This three-essay thesis focuses on how value of the brand, i.e. brand equity is created, with each study investigating different parts of the relationships within the brand value chain. My first essay identifies and tests a new set of brand equity drivers such as brand structure and positioning, brand strategy, and customer characteristics. I use revenue premium as the retail level measure of brand equity and decompose it into price and volume premiums. Then, I explore the effects of different brand equity drivers on these premiums. The study on the universe of grocery industry in the U.S. shows compelling evidences that volume premium prevails over price premium in driving revenue premium. Brand structure and positioning, brand strategy and customer characteristics contribute significantly to the changes of the brand market performance measured with price, volume and revenue premiums. My second essay examines the association between consumer-based brand equity (IBBE) and brand market performance, and the moderators of this association. I explore a comprehensive set of market performance measures (penetration, loyalty, market share, price and revenue) of 216 major brands sold in the grocery channel in the U.S., in conjunction with EquiTrend© brand equity measure. The results show that customer based brand equity provides incremental explanatory power for brand market performance beyond the explanation by a wide array of performance determinants identified in the first essay. Furthermore, the equity-performance association is moderated by a set of product and category features, as well as the firm brand strategy. My third essay studies whether firms benefit from having multiple brands across different areas. I model brand market performance as a function of different elements of the firm brand portfolio, including the size and performance of sibling brands and the inter-brand distance. The dataset includes 1,700 brands from over 350 firms in the grocery channel within the U.S. The results show that the brand portfolio information provides incremental explanatory power for brand market performance. Moreover, the size and the performance of sibling brands have significant impact on a focal brand's market performance, and these impacts are moderated by the inter-brand distance.

<p>The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate customer behaviour in the banking industry of students at Kristianstad University. We wanted to test the theory of Customer based brand equity in the banking industry but also to challenge this theory with other independent theories which we have identified as important concerning customer behaviour the banking industry.</p><p>The banking industry is an interesting business since it affects nearly everyone. Banks are known to focus much of their marketing on customer retention which makes this specific industry extra interesting for an investigation about customer behaviour.</p><p>Kevin Keller‟s theories on Customer based brand equity was the catalyst that created our interest in this subject. The combination of this theory and the specific nature of the banking industry helped us form our problem. The chosen segment to investigate was students at Kristianstad University. Mainly because of the specific time limit this segment was the most suitable for this dissertation.</p><p>The result indicates that the factors from the CBBE-model were not significantly connected to students‟ customer behaviour in the banking industry. However, it can be argued that some factors are still relevant when explaining customer behaviour in the banking industry. One of the challenging theories, Intergenerational Influence, proved to have a significant connection to customer behaviour. It can be argued that Intergenerational Influence is the most important factor when explaining students‟ customer behaviour in the banking industry. The results of this dissertation can be useful for banks in order to make their marketing strategy more efficient.</p>

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate customer behaviour in the banking industry of students at Kristianstad University. We wanted to test the theory of Customer based brand equity in the banking industry but also to challenge this theory with other independent theories which we have identified as important concerning customer behaviour the banking industry. The banking industry is an interesting business since it affects nearly everyone. Banks are known to focus much of their marketing on customer retention which makes this specific industry extra interesting for an investigation about customer behaviour. Kevin Keller‟s theories on Customer based brand equity was the catalyst that created our interest in this subject. The combination of this theory and the specific nature of the banking industry helped us form our problem. The chosen segment to investigate was students at Kristianstad University. Mainly because of the specific time limit this segment was the most suitable for this dissertation. The result indicates that the factors from the CBBE-model were not significantly connected to students‟ customer behaviour in the banking industry. However, it can be argued that some factors are still relevant when explaining customer behaviour in the banking industry. One of the challenging theories, Intergenerational Influence, proved to have a significant connection to customer behaviour. It can be argued that Intergenerational Influence is the most important factor when explaining students‟ customer behaviour in the banking industry. The results of this dissertation can be useful for banks in order to make their marketing strategy more efficient.

This essay describes the Swedish furniture business and its strong competition between domestic and foreign producers. As the demand on higher development speed grows stronger, alongside a fierce competition between the companies, long lasting and unique qualities such as customer relations and strong brand names become crucial. Nowadays many furniture producers chose to sell their products through retailers and they therefore miss out on invaluable direct contact with their customers. Consequently, this means that they lack the perquisite to build relations or more importantly, to communicate their brand. To illustrate the problem a case study and a survey have been carried out. The study compares the strategic marketing works between producers who have own concept stores and those who uses retailers. In addition to this the customer’s image perception has also been examined. The theories are based on Branding, relationship marketing and Event Marketing. The result of the study is supported by an analysis of the theories and the studies. It indicated that the producers with own concept stores have better prerequisite to build relations and to communicate with their customers than those who use retailers. The conclusion is that the work with branding and relations is a way for the Swedish furniture producers to strengthen their image and to give their customers an added value. The added value will in the long run lead to loyal customers and a positive reputation. / I bakgrunden framgår att möbelbranschen kantas av stor konkurrens både mellan inhemska och utländska producenter. Kraven på ökad utvecklingstakt i kombination med intensiv konkurrens gör att uthålliga och unika konkurrensmedel som varumärken och relationer söks. Då många möbelproducenter har sin försäljning via återförsäljare saknar de direktkontakt med kunderna och har inte förutsättningar för att skapa relationer eller att kommunicera sitt varumärke. För att belysa problemet har en flerfallsstudie och en surveyundersökning gjorts. Undersökningarna jämför arbetet med den strategiska marknadsföringen hos svenska möbelproducenter med konceptbutiker och de som använder sig av återförsäljare. Dessutom undersöks kunders imageuppfattning av företagen. Teoridelen grundas på teorier om varumärke, Branding, relationsmarknadsföring och Event Marketing. Resultatet baseras på en analys av teorierna och undersökningarna. Studiens resultat tyder på att företag med egna konceptbutiker har bättre förutsättningar för att skapa relationer och kommunicera med sina kunder än de som använder sig av återförsäljare. Slutsatsen är att arbetet med varumärke och relationer är ett sätt för svenska möbelproducenter att stärka sin image och ge sina kunder ett mervärde. Mervärdet kommer på sikt att leda till lojala kunder och ett positivt rykte.

Sammandrag: Företag strävar kontinuerligt efter att bygga ett välkänt och framgångsrikt varumärke. De strävar efter att tillfredsställa konsumenters behov för att öka varumärkets värde, brand equity. Genom att försöka avgöra konsumenters inställning till ett visst varumärke och deras förhållning till ett utökat sortiment i en ny produktkategori syftar denna uppsats till att diskutera och utforska förändringen av varumärkets brand equity. Vid denna undersökning har H&amp;Ms varumärke och deras nya sportkollektion använts som exempel. Teorin behandlar varumärkets värde, brand equity, utifrån ett konsumentperspektiv samt utvidgning av produktutbud hos varumärken. Konsumenter styr ett varumärkes värde och då studien undersöks från ett konsumentperspektiv, var det av intresse att fokusera på Consumer Based Brand Equitys, CBBEs, fyra olika dimensioner: lojalitet, medvetenhet, upplevd kvalitet och associationer. Genom en kvantitativ enkätundersökning fick respondenterna bland annat svara på i vilken utsträckning de förknippade olika faktorer med H&amp;Ms varumärke och därefter i vilken utsträckning de förknippade samma faktorer med den nya sportkollektionen. Några faktorer som användes var kvalitet, modeinriktat, pris, exklusivitet, känt m.fl. Med det teoretiska ramverket tolkades de empiriska resultaten för att kunna besvara uppsatsens syfte. Resultaten visade, till viss mån, en positiv förändring av värdet för varumärket på grund av den nya sportkollektionen, samt att det finns tendenser till fortsatt överensstämmelse mellan H&amp;Ms varumärke och en sportfokuserad produktkontext.

Titel: Franchisee-based brand equity inom fastighetsmäklarbranschen – Varumärkets värde för franchisetagare Nivå: C-uppsats i ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Ebba Granberg, Malin Bloom Handledare: Jonas Kågström Datum: 2015 - maj Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att analysera vilka källor franchisetagare påverkas av i skapandet av FBBE inom tjänsteföretag. Detta med avseende på vilken betydelse varumärket har i franchisekonceptet och huruvida detta påverkar franchisetagarens intentioner att ingå i ett franchiseavtal samt bibehålla franchiserelationen. Metod: Då syftet med studien är att analysera franchisetagarens påverkan av FBBE, har således studien genomförts med en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Semi-strukturerade intervjuer har utförts med 12 franchisetagare inom fastighetsmäklarbranschen, vilka alla arbetar i Stockholmsområdet. Materialet har därefter analyserats med hjälp av dataanalysprogrammet Nvivo10 och presenterats tillsammans med resultaten för studien. Resultat &amp; slutsats: Studien introducerar en ny modell över FBBE inom den svenska fastighetsmäklarbranschen. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Denna studie är avgränsad till ett specifikt geografiskt område och det kan därför vara av intresse att upprepa en liknande studien inom samma bransch, men i ett annat geografiskt område. Då studien har en kvalitativ forskningsansats kan det även vara av intresse att överföra studien till en kvantitativ forskningsansats för att skapa en generaliserbarhet för den svenska fastighetsmäklarbranschen. Det kan även anses vara intressant att utforska franchisegivarens uppfattning om franchisee-based brand equity. Uppsatsens bidrag: Bidraget kan öka förståelsen för franchisetagare vid val av franchisegivare samt ge en ökad förståelse för källorna till franchisee-based brand equity. Franchisegivare är likväl en målgrupp för uppsatsens tillämpning då även de kan få en ökad förståelse för vilka aspekter som är av vikt vid franchisetagares val av franchisenätverk, men kan även vara av intresse för verksamma fastighetsmäklare inom branschen. Nyckelord: Franchise-based brand equity, varumärke, franchisetagare, attraktion, bibehållande och källor. / Title: Franschisee-based brand equity in real estate business – brand equity for the franchisee Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Author: Ebba Granberg, Malin Bloom Supervisor: Jonas Kågström Date: 2015 – may Aim: The purpose of this study is to analyze the sources franchisees is affected by in the creation of FBBE in service companies. This is with regards to the significance of the brand in the franchise concept, and whether this affects the franchisee’s intentions to enter into a franchise agreement and to maintain the relationship. Method: Since the purpose of the study is to analyze how franchisees are affected by FBBE, the study has been done with a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 franchises from the real estate market; all of which is working in the Stockholm area. The materials were then analyzed by using the data analysis program Nvivo10 and are presented together with the results of the study. Result &amp; Conclusions: The study introduces a new model for FBBE in the Swedish real estate business.  Suggestions for future research: Due to the decision to limit our study to a specific geographic area, it is of interest to replicate the study in the same field, but in a different geographical area. Because of the studies qualitative research approach it would also be in the interest to transfer the study to a quantitative research approach to create a generalization for the Swedish real estate business. Also too consider the franchisor’s perception of franchisee-based brand equity. Contribution of the thesis: The contribution of the study can be used by franchisees to increase their understanding in the selection of franchisors and provide a greater understanding of the sources of franchisee-based brand equity. Franchisors are nonetheless a target audience for the essays appliance, as they can have a better understanding of what is important to the franchisee in the choice of franchise networks, but it can also be in the interest to active real estate agents.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-11-10T17:57:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniel Pereira Scombati.pdf: 1001286 bytes, checksum: f18bf5818075fe5fa2f486be84a716fb (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-10T17:57:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniel Pereira Scombati.pdf: 1001286 bytes, checksum: f18bf5818075fe5fa2f486be84a716fb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-04-29 / Sport provides health, resilience, quality of life, team spirit, fairness, honesty and other qualities admired, and of course, tinkering directly with the passion enthusiast. Hereby, Brazilian financial institutions invest thousands of dollars in sponsoring sports activities to an improvement in their brand equity. Because of this, the present study aims at understanding through literature, document and quantitative research, the sports sponsorship can add value taken as positive the brand equity of financial institutions in Brazil. For this, we studied the five largest financial institutions in Brazil, as each of sponsoring the sport and what the effect of this sponsorship before consumers. For the achievement of the goal we used the sports sponsorship theories and brand equity, seeking to focus on the approach in the sports sector. descriptive quantitative methodology was used and achieved results confirmed the hypothesis of the work, that sports sponsorship has a positive influence on the brand equity components. This demonstrates the benefits for financial institutions, helping the market gain competitive advantage and have a valued image of heritage and always present on the consumer. / Esporte remete a saúde, superação, qualidade de vida, espírito de equipe, lisura, honestidade e outras qualidades admiradas, além é claro, de mexer diretamente com a paixão do entusiasta. Por meio disto, as instituições financeiras brasileiras investem milhares de reais em patrocínio a atividades esportivas visando uma melhora em sua notoriedade e conhecimento de marca. Devido a isto, o presente estudo visa compreender, através de levantamento bibliográfico, documental e pesquisa quantitativa, se o patrocínio esportivo pode agregar valores tidos como positivos ao brand equity das instituições financeiras do Brasil. Para a realização do objetivo foram utilizadas as teorias de patrocínio esportivo e de brand equity, buscando o foco na abordagem no setor esportivo. Foi utilizada a metodologia quantitativa descritiva, através da modelagem de equações estruturadas e, com isto, alcançou resultados que confirmaram as hipóteses do trabalho, de que o patrocínio esportivo crível influencia positivamente nos componentes do brand equity. Isto demonstra os benefícios para as instituições financeiras, pois sinaliza como um norte, mostrando que ao possuir um patrocínio congruente com a sua imagem, gera a credibilidade no patrocínio e esta, por sua vez, impacta positivamente os componentes do brand equity. Com isto, há o auxílio no ganho de mercado, diferencial competitivo e patrimônio de imagem valorizado e sempre presente diante do consumidor.

Over the past few decades, branding has become a priority for companies. A brand helps companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors, which creates competitive advantages. Most of the research on brands has primarily focused on consumer marketing. However, it has been found that the brand is just as important in business to business (B2B) companies, and that it also plays a big role when it comes to the survival av newly established company like for example startups. Startups differ from established companies through their innovative ideas and problem solving. However, they faces challenges because of lack of capital, time and resources. As the competition in the market grows, startups need to create competitive advantages by working hard with their brand strategies to achieve strong brand equity. This study aims to highlight how B2B startups work with brand equity in order to achieve competitive advantages. The study has used a qualitative research strategy where the primary data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with four different startups based in Stockholm. The study shows that startups need to first position themselves in the market and then work on brand building. The result also shows that B2B startups are aware of the brand's importance and that they in fact work with brand equity to achieve competitive advantages. However, the strategies with the steps in the CBBE model differs depending on the industry and type of corporate activity.

Studiens syfte har varit att experimentellt undersöka om det finns en varumärkesbyggande påverkan vid varumärkesanpassad distributionsförpackning. Teoretiskt har studien utgått från teorier inom kundbaserat varumärkeskapital med utgångspunkt från teorin om Brand EquityDimensions och Brand Value Chain-modellen. Hypotes: Varumärkesanpassad distributionsförpackning har en positiv påverkan på kundbaserat varumärkeskapital, kontra en generiskdistributionsförpackning vid e-handel. Studien har genomförts med en kvantitativ metod där förhållandet mellan varumärkesanpassad och generisk distributionsförpackning jämfördes i förhållande till kundbaserat varumärkeskapital. Insamling av data skedde genom experimentell design, för att kunna acceptera eller förkasta hypotesen, vilken sedan ligger till grund för resultat och analys för studien. Studien visar på att en varumärkesanpassad distributionsförpackning har större positiv påverkan på kundbaserat varumärkeskapital i alla komponenter som används i studien förutom Prispremium. Slutsatsen är således att konsumenters attityder till en varumärkesanpassad distributionsförpackning bidrar till att stärka kundbaserat varumärkeskapital, med undantag för prispremium.

Purpose - This study's purpose is to compile literature on consumer behaviour, brand loyalty and equity and to investigate how the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have affected consumer behaviours, brand loyalty and equity in Sweden.Design/methodology/approach - A theoretical framework was formed by three main concepts, consumer behaviours, brand loyalty and equity. To collect empirical evidence, two qualitative methods were used: (1) semi structured interviews and (2) a focus group. The data manifesto was assessed using manifesto analysis of qualitative data according to Granheim &amp; Lundmans’ (2004) framework. The theoretical framework was used in the analysis and coding of the data.Findings - COVID-19 has brought immediate effects on consumer behaviours such as pent-up demands and embracing digital technology. Brands facing the challenges of adapting to the current environment in order to satisfy current consumers and secure brand loyalty. In this context, most of the companies start developing brand equity online, including online services and digital advertisements. Offline servicescapes have also been changed to fit the current regulations.Research limitations/implications - Quantitative research can be done nationwide to generate a more complete understanding of the whole Swedish market.Originality/value - This study contributes to the literature observing the changes in consumer behaviours, brand loyalty and brand equity during the pandemic period in the Swedish market. Furthermore, the research analyses the relationships among these changes to find the pattern.Keywords - Consumer behaviour, Consumer habits, Customer experience, Brand loyalty, Brand equity, COVID-19 Pandemic.