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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/02634509610152709. When citing the article, please cite: Leslie de Chernatony, (1996), “Integrated brand building using brand taxonomies”, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 14 Iss: 7, pp. 40 - 45.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the brand identity management process from the employees’ perspective. Specifically, it explores how the different dimensions of brand identity management influence employees’ attitudinal and behavioural responses.

An empirical study was carried out to test the proposed model. The sample consisted of 297 employees in the UK financial services sector. Hypothesis testing was conducted using partial least square regression.

Results indicate that effective brand identity management can increase employees’ identification with their organisations. Specifically, the most influential dimension is the employee-client focus. Results also show that organisational identification is a key variable to explain job satisfaction, word-of-mouth and brand citizenship behaviour.

This study focusses on the UK financial sector. To explore the generalisability of results, replication studies among other sectors and countries would be useful. The cross-sectional nature of the study also limits its causal inference.

This study shows the importance of brand identity management to foster positive employee attitudes and actions that go beyond their job responsibilities. The model developed may help organisations analyse the impact of managerial actions, monitoring the potential effects of changes in brand identity management amongst employees.

Although numerous conceptual frameworks highlight the importance of brand identity management, empirical studies in this area are scarce. The current work extends previous research by empirically analysing the effects of the dimensions of brand identity management from the employees’ perspective.

The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect that a brand extension strategy has on brand image. Specifically, the paper analyzes how variables related to the parent brand and the extension influence brand image after the extension. From a sample of 389 consumers the paper demonstrates that the extension strategy dilutes the brand image. Through a regression analysis it is shown that the perceived quality of the brand and consumers’ attitudes towards the extension positively influence both the general brand image (GBI) and the product brand image (PBI) after the extension. While familiarity with the products of the brand only affect the GBI, the perceived degree of fit affects the PBI.

“Brand architecture” is an organisation's approach to the design and management of its brand portfolio. Previous research, focused on the views of practitioners, identified a “multi‐corporate” approach in financial services, where a “family of main brands” was incorporated into an organisation's brand portfolio, often in the form of brands traditionally associated with separate companies. The current study seeks to provide contrasting insights from consumer data and to highlight the conceptual and practical implications of the findings.

A qualitative methodology was adopted for the study incorporating six focus groups containing an average of nine participants.

The findings from the current study offer empirical support for the conceptualisation of the corporate brand playing a predominant role in services markets. In doing so, the findings also suggest that the alternative conceptualization of a “multi‐corporate” approach advocated by practitioners and identified previously is not validated by consumer‐based research.

The context of the study reported may be limited by its restriction to a single category, financial services.

Practitioners' rationales for maintaining multiple brands are, in the main, undermined by the views of consumers. Organisations should consider rationalising their brand architecture in order to benefit from significant cost savings.

The consumer perspective on brand architecture is significantly under‐researched and as a result this paper provides valuable insights, and a significant contribution to existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the components of consumer‐based brand equity from the perspective of experts in brand management in the UK, Germany and Greece.

Data were collected from semi‐structured interviews with senior brand consultants and managers, five in the UK, five in Germany and five in Greece.

The findings suggested four categories of measures which can be used to define brand equity. These are the consumers' understanding of brand characteristics; consumers' brand evaluation; consumers' affective response towards the brand; and consumers' behaviour towards the brand. Specific dimensions are identified as indicators of each category.

Although the focus of this study is Europe, data were only collected from the UK, Germany and Greece, countries representing three of the five European cultural clusters. The resultant taxonomy adds to the fragmented literature on brand equity measurement by proposing four categories to gauge brand equity.

The suggested taxonomy provides indicators of a framework managers could use when assessing brand equity.

There is little agreement on what constitutes brand equity and therefore measures of brand equity are fragmented. To date, the views of practicing managers have not been taken into account in research. This paper draws on the views of practitioners and academics to suggest a taxonomy of categories of measures for brand equity.

A framework is presented to audit the five factors influencing brand success. The factors reviewed include the manufacturer, distributor, consumer, competitor and the wider marketing environment. To adopt an offensive brand distribution strategy this audit forms an input to evaluating how well matched are each of the firms′ brands with each distributor. By considering a matrix of brand strengths versus distributor attractiveness, brand investment programmes can be prioritised. It is concluded that by adopting a strategic perspective to branding, rather than the more naïve views of branding as design, naming or promotion, strategies to sustain the differential advantage valued by consumers should enhance the potential for brand success.

This paper aims to apply the business-to-business (B2B) Service Brand Identity (SBI) scale to empirically assess the influence of service brand identity on brand performance for the first time.

Based on data collected from 421 senior marketing executives, this paper applies the B2B SBI and structural equation modeling to fulfill the above purpose.

Brand personality and human resource initiatives have a positive and significant influence on brand performance. Corporate visual identity, in addition to an employee and client focus, has an insignificant impact on performance. Consistent communications have a negative and significant influence on brand performance.

Data were only collected from executives in the UK. This research would benefit from replicative studies.

This research empirically establishes the brand management activities that drive brand performance.

This is the first empirical study to assess the influence service brand identity has on brand performance.

This paper aims to explore the mechanism of brand internalisation when a brand transcends national borders. It focuses on the ways international and local managers interpret the brand, develop brand understanding and enact it through communication with other colleagues.

The research is based on a case study of IKEA in Russia and China during 2003‐2004.

The processes of brand conceptualising, comprehending and activating are identified, characterised by a weakening collective sense making amongst employees locally. Brand activating represents a discontinuity stage of brand internalisation when a shared brand understanding by employees becomes increasingly difficult to achieve. As such managers should broaden their brand contexts to include cultural elements and cues, involve local staff as well as adopt roles which facilitate collective sense‐making processes.

New research should explore local employees' brand experiences throughout their brand internalisation. It should also delve deeper into the ways they enact their brand in relationships with other local stakeholders.

The study argues that international managers need greater awareness of theirs' and local employees' roles in brand internalisation. Managers need to create common frameworks for sense making and work towards partnership relationships with local stakeholders.

This is an original paper of value to global retailers and other branded organisations.

This issue of Retail Insights focuses on the subject of branding. There are a number of retail reports that offer valuable insights into current trends in branding. Professor Leslie de Chernatony analyses UK consumers’ attitudes towards brand extensions in a survey commissioned by Ventura. The Brand Finance Report for 1999 provides interesting reading on brand values and the overall performance of companies last year. In addition, there are a collection of shorter reports on various new branding issues and abstracts of articles on the topic.

There are few valuable services brands, which may be due to the lack of services branding knowledge and the inappropriate use of product‐based branding advice. To contribute to services branding knowledge the authors undertook a review of the services management and services branding literature and postulated a model of services branding. In‐depth interviews with 28 leading‐edge consultants showed the appropriateness of this model. The study found a need for ruthless clarity about positioning and the corporation's genuinely felt values. Success is more likely when everyone internally believes in their brand's values. When management behaviour is based on genuine conviction, shared values are more likely. Through shared values, there is a greater likelihood of commitment, internal loyalty, clearer brand understanding, and importantly, consistent brand delivery across all stakeholders. By viewing these factors within a systems perspective, greater services brand consistency can result.