The relationship between store image and store brand equity: A conceptual framework and evidence from hypermarkets

Retailers are making considerable efforts to improve their brand management. The challenge they face, however, is how best to integrate coherently their stores, as brands, and their various distributor brands (store brands, private labels, etc.), in order to increase their brand equity and offer the market differential value that will stimulate customer loyalty. From this perspective, it is crucial for retailers to investigate the relationship between the store and their own brands. This study proposes two theoretical models showing the mechanism whereby store image helps increase the equity of a specific type of distributor brand (the store brand). The approach used in this analysis is based, on the one hand, on defining brand equity through its components, using the model in Aaker (1991), and on the other, on including (social and strategic) corporate dimensions in measuring store image. The empirical research made in the hypermarket sector in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa backs the majority of the proposed hypotheses. The results show that store image can be used by retailers to influence all components of store brand equity, essentially through its commercial and strategic dimension. This research is intended to address the clear lack of research on store brand equity.     

Fostering international brand loyalty through committed and attached relationships

The relationship-building approach, focused on the building of brand-to-consumer relationships conducive to brand loyalty formation, has become an extensively investigated topic in international brand management studies. However, the theoretical development of this approach manifests obvious diversities, causing managerial uncertainty about how to take appropriate strategic actions to put the relationship-building approach to best use. The current study, orchestrating the main concepts derived from three relationship-building paradigms with necessary adaptations and modifications, develops and validates the Relationship-Building for Strategic Brand Management Model. Its most noteworthy contribution lies in the coalescence of pragmatic utilitarianism, emotionalism and social symbolism, orienting the relationship-building approach to correspond to the principle of holistic consumer experience management. As explicated by the model, committed and attached relationships built upon the relationship foundation mirroring the holistic essentiality of holistic consumer experience are convertible into powerful driver of international brand loyalty. The model structure and causal path pattern prove to be applicable to different international product brand categories in different regions. Strategic implications are deduced from the research findings, which the international brand manager may take into consideration to maximize the effectiveness of relationship-building strategies for fostering brand loyalty in the international market.     

旅游目的地品牌研究

旅游目的地营销经历了旅游地形象、旅游宣传口号之后,迎来了旅游目的地品牌竞争时代,构建旅游目的地品牌已经成为一种必然趋势。通过在前人研究基础上对旅游目的地品牌做进一步研究,探究了旅游目的地品牌内涵及自身发展规律,对旅游地品牌有进一步的认识,更好的促进旅游地可持续发展。     

虚拟品牌社区成员参与的影响机制研究——基于畅快体验的视角

虚拟品牌社区是一个有效的传播平台,也是企业顾客关系管理的有效途径,而促进社区参与是虚拟品牌社区成功运营和发展的重要前提.基于体验的视角,建立包含社区价值、畅快体验、品牌认同的社区成员参与的影响机制模型,并对虚拟品牌社区成员参与的动机进行实证研究,得出结论:互动价值对社区参与有积极的影响作用;畅快体验在互动价值对社区参与...     

基于分辨力增益的综合识别传感器管理方法

为提高目标综合识别的效能,需对综合识别系统中多种传感器资源进行科学管 理。在分析综合识别中目标优先级和传感器使用约束条件的基础上,建立了利用分辨力增益 作为传感器资源管理优化准则的目标函数,提出了利用传感器混淆矩阵的预测分辨力增益计 算方法,并将粒子群优化算法引入传感器-目标分配NP-hard问题的求解中。仿真结果表明该 方法合理高效。     

可持续发展视角下的湖南省休闲农业区域品牌构建研究

本文从可持续发展的视角探寻湖南省休闲农业品牌构建之路,旨在为湖南省休闲农业实施品牌战略、推动该产业可持续发展提供思路和对策建议。     

政府视角下以区域联想为核心的区域品牌伞构建研究

为了应对区域品牌建设中出现的一系列问题，区域管理者们不得不采取新的策略来发展区域经济。某些地区已经尝试将品牌伞策略应用于区域品牌的建设，构建区域品牌伞。探讨了以区域联想为核心的区域品牌伞的基本架构，并提出了影响作为区域品牌伞核心价值的区域联想可转移性维度。在国内外相关研究基础上，通过定性分析，提出区域品牌伞就是将区域品牌撑开成为伞状品牌，直接与产品相结合，作为其品牌或品牌一部分，构建一个以区域品牌为上层品牌，涵盖区域内一系列产品或品牌的区域品牌层级结构；影响区域联想可转移性的维度包括：强度、独特性、相关性、相似性、偏好性及抽象性。     

Why Are Themed Brandstores So Powerful? Retail Brand Ideology at American Girl Place

Although there is growing interest in themed brandstores, we still know very little about the source of these retail environments’ power to affect consumers profoundly. Utilizing an ethnographic study of American Girl Place, a culturally rich and highly successful retail environment, we find that effective retailing in these contexts is an intensely ideological affair. In our participant-observation of, and on-site interviews with, consumers at American Girl Place we find that the ideology of the brand manifests powerfully through a variety of different and distinct areas within the store: the Museum, the Library, the Café, the Salon, the Theater, and the Photo Studio. Ideological expression is central to each of these places. Tracking the influence of brand ideology through consumers’ retail experiences, we theorize about the centrality of retail place in ideological branding. Although the confluence of ideology and retailing has been referenced in prior research, this paper focuses on and systematically develops the theoretical interconnection between the two. The physical immediacy of themed brandstore experience acts as a quilting point that links together related cultural concepts into a strong retail brand ideology. The implications of this theory draw our attention to ideological and morally-bound retail brand expressions, emphasize the importance of a variety of retail formats within a single store, and provide practical guidelines for retailers eager to build successful brands of their own.     

Identifying R&D partners through Subject-Action-Object semantic analysis in a problem & solution pattern

Today’s companies still rely heavily on expert knowledge rather than quantitative data with a systematic approach to effectively identify and choose Research and Development (R&D) partners. It is advantageous to identify and select potential R&D partners using a Problem & Solution (P&S) pattern. This paper presents a novel process for identifying R&D partners on the basis of solution similarities that assist technology managers in understanding the relationships between research targets. First, we choose a thematic dataset that contains problems and quantitative data with relative topic terms. Then, we extract Subject-Action-Object semantic structures in a P&S pattern from the dataset, and identify various solutions to a technical problem, with each as a subject. In addition, we provide correlation mapping to visualise the text characters and identify R&D partners. Finally, we validate the proposed method through a case study of the dye-sensitized solar cells sector.     

Do global airline alliances influence the passenger's purchase decision?

This study examines the influences of airline global alliances on the purchase intention of international air passengers in Taiwan. The findings indicate positive relationships between global airline alliances, brand equity, brand preference and purchase intention with a moderation effect of involvement impacting on the relationship between global airline alliances and brand equity, and the relationship between brand preferences and purchase intention. In particular, for highly involved passengers, the effect of global airline alliances on brand equity, and brand preference on purchase intention, is significant.