ارزش ویژه برند در بازار تجارت بنگاه به بنگاه

Brands have been developed by consumer companies but have been slow to develop in business-to-business marketing. This article explains the concept of brand equity in a specific industrial marketing setting. In addition, the sources of brand equity are investigated as well as the appropriate communications strategy and the relative importance of brand relative to other purchase criteria. The research method used was a conjoint analysis experiment. The subjects were decision-making unit (DMU) members of industrial companies in South Africa that purchase medium-voltage electrical equipment. Research results suggest that while brand equity has a role to play, price and delivery were more important. However, a price premium can be obtained when a company has high brand equity. Implications for managers are discussed.

While brands and their management have dominated the marketing of goods and services to consumers, the idea has been slow to take hold in business-to-business marketing. This problem rests partly in the belief that because brands are irrational, they have little significance when dealing with a corporate entity that makes buyers' decisions on a rational basis (Rosenbroijer, 2001). Most discussions of marketing in technical fields focus on the performance characteristics of the product or on the needs of buyers addressed by tangible features of the product (Shaw, Giglierano, & Kallis, 1989). However, studies do point out cases where price and the hard tangible factors of the physical product do not fully explain the purchase decision. Intangible aspects such as overall supplier reputation matter even in rational and systematic decision making (Mudambi, Doyle, & Wong, 1997). The question that arises is whether the industrial buyers who are rational trained professionals and who normally operate within buying centers can be influenced by brand images that are based on nonfunctional and subjective attributes. According to Gordon, Calantone, and di Benedetto (1993), business-to-business product and service providers stand to gain sustainable competitive advantages through the development and strategic use of brand equity, particularly when competing in today's global economy. The objectives of this study are to explore the existence of brand equity in a specific business-to-business product setting and to investigate the sources of brand equity and its appropriate communication channels and the relative importance of brand relative to other purchase decision criteria.

Overall, the leading industrial brand name could command a price premium of 6.8% over the average industrial brand and 14% over a new, unknown brand. The technical specialists were willing to pay a price premium of up to 26%. Technical specialists must be specifically targeted because of their propensity to reward more generously the strong brand and the fact that they are sometimes the ones who make the final brand choice decision. Proposition 1 is supported: Brand equity exists in the business-to-business markets, in the form of buyers' willingness to pay a price premium for their favorite brand. The other benefits of brand equity were the willingness to extend the brand's halo to other product lines and recommend the brand to others. It was found that all respondents were willing to recommend their preferred brand. Using the Kruskall–Wallis test, it was shown that the consideration given to new products was biased in favor of well-known brands. Thus, there is support for Proposition 2: Other benefits from brand-loyal industrial buyers include their willingness to recommend that brand to peers and give special consideration to another product with the same name. Proposition 3 investigated the principal brand-equity-generating variable. Respondents were asked to choose among nine variables. Quality was chosen as the first variable and Proposition 3 was supported: Perceived quality is the main brand-equity-generating variable. Proposition 4 examined the best means to create brand awareness among potential customers. Respondents believed that the most effective way was to get technical consultants to talk to them about the new brand. Overall, visits by sales representatives were chosen from the remaining methods. As far as buyers are concerned, exhibitions remained the preferred channel to generate brand awareness. Other groups preferred various other means of communication. Proposition 4 was supported but was limited to buyers: The primary source of information to industrial buyers for industrial brand awareness is exhibitions/trade shows. Proposition 5 was concerned about differences across role players in the DMU in relation to perceptions of brand importance and preferred channel of communications. Even though the different role players showed different preferences, the results of the Kruskall–Wallis test indicated that the value of medians across the roles were significantly different. There is no significant difference among the role player groups. Proposition 5 is not supported: Different groups of DMU role players attach different relative importance to brands. The research has shown that even for a standard and interchangeable product, the DMU members develop a sentimental relationship for which they are prepared to pay a price premium. They are willing to extend that goodwill to other products of the same brand name. This study shows that in B2B marketing, • Industrial marketers have something to gain by investing into building a likeable, strong, and positive brand image among all stakeholders. It will allow the company to reap (albeit to a lesser degree) the same benefits that consumer marketers enjoy. • Quality is the main brand-equity-generating variable. Two lessons derive from this finding. The one is that a quality claim may be effective only if there is substance to the claim. Industrial marketers have to make sure their efforts to build a positive brand image are not torn down by poor quality. The second lesson is that to create a quality product is not enough. Industrial marketers have to translate quality into perceived quality. • Industrial customers deliberately make it difficult for suppliers to determine who is actually making the buying decision. Therefore, industrial marketers must create a positive image to all stakeholders that come into contact with the company. To achieve this, the supplier company must look beyond marketing communication and develop a total corporate communication program to build up the corporate brand.