外文翻译知觉变异和有关品牌延伸推论.docx

外文翻译知觉变异和有关品牌延伸推论.docx

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外文翻译知觉变异和有关品牌延伸推论

毕业论文外文翻译

一、外文原文

标题：

PerceivedVariabilityandInferencesaboutBrandExtensions

原文：

Recentresearchonconsumerreactionstobrandextensionshasfocusedonthejudgmentaleffectsofthematchbetweentheattributes,benefits,andusesofestablishedversusnewproductssharingthesamebrandname.Thepresentexperimentextendsthisresearchbyinvestigatingtheeffectsoftwotypesofperceivedvariabilityonconsumers'inferencesaboutbrandextensions:

（a）theperceivedvariabilityofafirm'scurrentofferings,and（b）theperceivedvariabilityofbrandsinanentrycategory.Inferencesaboutthepotentialqualityofthebrandextension,andaboutthemanufacturer'sreasonsforattemptingtoenterthenewproductcategoryweremeasured.Repercussionsoftheseinferencesonjudgmentsofthefirmlaunchingthebrandextensionwerealsoexamined.Implicationsoftheresultsforproductmanagementarediscussed.

Agreatdealofrecentresearchhasfocusedontheconceptofbrandequity,whichreferstothevalueaddedtoaproductbyabrandname（Farquhar1989;Leuthesser1988）.Asuccessfulbrandnameisstronglyassociatedwithconceptsdesignedto（a）enhancetheperceivedvalueofaproduct,and（b）differentiateaproductfromcompetitors'offerings.However,buildingasuccessfulbrandnamerequiresthecommitmentofalargepoolofresourcesforanextendedperiodoftime（Park,Jaworski,andMaclnnes1986）.

Becauseorganizationshavelimitedresources,risksandcostsmustbemanagedinanefficientmanner.Onewaytomanagerisksandcostsisthroughbrandleverage,whichreferstotheuseofs.successful,establishedbrandnametofacilitateenteringnewmarkets.Thiscanbeachievedbyattachingtheestablishedbrandnametoanewofferingineitherthesame（alineextension）oranew（abrandextension）productcategory.Extendingastrongbrandnameshouldresultineasierandwideracceptance,onthepartofbothconsumersanddistributors.

Recentresearchonconsumeracceptanceofbrandextensionshasfocusedprimarilyontheeffectsofthecategorizationprocessonjudgmentandchoice（forreviewsofthecategorizationliterature,seeAlbaandHutchinson1987;CohenandBasu1987;SujanandBettman1989）.Severalstudieshaveshownthatjudgmentsoforiginalbrandsaregeneralizedtojudgmentsofnewbranasonlywhenthereisagoodmatchbetweentheattributes,benefits,andusesofparentandnewbrands（AakerandKeller1990;Farquhar,Herr,andFazio1990;Leuthesser1988;Tauber1988）.Hence,newproductsshouldbenefitfromestablishedbrandnamesif（a）conceptshavingfavorableimplicationsforthepurchasedecisionarestronglylinkedtothebrandname,and（b）generalizationislikelyduetoahighdegreeofoverlapbetweentheattributes,benefits,andusesofparentandnewbrands.

Althoughthedegreeofsimilaritybetweennewandparentbrandsisclearlyanimportantmediatorofconsumerresponsetoextensions,otherfactorsarelikelytobeimportantaswell.Wesuggestthatsomeparentbrandsprovidegreaterleveragethanothers,andthatsomenewproductentrycategoriesaremorereceptivetoextensions,evenwhenonecontrolsforsimilarity.Specifically,wefocusontwonewvariablesthatshouldinfluenceconsumerresponsetoextensions:

theperceivedvariabilityofaparentbrand'scurrentofferings,andtheperceivedvariabilityofexistingbrandsinanentrycategory.

PerceivedVariabilityandtheGeneralizationProcess

Whydopeoplemakesweepinggeneralizationsonthebasisoflimitedevidence,insomecases,whereasinothers,theyfailtogeneralizeevenwhenextensiveevidenceisavailable?

Inaddressingthisissue,itbecomesimmediatelyapparentthatotherfactorsbesidesperceivedsimilarityarealsolikelytoinfiuencethegeneralizationprocess.Theoriesofcategorizationmustaddressnotonlytheabstractionanduseofdistributionalknowledgesuchasknowledgeaboutthecentraltendencyofcategorymembersonagivendimension（e.g.,attributes,benefits,uses）,butalsoknowledgeabouttheperceivedvariabilityordispersionofcategorymembersonfocaldimensions（Flannagan,Fried,andHolyoak1986;FriedandHolyoak1984）.

Forexample,socialjudgmentresearchhasshownthatgeneralizationisgreaterwhenperceivedvariabilityonatargetdimensionislow,asopposedtohigh（Linville,Fischer,andSalovey1989;Nisbett,Krantz,Jepson,andKunda1983;ParkandHastie1987;QuattroneandJones1980）.Thatis,whenperceivedvariabilityislow,theobservedcharacteristicsofoneindividualisattributedtoallmembersoftheindividual'ssocialcategory（"you'veseenone,you'veseenthemall"）.Becauseperceptionsofvariabilityarelowerforunfamiliarcategories（e.g.,out-groups）,andforabstractionbased（asopposedtoinstance-based）categories,greatergeneralizationoccursforunfamiliarandforabstraction-basedcategories.

PerceivedVariabilityofaParentBrand'sCurrentOfferings

Somefirmsattachasinglebrandnametoawidevarietyofproductsinseveraldifferentcategories.Otherfirmsuseonebrandnameforonecurrentoffering.Henceforth,tJieseend-pointsofthebreadthcontinuumwillbereferredtoasumbrellavs.nichebrands,respectively.Becausethereareadvantagesanddisadvantagesassociatedwitheachoftheseilternatives,strategyselectioncallsforananalysisofcostsandbenefits.

Oneadvantageoftheumbrellastrategyisthatthemiuufacturerislikelytobeperceivedashavingawidevarietyofstrengthsandskillsinseveraldifferentproductcategories.Suchafirmmaybeperceivedtohavetherequisiteknowledgeandskillsforenteringnewmarkets,and,consequently,brandextensionsshouldseemlegitimate.Afirmadoptinganichistrategy,ontheotherhand,maybeperceivedtopossesshighlyspecializedknowledgeandskillstliatcannotbetransferredreadilytonewmarkets.

Ofcourse,anumbrellafirmrunstheriskofbeingperceivedasa"jack-of-all-trades"（masterofnone）;furtherextensionsintonewmarketssupportandstrengtlienthisperception.Moreover,imagesandvaluesassociatedwithabrandnamebecomemoreiinbiguousandmorediffuseasextendingincreases（RiesandTrout1981）.Incontrast,anichefirmcanmorereadilybuildastrongbrandnamebylinkingittounambiguousconceptsthatclearlydifferentiatetheoffering.

Perceii-edVariabilityofExistingBrandsintheEntryCategcry

Someproductcategoriesmaybemorereceptivetonewbrandsthanothers.Whenperceivedvariabilityofanentrycategoryislow,categorymembersshouldbeperceivedasundiffc;rentiated;newbrandsenteringthiscategoryshouldbeperceivedaslegitimate（e.g.,ifeveryoneelseisdoingit,youcan,too）,butnotreallyneworexciting.Conversely,whenperceivedvariabilityishigh,ihereis"room"forextensions,butgeneralizationisdifficultandconsumersmaybeunabletomakepredictionsaboutthequalityofnewbrands.

ResearchPropositionsandtheExperimentalDesign

Inferencesaboutbrandextensionsshouldbeaffectedbythesetwotypesofperceivedvariability:

（a）theperceivedvariabilityofafirm'scurrentofferings（i.e.,umbrellavs.nichebrands）,and（b）thepeiceivedvariabilityofextantbrandsinanentrycategory.Perceptionsofvariabilitymaybeformedforseveraldifferentdimensionsofanexistingcategoiy.Wefocusedononekeydimension:

perceivedquality.Qualityjudgmentsofparentbrandsshouldgeneralizemorereadilytobrandextensionswhenperceivedvariabilityislowinentrycategories.

Toinvestigatetheroleofperceived

variabilityinconsumerinference,anexperimentwasconductedinwhichbrandnameandnewproductconceptinformationwasmanipulated.Subjectsreceivedeitheranumbrellabrandname,anichebrandname,ornobrandname,pairedwithconceptsforsixdifferentpackagedgoods（i.e.,theentrycategories）.Onthebasisofidiotheticratings（JaccardandWood1986）,theentrycategoriesweresplitintohighandlowperceivedvariabilitygroups.Hence,a3（umbrella,niche,ornobrandname[betwecn-subjects]）X2（highorlowperceivedvariabilityintheentrycategory[within-subjects]）factorialdesignwasemployed.Thisdesignhasseveraladvantagesoverpreviouscorrelationalresearchonbrandextensions:

（a）subjectswererandomlyassignedtobrandnameconditions,（b）reactionstoallpossiblecombinationscfbrsmdnameandconceptinfonnationwereexamined,and（c）thenobrandnamecontrolconditionenablesonetomeasureinferencesaboutanewproductconceptwhilecontrollingforpriorknowledgeaboutabrand.

DISCUSSION

Together,thequalityinference,causalinference,andconditionalinferencedatasuggeststhatbrandextensioncantarnishglobalevaluationsofaparentbrand.Evenwhenfavorably-evaluatedparentbrandnamearepairedwithfavorably-evaluatedbrandixtensions,alessfavorableoveraleimpressionoftheparentbrandcanresult.Furthermore,tliisnegativereactionseemsmorepronouncedforumbrellabrand.Thus,anumbrellabranddoesnotautomaticallyprovidemoreleveragethananichebrand.Whenaparentbrandnameisstretchedtoofar,additionalextensionscanhavenegativerepercussionsonjudgmentsabouttheparentbrand.

TheresultalsoimplythattheperceivedvariabilityofbrandsinanentrycategoryisanimportantmoderatorofconsumersinitialinferencesaboutInewoffering.Whenperceivedvariabilityishigh,jeneralizationisdifficultandconsumertendtoformconservative,moderatejudgements.Incontrat,whentheperceivedvariabilityofexistingproductsinanentrycategoryislow,thereappearstobeiomeopportunityforbrandleverage.

Why is the brand extension strategy so difficult to manage?

 To address this complex issue,we should consider the multiple inferential implica