extant state of B2B branding have been largely subjective in nature, (e.g. Cretu & Brodie 2007; Zablah, Brown, & Donthu, 2010) and thus limited in their scope. With very few preliminary exceptions (Sinclair, 2009), little has been done to comprehensively organize and summarize the findings and knowledge gained from previous B2B branding research. In order to advance any expanding discipline, a frequent re-examination of the current state of the research is required (Cooper, 2010). It is argued that the state of B2B branding discipline is nascent (Zablah et al., 2010) and lacking a ―critical mass of studies‖ (Roberts & Merrilees, 2007). Therefore the intention of this study is to facilitate the advancement of B2B branding research by identifying research issues that hinder the advancement of B2B branding discipline and thus provide guidance for future research. We attempt to do this by utilizing a systematic review (Petticrew & Roberts, 2006), which is aimed at comprehensively identifying, appraising and synthesizing all the relevant studies on B2B branding. The key advantages of a systematic review are its methodological rigor, transparency, exhaustive literature coverage and reproducibility (e.g Cooper, 2010; Tranfield, Denyer, & Smart, 2003). We address the following research question: What kind of research issues limit the advancement of B2B branding research? Our systematic review allowed us to identify a total of 73 academic publications explicitly addressing B2B branding. Based on an extensive review of this literature, we identified five major issues limiting current research: The dispersed theoretical rooting. A wide range of theories are used to explain different perspectives on B2B branding, but attempts to develop a common theoretical base have been highly fragmented. This variety of theoretical lenses poses a challenge for integrating a unifying conceptual framework to model B2B branding. The transference of consumer concepts. Most of the quantitative studies draw largely on consumer branding tenets, but several authors clearly demonstrate that all the branding frameworks from consumer context do not transfer without adaptation to B2B context (e.g. Beverland, Napoli, & Lindgreen, 2007; Kuhn et al., 2008). The dominance of quantitative research. The majority of empirical research is quantitative by nature, which in a nascent research field runs the risk of producing ambiguous measures with questionable validity and reliability as well as leading to findings which emerge by mere chance (Edmondson and McManus, 2007). The lack of longitudinal research. Although brands are considered as relational assets which are accumulated over time, only three past studies employed longitudinal analysis, and the dynamic observations of the brand building efforts have been virtually absent. The focus on single industries. A large part of the empirical research is focused on single industries, thus limiting the applicability of the results and the comparability between studies. 274
Together these issues have resulted in a fragmented and limited body of research. Therefore, based on the findings, we tentatively suggest two directions for future research. First, a stronger emphasis on integrative conceptual and explorative empirical research would help to develop a stronger conceptual foundation for B2B branding research, facilitating the positioning of the future contributions together in a common theoretical framework. Second, given the fragmented conceptual foundation, we suggest complementing the dominant quantitative cross-sectional research with exploratory qualitative research to facilitate the formation of a more profound conceptual basis, and with longitudinal research to study the cumulative dimensions of brand capital. This systematic review contributes to the B2B branding literature by the following ways. First, to our knowledge, it is the first systemically thorough literature review in the field, identifying a large part of the key literature related to the topic. Second, it provides a comprehensive overview of the past research and highlights dominating research methods and perspectives. Finally, this review identifies emerging research gaps and limitations in the current literature, and suggests directions for future research on B2B branding. References 1. Beverland, M., Napoli, J. & Lindgreen, A. (2007). Industrial global brand leadership: A capabilities view. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 36, 1082-1093. 2. Cooper, H. (2010). Research synthesis and meta-analysis: A step-by-step approach. 4 th edition, Sage publications, 269 p. 3. Cretu, A. & Roderick, J. (2007). The influence of brand image and company reputation where manufactures market to small firms: A customer value perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 36, 230-240. 4. Glynn, M., Motion, J. & Brodie, R. (2007). Sources of brand benefits in manufacturer-reseller B2B relationships. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 22(6), 400-409. 5. Edmondson, A. & McManus, S. (2007). Methodological fit in management field research. Academy of Management Review, 42(4), 1155-1179. 6. Hutt, M. D., & Speh, T. W. (2010). Business marketing management: B2B. 10 th ed Mason, USA: Cengage Learning. 7. Hutton, J. (1997). A study of brand equity in an organizational-buying context. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 6(6), 428-439. 8. Keller, K.L. & Lehmann, D. (2006). Brands and Branding: Research Findings and Future Priorities, Marketing Science, 25, 740-759. 9. Kotler, P. & Pfoertsch, W. (2007). Being known or being one of many: the need for brand management for business-to-business (B2B) companies. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 22(6), 357–362. 10. Kuhn, K.A., Alpert, F., & Pope, N.K. (2008). An application of Keller's brand equity model in a B2B context. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11(1), 40-58. 11. Lynch, J., & De Chernatony, L. (2004). The power of emotion: Brand communication in business-to-business markets. Brand Management 11(5), 403-419. 12. Mudambi, S., Doyle, P., & Wong, V. (1997). An Exploration of Branding in Industrial Markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 26, 433-446. 13. Mudambi, S. (2002). Branding importance in business-to-business markets: Three buyer clusters. Industrial Marketing Management, 31, 252-533. 14. Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2006). Systematic Reviews in the social Sciences. Blackwell publishing. UK. 336 p. 15. Roberts, J., & Merrilees, B. (2007). Multiple roles of brands in business-to-business services. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 22(6), 410-417. 16. Roper, S., & Davies. G. (2010). Business to business branding: external and internal satisfiers and the role of training quality. European Journal of Marketing, 44(5), 567-590. 17. Sheth, J., & Sharma, A. (2006). The surpluses and shortages in business-to-business marketing theory and research. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 21(7), 422-427. 18. Sinclair, S. (2009, April). A literature analysis of contemporary research in business-to-business branding. Paper presented at the Thought Leaders International conference on brand management, Athens, Greece. 19. Tranfield, D., Denyer, D., & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a Methodology for Developing Evidence-Informed Management Knowledge by Means of Systematic Review. British Journal of Management, 14, 207-222. 20. Walley, K., Custance, P., Taylor, S., Lindgreen, A. & Hingley, M. (2007). The importance of brand in the industrial purchase decision: a case study of the UK tractor market. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 22(6), 383-393. 21. Webster, F., & Keller, K. (2004). A roadmap for branding in industrial markets. Journal of Brand Management, 11(5), 388-402. 22. Zablah, A., Brown, B., & Donthu, N. (2010). The relative importance of brands in modified rebuy purchase situations. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 27(3), 248-260. 275
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Book of Proceedings Brand, Identity
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Session 1.1 Emotional Branding in T
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p.31) consumers tend to those sourc
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Tables and figures Brand perception
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Malaysia‘s Global Halal Hub - ―
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Birds of a Feather Consume Sports T
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Session 1.2 How is Social Media, li
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2. Interviews made with the adminis
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Table-5 Facebook Members of Homeles
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content (UGC) or even direct intera
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Fierman, (1991) found that 47% of c
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Multiple Dimensions of Brand Identi
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Session 1.3 Corporate Identity, Cor
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CSR are the ideals and ethics of co
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Corporate Brand Identity Management
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To study the influence of B2B relat
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Antecedents And Consequences Of Bra
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22. Gurviez, P., and Korchia, M. (2
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Non-monetary factors, such as effor
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23. Holbrook, M.B. (2006). Consumpt
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Brand Extensions and Culture: The I
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avoidance tend to prefer more infor
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Virtual Internal Brand Communities:
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References 1. Algesheimer, R., Dhol
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associations based on their percept
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shift in the psychological contract
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10. Berthon, P., Ewing, M., & Hah,
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Session 2.1 Global Brand Relationsh
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G. Brand Personality Excitement Hon
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The Impact of Relationship Marketin
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‗United 2010-one for all, all for
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Brand Equity Trends in Top Global B
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Uncovering ‗Meanings‘ through A
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45. Melewar, T.C. and Saunders, J.
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Thus, from a design perspective, we
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Keywords Brands, marketing, meaning
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How Important is the Brand Name Ele
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References 1. Aaker, D. (1991). Man
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Simon Cowell and Branding the X Fac
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Dead or Living: Which Celebrity To
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Reference 1. Bagozzi, R.P. & Yi, Y.
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has been adopted and within this an
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Organizational Factors Contributing
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examine and reconcile existing lite
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Effects of Corporate Social Respons
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15. Morsing M, & Schultz M. (2006).
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1989). But if the information avail
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An Inquiry into Corporate Heritage
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3. Balmer, J. M. T., & Greyser, S.
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Research questions and methodology
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Building Corporate Reputation: A Di
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Session 3.1 Financial vs. Consumer-
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For indicating brand equity, one of
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Financial Brand Valuation: an exper
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Figure 1 Religiously Motivated Cons
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I Don‘t Like It! - Understanding
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Session 3.2 Advertising Agency Empl
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applications of the Repertory Test
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The Life Cycle of Mavens Lynne Free
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Exploring the relationship between
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internal branding process. Internal
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proper branding strategy. With the
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Profiling the Image of Urban Busine
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Finally, the paper confirms the cau
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Table 3 Image differences according
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associated with the brand‖ (Aaker
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Figure 1 - Number of adjectives sel
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Figure 5 - Main attributes of a gol
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Empirical Studies For both studies,
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Figure 2: Perception of the City of
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Co-branding places? Andrea Lucarell
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12. Lucarelli, A., & Berg, P. O. (2
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the place brands, as has been showe
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Session 3.4 Innovation and Entrepre
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The interviews were conducted in th
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Country-of-Origin Effects on Brand
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7. Kaynak, E., Kucukemiroglu, O. &
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Results The demographic profile ind
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use games consoles (Childwise, 2001
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Plenary Session 2 Brand Performance
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Uncles, M.D. & Kwok, S. (2008). Gen
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Brand Management Framework Empirica
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Coneptualising Branding in Indian P
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characteristics could be zeroed upo
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Concentrating on the actual practic
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ooking attractive in greater detail
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Session 7.2 Brand Personification a
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Importance of Country Image to Mega
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Table 1: Evaluative Responses for t
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To be Similar or Unique? Implicatio
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Brown, T. J., Dacin, P. A., Pratt,
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A brand-driven strategy oriented to
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Rheingold, H. (1993). The Virtual C
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A Framework for Public Sector Brand
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Conclusion Public sector organisati
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A strategic investigation into the
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There are also some changes in term
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Brand Hypocrisy Sanne Frandsen, Cop
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Table 1: Empirical Findings Theory
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Brand Governance in Social Networki
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Determinants Brand Orientation Va
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When Individual Experience becomes
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Impact of Storytelling on Consumer
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The Role of Communication in Establ
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Culture‘s Influence on Consumer P
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+ Top-Down Dynamic between Luxury F
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Analysis and results We assessed th
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An Exploration of Own Brand Retaile
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11. ETI 2010. Ethical Trading Initi
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When investigating unique significa
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Session 8.2 Closing the Gaps - the
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Page 225 and 226: Reddy, 1998, p.40). As a result, br
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Page 229 and 230: Literature review, as a complete re
Page 231 and 232: Segmenting McDonalds: Measuring Bra
Page 233 and 234: A simple eyeballing of the segment
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Page 237 and 238: Session 8.3 Brand Attitudes and the
Page 239 and 240: when preceded with the related conc
Page 241 and 242: What keeps smokers from quitting? U
Page 243 and 244: Table 1: Description of the cigaret
Page 245 and 246: Exploring differences in product at
Page 247 and 248: Based on the results some general c
Page 249 and 250: Data was collected by independent j
Page 251 and 252: Sonic branding: A review of literat
Page 253 and 254: How is green seen? Exploring the im
Page 255 and 256: were in evidence. The inability to
Page 257 and 258: Generally speaking, people use exte
Page 259 and 260: How Retail Banks Use Atmosphere to
Page 261 and 262: Actually, we don‘t feel constrain
Page 263 and 264: Introduction Reputation and Financi
Page 265 and 266: Chun, R. & Davies G. (2009). Employ
Page 267 and 268: Identity, Reputation and Organizati
Page 269 and 270: Introduction Factors Affecting Bran
Page 271 and 272: A quiet important approach then bec
Page 273: 27. Gentry, C.R., ―Building on Br
Page 277 and 278: elations. If the contact persons tr
Page 279 and 280: How do you Really Know? Exploring B
Page 281 and 282: Originality/value The psychology li
Page 283 and 284: asked ―did you see any of these c
Page 285 and 286: expressivity (Ω experts = 0,96 p
Page 287 and 288: Next are brand associations, also r
Page 289 and 290: Table 1: Selection of variables, it
Page 291 and 292: Special Session Issues in Brand Gov
Page 293 and 294: A Competance based Brand: Meaning a
Page 295 and 296: Session 12.4 Special Session Topic:
Page 297 and 298: Brand Meaning Co-Creation of Newcom
Page 299 and 300: Leonor Vacas de Carvalho, Évora Un
Page 301: Ronaldo Schutz, University of the A
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