Academic Thesis for Master's Degree
Field: Business Administration Major: Internal
Abstract
Brand performance shows the success of a brand in the market and has been measured in many ways and from different perspectives. Available studies show that about 70% of the company's revenues can be attributed to the brand. Therefore, organizational performance and brand performance are highly related to each other. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of market orientation on brand performance with regard to the role of brand orientation in manufacturing companies of Rasht Industrial Town. The statistical population of the research includes the manufacturing companies of Rasht Industrial City, 109 companies have been selected as a sample using random sampling method. A questionnaire containing 24 questions was used to collect information in the field. Also, from the structural equation test with the help of LISREL8 software. 53 was used to test research hypotheses. The findings of the research indicate the positive effect of market orientation directly and indirectly on branding and brand performance.
Keywords: branding, market orientation, brand performance.
Introduction
Attention to marketing activities as a tool to be present in the minds of customers and create an intellectual property called a brand is considered a new perspective in marketing science. Various researches have shown that the real value is not inside the product or service, but this value exists in the minds of real and potential customers and it is the brand that creates the real value in the minds of customers. It is for this reason that companies have paid special attention to brand and brand management (Gasemi Vaderzian Azizi, 2012). In recent years, many companies have come to believe that one of their most valuable assets is their product and service brands. In today's complex and challenging world, all people, both as an individual and as a business manager, are faced with ever-increasing options and efforts to reduce decision-making and choice time. Based on this, the ability of brands to simplify customers' decisions, reduce risk and define their expectations is very valuable. One of the duties of the senior management of any organization is to create strong brands that, while fulfilling their promises and commitments, improve their capabilities over time. By creating organizational differences between products through branding and increasing loyal customers, marketers create value beyond financial profitability for the organization (Asadullah et al., 2008). In the first chapter of the research, after stating the problem, the necessity and importance of the research will be discussed. Then the research questions and objectives are mentioned along with the theoretical framework of the research and finally the chapter will end with the conceptual and operational definition of the variables and the statement of the scope of the research.
1-2) Statement of the problem
Nowadays, brand is a strategic requirement for organizations that helps them in the direction of more value for customers and creating sustainable competitive advantages. Creating a strong brand in the market is the main goal of many organizations because a strong brand can increase the trust of customers when buying goods and services and help them to better understand intangible factors. In other words, it can be said that a strong brand is a valuable asset for the company. (Chen & Chang, 2008) In fact, having strong brands increases the company's competitiveness and increases its profitability. A look at the statistics of the world's top brands in 2011 shows this. In 2011, the Coca-Cola brand was able to get the first rank among the top 100 brands in the world. The value of the Coca-Cola brand is equivalent to 861.71 billion dollars. This high figure indicates the high value of the Coca-Cola brand among customers and also shows how much having a strong brand can generate income for the company. A company that deals with brand goods only as a brand name has neglected the nature of the brand's uses (Qasemi and Dar Ziyan Azizi, 2013). In this regard, the current research seeks to investigate the effective factors of brand performance from the point of view of the managers of production units located in the industrial city of Rasht. The concept of brand performance is generally focused on efficiency and effectiveness. Since companies must ultimately be profitable to continue and survive, financial efficiency in some forms (such as gross profit, net profit, etc.) has been used as the final result of performance in studies. But there are also definitions of performance that focus on or include effectiveness. For example, value created for the customer, sales level, market share, etc. that brand performance is also part of this group of indicators (Ghaffari Ashtiani, Karjalian, 2019). According to Wang and Merrils [1] (2008), brand performance means the degree of brand success in the market. According to them, three measures of brand awareness, brand image and brand loyalty have been introduced as brand performance evaluation indicators (Hirvonen & et al, 2013). On the other hand, the performance of the brand itself depends on various variables, including the degree of brand orientation in companies, and brand orientation has a direct and positive effect on brand performance. (Wong & Merrilees, 2008). Branding is a driving factor for brand-oriented companies that follow brand creation as an important issue in all their business decisions and orientations. This term emphasizes the use of marketing and human resources mix to stabilize the brand and create differentiation in the minds of customers (Hankinson, 2001). But this variable itself is also influenced by the degree of market orientation of companies. (et al, 2013 & Hirvonen). The theory of market orientation is one of the most basic concepts of marketing and its use improves the performance of companies (Dauda et al., 2010). Market orientation is a set of activities and behaviors that are the basis for companies' decision-making and is a part of the organizational culture of companies. It has a direct effect on the performance of companies (Rahab & Suliyanto, 2012). In the current research, market orientation has three dimensions. Customer-oriented, competitor
According to the mentioned cases, the main question of the research is as follows:
Does market orientation have an effect on brand performance with regard to the mediating role of brand orientation in the manufacturing companies of Rasht Industrial City?
The present research is based on the research conducted by Ahmed Vaqbal in 2013 and the research variables are: Brand performance as a variable Dependent, brand orientation as a mediating variable and market orientation as an independent variable. Also, the conceptual model of research will be mentioned in the theoretical framework section. 1-3) Importance and necessity of research. Available studies show that about 70% of the company's revenues can be attributed to the brand. Therefore, organizational performance and brand performance are highly related to each other (Azizi et al., 2018). Brands create sustainable competitive advantages for companies. If consumers perceive a brand well, the company has achieved a competitive advantage. Therefore, managers should have access to safe and reliable tools to create special brand value. In addition, brand management is also important in the full use of company assets to create more value in investments. The high costs of introducing a new brand and advertising and distribution are among the reasons for increasing the importance of the brand. Due to the continuous environmental changes in the marketing environment, branding is one of the best ways to do business. Successful branding provides a strong competitive position to manufacturers and at the same time increases the power of retailers (Prem, 2011). In this way, it is very important to identify the factors that directly or indirectly affect its brand performance. Considering that today the manufacturing companies of Rasht Industrial City have shown many efforts to provide better performance in the market and are trying to achieve this by using various techniques and tools. Therefore, the present research tries to provide appropriate solutions to improve their brand performance by examining the factors affecting the brand performance of these companies and in the framework of hypotheses that are consistent with the elements influencing the brand performance of the manufactured goods of these companies, emphasizing on brand orientation and market orientation. It is hoped that the production companies of the province will be able to create sustainable brands in the not too distant future by using scientific methods and will be able to act successfully in the international arena and in the field of export, which will lead to the acquisition of wealth and job creation for the worthy youth of the province.
Scientific objective: Investigating the effect of market orientation on brand performance, considering the role of brand orientation.
Practical objectives:
1.