Relationship Between Stakeholders And Stakeholders

First of all, a strong brand can be seen as the condition for organisations to expand products, offer more service, and introduce new products (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Secondly, a strong brand can lead to growth marketing communication effectiveness (Keller, 2009). ‘To build a strong brand, the right knowledge structures must exist in the minds of actual or prospective customers so that they respond positively to marketing activities and programs in these different ways.’(Keller, 2003, p. 140) Furthermore, Kay (2005) asserted that the strong brand can be seen as a resource of management, which make brand extension easier and useful to build distribution network. Companies are not treated by the intermediaries (Chernatony and McDonald, 2003). Moreover, companies are comparatively easier to change price if they have strong brands. As Henderson, et al (2003) said, a strong brand can allow for premium pricing even still remain loyalty customers, which help companies to survive in the intensive competitive market.

The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications Author(s): Thomas Donaldson and Lee E. Preston Source: The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 65-91 Published by: Academy of Management Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/258887 Accessed: 20/04/2010 23:08

Within the context of evaluating marketing opportunities, brand value relates to the intangible aspects of a company that act as a major source of competitive advantage and benefit for both consumers and sellers. For example, a strong brand value allows for a faster purchase decision process for consumers as information can be gathered quickly, and alternatives will often not be considered with equal weighting. Healy confirms this stating that “Good brands create shortcuts in product choice” (p. 136).

Currently, the stakeholder theory has been grown up from its origin and seen as the concept of Value Maximization in the business firm. It is one of the important goals of the business organization (Werther & Chandler, 2005). In the present time, stakeholder theory allows the business firms to define the role and responsibility of

Brand awareness is a fundamental attribute of customer brand equity. It tends to be an underestimated component of brand equity (Tong & Hawley, 2009). Brand awareness includes two elements which are brand recall and brand recognition. According to Aaker (1996) there is a positive relationship between trust, value and brand equity. Trust is the faith put into a brand with regard to its quality, consistency, etc. Value is created by providing a solution to consumers’ needs and wants in a way that the cost to the consumer is fair considering the benefits gained (Aaker,

This is why it’s essential for brands to get to know their markets, their buyers & the brand elements required of them, in order to build and create effective branding strategies. The following essay discusses this further.

Recently, brand equity has increasingly been defined in customer-based contexts. It defines brand equity as the value of a brand to the customer (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993) defines brand equity as “a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firms’ customers." Brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality, brand loyalty and other proprietary assets were the five assets of brand equity. Keller (2003) argued that the power of a brand lies in the minds of the customers and what they have experienced and learned about the brand over time. He defines customer-based brand equity as “the differential effect that brand knowledge has on

In order to discuss the term value and what it represents in relation to brands and the consumer, one must first try to define it, and understand its underlying message. In the early 2000s, many researchers tried to create holistic conceptualisations, such as Khalifa (2004) and Woodall (2003). These abstractions attempted to conceptualise in on an individual level (Holbrook 1994, 1999). However, recent definitions have tried to encapsulate a more rounded and pragmatic perspective which recognises value in the environment of consumer experiences (Edvardsson et al 2011). Further, Grönroos and Helle (2010) placed further emphasis on economic improvements created communally or by business partners. This, of course, is the definititions of value in a brand-oriented point of view. One of the more general definitions of value derives from Grönroos (2008) where he summarised value

Market segmentation – “dividing total market into several smaller groups that have smaller needs, and behaviours”

With the growth of world economy markets became flooded with competition, organisations started to understand the importance of building strong brands (Norjaya, 2007). Aaker (1996) said that well-known brands brought loads of advantages and allowed companies to establish their identity in the market. Brand equity is built on brand identity and brand image therefore it is important to study those 2 topics (which in my eyes are inseparable) fully. Brand Identi-ty is something what company is promoting and wanted to be seen, whereas Brand Image how the company wants to be seen, where the second one is the actual portrait of the compa-ny on consumers’ minds (Yastrow 2013; Keller, 2003; Kotler et al, 2009). Keller (2003) said that organisations are spending huge amount of money in order to bridge the gap between brand identity and brand image, essentially smaller gap would mean that consumers are be-lieving in brands core

A brand is a way for customers to identify goods and/or services that a company is providing and helps differentiate them from competitors, and their experience of the company and the products will reflect their brand equity (Kotler, Bowen, & Makens, 2014; Bailey & Ball, 2006). There are two definitions of a brand; the first is the product plus definition, where a brand is seen as an identifier for the product (Ambler & Styles, 1996). The second definition, which more relevant to today’s environment is the holistic view, where the brand includes all elements of the marketing mix and is not solely based on the product (Ambler & Styles, 1996). Keller defines brand equity as “the differential effect that consumer brand knowledge has on their response to marketing activity” (1999). A brand aims for positive brand equity so that consumers will choose their products/services over the competition and therefore increase their market share (Kotler et al., 2014; Rangaswamy, Burke, & Oliva, 1992).

“The financial value of a brand is not interesting on its own; it’s what we can do to grow it that makes it interesting. The process of benchmarking a brand’s value involves understanding where that brand value comes from and supporting those areas to grow the strength of the brand.” [Shailendra Kumar, FutureBrand, 2001]

It is important to understand that a brand is a key asset for a firm especially when it involves

Traditional branding practice has applied a managerial perspective, with the assumption that management creates and unilaterally communicates a brand’s meaning to customers who are passive receivers (Keller, 2003 as cited in Vallaster and Wallpach 2013). Marketers endeavour to create and shape consumer perceptions of their brand [add]. Final consumer perceptions about brands are heavily influenced by a number of stakeholders, outside of the business that use social media as a platform to share their personal experience with brands. Reviews, critiques and blogs play a crucial role in the construction of a brands image, and is gaining tremendous relevance among consumers (Bonet, 2012)

“A company’s brand is the primary source of its competitive advantage and is a very valuable strategic