by Lee Tak Wah. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 93). / ABSTRACT --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.v / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vii / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.viii / Chapter / Chapter I --- BACKGROUND --- p.1 / Service Product --- p.1 / Passenger Car Market Size --- p.1 / Service Providers --- p.1 / Size of the Industry --- p.2 / Investment Return of the Distributor --- p.3 / The Global Market Trend and Strategy --- p.4 / Chapter II --- LITERATURE REVIEW --- p.6 / Customer Satisfaction --- p.6 / Understanding Service --- p.7 / Developing the Strategy --- p.8 / Tools for Service Marketers --- p.11 / Competing through Quality & Productivity --- p.14 / An Integrative Framework for Marketing Service --- p.15 / Chapter III --- OBJECTIVE & METHODOLOGY --- p.16 / Secondary Data Analysis --- p.16 / Problem Statement --- p.26 / Research Objective --- p.27 / Scope --- p.27 / Chapter IV --- PERSONAL INTERVIEW --- p.28 / Sampling --- p.28 / Conducting the Interview --- p.29 / Question Guidelines --- p.29 / Profile of the Interviewees --- p.30 / Summary of the Interview --- p.30 / Chapter V --- CUSTOMER SURVEY --- p.34 / Methodology --- p.34 / The Questionnaire --- p.35 / Field Work --- p.38 / Findings of the Survey --- p.39 / Chapter VI --- CONCLUSION --- p.46 / Alternative Strategy One - Cost Leadership --- p.47 / Alternative Strategy Two - Product Differentiation --- p.48 / Final Remarks --- p.49 / APPENDIXES --- p.51 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.93

The brand architecture of an organisation has become increasingly important to global management and marketing professionals, as it deals with structures and designs of brands which are constantly influenced by a changing environment. The market realities and changes brands face continuously impact the reputation of the brand, which is critical to sustain competitive advantage. The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the impact brand reputation has on brand architecture strategies, and an automotive company was chosen as the focus of the research. This research aims to help managers, marketers and brand owners make informative decisions regarding the brand architecture of a company. A quantitative content analysis methodology was used along with a webpage keyword counting application (WebWords). The application was used based on the principles outlined by Corporate Brand and Reputation Analysis (COBRA), which uses a four step progressive filtering process in filtering traditional and consumer generated media. The results from WebWords were then aligned to the brand architecture strategies from the brand relationship spectrum (BRS) to gain insight as to which of the strategies from the BRS were most vulnerable to reputational damage. The study found that the branded house and sub-brand strategies were most vulnerable to reputational damage based on the number reputational hits received. The connection between the master brand and the sub-brands could cause both brands to be affected should any reputational issues arise.