The underlying dimensions of brand orientation and its impact on financial performance

This research responds to the need for an increased understanding of brand orientation and its impact on financial performance. Since brand orientation is often perceived as a somewhat elusive concept we here present a theoretical framework for the purpose of identifying the underlying dimensions of brand orientation from a holistic perspective. Based on this framework we have performed a study on Sweden's 500 largest companies, aimed at analysing how brand oriented these companies are and how that degree of brand orientation influences their financial performance. In our analysis we have identified eight dimensions that can be seen as the anatomy of brand orientation. The analysis also provides empirical evidence of a significant positive relationship between brand orientation and profitability, showing that the most brand-oriented companies in this study have almost double the profitability of the least brand-oriented companies.

[1]  D. Aaker.  Building Strong Brands , 1995 .

[2]  Sally Dibb,et al.  Rethinking the brand concept: new brand orientation , 2001 .

[3]  B. Merrilees,et al.  The performance benefits of being brand‐orientated , 2008 .

[4]  R. Grant.  The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation , 1991 .

[5]  Nicholas Ind,et al.  Living the Brand: How to Transform Every Member of Your Organization into a Brand Champion , 2001 .

[6]  L. Chernatony,et al.  The criteria for successful services brands , 2003 .

[7]  John M. T. Balmer,et al.  Corporate brands: what are they? What of them? , 2003 .

[8]  David A. Aaker,et al.  Brand Portfolio Strategy , 2006 .

[9]  M. Urde.  Brand Orientation - A Strategy for Survival , 1994 .

[10]  G. Low,et al.  Brands, Brand Management, and the Brand Manager System: A Critical-Historical Evaluation , 1994 .

[11]  H. Wong,et al.  Closing the marketing strategy to performance gap: the role of brand orientation , 2007 .

[12]  Philippa Hankinson.  Brand orientation in the charity sector: a framework for discussion and research , 2001 .

[13]  M. Hatch,et al.  BRINGING THE CORPORATION INTO CORPORATE BRANDING , 2003 .

[14]  Majken Schultz,et al.  Taking Brand Initiative: How Companies Can Align Strategy, Culture, and Identity Through Corporate Branding , 2008 .

[15]  Nicholas Ind.  Inside out: How employees build value , 2003 .

[16]  Rune Bjerke,et al.  Branding Governance: A Participatory Approach to the Brand Building Process , 2007 .

[17]  L. Chernatony.  Creating Powerful Brands , 2010 .

[18]  M. Urde.  Core value-based corporate brand building , 2003 .

[19]  N. Malhotra,et al.  Marketing Research: An Applied Approach , 2000 .

[20]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. , 1988 .

[21]  Pierre Berthon,et al.  Brand Management in Small to Medium‐Sized Enterprises* , 2008 .

[22]  L. Chernatony,et al.  Internal brand building and structuration: the role of leadership , 2006 .

[23]  K. Bridson,et al.  The secret to a fashion advantage is brand orientation , 2004 .

[24]  Evert Gummesson,et al.  Total Relationship Marketing , 1999 .

[25]  An empirical study which compares the organisational structures of companies managing the World’s Top 100 brands with those managing Outsider brands , 1999 .

[26]  L. Chernatony,et al.  Corporate marketing and service brands ‐ Moving beyond the fast‐moving consumer goods model , 2001 .

[27]  Rolph E. Anderson,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings , 1979 .

[28]  L. Chernatony.  Brand Management Through Narrowing the Gap Between Brand Identity and Brand Reputation , 1999 .

[29]  F. Melin.  Varumärket som strategiskt konkurrensmedel - Om konsten att bygga upp starka varumärken , 1997 .

[30]  J. Napoli.  The Impact of Nonprofit Brand Orientation on Organisational Performance , 2006 .

[31]  Rune Bjerke,et al.  The concept of participatory market orientation: An organisation-wide approach to enhancing brand equity , 2007 .

[32]  Anne W. Mägi,et al.  Share of wallet in retailing: the effects of customer satisfaction, loyalty cards and shopper characteristics , 2003 .

[33]  M Schultz,et al.  Are the strategic stars aligned for your corporate brand? , 2001, Harvard business review.

[34]  C. Tilley.  Built-In Branding: How to Engineer a Leadership Brand , 1999 .

[35]  Scott M. Davis,et al.  Building the Brand-Driven Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth , 2002 .

[36]  Jean-Noël Kapferer,et al.  The New Strategic Brand Management , 2004 .

[37]  P. V. Cunha,et al.  Brand Management Paradigms , 2001 .

[38]  Leslie de Chernatony,et al.  Internal brand factors driving successful financial services brands , 2006 .

[39]  David A. Aaker,et al.  The Brand Relationship Spectrum , 2000 .

[40]  Philippa Hankinson.  The impact of brand orientation on managerial practice: a quantitative study of the UK's top 500 fundraising managers , 2002 .

[41]  L. Chernatony,et al.  Corporate branding and corporate brand performance , 2001 .

[42]  M. Urde.  Brand Orientation: A Mindset for Building Brands into Strategic Resources , 1999 .

[43]  Mike Reid,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION, MARKET ORIENTATION, AND BRAND ORIENTATION , 2005 .

[44]  Kevin Lane Keller.  Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity , 1997 .

[45]  P. Tuominen.  Emerging metaphors in brand management: towards a relational approach , 2007 .

[46]  Julie Napoli,et al.  Developing and validating a multidimensional nonprofit brand orientation scale , 2005 .

[47]  P. Argenti,et al.  Reputation and the Corporate Brand , 2003 .

[48]  Bill Merrilees,et al.  A brand orientation typology for SMEs: a case research approach , 2005 .

[49]  M. Urde.  Uncovering the corporate brand's core values , 2009 .

[50]  M. Hatch,et al.  Relations between organizational culture, identity and image , 1997 .