Prior research defines brand orientation as an approach in which the processes of the organization revolve around the creation, development and protection of brand identity in an ongoing interaction with target customers with the aim of achieving lasting competitive advantages in the form of brands (Urde, 1999). This research paper examines how marketing managers perceive corporate brand orientation with a Financial services company, namely Standard Bank Group Limited (Standard Bank) and what influence cross-functional integration has in enhancing the level of brand orientation. The study design was non-experimental and convenience sampling used. The data was collected within the Group and South African marketing functions of Standard Bank both of which are located within South Africa. The survey was delivered to 131 respondents across 30 marketing functions with the unit of analysis being each employee within their respective teams. The research results indicate that cross-functional integration variables of compensation, multifunctional training and cross-functional teams have a positive influence on brand orientation. The findings from this research can contribute to the body of knowledge within the domain of building corporate brand orientation within the financial services industry, specifically with regards to implications for marketing leadership in terms of improving the performance of the marketing department. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Abstract Under long-term incandescent competition, the difference of product features of banking business is more and more smaller. Only which could supply service can emerge. To establish difference of wealth management service, the high quality enterprise image to attract consumers is needed besides supplying valuable finance planning and professional financing commissioner¡¦s customer relationship administration. Establishing brand image and good communication with consumers are the principal tools of building wealth management bank. This study reviewed related documents to understand the wealth management service actualities of VIP financing center. The questionnaire in the point view of consumer was used to investigate good brand image of wealth administration for public. In order to set a construct model of brand image and supply marketing policy for banks, demonstration analysis method was also adopted. The results of this study are followed: 1. The bank wanting to create higher brand image should start from brand identification and brand orientation. This result agrees with the brand image definition made by Aaker, Kapferer, Keller and Biel. The brand image means consumers¡¦ cognition of brand attribute, in another words, it was represented due to development of brand orientation, result of communicating action and consumers¡¦ memory associating with brand in thinking. It was believed that, to construct the brand image of wealth management bank should start from brand orientation to brand identification. And careful planning could construct brand image effectively. 2. The bank desiring to construct their brand image from brand orientation effectively should strengthen their wealth administration to satisfy customer¡¦s empirical requirement. For example, preparing perfect service illustration data, sharing initiative timely information, supporting integrated-bill monthly and global market analysis report, evaluating investment performance regularly, establishing faith and interaction between consultant and consumer, and paying much attention to consumers¡¦ requirement such as attitude and timing of treating customer¡¦s opinion.

Research Question: What is the strategic orientation that community banks in Sweden adopt? What are the Gen Z preferences concerning these strategic orientations? Purpose: By using two different methodological approaches, the objective of this study is to answer two questions concerning the organization’s strategic orientation. Essentially, the authors have conducted a qualitative study to explore the strategic orientation which community banks in Sweden adopt. Additionally, a quantitative survey has been carried out to surface the generation Z's preferences on the question of strategic orientation. Method: The research methodology steering this thesis will be conducted using the research onion model. This implies that the methodology will be divided into layers including, the research approaches, the research strategy, the research choice, the time horizon of the study, as well as the techniques and procedures concerning the data collection and data analysis. Eventually, the authors discuss the quality criteria by referring to the interview’s credibility, confirmability, transferability, dependability, and the survey’s reliability and validity and applicability. Conclusion: The findings derived from an interview with the three managers have shown that community banks in Sweden adopt brand orientation, whereas the empirical findings have revealed that generation Z has hybrid orientation, meaning that generation preferences are located in the middle ground between the brand orientation and market orientation.

In the present study, event sponsorship and event marketing are identified as two distinct event-related marketing communications tools. As a research field, sponsorship and event sponsorship has experienced continuous research interest for the last four decades. This in clear contrast to event marketing, which only within the last 10 years has attracted research interest from marketing scholars. However, little research has been carried out in the field of (event-) sponsorship from an organisational perspective. Thus, to the author s knowledge, the present study is the first of its kind investigating both event formats, event sponsorship and event marketing, from an organisational perspective in one study. A literature review that spans the domains of branding, signalling theory and hedonic consumption helped to differentiate between the two event formats, and to provide a theoretical grounding of the two event formats. The present study evaluates the impact of event sponsorship and event marketing on the brand and performance dimensions of brand awareness, brand attitude, brand performance and financial performance. Furthermore, brand orientation and organisational innovativeness moderate the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Moreover, this research study was undertaken from an organisational perspective. There is little evidence within the field of event sponsorship and event marketing as to how organisations evaluate the performance impact of event sponsorship and event marketing. Similarly, the more established sponsorship outcomes of brand awareness and brand attitude have yet to receive research attention within an organisational research setting. This research study follows a cross-sectional research design. A conceptual model is developed on the basis of the literature review, and is tested through confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The data for this study was collected via an online survey which resulted in 226 responses. The findings indicate a negative relationship between event sponsorship and brand performance. Furthermore, organisational innovativeness was identified as moderating the event sponsorship brand performance relationship, whereas brand orientation is found to moderate the event marketing financial performance relationship.

Abstract Scholars are interested in exploring strategies for better business-to-business (B2B) brand management because several strategic benefits of having a stronger B2B brand have been revealed. Contributing to this stream of research, this dissertation applies the concept of multiple strategic orientations for the purpose of improving B2B branding. The collective role of the brand, market and entrepreneurial orientations when used for improving brand equity, brand awareness, brand credibility and financial performance are examined in the dissertation. Examining this phenomenon for B2B small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is an important and interesting topic because (1) SMEs are known for delineating multidimensional strategic orientation and (2) B2B SMEs have shown growth with the help of a stronger brand despite being less motivated to conduct branding activities and less resourceful when doing so. The results of this study could help to develop a more cohesive and coherent branding strategy for B2B SMEs. The research question of the dissertation is addressed with the help of three articles. The first article sheds light on the theoretical framework of interaction between brand, market and entrepreneurial orientations. Findings of the first article led the selection of two perspectives on interactions for examination, which were subsequently examined in the second and third articles respectively. These two perspectives on interaction are strategic hybrid orientation and moderating interaction. The first article used the systematic literature review approach, while the second and third articles used regression analysis to examine the relationship between constructs by using the data collected from 250 Finnish B2B SMEs. The results supported the presence of strategic hybrid orientation between brand and market orientations for the purpose of improving brand awareness, brand credibility and financial performance. However, insignificant results were found which did not rule out the presence of moderating interaction between brand, market and entrepreneurial orientations in improving brand equity. Further research studies are encouraged to advance the understanding of this approach of B2B branding in SMEs. The dissertation achieves novelty by being amongst the first to provide empirical evidence to support the concept of using multiple strategic orientations for B2B branding in SMEs. This study concludes by discussing the theoretical contributions and managerial implications of these results. / Tiivistelmä Vahvan brändin on todettu tuovan monia strategisia hyötyjä myös yritystenvälisillä (B2B) markkinoilla toimiville yrityksille. Sen vuoksi tutkijat ovat kiinnostuneita löytämään strategioita, joilla pyritään parempaan B2B-brändien johtamiseen. Tämä väitöskirja kontribuoi B2B-brändi -tutkimukseen soveltamalla strategisen moni-orientaation käsitettä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan brändi-, markkina-, ja yrittäjyysorientaation yhteisroolia parannettaessa brändin arvoa, bränditietoisuutta, brändin uskottavuutta, sekä taloudellista tuloksellisuutta. Ilmiön tutkiminen erityisesti pienissä ja keskisuurissa B2B-yrityksissä on tärkeää, koska (1) pk-yritysten tiedetään käyttävän moniulotteisia strategisia orientaatioita ja (2) B2B pk-yritykset näyttävät kasvavan vahvan brändin avulla huolimatta mahdollisesti vähäisestä motivaatiostaan ja vähäisistä resursseistaan tehdä brändäämis-toimenpiteitä. Tutkimuksen tuloksia voidaan hyödyntää kehitettäessä B2B pk-yritysten brändistrategiaa. Tutkimuskysymykseen vastataan kolmen artikkelin avulla. Ensimmäinen artikkeli tarkastelee teoreettista taustaa brändi-, markkina-, ja yrittäjyysorientaatioiden interaktiolle eli yhdysvaikutukselle. Kyseisen artikkelin tulosten perusteella valittiin tarkasteluun kaksi näkökulmaa yhdysvaikutukseen. Nämä ovat hybridi interaktio ja moderoiva interaktio, joita käsitellään toisessa ja kolmannessa artikkelissa. Ensimmäisessä artikkelissa käytettiin systemaattisen kirjallisuusanalyysin menetelmää. Toisessa ja kolmannessa artikkelissa aineistona oli 250 suomalaisen B2B pk-yrityksen kyselyaineisto, jonka analyysissä hyödynnettiin regressioanalyysiä käsitteiden välisten suhteiden tarkasteluun. Tulokset osoittavat brändi- ja markkinaorientaation muodostaman strategisen hybridi-orientaation parantavan bränditietoisuutta, brändin uskottavuutta sekä taloudellista tuloksellisuutta. Tulokset eivät kuitenkaan sulje pois moderoivaa interaktiota brändi-, markkina- ja yrittäjyysorientaation välillä brändin arvon lisäämiseksi. Väitöskirja on ensimmäisiä tutkimuksia, joissa empiirisesti tarkastellaan strategisen moni-orientoitumisen käsitettä B2B- brändeihin liittyen. Tulokset kannustavatkin jatkotutkimuksiin tästä näkökulmasta. Tutkimuksen lopuksi keskustellaan tulosten teoreettisista kontribuutioista ja liikkeenjohdollisista päätelmistä.

SMEs have been developing rapidly in Sweden since the last decade; many of them have developed a strong brand and went global. Brands can be utilized as a tool for people involved in the ecosystem to consistently communicate with the stakeholders. On the customers’ side, decisions on purchasing certain products are often made by symbolic attributes. According to studies, brand management can benefit an organization’s performance. Brand management is critical for the substantiality of SMEs. Many studies have been done on brand management in larger organizations. Only some research has been done on SMEs brand management, from which it was concluded that SMEs placed very little or no priority on brand management. In this thesis, the author studies brand management in SMEs in Sweden, by using Wong and Merrilees’s model (2005) on three archetypes of brand orientation. The aim of this study is to get insights on what brand-related activities can help with the goal of heightening brand awareness for customers. This research is done by a qualitative study based on three in-depth interviews undertaken with small-sized organizations and a supplementary desktop research with data from authority.

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