<p>In this thesis, the brand construct and its connections to <em>risk</em>, <em>value</em> and <em>trust</em> are explored in a Business-to-Business context.</p><p>The different characteristics of B2B and B2C marketing is elaborated upon and coupled with brand management strategies viable in the respective markets.</p><p>Contemporary academic theory on the explored constructs is discussed, and an attempt at conceptually visualizing their suggested linkages is presented.</p><p>Based on the theoretical findings, a qualitative study is conducted by means of interviews with brand managers and marketing executives with the aim of establishing how Swedish industrial multinational companies employ brand strategies in their market communication, and to what extent the constructs explored are communicated as a part of their brand message.</p><p>We find empirical evidence that risk, value and trust indeed are important in the brand communication of industrial companies. However, the relative importance of these constructs is found to be highly dependent on a multitude of both internal and external factors, such as the complexity of the offering, the degree of competition in the marketplace, and the amount of required customer interaction. <em>Trust</em> seems to be the construct most commonly incorporated in the branding activities, and <em>value</em> is not as actively stressed as conjectured.</p><p>The corporate brand appears to be the most important in new tasks, where previous experiences of interaction with the seller is deemed more important in modified and straight re-buys.</p><p>Similar to consumer marketing, the main merit of having a strong brand equity is the ability to charge price premiums, along with often making the short list of potential suppliers in the customers’ procurement processes. However, many industrial companies do not actively employ brand strategies and dedicated brand managers are not commonplace. Further, it cannot be decisively concluded that a strong brand focus is important for all industrial companies and in all markets. Again, external market characteristics, together with internal organizational conditions need to be taken into account.</p>

In this thesis, the brand construct and its connections to risk, value and trust are explored in a Business-to-Business context. The different characteristics of B2B and B2C marketing is elaborated upon and coupled with brand management strategies viable in the respective markets. Contemporary academic theory on the explored constructs is discussed, and an attempt at conceptually visualizing their suggested linkages is presented. Based on the theoretical findings, a qualitative study is conducted by means of interviews with brand managers and marketing executives with the aim of establishing how Swedish industrial multinational companies employ brand strategies in their market communication, and to what extent the constructs explored are communicated as a part of their brand message. We find empirical evidence that risk, value and trust indeed are important in the brand communication of industrial companies. However, the relative importance of these constructs is found to be highly dependent on a multitude of both internal and external factors, such as the complexity of the offering, the degree of competition in the marketplace, and the amount of required customer interaction. Trust seems to be the construct most commonly incorporated in the branding activities, and value is not as actively stressed as conjectured. The corporate brand appears to be the most important in new tasks, where previous experiences of interaction with the seller is deemed more important in modified and straight re-buys. Similar to consumer marketing, the main merit of having a strong brand equity is the ability to charge price premiums, along with often making the short list of potential suppliers in the customers’ procurement processes. However, many industrial companies do not actively employ brand strategies and dedicated brand managers are not commonplace. Further, it cannot be decisively concluded that a strong brand focus is important for all industrial companies and in all markets. Again, external market characteristics, together with internal organizational conditions need to be taken into account.

Yes / Although various critical elements, such as media publicity, word of mouth, legislation, and environmental factors, are not under the control of a company, they play a significant role in influencing its brand image. Uncertainty over how different social networking sites can support brands is one of the crucial reasons for the delayed acceptance of social media (SM) in business-to-business (B2B) transactions. SM possesses immense potential in relation to gathering customer data and assisting B2B marketers. Therefore, this study reviewed SM usage in the B2B context, based on 294 selected articles. The methodology included bibliometric analysis to identify the impact of SM usage in the B2B domain and content analysis to perform a thematic assessment. Our analysis found that many B2B firms cannot leverage SM’s potential to its fullest compared to business-to-customer (B2C) firms. However, SM can help B2B marketers build their brand presence and trust globally, ultimately helping them find potential customers and build relationships with global supply chain providers.

The concept of Green Brand Equity is based on the assumption that customers will be more favorable towards a firm's brand when the firm provides products and services that satisfy the customers' environmental needs. While environmental and brand management have been researched thoroughly in business-to-consumer (B2C) markets, similar research inbusiness-to-business (B2B) contexts is still scarce. This study aims to contribute to environmental management and B2B brand research through an empirical study of customers' perceptions of Green Brand Equity in industrial B2B markets. A qualitative study was conducted analyzing customers who purchase products from a brand of a Swedish high-tech and global industrial engineering company. The findings suggest that although traditional aspects like price, quality and delivery performance are of high importance, customers in B2B markets also take environmental impact into consideration in their purchase decisions. The customers' consideration of environmental impact mainly stemmed from the customer firms' Green Policies, as well as the individual buyer's Green Concerns. The findings further showed that supplier firms can strengthen Green Brand Equity through sustainability initiatives. By supporting the applicability of Green Brand Equity in a B2B context, this study contributes to the theoretical discussion as well as to practitioners in the field.

Cette recherche a pour objet d’expliciter le processus d’attribution d’un nomde grands projets industriels, en étudiant l’impact du naming sur lesfournisseurs qui y participent.Sont mises en avant quatre variables majeures qui exercent une influence surles fournisseurs et façonnent la relation avec le porteur du projet endéveloppement. Une modélisation de l’impact du naming est proposée,permettant de dégager des pistes notamment en matière de branding BtoB. Letravail réalisé ici est de type exploratoire avec, comme terrain, le secteuraéronautique et en particulier une étude de cas collective et imbriquée,regroupant les trois projets Airbus : A3XX/A380, A350/A350 XWB et A30X.Caractérisée par une construction progressive et itérative, cette rechercheprocède de manière abductive avec de constants allers et retours entrel’empirique et le théorique. / The purpose of this research is to understand the naming process of complexindustrial projects, and more specifically its possible impact on the involvedsuppliers. We point out four key variables of the naming effect on suppliers,which are shaping the relationships between the prime contractor and tieronesin the project underway. A model is proposed which encompasses thediverse impacts of “project naming” on the suppliers, enabling to drawactionable conclusions in terms of B2B branding. This qualitative, searchand-discovery oriented research, is conducted in the aeronautical sector, andis based on the analysis of the collective and embedded case studies:A3XX/A380, A350/A350 XWB and A30X by Airbus. It is characterized by agradual and iterative construction, delivered through an abductive approach,where theoretical frameworks evolve simultaneously and interactively withempirical observation.

The industrial marketing strategy in many industries has been largely influenced by the coming of digital marketing over the past decade. The trends are changing from the traditional to a digital era and companies are being forced by this digitalization shift. The manufacturing and marketing consultant industry is no exception. Since previous research has often been towards SMEs as a whole instead of specific industries. The research gap that the authors would like to investigate is brand equity development through digital marketing among two B2B SME industries, manufacturing and marketing consulting firms in Sweden. Moreover, the authors used a series of research methods to collect primary data and secondary data, as well as a computer-assisted coding software used for qualitative data analysis and coupled with benchmarking analysis for the secondary data analysis. Theories of brand equity and digital marketing ( marketing funnel and digital channels) are connected to the empirical findings of digital communication and business relationship to uncover what differentiates manufacturers from marketing consultants in brand equity building through digital marketing channels. The manufacturing industry has gained knowledge over the last few years when it comes to branding and digital marketing but is still split over the subject because of no clear direct benefits. They also lack the motivation that would have given them access to this knowledge, but somehow they have started outsourcing. Overall it seems that the manufacturing industry is working hard to become more digital. Lastly, a proposed model is recommended by the authors through the findings from both industries.