<p>Purpose/Topic: The proposed research explores impact of the direct marketing actions by component suppliers on (a) sales (objective measure) and (b) industrial customer‟s perception (subjective measures) of the final product (c) and the market development. The proposed research will focus on the bicycle industry. Research Question: "To what extent Shimano‟s component brands important to Shimano customer, and which actions can Shimano undertake to facilitate its brand‟s further market penetration?" Design/Methodology: Two approaches were used to answer the main research question. First, existing literature on ingredient and co-branding was analyzed. Second, we conducted an experiment on a new direct marketing initiative by Shimano-Europe BV. The initiative is "Reliability" campaign that introduces a service logbook across 8 European countries. Originality/Value: There is no research to this date, which empirically examines the influence of component supplier on sales and perception of ingredient brand, especially in the bicycle industry. Role of service and service network is also examined as one of the crucial influences on ingredient brand management. This research provides the base for further exploration in the area of ingredient branding and give guidelines for Ingredient Brand Management. So far, ingredient branding has been studied in contexts of food, chemical and computer industries. This research examines market leader in bicycle industry on 8 different national markets in Europe. Products supplied by Shimano require service and those products differ from ingredients which are consumed in form of food or apparel (that does not requires any service).</p><p> </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA/oai:DiVA.org:hig-4125 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Popovic, Igor |
| Publisher | University of Gävle, Department of Business Administration and Economics |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, text |
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