Trade dress: The increasing importance of an ancient yet new form of intellectual property protection

Trade dress is a means of identifying and differentiating the product of a vendor by visual (and very occasionally auditory) cues of a form other than written language. The use of trade dress certainly goes back into pre-Roman times, and was very likely used well before then. Trade dress remains important in societies both highly literate and substantially illiterate, and in some respects has increased in importance in both.     

Instagram and YouTube bloggers promote it,why should I buy? How credibility and parasocial interaction influence purchase intentions

Nowadays social network influencers play an important role in marketing by introducing products to their audience. In this article, we investigate the persuasion cues related to beauty and fashion influencers present on YouTube and Instagram. More precisely, we investigate how the para-social interaction (PSI) the audience creates with the online influencer, along with their perceived credibility, are related to the purchase intention and how they are, in turn, related to the social and physical attractiveness and attitude homophily. We base our research on four beauty influencers popular in France and control our results by the age of the participants and by the influencer. We find that attitude homophily is positively related to PSI but, surprisingly, the physical attractiveness shows negative relationship or no evidence of relationship. Both credibility of the influencers and PSI exhibit significant and positive relationships to purchase intention.     

Intellectual Property Securitization and Growth Capital in Retail Franchising

A retail franchisor needs growth capital so that the brand continues to grow and franchisor–franchisee relations remain strong. However, access to corporate liquidity to fund such franchise growth options is not unlimited. A method of raising finance particularly suited to retail franchisors is intellectual property (IP) securitization that allows companies to account for intangible assets such as intellectual property, royalty and brands and realize their full value. In recent years, a number of large restaurant franchisors have securitized their brands to raise funds, including Dunkin Brands and Domino's Pizza (Domino's). We use property rights approach to show that IP securitization provides mechanisms that explicitly define ownership of intangible assets within the securitization structure and thus enables a company to raise funds against these assets. Using a case study example of a retail franchise IP securitization transaction, we also provide evidence that these mechanisms are not overly restrictive and can be used more widely to help fund retail franchise growth and expansion.     

Willingness to pay for brands: a cross‐region,cross‐category analysis

Using survey data collected in multiple locations (California and Texas in the United States and Revohot in Israel), we quantify category‐ and location‐specific variations of consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for brand products after controlling for consumer characteristics. We find that consumers have a similar qualitative assessment of brand value in different product categories across different locations. That is, consumers have a stronger preference and higher WTP for brands in consumer electronics, followed by clothing and then processed food, and the lowest in fresh produce. Furthermore, we simulate price premiums and market shares of brands relative to generic products in different categories. Simulation results suggest that brands in fresh produce have the highest price premium but lowest market share. Despite the similarities, the magnitude of WTP for brands as well as the simulated price premium and the corresponding market share in the same product category are location variant. The similarities and dissimilarities suggest validity of having global brand strategies adapted to local conditions, that is, the so‐called “thinking globally and acting locally” strategy.     

产业集群视角下的区域品牌

产业集群的迅速发展对我国经济起了积极的促进作用,但产业集群的根本发展又依赖于区域品牌的建设。区域品牌往往代表着一个地方产业产品的主体和形象,对本地经济的发展起着举足轻重的作用。但是当前在区域品牌的建设中存在种种的问题与缺陷,使得我国区域品牌建设路程缓慢,加强区域品牌建设,发展区域品牌,用区域品牌来带动区域产业经济的发展,可以使我国产业走上快速发展的道路。因此本文围绕产业集群的发展现状,及产业集群与区域品牌的内在联系,分析区域品牌的内涵及特点的基础上提出创建区域品牌的重要性,并对区域品牌的建设展开初步的探讨。     

Globalization of a Transitional Economy

No abstract available for this article.     

品牌战略：新房地产时代发展的必由之路

随着中国房地产市场由供不应求向供求平衡转变,房地产行业也将会不可避免地进入品牌时代,但目前中国房地产品牌创建还处在滞后的阶段,一些不利于地产品牌建设的认识还在大行其道,究竞该如何建设房地产品牌已经成为业界所面临的一个紧迫问题。因此,有必要对此作进一步的深入研究。     

Entrepreneurs: Invent a new brand name or revive an old one?

This paper discusses launching an entrepreneurial venture by acquiring a once popular brand name and reviving it. Interviews were conducted with 10 executives who acquired dormant brands and successfully relaunched them into the market. Their comments suggest that, with proper planning, an entrepreneur may be able to substantially increase his or her chances of success by reviving brands, rather than spending the enormous amount of capital required to build new brand image. Conclusions suggest that nostalgia targeting is not enough; the revived brand must be repositioned to satisfy today's customer values. Evidence also suggests licensing a revived brand name to unrelated industries may prove very profitable for the entrepreneur.     

Is television advertising being placed to reach product users?

Several textbooks, journal articles, and advertising practitioners indicate that the advertising for many products should be directed toward the heavy users of the product category. Other works suggest that advertising should be directed at current users of a brand to retain them or to users of competitive brands in an effort to attract them. The purpose of this article is to compare these directions for how advertising should be placed with data showing how advertising is being placed. The comparison is made using supermarket scanner panel data and household advertising exposure data. Examples are also provided to indicate the extent to which advertising could be targeted to heavy users of the product category and users of a brand, given the actual viewing and consumption patterns. Several implications for the placement of advertising are discussed.     

基于企业与政府互动的自主品牌创新能力提升路径与政策分析

通过分析自主品牌创新能力的内涵与影响因素,从国家、企业和综合角度,提出了政府与企业互动下的自主品牌创新能力提升路径;并构建了自主品牌创新能力提升滞障的兰花模型,分析目标不一致、不确定性、资源制约、主体缺位四方面的滞障因素,进而提出促进自主品牌创新能力提升的政策框架,为我国自主品牌创新提供决策借鉴。