Esta tesis estudia cómo la afinidad de producto y la afinidad de marca, en una estrategia de co-branding, afectan la preferencia del consumidor. Mediante un análisis de regresión se comprueba que ambas influyen de manera estadísticamente significativa sobre la preferencia del consumidor. Se investiga, también, la interacción entre la afinidad de producto y la afinidad de marca y se comprueba que no existe evidencia estadística que lo confirme. Si bien la afinidad de producto y la afinidad de marca afectan de forma significativa a la preferencia por separado, no existe interacción manifiesta entre ellas. Finalmente, se comprueba qué afecta más a la preferencia, la afinidad de producto o la afinidad de marca. Se mide su importancia relativa y se concluye que la afinidad de producto tiene un peso relativo mayor en la preferencia que la afinidad de marca / The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the relationship that product fit and brand fit have with consumer preference in co-branding. Product combinations were determined by whether they fit or not using the input from 60 subjects, through surveys. Then, brand combinations were designed based on the input from another set of 60 subjects who decided which brands from those product combinations fit and which did not fit. Four final combinations were formed. The combinations included products and brands that fit, products that fit with brands that did not fit, products that did not fit with brands that fit and products with brands that did not fit. A final questionnaire was distributed to 178 university students to find the preferences on the four combinations. Then, through a conjoint analysis it was possible to find the relationship between product and brand fit and consumer preference. The results revealed that both, product and brand fit, significantly influence consumer preference. It also indicates that the effect of product fit on preference is greater than the effect of brand fit. Finally, the results did not support the expectation that there would be an interaction effect between product and brand fit.

This study develops an original theoretical model of critical managerially controllable factors that have high potential for achieving significant improvements in the (intermediate and ultimate) outcome(s) of product innovation efforts. To this end, the author draws on the relevant empirical literature and integrates four complementary theoretical perspectives, namely; the critical success factors (CSFs) approach, the resource-based view (RBV), the input-process-output (IPO) model, and the system(s) approach. The model (hereafter CFEMOs) aims to explicate the simultaneous direct and indirect/mediated interrelationships among the product innovation’s critical firm-based enablers (new-product fit-to-firm’s skills and resources, internal cross-functional integration, and top-management support), process execution proficiency, and performance outcomes (operation-level performance, product-level performance, and firm-level performance). Additionally, it aims to predict the variations of the process execution proficiency and the performance outcomes. The CFEMOs model was empirically tested using an online survey that was completed by 386 U.S. restaurants owners/senior executives on their recently innovated new menu-items. By utilising a partial least squares structural equation modelling, the statistical analysis substantiated that, compared to the models of the extant relevant empirical studies, the CFEMOs model has a broader scope and a superior predictive power. It simultaneously explains 72% of the process execution proficiency, 67% of the new menu-item superiority (quality, speed-to-market, and cost-efficiency), 76% of new menu-item performance (customer satisfaction, sales, and profits), and 75% of the new menu-item contribution to the overall restaurant performance (sales, profits, and market share). Furthermore, this study established that those restaurateurs who concurrently succeed in enhancing their internal cross-functional integration, top-management support, and new-product fit-to-firm’s skills and resources, descendingly ranked, would achieve high process execution proficiency, which subsequently would grant them superior operation-level performance, product-level performance, and firm-level performance. This thesis concludes by providing several key original contributions and crucial implications to product innovation research and practice, as well as offering several promising avenues for future research.

本研究主要目的為探討代言人與產品適配度不同時，其發生不同類型的道德問題，對購買意願之影響。當代言人與產品適配度不同，代言人與產品間之連結程度就會不同，因此，當代言人發生不同類型的道德問題時，就會對購買意願產生不同的影響。故本次研究採用兩個自變數：代言人與產品適配度(高/低)及道德問題類型(違情/違法)，來檢驗是否會影響消費者對產品之購買意願，並以受試者之主觀道德程度(高/低)以及客觀道德程度(高/低)作為調節變數，利用實驗設計的方法，進行一個2×2之組間實驗，並以虛擬的代言人作為實驗對象，取得有效樣本126份。本次研究利用獨立樣本t檢定、雙因子變異數分析以及三因子變異數分析檢驗所得之結果，並獲得以下之結論： 1.當代言人與產品適配度較高時，消費者購買意願會較高。 2.道德問題類型對購買意願有顯著影響，相較於代言人發生違情的道德問題，當代言人發生違法的道德問題時，消費者購買意願會較低。 3.代言人與產品適配度與道德問題類型無交互作用，不論代言人代言何種類型的產品，相較於代言人發生違情的道德問題，當代言人發生違法的道德問題會有較低的購買意願。 4.受試者的道德程度與道德問題類型無交互作用，不論受試者之道德程度高低，相較於代言人發生違情的道德問題，當代言人發生違法的道德問題，消費者會有較低的購買意願。 5.道德問題類型對代言人可信度有顯著影響，相較於代言人發生違情的道德問題，當代言人發生違法的道德問題時，代言人可信度較低。 6.不論代言人發生違情或違法的道德問題，受試者皆認為廠商需與代言人暫停合作關係，然又以發生違法的道德問題時，更應與代言人暫停合作。 / The purpose of this research is to understand the effects on purchase intention when product fit and moral issue of endorsers are in different level. When product fit is different, the connection between product and endorser will be in different degree. Therefore, endorser have different types of moral issues which will have impact on purchase intention. There are two independent variables: Product fit (High vs. Low), Moral issue (illegal vs. unfaithful) and two moderator variables (subjective moral level vs. objective moral level) and we conduct a 2x2 factorial research to test whether they will have influence on purchase intention. There are 126 effective questionnaires and the following is the results: 1.Different type of moral issues will affect purchase intention. When endorser has illegal moral issue, customers will have lower purchase intention. 2.There is no interaction effect between product fit and type of moral issue. No matter how product fit is, when endorser has illegal moral issue, customers will have lower purchase intention. 3.There is no interaction effect between moral level and type of moral issue. No matter how moral level is, when endorser has illegal moral issue, customers will have lower purchase intention. 4.Different type of moral issues will affect endorser credibility. When endorser has illegal moral issue, he or she will have lower credibility. 5.No matter what kinds of moral issues, customers think companies should stop cooperation with endorsers. When endorser has illegal moral issue, customers think companies should stop cooperation with endorsers much seriously.