Brand οrientation: antecedents and consequences

Abstract

The importance of branding as a way of creating sustainable competitive advantage and the critical role brands play in driving profitable, long-term growth, are nowadays acknowledged by the majority of the academic and business society. However, creating and sustaining strong brands are among the greatest challenges managers face. This is probably the reason why both marketing scholars (Shocker et al., 1994; Keller and Lehmann, 2006), as well as practitioners (McKinsey, 2003) have been stressing for long the need for the development of an integrative theory to guide brand management. In addition, based on the concession that no single or dominant theoretical framework had emerged to guide research in this area, they have been calling for the creation of a general branding model to be tested and calibrated, in order to move branding toward becoming a rigorous science. The term Brand Orientation was proposed for the first time in 1994 in order to describe such an integrated organizational focus on developing and sustaining strong brands over time. Since then, though, almost all studies on the subject have either been based on a limited theoretical foundation, or have taken a narrow industry-specific perspective (e.g. the charity sector). The lack of a sound conceptualization and rigorous operationalization of Brand Orientation, and of a generally accepted Brand Orientation framework, constituted the point of departure of this thesis. As such, the purpose of this study is to further the interest that has appeared the last years around Brand Orientation, by providing a foundation for the systematic development of a theory of Brand Orientation and empirically testing that theory, operationalizing in this way the branding concept.A thorough review of the relevant literature that either delves into Brand Orientation per se or implicitly reveals significant insights of the construct by focusing on brand building and management, uncovered several common elements that seem to characterize all organizations with strong brands. By synthesizing the received view from the literature with the perspectives on Brand Orientation expressed by experts in the context of a qualitative study, the theoretical clarification of the construct became possible. Brand Orientation is defined as reflecting an integrated organizational approach towards the development, maintenance and enhancement of successful brands over time. Taking into account the BO dimensions inferred from the literature analysis and the relevant insights from the in-depth interviews, Brand Orientation is suggested to comprise 9 dimensions/components (Brand Importance, Brand Analysis, Brand Clarity, Brand Differentiation, Top Management Brand Commitment, Shared brand Values, Brand Consistency, Brand Protection and Brand Performance Assessment). Based on the fact that certain BO dimensions, despite their conceptual clarity, seemed to have a closer conceptual linkage with some other BO dimensions and a much more distant linkage with some others, the possible existence of some higher order constructs was investigated and eventually confirmed. As a result, and in contrast with previous research efforts, it is suggested that Brand Orientation should be viewed as consisting of four facets – building blocks (Brand Orientation as Attitude, Brand Development Orientation, Internal Brand Orientation, External Brand Orientation), each of which comprises one or more BO dimensions. Therefore, the operationalization of Brand Orientation entailed the development of four distinct scales, according to the respective building blocks, which can be used separately or together, depending on the research context. In other words, Brand Orientation is suggested to represent a hierarchically organized reflective construct, with its building blocks operating as higher order factors. After all, the concept of branding, which is intended to be expressed via the BO construct, is large enough to be effectively represented by a simple scale. To operationalize the higher order BO scale, all recommended scale development steps were carefully followed. Based on the construct definition and content domain, a large pool of items was initially generated and later reduced to a more manageable one based on expert judging and a pilot study on relevant population. The resultant BO scale was finalized through a large quantitative study in 242 large organizations. Our empirical findings lent support to the broad BO conceptualization and confirmed that the BO scale developed reliably and validly measures the intended notion. More specifically, all scales measuring the four building blocks of BO appear to be reliable and exhibit high levels of construct validity. The BO entire scale was also proved to be reliable and valid, confirming the proposed hierarchical structure of the construct. Additionally, all individual BO dimensions were shown to be distinctive, yet related, brand-oriented aspects of an organization. Regarding the internal causal structure between the building blocks of BO, it was proven that a strong branding culture is the starting point of a Brand Orientation, guiding all behavioral branding aspects in an organization. Based on a thorough brand analysis, the development of clear and differentiated brands is in order, so as to create brands with distinct competitive advantages. In a subsequent step, the brand values have to be honestly supported by the top management and effectively shared by all employees and partners of the firm, in order for brand supportive behaviors to be generated. Finally, based on a positive attitude towards brands, the development of clearly differentiated brands and internal brand assimilation, the brand promise can be effectively delivered externally through consistency, long-term protection and periodical assessment.In sum, the Brand Orientation construct developed, as it is conceptualized and operationalized, hopefully summarizes the branding concept from the supply – side perspective, by reflecting the adequate branding philosophy, firm strategy and activities towards successful brand building and management over time. In other words, Brand Orientation captures the way an organization can build, maintain and enhance strong brands over time, operationalizing the broad branding concept reliably and validly.The determination, through empirical research, of the antecedents and consequences of a Brand Orientation was also among the main research goals of the thesis. Regarding the drivers of such an orientation, it was found that Brand Orientation is directly, positively and strongly affected by Market Orientation, which is revealed as a significant predictor of BO. Brand Orientation was also found to be facilitated by the company’s degree of Entrepreneurial Orientation and the power of the Marketing Department. On the other hand, Interdepartmental Conflict appears to indirectly reduce the level of a Brand Orientation. As far as the consequences of the construct of interest are concerned, Brand Orientation is proved to have a direct significant positive effect on Brand Performance and an indirect effect, through Brand Performance, on Financial Performance. Most importantly, Brand Orientation’s positive effect on business performance is found to be strong, regardless of the rate of change in the composition of customers and their preferences, the level of competition and the rate of technological change. Moreover, it was found that the achievement of high brand awareness, loyalty, trust, etc., apart from winning strategies such as those engendered by a Brand Orientation, necessitates time since the business unit’s age was shown to covariate with brand performance.Finally, additional evidence supported the important role of a Brand Orientation in an organization. More specifically, Brand Orientation was revealed as the primary mediator of interest in the relationship between Market Orientation and Business Performance. The same was shown for the relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance. The full mediation uncovered can be viewed as an additional indication of the important role of Brand Orientation as an intermediate variable in explaining the total effect of Market and Entrepreneurial Orientation on performance. Such a finding is of enormous importance, as it provides strong empirical evidence of the indispensability for firms to adopt and successfully implement a Brand Orientation. In other words, findings suggest that a Market Orientation is a necessary but no longer a sufficient strategy in order to achieve high levels of business performance. Brand Orientation is revealed as the primary mediator of the Market Orientation - Performance relationship, changing in this way the prevailing, so far, view in the literature regarding this relationship. The present thesis has hopefully important implications for both the business world and the academic society. Managers are shown a way to strengthen their firm’s market position, by rallying the entire organization, its commitment, efforts and resources toward the development of strong brands. In other words, the present thesis summarizes the way a company can build, maintain and enhance one or more strong brands over time, offering important branding guidelines that stem from a theoretically grounded and empirically validated Brand Orientation theory. As far as marketing scholars are concerned, with this thesis, they have at their disposal a carefully developed theory of Brand Orientation, which summarizes the broad concept of branding from the supply-side perspective. They now also possess a reliable and valid scale of Brand Orientation, which allows for the sound measurement of the level of such an orientation in organizations. The conceptualization and operationalization of Brand Orientation as a hierarchically organized construct, allow marketing researchers to opt for either all or any combination of the higher order constructs forming Brand Orientation, depending on the research context. Additionally, this thesis comes to “question” the prevailing view regarding the market orientation – performance relationship, by providing strong evidence that this relationship is completely mediated by Brand Orientation or, at least, that BO constitutes a primary mediator in this relationship. This finding does not oppose to previous knowledge, but further explains the way organizations should work in today’s challenging environment, supplementing the marketing knowledge so far with a novel integrative concept that seems to exert a very significant influence on company results.

Η διδακτορική διατριβή εστιάζει στον Προσανατολισμό στην Επωνυμία - Μάρκα (Brand Orientation) με βασικό σκοπό την επιστημονική και εμπειρική τεκμηρίωση του ενδεδειγμένου τρόπου ανάπτυξης και διαχείρισης στο χρόνο ισχυρών επωνυμιών (brands). Πιο συγκεκριμένα, ερευνητικοί στόχοι της διατριβής ήταν οι εξής:(α) Η πλήρης εννοιολογική αποσαφήνιση του όρου «Προσανατολισμός στην Επωνυμία» (Brand Orientation) σε επίπεδο επιχείρησης και ο προσδιορισμός των διαστάσεών του.(β) Η προσεκτική και σύμφωνη με τους γενικά αποδεκτούς κανόνες ανάπτυξη μιας αξιόπιστης και έγκυρης κλίμακας μέτρησης του βαθμού στον οποίο μια επιχείρηση είναι προσανατολισμένη στην επωνυμία (brand – oriented) .(γ) Η εμπειρική διερεύνηση των παραγόντων (π.χ. ισχύς του τμήματος μάρκετινγκ, προσανατολισμός στην αγορά) που επηρεάζουν τον προσανατολισμό στην επωνυμία (antecedents).(δ) Η μελέτη των επιπτώσεων ενός τέτοιου προσανατολισμού για τις επιχειρήσεις που τον υιοθετούν (consequences), καθώς και της γενικότερης σημασίας το ρόλου του στην επίτευξη υψηλών επιπέδων απόδοσης. Για την επίτευξη των παραπάνω ερευνητικών στόχων, πέρα από την ενδελεχή ανασκόπηση της σχετικής βιβλιογραφίας και αρθρογραφίας, χρησιμοποιήθηκαν πλήθος πρωτογενών στοιχείων που προήλθαν από (i) ποιοτική έρευνα μέσω προσωπικών συνεντεύξεων με έμπειρα στελέχη που επί χρόνια χειρίζονται την επώνυμη πολιτική επιχειρήσεων και με διακεκριμένους στο χώρο του Μάρκετινγκ ακαδημαϊκούς (N=17), (ii) ποσοτική έρευνα σε στελέχη επιχειρήσεων – φοιτητές των μεταπτυχιακών προγραμμάτων μερικής φοίτησης του Οικονομικού Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών (N=136), και (iii) ποσοτική έρευνα σε μεγάλες σε μέγεθος επιχειρηματικές μονάδες που δραστηριοποιούνται στην Ελλάδα (N=242).Η κύρια συνεισφορά της διατριβής συνίσταται στα ακόλουθα:(1) Σε ό,τι αφορά στην πρακτική σημασία της διατριβής, οι επιχειρήσεις και τα στελέχη τους αποκτούν μία γερά θεμελιωμένη και εμπειρικά τεκμηριωμένη θεωρία Προσανατολισμού στην Επωνυμία, που προσφέρει τόσο συγκεκριμένες κατευθύνσεις για την ανάπτυξη και ενίσχυση στο χρόνο ισχυρών επωνυμιών, αλλά και προσδιορίζει με ακρίβεια τους οργανωσιακούς παράγοντες που ενισχύουν ένα τέτοιο προσανατολισμό, καθώς και τις συνέπειές του σε όρους απόδοσης της επιχείρησης από την υιοθέτηση και σωστή εφαρμογή του.(2) Επίσης μεγάλη είναι και η ακαδημαϊκή σημασία της διατριβής, δεδομένου ότι μέσα από την εννοιολογική αποσαφήνιση και μέτρηση της συγκεκριμένης έννοιας, συνοψίζεται με επιτυχή τρόπο η ευρεία έννοια της επώνυμης στρατηγικής και πολιτικής (branding). Οι ακαδημαϊκοί του μάρκετινγκ έχουν πια στη διάθεσή τους μία ολοκληρωμένη και εμπειρικά τεκμηριωμένη θεωρία branding που απουσίαζε από τη σχετική βιβλιογραφία. Προσφέρεται επίσης μία αξιόπιστη και έγκυρη κλίμακα μέτρησης του βαθμού Προσανατολισμού στην Επωνυμία, καλύπτοντας έτσι το αντίστοιχο κενό στην έρευνα μάρκετινγκ μέχρι σήμερα. Η έννοια του Προσανατολισμού στην Επωνυμία (Brand Orientation), σε συνδυασμό με το σημαντικό ρόλο που δείχνει να έχει στα αποτελέσματα της επιχείρησης, έρχεται να συμπληρώσει την υφιστάμενη γνώση σχετικά με το μάρκετινγκ και να εξηγήσει σε περισσότερο βάθος τον ενδεδειγμένο τρόπο λειτουργίας των σύγχρονων επιχειρήσεων.