Brand strategy is one of the key factors influencing the companies' success on the domestic as well as international markets. Brand is a fenomenon, which all consumers, suppliers and companies encounter on daily basis and therefore this topic deserves a proper attention. The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to present a comprehensive overview of the brand strategy in international marketing. There is an intention to provide a definition of brand (trademark) and describe the importance of a brand and make a summary of theoretical and practical knowledge about brands and brand strategy in relation to international marketing and analyze various apects, which represent partial objectives if this thesis. The first part of the thesis provides the definition of a brand, both in the business and the legal sence, and describes the importance of a brand in marketing management; it is emphasized, that the importance goes beyond the 4 P's in the marketing tactics, but it is an integral part of the company's strategy and a centre of interest of the highest management, since the value of the brand often exceeds the value of company's tangible assets. The thesis also proves the increasing importance of a brand from the supply point of view during the single development phases of the marketing concepts. The second part is focused on the value of the brand and it's evaluation and brand equity. It is explained, that a single definition of brand equity doesn't exist and various approaches to this topic are provided. An absolute brand value also doesn't exist, because the value is based upon an estimation of future revenues and profits determined by many factors. The Winning brands methodology from AC Nielsen is introduced as a practical example of a brand equity study. The world's most valuable brands are presented according to Interbrands and MillwardBrown, and it is shown, that the Best Global Brands index (i.e. Top 100 brands according to Interbrands) consistently outperformed the average market's performance given by MSCI and S&P indices; the most successful brands become even more successful. The opinion on transitive economies and the Czech republic from the brands' development point of view is provided, including the available ranking. The third chapter concentrates on building and managing brands. The difference between a product and a brand is provided and put into the context of the product policy as a part of the marketing mix. The link with the brand equity is shown in the sence, that various components of the brand equity represent important areas, where it is necessary to put attention and resources behind in order to build a strong brand. The importance of functional attributes, emotional attributes and attribute of self-expression is highlighted as well as the relation between the brand and the price. Basic objectives when building a brand are reflected in the consumer funnel, which consists of brand awareness, image, trial and loyalty. On the other hand the brand funnel provides a ladder, based on which the level of communication strategy is identified (product attributes, benefits, values, brand essence). Further text concentrates on strategic brand management including various aspects of marketing budget for the brand, internal evaluation of brand achievements compared to pre-defined objectives and institutional aspects of the brand building; different approach of sales and marketing is described, and description of the brand management, marketing management, category management and sales management are provided in detail and key performance indicators are shown in detail from practical point of view. Substantial part is devoted to private labels, which is a segment showing fast growth. Confirmation of one of the hypotheses brings a clear answer, that private labels are not only a tool for price competition, but fulfill also other tasks, like the extension of the consumers' choice, building new categories, providing a promise to consumers supported by the reatiler's reputation etc. In the following part there were identified trends, which can be expected in relation to brand strategy: polarization of brands, further strengthening of strong manufacturers' brands and corporate brands, a trend towards imaginative and creative communication of brands, development towards global brands, rationalization of brands' portfolio, re-branding, growth of private labels, co-branding and prioritization in brand management. In the fifth chapter theoretical approach was applied on the exaples of selected brands, which I worked with in my previous career. Many aspects of the international brand strategy are demonstrated on three brands: Becherovka as a large domestic brand dstributed also on international markets; Red Bull as a relatively young brand, which managed to become a global brand, including the distribution on the Czech market, where I actively participated in the launch; and Seven Crown as one of the world's largest alcohol brands, but which appears rather as a regional brand and a successful adaptation to the local Czech market conditions is shown. I amconvinced, that the main objective of this doctoral thesis, i.e. to present a comprehensive overview of the brand strategy in international marketing, as well as the partial objectives and the pedagogical objective were fulfilled.

The aim of this thesis is to summarize and develop a theoretical framework for brand management, which could be usable in the business practice, and apply this framework on a reality of a chosen brand in the Czech foodstuffs - wine market. In the analytical part the aim is to analyze the current status of the chosen wine brand including its current way of brand management and further develop a new system of brand management of the chosen brand using the framework developed in the theoretical part of the thesis. The Czech foodstuffs market has been chosen, because there are no works currently dealing with foodstuffs in relation to brands and the foodstuffs market is strongly affected by the present economic development, when the consumers' purchase power is going down. Very important is the market dominace of the international retail companies together with the growing significance of the private brands. The Czech wine market is even more specific -- it still has rather generic character -- consumers do not decide upon brands, the crucial decisive factor remains the price. A Chilean brand TARAPACA is used for the application part of the thesis -- imported brands account for 50 % of the Czech wine market and TARAPACA is one of the imported brands with the biggest market share in the Czech wine market. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the theoretical fundamentals, its main aim is to develop a definition of a brand, brand identity, positioning and other brand related notions, so that it is possible to work with them in the application part of the thesis. The second part brings an overview of the most important approaches currently used for the brand value assessment -- these are evaluated and criticised in this part of the thesis -- the outcome is a new set of criteria, which can be used for brand value assessment (brand equity). In the third part of the thesis an attention is paid to the problem of brand management as a process, a part of this chapter is also an analysis of the present phenomenon in brand management -- which are private brands. The fourth and fifth chapters of the thesis are based on the application of the theoretical fundamentals on a case of the chosen Chilean wine brand in the Czech wine market. In the fourth chapter an analysis of the current situation of the chosen wine brand is performed including the brand audit according to the scheme of Scott M. Davis. A special attention is paid to the analysis of sales support promotion activities -- as regards their sales and communication impacts (impact on the brand awareness). In the fifth chapter a new complex system of brand management of the chosen Chilean wine brand for the Czech market is developed according to the scheme of Scott M. Davis.

The aim of this thesis is to map and analyze Czech internet environment with regard to the perception of e-shop brands and shopping behavior when online shopping. A sub-goal is to find the key factors and trends in purchase decisions of Czech consumers on the internet and compare its roles with role of e-shop brands. The secondary objective of this work is to make brand evaluation of Czech e-shop Alza.cz. Analysis of available secondary data and own primary market research survey via the internet have been done as a part of this thesis. Three hypotheses have been identified and tested. Recommendations based on the research outcomes have been formulated for e-shops operating on the Czech online market as well as concrete recommendations for e-shop Alza.cz.

This general purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how businesses and consumers are co-creating brand value on social media by sharing photos on Instagram. The main focus is two-fold, one is to look at how corporations like Nike and Starbucks are utilizing Instagram to engage customers; another is to look at how customers presenting brand images and identify with brand personalities. This research analyzed 238 customer-created images and 62 corporate-created Instagram images using a hybrid method of qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis as an empirical way to explore the big picture of this new and understudied topic. The data was collected through Keyhole and Statigram, two online social media analytical tools. The analysis of the data shows overall positive brand image sharing among customers, implicit, indirect tactics in companies' official image sharing, and customers' use of brand as a way to promote and express themselves. Overall, customers' brand value co-creation practice on Instagram focus heavily on the individuals' self expression rather than brand community building. The study also discovered valuable themes of the use of selfies and the self-directed sarcasm among Instagramers who share brand images. The findings showed an overall decentralizing brand value co-creation process and that marketers today will face more and more challenges in controlling and managing a consistent brand image. The study contributes to the understanding of visual communication and the new marketing paradigm in a visual centric digital culture.

En los últimos 10 años, se ha notado un crecimiento exponencial en las ventas generadas a través del canal online. Al contar con consumidores que buscan constantemente excelente calidad de servicio y que procesos sean simplificados para ellos, las marcas de ropa casual ven la importancia de invertir en este canal. Sin embargo, al contar con beneficios tanto para el consumidor como para la marca, aún existen barreras que afectan la preferencia por este canal por parte de los consumidores. En la sociedad peruana, el hombre es percibido como practico en relación a las decisiones de compra. Se busca en la siguiente investigación comprobar dicho estereotipo, relacionando el concepto de la masculinidad con el proceso de compra online. Es por ello que se descubrió la importancia de investigar acerca de los factores de la experiencia online en relación a la decisión de compra de marcas de ropa casual por parte de hombres del NSE A/B de 20 a 30 años en Lima Metropolitana en el 2018. El presente estudio posee una investigación de campo cualitativo y cuantitativo gracias a la realización de 2 focus groups, entrevistas a expertos y 224 encuestas realizadas al público objetivo en diferentes ubicaciones de Lima Metropolitana. Se profundizará en conceptos como la intangibilidad, el valor de marca, la masculinidad, E-commerce entre otros, con el fin de hallar la importancia de los factores que afectan la decisión de compra online. / In the last 10 years there has been a considerable increase in online sales. Now that customers are constantly expecting and demanding excellent service and simple purchase processes, clothing brands have identified the importance to invest in this platform. Even though this platform provides advantages for both the brand and the consumer, there are still barriers that affect the decision of the consumers to prefer the online store. In the Peruvian society, men are perceived to be practical in relation to purchase decisions. The investigation attempts to analyze this stereotype and connect and compare the concept of masculinity to the online shopping process. Therefore, it was deemed interesting to investigate the factors involved with the online experience in relation to the final purchase decision of casual clothing by men, between the ages of 20 a 30, that belong to the socioeconomic level A/B in Lima in 2018. The investigation is composed of a qualitative and a quantitative analysis. These analyses were made up of two focus groups, interviewing two experts related to the topic and 224 surveys completed by the primary target throughout different locations in Lima. Finally, in the investigation, concepts such as intangibility, brand value, masculinity and E-commerce will be analyzed profoundly, with the objective of discovering the importance assigned to the factors that affect the online purchase decision. / Trabajo de investigación

As the rise of tourism industry, and the rapid development of hotel industry in China, we are eager to learn how different hotel brands operate there. This research focus on the study of top management team leaders and service brand value in hotels, where we also discuss the issues such as institutional context, human resource practices, service culture, and employee service behaviour. The research was conducted using a qualitative approach, and samples are selected from international brands, regional brands, and local brands. The purpose of this research is to investigate how different hotel service branding will be influential on top management team leadership and how it eventually leads to employee service behaviour. Results reveal that different service brand value has huge impact on top management team leadership, human resource practices, service culture, and promoting employee service behaviour, and moreover, institutional context also act as an important role in this research.

<p>Abstract</p><p>Problem: Branded products can be seen everywhere around us at all time, and is a way of communication for the buyer of the product But, what if one cannot build a brand based on visibility, an example is underwear, then how is it possible to create a brand and add value to it? Is it actually feasible to create a strong brand when not leveraging upon visibility? The organization Stargate Brand Group and its brand Frank Dandy Superwear have been used in order to obtain a deeper understanding around the topic.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to research how to create brand value for an invisible brand within the fashion industry.</p><p>Method: To help fulfill the purpose a qualitative approach has been used. Personal interview with the CEO of Stargate Brand Group, telephone interviews with 20 fashion retailers combined with focus groups consisting of potential underwear buyers. The authors believe this approach helped to understand customer behaviour, branding techniques and how to create a brand value from an invisible branded product.</p><p>Result: The most important elements in order to create brand value for an invisible brand are quality and perceived quality. To become a successful underwear brand, since that is the invisible brand that the authors choose to focus upon, quality must be highly emphasized, and offering a high quality product is one way of creating brand value to customers.</p><p>The overall understanding of invisible products and brands is that they are bought primarily to fulfill the customer’s need of feeling comfortable and leverage upon people’s desire of well-being. An invisible brand cannot leverage upon its user to the same extent as other products, since it is not shown to the public.</p>

Abstract Problem: Branded products can be seen everywhere around us at all time, and is a way of communication for the buyer of the product But, what if one cannot build a brand based on visibility, an example is underwear, then how is it possible to create a brand and add value to it? Is it actually feasible to create a strong brand when not leveraging upon visibility? The organization Stargate Brand Group and its brand Frank Dandy Superwear have been used in order to obtain a deeper understanding around the topic. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to research how to create brand value for an invisible brand within the fashion industry. Method: To help fulfill the purpose a qualitative approach has been used. Personal interview with the CEO of Stargate Brand Group, telephone interviews with 20 fashion retailers combined with focus groups consisting of potential underwear buyers. The authors believe this approach helped to understand customer behaviour, branding techniques and how to create a brand value from an invisible branded product. Result: The most important elements in order to create brand value for an invisible brand are quality and perceived quality. To become a successful underwear brand, since that is the invisible brand that the authors choose to focus upon, quality must be highly emphasized, and offering a high quality product is one way of creating brand value to customers. The overall understanding of invisible products and brands is that they are bought primarily to fulfill the customer’s need of feeling comfortable and leverage upon people’s desire of well-being. An invisible brand cannot leverage upon its user to the same extent as other products, since it is not shown to the public.

As Métricas de Marketing, como o valor da marca, têm sido consideradas um tópico prioritário de pesquisa, em um contexto onde gestores e acadêmicos de marketing estão sobre crescente pressão para demonstrarem que os investimentos nesta área são capazes de adicionar valor aos acionistas. O presente estudo objetivou comparar o desempenho, no mercado acionário brasileiro, do portfólio de empresas com reconhecido valor da marca – apontada pelos rankings de marcas mais valiosas brasileiras publicadas pela Interbrand – com portfólios de empresas com ações listadas na Bolsa de Valores do Estado de São Paulo. A comparação do desempenho desses portfólios no mercado acionário brasileiro ocorreu em termos de seu risco e retorno, calculados pela aplicação do modelo de três fatores de Fama e French (1993), tomando como base o estudo realizado por Madden, Fehle e Fournier (2006) no contexto internacional. Os resultados deste estudo permitem concluir que o Portfólio de Marcas Valiosas apresenta um menor risco no mercado acionário brasileiro frente aos demais portfólios estudados. A simples comparação do somatório dos valores da variável relativa ao excesso de retorno da carteira remete diretamente a percepção de maior retorno para o Portfólio de Marcas Valiosas. A possível associação de uma carteira de empresas possuidoras de marcas valiosas com a obtenção de menores riscos e, ao mesmo tempo, maiores retornos aos acionistas, permite fomentar ações e pesquisas voltadas para a gestão e desenvolvimento de marcas, bem como a uma maior valorização da área de Marketing na esfera acadêmica e empresarial. Além disso, este estudo permitiu uma aproximação entre as áreas de Marketing e Finanças, potencializando uma relação entre seus campos teóricos e entre suas atividades nas empresas. / Marketing Metrics, as brand value, have been a research priority topic, in a context where, Marketing practitioners and scholars are under intense pressure to show how marketing expenditure adds to shareholder value. This study aimed to compare the performance, in Brazilian stock market, of the portfolio of companies with recognized brand value - indicated by the rankings of most Brazilian valuable brands published by Interbrand - with other portfolios of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of São Paulo State. The comparison of the performance of such portfolios in the Brazilian stock market was in terms of their risk and return, calculated by applying the three-factor model of Fama and French (1993), built upon the study by Madden, Fehler and Fournier (2006) in the international context. The results show that the Portfolio of Valuable Brands presents a lower risk in Brazilian stock market compared to the other portfolios studied. The simple comparison of the sum of the variable values on the excess return of the portfolio, refers directly to the perception of greater return for the Portfolio of Valuable Brands. Thus, the possible relationship of companies possessing a portfolio of valuable brands with the acquisition of lower risk and, in the same time, higher returns to shareholders allows enhancing actions and encourage research aimed at the management and development of brands, as well as a greater appreciation of the Marketing field in academic and business spheres. Furthermore, this study permitted a rapprochement between the fields of Marketing and Finance, powering a theoretical relationship between these fields and between these areas in the companies.

As Métricas de Marketing, como o valor da marca, têm sido consideradas um tópico prioritário de pesquisa, em um contexto onde gestores e acadêmicos de marketing estão sobre crescente pressão para demonstrarem que os investimentos nesta área são capazes de adicionar valor aos acionistas. O presente estudo objetivou comparar o desempenho, no mercado acionário brasileiro, do portfólio de empresas com reconhecido valor da marca – apontada pelos rankings de marcas mais valiosas brasileiras publicadas pela Interbrand – com portfólios de empresas com ações listadas na Bolsa de Valores do Estado de São Paulo. A comparação do desempenho desses portfólios no mercado acionário brasileiro ocorreu em termos de seu risco e retorno, calculados pela aplicação do modelo de três fatores de Fama e French (1993), tomando como base o estudo realizado por Madden, Fehle e Fournier (2006) no contexto internacional. Os resultados deste estudo permitem concluir que o Portfólio de Marcas Valiosas apresenta um menor risco no mercado acionário brasileiro frente aos demais portfólios estudados. A simples comparação do somatório dos valores da variável relativa ao excesso de retorno da carteira remete diretamente a percepção de maior retorno para o Portfólio de Marcas Valiosas. A possível associação de uma carteira de empresas possuidoras de marcas valiosas com a obtenção de menores riscos e, ao mesmo tempo, maiores retornos aos acionistas, permite fomentar ações e pesquisas voltadas para a gestão e desenvolvimento de marcas, bem como a uma maior valorização da área de Marketing na esfera acadêmica e empresarial. Além disso, este estudo permitiu uma aproximação entre as áreas de Marketing e Finanças, potencializando uma relação entre seus campos teóricos e entre suas atividades nas empresas. / Marketing Metrics, as brand value, have been a research priority topic, in a context where, Marketing practitioners and scholars are under intense pressure to show how marketing expenditure adds to shareholder value. This study aimed to compare the performance, in Brazilian stock market, of the portfolio of companies with recognized brand value - indicated by the rankings of most Brazilian valuable brands published by Interbrand - with other portfolios of companies listed on the Stock Exchange of São Paulo State. The comparison of the performance of such portfolios in the Brazilian stock market was in terms of their risk and return, calculated by applying the three-factor model of Fama and French (1993), built upon the study by Madden, Fehler and Fournier (2006) in the international context. The results show that the Portfolio of Valuable Brands presents a lower risk in Brazilian stock market compared to the other portfolios studied. The simple comparison of the sum of the variable values on the excess return of the portfolio, refers directly to the perception of greater return for the Portfolio of Valuable Brands. Thus, the possible relationship of companies possessing a portfolio of valuable brands with the acquisition of lower risk and, in the same time, higher returns to shareholders allows enhancing actions and encourage research aimed at the management and development of brands, as well as a greater appreciation of the Marketing field in academic and business spheres. Furthermore, this study permitted a rapprochement between the fields of Marketing and Finance, powering a theoretical relationship between these fields and between these areas in the companies.