Branding and consciously aiming for a certain brand identity has been practised for over four centuries. Irrespective of whether it is a business to consumer or business to business environment, marketing and branding are aimed at increasing volume, and therefore revenue, but is also about adding some additional measure of value to the products or services on offer. Brand management practices have existed for decades, but brand equity as a central business concept for many organizations has only really emerged in the past twenty years. Even though there is huge interest in branding with a definite predominance of branding in consumer or business to consumer (B2C) markets, literature indicates that branding, brand equity and brand value in business to business (B2B) environments are handled and experienced differently to the extent that it has received little attention from academics. Therefore the question is firstly to determine the differentiating factors/elements in B2C and B2B environments and; secondly what corresponding factors/elements are there in B2C and B2B environments. The practical application of branding in business to business environment is consequently investigated to assess to what extent businesses are able to create brand value and brand equity. Larger businesses increasingly exhibits trends in recognising the importance of branding and brand names, while small and medium-sized business fare poorest when it comes to harnessing the potential of branding. Yet in the face of a changing business landscape, brought about by the current economic recession sparked by the U.S. subprime crisis of 2007, these businesses are beginning to realise the importance of having a strong brand name in order to achieve not only a sustainable competitive advantage, but also in a quest to remain ahead of the competition. Even though the valuation of brand equity and brand value is discussed, the actual calculation of such valuations does not fall within the scope of this study. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Branding and consciously aiming for a certain brand identity has been practised for over four centuries. Irrespective of whether it is a business to consumer or business to business environment, marketing and branding are aimed at increasing volume, and therefore revenue, but is also about adding some additional measure of value to the products or services on offer. Brand management practices have existed for decades, but brand equity as a central business concept for many organizations has only really emerged in the past twenty years. Even though there is huge interest in branding with a definite predominance of branding in consumer or business to consumer (B2C) markets, literature indicates that branding, brand equity and brand value in business to business (B2B) environments are handled and experienced differently to the extent that it has received little attention from academics. Therefore the question is firstly to determine the differentiating factors/elements in B2C and B2B environments and; secondly what corresponding factors/elements are there in B2C and B2B environments. The practical application of branding in business to business environment is consequently investigated to assess to what extent businesses are able to create brand value and brand equity. Larger businesses increasingly exhibits trends in recognising the importance of branding and brand names, while small and medium-sized business fare poorest when it comes to harnessing the potential of branding. Yet in the face of a changing business landscape, brought about by the current economic recession sparked by the U.S. subprime crisis of 2007, these businesses are beginning to realise the importance of having a strong brand name in order to achieve not only a sustainable competitive advantage, but also in a quest to remain ahead of the competition. Even though the valuation of brand equity and brand value is discussed, the actual calculation of such valuations does not fall within the scope of this study. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T12:30:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Victor Hugo Lima Alves.pdf: 1467269 bytes, checksum: 93183032ff1078179b68441b4f9cf178 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-09-22 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The thesis broachs the constituition of the trademarks meaning on a perspective of its speech in the consumer society. Through proposed goals, (a) The description of the brands communicative process as a social speech; (b) The demonstration of the constituition of the brands meaning by the circulation of useful effect; and (c) An articulation of the social theory that bases the process; The intention is to explore it as a theoretical explanatory possibility through the speech in the social semiosis. The thesis is justified through the development of the communicative approach to the constituition of the trademarks meaning (theoretical relevance) and through the possibility of intervention in the social reality from the knowledge of how the brand is instituted as a social speech (social relevance). Its about a theoretical work, of qualitative nature, from an exploratory research, proposing the construction of a brands semiosis. It was concluded that the constituition of the comtemporary brands meaning essentially by a process of production of social sense in the consumer society is theoretically pertinent. / A tese aborda a constituição do significado da marca sob a perspectiva de seu discurso na sociedade de consumo. Por meio dos objetivos propostos, (a) a descrição do processo comunicacional da marca como um discurso social; (b) a demonstração da constituição do significado da marca pela circulação de efeitos de sentido; e (c) a articulação da teoria social que fundamenta o processo, intenta-se explorá-la como possibilidade teórica explicativa por meio do discursivo na semiose social. A tese justifica-se pelo desenvolvimento de uma abordagem comunicacional para a constituição do significado da marca (relevância teoria) e pela possibilidade de interferência na realidade social a partir do conhecimento de como a marca institui-se como um discurso social (relevância social). Trata-se de um trabalho teórico, de natureza qualitativa, a partir de uma pesquisa exploratória, com vistas a propor a construção de uma semiose da marca. Concluiu-se que é teoricamente pertinente a constituição do significado da marca contemporânea fundamentalmente por um processo de produção de sentido social na sociedade de consumo.