品牌定位市场营销外文文献翻译译文3000多字.docx

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品牌定位市场营销外文文献翻译译文3000多字

文献出处：

WalkerLSTRATEGICBRANDORIENTATION[J].AcademyofMarketingStudiesJournal,2014,18

（2）.32-50

原文

STRATEGICBRANDORIENTATION

Walker

WHEREDOESABRANDORIENTATIONFITWITHINCONTEMPORARYMARKETINGSTRATEGY?

Overtheyears,atleastthreecompetingphilosophieshaveinfluencedmarketingstrategies.Intheyearsleadinguptothemid-1950s,marketingfocusedinternallyonproductionefficiency（e.g.aproductorientation）andaggressiveselling（e.g.,asalesorientation）.Somewherearoundthemid1950's,thefocusshiftedexternallytocustomerneeds（e.g.themarketingconcept）.Themarketingconcept,identifiedby（McCarthy&Perreault,1984）asthephilosophicalfoundationofamarketorientation,consistsofthreecomponents:

customerfocus,integration,andlongtermprofitability.Themarketingconceptissaidtoserveasacornerstoneofmarketingthought（seeBorch,1957;McKitterick,1957）.

The1990ssawrenewedinterestintheconceptofmarketorientation（theimplementationofthemarketingconcept）.Basedonathoroughliteraturereview,Harrison-Walker（2001）conceptualizedamarketorientationasadual,four-stageprocessinvolvinginformationacquisition（Kohli&Jaworski,1990）,informationsharing（Kohli&Jaworski,1990）,sharedinterpretationofinformation（Day,1993;Sinkula,1994）,andtheutilizationofinformationindevelopingandimplementingmarketingstrategies（Kohli&Jaworski,1990）.Thetypeofinformationwhichisgathered,shared,interpretedandutilizedisinformationaboutcustomersandcompetitors（Narver&Slater,1990）.Inotherwords,theinformationgatheredaboutcustomersandcompetitorsisultimatelyutilizedbythemarketorientedorganizationtodevelopandimplementmarketingstrategiesthatwillmeettheneedsofcustomers-anddosomoreeffectivelythancompetitors.

Inanattempttodepictthemarketorientedapproachtomarketingstrategy,customerneedsmaybethoughtofasthecorearoundwhichthemarketingmixisdesigned（seeFigure1）.Itisthroughathoroughandorganization-wideunderstandingofcustomerneedsthatacompanycandevelopeffectiveproduct,pricing,promotionanddistributionstrategiesleadingtoimprovedlongtermperformance.Harrison-Walker（2001）empiricallydemonstratedthatcustomerorientationhasasignificantandpositiveimpactonbalancedscorecardmeasuresofbusinessperformance.

InFigure1,brandingisincludedasoneofthemanyproductstrategydecisions,alongwithdecisionssuchasproductdesign,packaging,productwarranties,etc.Innon-brandorientedfirms,thebrandissimplyasoneofmanyresourceswithinthefirmandthereisnodiscussionabouttheimportanceofbasingthefirm'sapproachonthebrandasaspecificresource（c.f.Collins&Montgomery,1995;Peteraf,1993;Prahalad&Hamel,1990）.Evenwithinproductstrategy,itismorelikelytheproductanditsfunctionaladvantagesreceivefargreaterattentionthanthebrand（Urde,1999,p.l19）.Theproblemisthatfunctionaladvantagescangenerallybeimitated（Urde,1999,p.l19）.

Thequestionthenbecomeswhetheramarketorientedfirmcanalsobebrandorientedand,ifso,wherebrandorientationcomesintothepicture.Certainly,anorganizationcannotfocusonabrandwithoutmeetingcustomerneeds.Customerneedsmustremainatthecore.Thisdoesnotmeanthatthecustomerisking;itmeansthatitisimperativeforthecompanytohaveathoroughunderstandingofcustomerneedsinordertodesignaneffectivemarketingstrategy.Soinourrevisedfigure,customerneedsremainatthecore.ForaproperadaptationofourmodelinFigure1,weareprovideddirectionbyWongandMerrilees（2007,p.388）whoexplainthat"Ifeachelementofamarketingmixalignstothebrand,thenconsequentlytheywillbealignedtoeachotherandproduceamoreconsistentandrobustperformance."Inorderforthebrandtofunctionasthebasisoftheorganization'sresponses（Gromark&Melin,2005）,weneedtoaddasecondconcentriccirclearoundthecore（seeFigure2）.Thesecondconcentriccircleisthebrandstrategy.Thismakesabsolutesensefromamarketingstrategyperspectivewhenoneconsidersthatcriticalbrandingdecisions,suchaspositioning,aredependeduponindesigningthemarketingmix.Thatis,strategicpositioninginvolvesdesigningtheproductandthemarketingmixtofitauniquepositionintheconsumer'smind.Therefore,onceconsumerinformationiscollectedandprocessed,thepositioningstrategyisformulatedandthemarketingmixisdevelopedtocommunicatethebrand'suniqueposition.

Insupportofthisconceptualization,indicatingthatnotonlyareamarketorientationandabrandorientationnotmutuallyexclusive,butthatabrandorientationpositivelyimpactstheeffectivenessofthemarketingstrategy（Wong&Merrilees,2008）,Urde（1999,p.18）providesthefollowingquotefromOlleTegstam,SeniorVicePresidentatNestle:

Anorganizationcanneveronlybebrand-oriented.Therehavetobeproductsthataredemandedandthatworktogetherwithyourbrand.Tobebrand-orientedismarketorientation"plus".

FACTORSAFFECTINGABRANDORIENTATION

Nowadaysmostcompaniesunderstandthatbrandorientationiscrucialtodevelopingstrongbrandsandareconvincedthatstrongbrandscanprovidesustainablecompetitiveadvantages（Gromark&Melin,2011）.Infact,"brandshavebecomethefocalpointofmanyacompany'smarketingeffortsandareseenasasourceofmarketpower,competitiveleverageandhigherreturns"（Dawar,2004,p.31）.Butwhatfactorsaffectacompany'sbrandorientation?

Byreviewingtheexistingmarketingandbusinessliteratureitispossibletoidentifyanumberofpotentialantecedentstoabrandorientation.Inthisstudy,eightfactorsareidentifiedasfactorspotentiallyinfluencingabrandorientation.TheconceptualmodelshowingthepotentialantecedentsofabrandorientationispresentedinFigure3.Potentialantecedentsinclude:

thesizeofthecompany,brandbarriers,servicescomponent,explorationofbrandidentity,brandresearch,yearsofplanningandinvestment,expansiongrowthintention,andbrandmanagementassessment.Inthefollowingsections,weintroduceeachofthepotentialantecedentsandsetfortharesearchpropositionwithregardtoitsexpectedeffectonabrandorientation.

SizeofCompany

Thefirstfactoridentifiedasapotentialantecedentofabrandorientationisthesizeofthecompany.Severalresearchers（Baumgarth,2010,Krake,2005,Wong&Merrilees,2005）reportthatsmallercompaniesarelesslikelytobebrandorientedthanlargercompanies.Forexample,inastudyofbusiness-to-businesscompanies,Baumgarth（2010）dividedsamplecompaniesinto"successful"and"unsuccessful"groupsonthebasisofamarketperformanceindex,andfoundthatwhileallcompaniesinthesamplereportedlowlevelsofbrandorientation,smallercompaniesexhibitedlowerlevelsofbrandorientationthanlargerones.Inthisstudy,thesizeofthecompanywasmeasuredbothintermsofturnoverandnumberofemployees（Baumgarth,2010）.

WongandMerrilees（2005）provideanexplanationastowhysmallercompaniestendtobelessbrandorientedthanlargerones;thatis,smallercompanieshavealowerlevelofbrandorientationthanlargeronesbecausetheyperceivethattheyhaveneitherthetimenortheresourcestoconductbrandingactivities.Theauthors（Wong&Merrilees,2005,p.156）notethatnumerousstudies"haveidentifiedmanySMEsfailingtofullyinvestinmostbusinessassets,includingadvertising,informationtechnologyandtraining,andtoperceivesuchinvestmentsascostsinstead."

InanotherstudybyKrake（2005）,qualitativeresearchwasconductedwith10mostlymediumsizedcompanies.Justoverhalfofthecompaniesstudiedadmittedthatthey"dosomethingaboutbrandmanagement"and,followingclarificationoftheresearchquestion,threemaintainedthatbrandmanagementhadnopartintheirdailyorweeklyoperations（Krake,2005,p.230）.Krake（2005）furtherfoundthatotherthanthedirectors/owners,noonewithintheseorganizationswasspecificallyconcernedwithbrandmanagement,norwasitwidelydiscussedorcommunicated.Krake（2005）concludesthatinmanySMEcompanies,brandmanagementreceiveslittleornoattentioninthedailyrunofaffairs.AlthoughtheownersordirectorsofSMEsaretheonestotaketheleadinthisarea,theyeitherseldomhavethetimeforitorarenotevenawareof"brandmanagement"asaconcept（Krake,2005）.

BasedontheresearchfindingsofBaumgarth（2010）,Krake（2005）,andWongandMerrilees（2005）,itseemsthatsmallercompaniesarelessbrand-orientedthanlargerones.Thisleadstothefollowingresearchproposition.

PI:

Thesizeofthecompanyhasapositiveeffectonthecompany'slevelofbrandorientation.

BrandBarriers

PerhapsrelatedtothesizeofthecompanyistheconstructofbrandbarriersidentifiedbyWongandMerrilees（2005）.'Brandbarriers'refertoobstaclesthathindersmallerfirmsinparticularincarryingoutbusinessactivitiesbasedonthebrand.Theobstaclesprimarilyinvolvelimitationsonfinancialandhumanresources,aswellastime（Krake,2005,Wong&Merrilees,2005）.Thebrandbarriersconstructisidentifiedseparatelyfromthesizeofthecompanysincelargerfirmsmayalsobeaffectedbyresourcelimitationsforanumberofreasonsincludingthenegativeeffectsofuncontrollablefactorsinvarioussectorsoftheexternalenvironment.Thesemayincludeaweakeconomy,increasingcostsofdoingbusiness,theimpositionofnewlegalrestrictionsorrequirements,andsoforth.Theunavailabilityoffinancialandhumanresourcesoftenforcesfirmstoadoptashorttermfocusratherthanalongtermbrandingstrategyandtou