Digital healthcare is a relatively new market which brings along some challenges. The transfer from a traditional physical healthcare with its natural trustworthiness and reliability for the consumers to a digital space is a major challenge. Along with the fact that the new market comes with a lot of competition that forces the digital caregivers to distinguish themselves with their brands. Since the market for digital healthcare is relatively new there is a gap in the knowledge regarding how consumers perceive the brands of the digital caregivers, which is the basis of the purpose of this study.  The purpose of this study is to map how consumers perceive the brands in the market of digital healthcare. To answer the purpose the study uses a deductive approach including theories about customer-based brand equity, brand personality and brand attitude. Through a quantitative method with a cross-sectional design and a survey, data has been collected to be analyzed with the theories to answer the research questions and purpose of the study. The digital caregivers that are included in the study is Kry, Doktor.se, Min Doktor, Doktor24 and 1177 Vårdguiden.The conclusions that could be drawn based on the analysis was that the brands who succeeded the most in creating brand awareness were also the brands that were perceived in a more positive light by the consumers. The analysis also showed that some of the digital caregivers brands had not yet been able to build the brand awareness that can lead to a more positive perception and therefore was perceived in a neutral and negative manner. 1177 Vårdguiden differentiated itself in most aspects in relation to the private digital caregivers since they already had an established brand prior to the birth of the digital healthcare market. / Den digitala vårdmarknaden är relativt ny och för med sig en mängd utmaningar. Flytten från den traditionella fysiska vården innebär utmaningar med att bygga upp det förtroende och den tillit hos konsumenterna som funnits naturligt i det fysiska mötet, till det digitala. En konkurrensutsatt marknad tvingar också de digitala vårdgivarna att utmärka sig genom sitt varumärke och genom att marknaden för digitala vårdgivare är relativt ny, så finns det ett tomrum i kunskapen om hur konsumenter ser på och uppfattar de digitala vårdgivarnas varumärken och det är också grunden till studiens syfte. Syftet med studien var att kartlägga konsumenternas uppfattning om varumärken inom den digitala vårdmarknaden. För att svara på syftet har studien haft ett deduktivt angreppssätt med teorier om konsumentbaserat varumärkeskapital, varumärkespersonlighet och varumärkesattityd. Genom en kvantitativ metod med tvärsnittsdesign och en enkätstudie har data samlats in för att analyseras med hjälp av teorierna för att svara på syftet. De digitala vårdgivare som undersöks i denna studie var Kry, Doktor.se, Min Doktor, Doktor24 och 1177 Vårdguiden. De slutsatser som kunde dras baserat på analysen var att de varumärken som lyckats bäst med att skapa en varumärkeskännedom var också de varumärken som uppfattas mer positivt hos konsumenterna. Det kunde också utrönas att vissa digitala vårdgivares varumärken ännu inte lyckats bygga upp den varumärkeskännedom som kan leda till en mer positiv uppfattning och därför uppfattades både neutralt och negativt hos konsumenterna. 1177 Vårdguiden skiljde sig i de flesta aspekter gentemot de privata digitala vårdgivarna då de redan innan den digitala vårdmarknadens uppkomst har haft ett etablerat varumärke.

El presente trabajo de investigación realiza un análisis del comportamiento de las variables: Marketing en los Medios Sociales, Imagen de Marca, Valor de Marca, Lealtad de Marca, Conocimiento de Marca e Intención de Recompra; las cuales se relacionan entre sí, y también, se analiza los efectos que estas tienen en la relación cliente / marca. Este trabajo, se considera relevante, debido a que puede ser beneficioso para que futuras marcas puedan mejorar su imagen y la relación con los clientes presentes y futuros. En este sentido, uno de los vacíos del estudio, es que muestra la postura desde el punto de vista de estudiantes que cumplieran con ciertas características solicitadas, más no se utilizó un público objetivo real. De esta forma, si bien los resultados brindan una perspectiva cercana a la del consumidor es necesario abarcar el punto de vista real de las marcas y la intención de compra (Almohaimmeed, 2019). Otro factor a considerar, es el lugar y las condiciones socioculturales, las cuales afectan el contexto de los resultados, por lo que no se podría generalizar los resultados según las investigaciones ya realizadas, sin embargo, si se considera una oportunidad para que pueda ser indagado en futuras investigaciones sobre el contexto sociocultural limeño. (Sehar Ashraf y Azam, 2019; Ismail, 2017). Además, el sector investigado impide que el modelo de valor de la marca se proyecte a otros rubros, ya que el tamaño de la muestra es muy limitado (Shabbir, Khan y Khan, 2017). / This research work performs an analysis of the behavior of the variables: Social Media Marketing, Brand Image, Brand Equity, Brand Loyalty, Brand Awareness and Repurchase Intention; which are related to each other, and the effects they have on the customer / brand relationship are also analyzed. This work is considered relevant, because it can be beneficial for future brands to improve their image and the relationship with present and future customers. Furthermore, one of the gaps in the study is that it shows the position from the point of view of students who meet certain requested characteristics, but a real target audience was not used. Although the results provide a close perspective of the consumer point of view, but it is necessary to cover the real opinion of the brands and the purchase intention (Almohaimmeed, 2019). Another factor to consider is the place and the sociocultural conditions, which affect the context of the results, so thisones could not be generalized according to the investigations already carried out, however this is considered as an opportunity for it to be investigated in future research on the Lima sociocultural context. (Sehar Ashraf and Azam, 2019; Ismail, 2017). In addition, the investigated sector prevents the brand's value model from being projected to other areas, since the sample size is very limited (Shabbir, Khan and Khan, 2017). / Trabajo de investigación

Branding is an influential aspect a company can have to gain the attention of their customers. It is often said that, “Your brand is your promise to your customer”, because the brand is a confirmation that the product or service you are selling matches the expectations of the customer and their wants or needs (Grosdidier, 2012). From a consumer perspective, branding helps direct customers in choosing what they want to buy (Tarnovskaya and Bertilsson, 2017). This way, they spend less time focusing on the type of product and its qualities, because they can instead look at the products they are already familiar with instantly and purchase with little processing time (ibid). Not all companies are successful with branding and even successful companies run into issues. Customers usually determine if they like or dislike a brand, which means a brands main purpose should be to make their customers happy. It is important for businesses to give their customers a promising message and stay consistent to their brand.  Facebook and Instagram are both influential brand names to the face of consumers in the area of social networking. Both companies have over a billion site visits per day and their consumer usage has rapidly grown since Facebook’s first opening in 2004 and the grand opening of Instagram in 2010. In 2012, Kevin Systrom sold Instagram to Facebook for $1 billion dollars. Since the sales, both companies now average around the same market share and took place for the largest social media sites with the highest number of users, now above competitors Snapchat and Twitter (Barr, 2018). The purpose of this research is to identify and describe key factors that has made Facebook and Instagram successful in the perspective of university students. In addition, the findings will aim to discover key factors of success in branding that continually influence them to use social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram daily.  Conclusions of the study were that Facebook and Instagram both have success factors that are the same and some factors that are different. Facebook and Instagram’s success factors based on the research include an easy to use platform and the ability to connect with friends and family. Instagram had a few other strong success factors including its visual display of pictures instead of word content and their smoothly designed mobile app. Facebook lacked in both of these areas that Instagram excelled in. This made Facebook the weaker social media site when compared with Instagram.

I denna studie presenteras forskning om varumärkesbyggande genom reklamfilm. Syftet är att undersöka hur Försvarsmakten genom sina reklamfilmer arbetar med varumärkesbyggande för att rekrytera medarbetare. Efter återinförandet av värnplikten år 2017 lanserade Försvarsmakten ett flertal reklamkampanjer. För att behandla syftet har en forskningsfråga utformats och med hjälp av ett kvalitativt angreppssätt har det insamlade empiriska materialet analyserats. Detta i form av en innehållsanalys på tre reklamfilmer från kampanjerna. Analysen grundar sig i teorier gällande kommunikation och varumärkesbyggande. Reklamfilmerna tolkas utifrån semiotik och retorik för att sedan kopplas till hur Försvarsmakten bygger sitt varumärke. Resultatet i denna studie visar att Försvarsmaktens reklamfilmer primärt fokuserar på att skapa en positiv helhetsbild av varumärket istället för att endast rekrytera personal. Utifrån analysen framställs organisationen som jämställd, modern och inkluderande vilket är associationer som är nya för Försvarsmakten. Positiva associationer bidrar till ett attraktivt varumärke som kan leda till att målgruppen söker sig till organisationen. För att effektivisera organisationens rekryteringsprocess bör de trycka hårdare på de fördelar som arbetet innefattar. Denna studie bidrar med en viss förståelse för betydelsen av ett starkt varumärke oavsett vad syftet med marknadsföringen är. För att få mer kunskap om varumärkesbyggande i Försvarsmaktens reklamfilmer rekommenderas framtida forskning gällande vad som lockar rekryter att söka sig till Försvarsmakten. / This study presents research on branding through commercials. The purpose is to investigate how the Swedish Armed Forces work with branding in their commercials to recruit employees. Following the reintroduction of military service in 2017, the Swedish Armed Forces launched a number of advertising campaigns. In order to address the purpose of the study, a research question has been designed and, using a qualitative approach, the collected empirical material has been analyzed. This has been done in form of a content analysis of three commercials from the campaigns. The analysis is based on theories of Branding and communication. The commercials are analyzed on the basis of semiotic and rhetoric theories and thereafter to how the Swedish Armed Forces build their brand. The results of the study shows that the Swedish Armed Forces’ commercials primarily focuses on creating a positive image of the brand rather than just recruiting. Based on the analysis the organization is presented as equal, modern and inclusive, which are associations that are new to the Armed Forces’. Positive associations contribute to an attractive brand image that can lead to the target group applying to the organization. In order to make the recruitment process in the organization more efficient, they should focus more on highlighting the benefits of working there. This study contributes to an understanding of the importance of a strong brand regardless the purpose of the marketing. In order to gain more knowledge about brand building in the Armed Forces commercials, it is recommended to do future research on what actually attracts recruits to apply to join the Armed Forces. The study is written in Swedish.

Företag blir idag mer exponerade för negativ publicitet än tidigare i och med digitaliseringens framfart. Det är därför viktigt för företag att veta hur de ska hantera den negativa publiciteten som mottages för att sedan kunna förebygga en kris och sitt företagsrykte genom väl genomtänkta strategier. Tidigare forskning jämför hur företag inom samma bransch förebygger och hanterar en företagskris. Däremot, att undersöka hur företag i olika branscher förebygger en kris är outforskat och det behövs vidare forskning kring detta ämne. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka strategier företag i olika branscher arbetar med för att förebygga en företagskris för att se huruvida olika branscher använder sig av samma strategier.  Studien har använt sig av en kvalitativ studie genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex fallföretag varav två företag är verksamma inom samma bransch: bank-, el- och telekommunikationsbranschen.  Resultatet visar att företagen strävar efter samma mål genom samma strategier men utförandet kan skilja sig åt efterom de har olika förutsättningar beroende på bransch. Genom studien har en analysmodell skapats för att visa företag de olika strategier som kan appliceras vid förebyggandet av en kris och sambandet mellan att arbeta proaktivt och reaktivt med varumärket, kundlojalitet och krishantering. Studien bidrar till att ge företag oavsett bransch praktiska lösningar som kan tillämpas i praktiken då företagen i de olika branscherna använder sig av samma strategier vid förebyggandet och under en kris. / Companies today are more exposed to negative publicity than ever before due to digitalization. It is important for companies to know how to manage the negative publicity that is received in order to be able to prevent a crisis and reputation through well-thought-out strategies. Previous research shows how companies within the same industry prevent and manage a crisis. However, investigating how companies in different industries prevent a crisis is unexplored and further research is needed on this topic. This study aims to highlight which strategies companies in different industries use to prevent a corporate crisis to see whether different industries use the same strategies.  The study has used a qualitative study where the primary data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with six case companies, two of which are active in the same industry: banking, electrical and telecommunications industry. The result shows that the companies strive for the same goals through the same strategies, but the execution may differ because they have different conditions depending on the industry. Through the study, an analysis model has been created to show how companies the different strategies that can be applied in order to prevent a crisis as well as the connection between working proactive and reactive with the brand, customer loyalty and crisis management which contributes to providing companies, regardless of industry, with practical solutions that can be applied in practice.

In recent years, companies have increasingly built their businesses around network effects. Furthermore, ingredient branding has become a frequent occurrence in which companies develop their business model by incorporating their product into other products. During contact with the Swedish company Twiceme Technology and after investigating these phenomenon deeper, it appeared to be unique to have both network effects and ingredient branding in the company’s offering. That's where it was discovered a gap in the existing literature and the decision to learn more about how they're related by empirically studying companies that use network effects or ingredient branding in their business models. The overarching aim of the study is to look at characteristics among these phenomenon and analyze how network effects affect ingredient brands, and how they can be connected together. There were several phases in the empirical analysis method. A case sample group of four companies was analyzed in order to obtain a better understanding of the topic in practice. Following that, based on the previous results, the company Twiceme was evaluated as an ingredient brand with network effects. In order to address the research questions, the data extracted from the case sample group and Twiceme were analyzed and compared to theory.  From the study, it was found that achieving a strong market position for network effect companies is highly dependent on reaching the certain network size where the value of the network starts having an exponential increase. High brand equity in terms of brand awareness and reputation is needed to achieve a strong market position accelerated by network effects. Ingredient brands with network effects can generate synergy effects, allowing the network value to potentially grow even faster as a result of the increased brand equity from ingredient branding.  Based on the conclusions of the study and the proposed evaluation framework, this thesis aims to be useful for managerial decision-making and understanding of network effects and ingredient branding, and when they should explore new market opportunities. It also contributes to academia by presenting a novel research perspective in this field and provides material for future research to continue to investigate this subject. / Under de senaste åren har företag i allt högre grad byggt sina företag kring nätverkseffekter. Dessutom har ingrediensvarumärken blivit en vanlig förekomst där företag bygger sin affärsmodell på att integrera sin produkt i andra företags produkter. Under kontakten med det svenska företaget Twiceme Technology och efter att ha undersökt dessa fenomen, påvisades det vara unikt att både vara ett ingrediensvarumärke och ha nätverkseffekter i företagets erbjudande. Där upptäcktes ett gap i den befintliga litteraturen och beslutet att lära sig mer om hur de kan relateras till varandra genom att empiriskt studera företag som använder nätverkseffekter eller ingrediensvarumärkning i sina affärsmodeller. Studiens övergripande mål var att titta på egenskaper hos de bägge och analysera hur nätverkseffekter påverkar ingrediensvarumärken samt hur de kan sammankopplas. Det fanns flera faser i den empiriska analysmetoden. En fallgrupp med fyra företag analyserades för att få en bättre förståelse för ämnet i praktiken. Efter det, baserat på de tidigare resultaten, utvärderades företaget Twiceme som ett ingrediensvarumärke med nätverkseffekter. För att besvara forskningsfrågorna, analyserades data från fallprovgruppen och Twiceme och jämfördes med teorin. Från studien kan det konstateras att uppnå en stark marknadsposition för nätverkseffektföretag är mycket beroende av att uppnå en viss nätverkstorlek där företagets värdeerbjudande börjar öka exponentiellt. För att uppnå en stark marknadsposition som accelereras av nätverkseffekter behövs högt varumärkesmedvetenhet och anseende. Ingrediensvarumärken med nätverkseffekter kan generera synergieffekter, vilket gör att värdeerbjudandet potentiellt kan växa ännu snabbare till följd av det ökade varumärkeskapitalet från ingrediensvarumärken. Baserat på slutsatserna från studien och det föreslagna ramverket, syftar denna uppsats till att vara användbar för ledningsbeslut och förståelsen för nätverkseffekter och ingrediensvarumärkning, samt när de bör utforska nya marknadsmöjligheter. Det ämnar också till att bidra till akademin genom att presentera ett nytt forskningsperspektiv inom detta område och ge material för framtida forskning att fortsätta att undersöka detta ämne vidare.

Text in English / Global and South African business challenges necessitate an increased focus on the need for effective leadership. The leaders of South African public listed organisations need to investigate new business solutions to enhance and sustain organisational effectiveness. Public listed South African organisations on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were selected as the organisation type for this study. This study was motivated by the need for public listed South African organisations to explore organisational leadership as a means to assist in differentiating their organisations from competitors, thereby enhancing organisational competitiveness. The primary research objective of this study was to investigate and establish an organisational leadership brand concept model for public listed South African organisations. The discussion of the literature covered the global and South African business context, the concepts of the nature of organisational leadership, brand and organisational leadership brand, and emminated in an exploratory conceptualisation of organisational leadership brand for public listed South African organisations. The pragmatic paradigm was used as the foundation of this study. The study adopted an exploratory, sequential mixed methods research approach, combining a qualitative emphasis and supportive quantitative research approach to conduct the exploratory research. The qualitative findings proposed the concepts: the nature of organisational leadership and organisational leadership brand, including stakeholders and these concepts served as the basis for designing the quantitative survey questionnaire. The quantitative results indicated reliable questionnaire items, and based on the exploratory statistical analysis of the multivariate linear regression equation, described the organisational leadership brand (OLB) concept exploratory model with the best fit. An integration of the qualitative findings and quantitative results provided the empirical support to achieve the primary research objective. The OLB concept model integrates the concepts of organisational leadership and organisational leadership brand. The study contributed across the methodological, theoretical and practical domains as follows: the nature of organisational leadership for South African public listed organisations was conceptualised; the elements comprising the concept of OLB for public listed South African organisations was described; the OLB concept model for public listed South African organisations describes the development of organisational leadership brand equity through four levels of organisational leadership brand equity development; and the OLB concept model for public listed South African organisations may assist by providing guidance for the senior leadership of organisations in establishing organisational leadership brand equity. Furthermore, the study’s research approach provides support for the use of a mixed methods research approach in the study of organisational leadership within the pragmatic context of business organisations / Industrial & Organisational Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Consulting Psychology)

台灣是製造代工王國，在建立品牌上才剛起步。但是當競爭愈來愈激烈時，企業獲利受到壓縮，品牌即變得愈來愈重要。媒體是促進社會進步重要的一環，同時也是企業，也有必要藉由打造品牌而建立競爭優勢。媒體應如何打造品牌？為了有系統地了解媒體品牌的要素和建立的過程，我們有必要將品牌權益（brand equity）的理論和實務做些印證。 本研究採個案研究法，將品牌深受肯定的天下雜誌當作研究對象，探討如何找出最能有效解釋並引導企業建立品牌權益的理論模型，並探討品牌權益各變項中，哪些變項對媒體品牌最重要。研究發現Keller的「以顧客為基礎的品牌權益」模型(CBBE)，結構和邏輯非常清楚，探討的面向嚴密而完整，因而能有效解釋並引導企業建立品牌。 根據Keller的CBBE理論，建立一個強勢品牌需要進行四個步驟的工作：一是用品牌顯著性建立品牌認同，也就是讓消費者認識「你是誰」（Who Are You?）。二是創造品牌內涵，就是讓消費者知道「你有什麼內涵」(What Are You?)，其中分為品牌表現和品牌想像。三是引導消費者對品牌產生反應，知道「你有多優秀？」(What About You?)，分為消費者評價和感覺。四是建立合適的消費者和品牌的關係，創造品牌共鳴(Relationships: What About You and Me?)，這會表現在忠誠的行為、態度上的依賴、社群感和積極參與。 運用這個架構，可以很清楚地看出天下雜誌如何打造出強勢品牌。從清晰的品牌宗旨出發，天下雜誌以「具有人文關懷的財經雜誌」為特色，在建立品牌識別系統、創造品牌內涵上做的很紮實，不隨波逐流，堅持積極、前瞻、放眼天下的報導態度，走一條自己的路，結果順利引導消費者對品牌產生正面反應，不但消費者評價高，對品牌的感覺也很強烈，最後創造出高度品牌共鳴。 本研究也發現，品牌個性對媒體打造品牌很重要。天下雜誌具有「能力」和「真誠」的品牌個性，因而能有效吸引一群有理想性、熱愛學習的讀者和廣告客戶，形成具有歸屬感的社群，27年來持續發揮社會影響力。但面對網路2.0時代，讀者需要更多的參與，和更具創意的多元接觸，天下雜誌的品牌個性可能必須用不同的方式來詮釋和加強，例如在網站上設計更多活動，或嘗試邀請部落客進駐網站，帶動更多網友的參與和討論。甚至在網路上徵求讀者的意見，作為雜誌選擇報導議題的參考等。 / Being a kingdom of OEM for several decades, Taiwan has just begun to build its own brand. But as competition gets fierce and profits are squeezed, branding becomes more and more important for Taiwanese companies. Media industry, which is crucial in the advancement of society, has experienced severe revenue shrinkage in recent years, so branding has also become an imperative to increase its competitiveness. To find out how a media company could build up its brand, we need to consult major theories in brand equity and compare them with practices been taken in the industry. This research uses the technique of case-study analysis. Using the widely acclaimed CommonWealth Magazine as the case to be studied, it is aimed at finding out the most suitable brand equity model to explain how a strong media brand is built, and what variables are most important in this process. We found that the Customer Based Brand Equity Model (CBBE) by Kevin Keller can best explain the way to build a strong brand, because it is solid and logical in its structure, and is comprehensive in the aspects it covers. According to the CBBE model, there are four steps in building a brand: 1. Ensure identification of the brand with customers, and let customers know “Who are you?” 2. Firmly establish the totality of brand meaning in the minds of customers, and let customers know “What are you?” 3. Elicit the proper customer responses to this brand identification and brand meaning, and let customers know “What about you?” 4. Convert brand response to create an intense, active loyalty relationship between customers and the brand, and let customers know “What about you and me?” Using this model as a reference, we can see clearly how CommonWealth Magazine has developed a strong brand. Ever since its establishment, CommonWealth has strived to create a business magazine with a spirit of humanity. The name “CommonWealth” represents its mission to make a better society. It has been very mindful in building its brand identity and brand meaning, insisting on a positive, outward looking and forward looking approach, and has thus created positive brand response and high loyalty from its readers. This research also finds that brand personality plays an important role in brand building. With a perceived personality of competence and sincerity, CommonWealth has successfully attracted a large readership characteristic of being idealistic and always eager to learn. A community of loyal readers and long-time advertisement clients has thus been formed over the past 27 years, supporting CommonWealth to become one of the most influential magazines in Taiwan. But with the advent of Web 2.0, people are requiring more interaction with media and are looking for creative and diversified media contacts. Therefore CommonWealth Magazine needs to interpret its brand personality in a different way, such as providing more on-line activities, openly soliciting story ideas from readers, or inviting bloggers to write on its website, so as to involve and engage more readers.

Die Dissertation befasst sich mit den Folgen negativer kritischer Ereignisse und gibt Hinweise, was Manager vor und nach dem Ereignis tun könnten, um potentiell negative Effekte zu minimieren. Während sich die ersten zwei Aufsätze mit der Wirkung kritischer Ereignisse aus Sicht der Konsumenten befassen, widmen sich die Aufsätze 3 und 4 der Shareholder-Perspektive. Aufsatz 1 untersucht die Wahrnehmungsveränderungen in Folge verschiedener Ereignisse mit Hilfe des Konzepts der Markenpersönlichkeit. Die Ergebnisse des Online-Experimentes implizieren, dass die negative Wirkung von der Markenstärke, der Geschäftsbeziehung vor bzw. während des Vorfalls und der Art des Ereignisses abhängt. Aufsatz 2 analysiert, ob die Effekte auch mit Hilfe des Konzepts des kundenbasierten Markenwerts bestätigt und erweitert werden können. Zu diesem Zweck werden die Reaktionen nach Bekanntwerden derselben kritischen Ereignisse für die Markenwertdimension „Perceived quality“, „Perceived value“, „Brand personality“, „Organizational associations“, und „Loyalty“ quantifiziert. In Übereinstimmung mit den in Aufsatz 1 gewonnenen Erkenntnissen deuten die Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass sowohl ein hoher Markenwert und das anhaltende persönliche Produkterlebnis während eines kritischen Ereignisses den negativen Effekt mindert, als auch eine zwischen tatsächlichen und potentiellen Kunden differenzierende Kommunikationsstrategie im Nachgang sinnvoll sein könnte. Die Aufsätze 3 und 4 untersuchen auf Basis einer „Event study“ den Zusammenhang zwischen der Veröffentlichung von „Corporate Reputation-Rankings“ des Manager Magazins und dem Shareholder Value. Die gefundenen Ankündigungseffekte weisen darauf hin, dass, über die gezeigte Verbindung zwischen Reputation und Shareholder Value, die in Folge kritischer negativer Ereignisse resultierende Reputationsänderung durch Investoren berücksichtigt wird. / The doctoral dissertation analyzes effects of negative critical incidents and points out, what manager could do before and after an incident in order to minimize possible negative impacts. While the first two essays take a closer look at effects of critical incidents from the consumer’s point of view, the essays 3 and 4 deal with the shareholder perspective. Essay 1 examines perceptional changes in consequence of various incidents using the concept of brand personality. The results of the online experiment imply that the negative impact depends on brand strength, type of event and business relation before respectively during the incident. Essay 2 analyzes whether or not effects can be confirmed and extended using the concept of customer based brand equity. For this purpose, reactions of respondents are measured after getting exposed to the same critical incidents as in the previous essay. The reactions are quantified for brand equity dimensions such as perceived quality, perceived value, brand personality, organizational associations and loyalty. The results are in line with findings of Essay 1. They indicate, on the one hand, that high brand equity and persistent product experience during crisis reduce negative effects and, on the other hand, that a communication strategy which differs between actual and potential customers could be favorable after the incident. Using event study methodology, the Essays 3 and 4 examine the linkage between publications of corporate reputation rankings of the Manager Magazin and shareholder value. The existence of negative announcement effects indicates that investors consider a reputational loss in consequence of negative critical incidents via the observed linkage between reputation and share prices.

Background: All brands need to keep moving and to keep building their stories by bringing new and exciting products or experiences. During the last twenty years, companies have been more and more convinced that their brands are among their most valuable resources and today we see an increasing trend of brand extension attempts, however with a significant number of failures, as well.The strategies of how a brand extension should be done, have been published in several books during the last decades. Despite of this, some companies still do not see the link between brand extension and business development. There seem to be a certain lack of knowledge and understanding of the underlying factors that affect a brand extension. In this study, we would therefore like to examine and identify these different factors in order to create a greater understanding of branding strategies.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to research, describe and analyse the nature of horizontal brand extensions in order to create a theory regarding the essential key factors to take into consideration before considering an extension. Based on the theory, the hypothesis will be tested empirically in order to strengthen- or reject it.Methodology: This study is made with a deductive approach, where the theoretical framework, based on previous presented theories, has led to the conformation of our hypothesis, which has later on been applied to the findings from the empirical researches in order to confirm or discard our hypothesis.The empirical basis consists of qualitative interviews with respondents from two companies with experience from horizontal brand extension: Craft of Scandinavia and Peak Performance.Conclusion: Our conclusion from this research is that for a horizontal extension to be successful it must:‐ Be a part of a brand with a clear brand image and plan, for the brand ­‐ Fit the brand ‐ Live up to the original brand promise - Fit with the old associations and generate new, positive associations to the brand ­‐ Have high perceived quality and trust in the mind of the customer- Be a part of a risk evaluation in order to limit the risks and obtain a more realistic view of the extension. / Program: Textil produktutveckling med entreprenörs- och affärsinriktning