文献出处：Walker L STRATEGIC BRAND ORIENTATION [J]. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 2014, 18(2).32-50 原文
STRATEGIC BRAND ORIENTATION
Walker
WHERE DOES A BRAND ORIENTATION FIT WITHIN CONTEMPORARY MARKETING STRATEGY?
Over the years, at least three competing philosophies have influenced marketing strategies. In the years leading up to the mid-1950s, marketing focused internally on production efficiency (e.g. a product orientation) and aggressive selling (e.g., a sales orientation). Somewhere around the mid 1950's, the focus shifted externally to customer needs (e.g. the marketing concept). The marketing concept, identified by (McCarthy &Perreault, 1984) as the philosophical foundation of a market orientation, consists of three components: customer focus, integration, and long term profitability. The marketing concept is said to serve as a cornerstone of marketing thought (see Borch, 1957; McKitterick, 1957).
The 1990s saw renewed interest in the concept of market orientation (the implementation of the marketing concept). Based on a thorough literature review, Harrison-Walker (2001) conceptualized a market orientation as a dual, four-stage process involving information acquisition (Kohli &Jaworski, 1990), information sharing (Kohli &Jaworski, 1990), shared interpretation of information (Day, 1993; Sinkula, 1994), and the utilization of information in developing and implementing marketing strategies (Kohli &Jaworski, 1990). The type of information which is gathered, shared, interpreted and utilized is information about customers and competitors (Narver &Slater, 1990). In other words, the information gathered about customers and competitors is ultimately utilized by the market oriented organization to develop and implement marketing strategies that will meet the needs of customers - and do so more effectively than competitors.
In an attempt to depict the market oriented approach to marketing strategy, customer needs may be thought of as the core around which the marketing mix is designed (see Figure 1). It is
through a thorough and organization-wide understanding of customer needs that a company can develop effective product, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies leading to improved long term performance. Harrison-Walker (2001) empirically demonstrated that customer orientation has a significant and positive impact on balanced scorecard measures of business performance.
In Figure 1, branding is included as one of the many product strategy decisions, along with decisions such as product design, packaging, product warranties, etc. In non-brand oriented firms, the brand is simply as one of many resources within the firm and there is no discussion about the importance of basing the firm's approach on the brand as a specific resource (c.f. Collins &Montgomery, 1995; Peteraf, 1993; Prahalad &Hamel, 1990). Even within product strategy, it is more likely the product and its functional advantages receive far greater attention than the brand (Urde, 1999, p.l 19). The problem is that functional advantages can generally be imitated (Urde, 1999, p.l 19).
The question then becomes whether a market oriented firm can also be brand oriented and, if so, where brand orientation comes into the picture. Certainly, an organization cannot focus on a brand without meeting customer needs. Customer needs must remain at the core. This does not mean that the customer is king; it means that it is imperative for the company to have a thorough understanding of customer needs in order to design an effective marketing strategy. So in our revised figure, customer needs remain at the core. For a proper adaptation of our model in Figure 1, we are provided direction by Wong and Merrilees (2007, p.388) who explain that \of a marketing mix aligns to the brand, then consequently they will be aligned to each other and produce a more consistent and robust performance.\of the organization's responses (Gromark &Melin, 2005), we need to add a second concentric circle around the core (see Figure 2). The second concentric circle is the brand strategy. This makes absolute sense from a marketing strategy perspective when one considers that critical branding decisions, such as positioning, are depended upon in designing the marketing mix. That is, strategic positioning involves designing the product and the marketing mix to fit a unique position in the consumer's mind. Therefore, once consumer information is collected and processed, the positioning strategy is formulated and the marketing mix is developed to communicate the brand's unique position.
In support of this conceptualization, indicating that not only are a market orientation and a brand orientation not mutually exclusive, but that a brand orientation positively impacts the effectiveness of the marketing strategy (Wong &Merrilees, 2008), Urde (1999, p.18) provides the following quote from Olle Tegstam, Senior Vice President at Nestle:
An organization can never only be brand-oriented. There have to be products that are demanded and that work together with your brand. To be brand-oriented is market orientation \
FACTORS AFFECTING A BRAND ORIENTATION
Nowadays most companies understand that brand orientation is crucial to developing strong brands and are convinced that strong brands can provide sustainable competitive advantages (Gromark &Melin, 2011). In fact, \have become the focal point of many a company's marketing efforts and are seen as a source of market power, competitive leverage and higher returns\
By reviewing the existing marketing and business literature it is possible to identify a number of potential antecedents to a brand orientation. In this study, eight factors are identified as factors potentially influencing a brand orientation. The conceptual model showing the potential antecedents of a brand orientation is presented in Figure 3. Potential antecedents include: the size of the company, brand barriers, services component, exploration of brand identity, brand research, years of planning and investment, expansion growth intention, and brand management assessment. In the following sections, we introduce each of the potential antecedents and set forth a research proposition with regard to its expected effect on a brand orientation. Size of Company
The first factor identified as a potential antecedent of a brand orientation is the size of the company. Several researchers (Baumgarth, 2010, Krake, 2005, Wong &Merrilees, 2005) report that smaller companies are less likely to be brand oriented than larger companies. For example, in a study of business-to-business companies, Baumgarth (2010) divided sample companies into \and \groups on the basis of a market performance index, and found that while all companies in the sample reported low levels of brand orientation, smaller companies
exhibited lower levels of brand orientation than larger ones. In this study, the size of the company was measured both in terms of turnover and number of employees (Baumgarth, 2010).
Wong and Merrilees (2005) provide an explanation as to why smaller companies tend to be less brand oriented than larger ones; that is, smaller companies have a lower level of brand orientation than larger ones because they perceive that they have neither the time nor the resources to conduct branding activities. The authors (Wong &Merrilees, 2005, p.156) note that numerous studies \identified many SMEs failing to fully invest in most business assets, including advertising, information technology and training, and to perceive such investments as costs instead.\
In another study by Krake (2005), qualitative research was conducted with 10 mostly medium sized companies. Just over half of the companies studied admitted that they \something about brand management\maintained that brand management had no part in their daily or weekly operations (Krake, 2005, p.230). Krake (2005) further found that other than the directors/owners, no one within these organizations was specifically concerned with brand management, nor was it widely discussed or communicated. Krake (2005) concludes that in many SME companies, brand management receives little or no attention in the daily run of affairs. Although the owners or directors of SMEs are the ones to take the lead in this area, they either seldom have the time for it or are not even aware of \
Based on the research findings of Baumgarth (2010), Krake (2005), and Wong and Merrilees (2005), it seems that smaller companies are less brand-oriented than larger ones. This leads to the following research proposition.
PI: The size of the company has a positive effect on the company's level of brand orientation. Brand Barriers
Perhaps related to the size of the company is the construct of brand barriers identified by Wong and Merrilees (2005). 'Brand barriers' refer to obstacles that hinder smaller firms in particular in carrying out business activities based on the brand. The obstacles primarily involve limitations on financial and human resources, as well as time (Krake, 2005, Wong &Merrilees,
2005). The brand barriers construct is identified separately from the size of the company since larger firms may also be affected by resource limitations for a number of reasons including the negative effects of uncontrollable factors in various sectors of the external environment. These may include a weak economy, increasing costs of doing business, the imposition of new legal restrictions or requirements, and so forth. The unavailability of financial and human resources often forces firms to adopt a short term focus rather than a long term branding strategy and to underinvest in building the distinctiveness of their brand (Wong &Merrilees, 2005). Although Wong and Merrilees (2005) propose that brand barriers have a negative effect on a brand orientation, this relationship has not been empirically examined. We concur with Wong and Merrilees (2005) and set forth the following research proposition.
P2: Brand barriers have a negative effect on the company 's level of brand orientation. Services Component
The third potential antecedent relates to whether the company's product is a service or a physical good. Marketers generally perceive a continuum with pure services at one end (such as a carton of cereal) and pure services (such as financial services) at the other. Many products fall somewhere in between. For example, a restaurant provides the physical good of the food services as well as the service product that involves seating guests, serving food, and clearing the table. In order to provide more complete information to marketing managers, it is common for marketing studies to examine whether differences between physical goods and services are significant.
P3: The extent to which a company provides services over physical goods has a negative effect on the company's level of brand orientation. MANAGERIAL AND RESEARCH IMPLICATIONS
The purpose of this paper is to identify potential antecedents of a brand orientation based on the existing marketing and business literature and to set forth a conceptual model depicting research propositions. Studies conducted on the consequences of a brand orientation demonstrate that a brand orientation has a positive effect on business performance. Accordingly, managers should strive to develop and nurture the brand orientation of their businesses in their efforts to attain higher business performance and competitive advantage.
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