JOURNAL OF BRAND MANAGEMENT
Year:2016 | Volume:4 | Issue:7 |Papers Count:6

AB2B brand and its equity, as the most valuable intangible asset of any corporation, andbecause of creating extraordinary advantages, has a significant impact on companies’ success andeffective relations with B2B customers. This study, usingby grounded theorymethod, aims to identify and explain underlying and intervening conditions, whichhaveeffect onbrand equity in B2B ICT (Information & Communication Technology) marketsin Iran as an emergent economy. Studydata gatheredby in-depth semi-structured interviewswith Iranian B2B marketing experts. Theoretical sampling applied and theoreticaladequacy obtained by 23 interviews. Data analysis and coding based on GroundedTheory methodology through open, axial and selective coding revealed thatunderlyingconditions affecting B2B brand equity in ICT consist of one market environmental dimensionand four macro dimensions including political, economic, social and technological. Furthermore, intervening conditions affecting B2B brand equity in ICT consist of twodimensionof B2B customer perspective, which are customer profile and B2B purchaseassessment criteria; and three corporate perspective, namely management attitude, B2B purchase profile and B2B sales department attitude. The creditability of the modelmeasured by applying fit and applicability indices; and internal credit confirmed by binomial test

Today business climate requires brands to be socially responsible. Cause-related brandshave risen from this thinking. They attempt to respond to stakeholders’ expectationsand contribute to injured parts of society, meanwhile try to direct customer’ s attitudetowards buying more. In this regard, the main purpose of the research is to study somemotives of cause-related buying which affect customer attitude and purchase intentiontowards cause-related brands. This descriptive/ survey research examines the relationshipsamong research variables by employing a researcher-made questionnaire, whosevalidity (construct and content)and reliability(Cronbach: 83/5% and split half: 77%)have been verified. Results show that motives can affect attitude towards cause-relatedbrands and subsequently may influence purchase intention. However, among threemotives, just company-based motives have influenced attitude and purchase intentionof cause-related brands. On the other hand, cause-related fit was the only factor thatcould moderate the relation between cause-related brand attitude and its purchasingintention.

Today, brand equity is not only a priority for most of brand owners, but also is appreciatedas an appropriate criterion for assessment of marketing activities’ productivity, and thus directing resources towards ones that create brand equity. So the propoundedquestion is that which marketing activities promote brand equity. The current study, which is a causal-descriptive type, wants to investigate the effects of sales promotionand brand personality on brand equity with regard to the moderator role of ethnicity. The research sample is 410 students of Azad university (khoozestan branch) which wereselected by using random sampling based on gender. By using a valid and reliable questionnaire, variables of the study (brand equity, sales promotion and brand personality)were measured for two mobile operators (Irancell and Hamrah-e-Aval). According to theresults which obtained through structural equations modeling by Smart PLC application, brand personality has a positive impact on brand equity, while sales promotion negativelyaffects it. Among all dimensions of brand equity, perceived value is the strongestpredictor of this construct. The simplicity facet of brand personality is also best predictorof it. The moderator role of ethnicity could not be verified in this study.

Because of the cost of introducing new products, and increased competition, manycompanies try to reduce their risk by using existing brand names, a strategy that calledbrand extension. While there are successful stories in applying brand extension strategy, the results are mixed. So, this study is to identify factors that affect the success of thestrategy, especially in FMCG market in Iran and help companies targeting this methodfor launching their new products. The statistical population of the study is FMCG companies, which operate in TehranProvince. While using qualitative approach and grounded theory, the study uses anon-probability sampling and gathered data through in-depth interviews with22 brandmanagers and owners in the industry. And after implementing coding process, eightfactors, (Quality; Attitude toward brand; Consumer`s characteristics; Availability; Marketingefforts; Parent brand`s category features; Parent brand`s features; and Fit) wereidentified as effective variables in introducing this method in Iran’ s market influences theacceptance of brand extensions in FMCG in Iran’ s market.

In recent years, construction of luxury apartments or condominiums has been soaredin Tehran regarding the population growth. In this way, some developers have tried tolaunch luxury buildings with a particular style and premium quality for branding purposesin this industry. This study aimed to investigate the effects of factors such as utilitarianvalue, hedonic value, symbolic value and economic value on the customer perceivedvalue and purchase behavior towards luxury buildings. This study is descriptive-correlationalresearch. To analyze the data distributed among a sample of residents of luxurybuildings in northern region of Tehran, structural equation modeling by Smart PLS, SEMand SPSS were used. Findings show that hedonic and economic values have a positive effecton customer perceived value, and customer perceived value has a positive effect oncustomer purchase behavior, but utilitarian and symbolic value did not have meaningfuleffect on customer perceived value.

While the traditional literature of brand communication addresses communication modelof a company and its consumers, a new model of consumer communication is focused on“ brand community. ” Due toexpansion of mass media and modern marketing, widespreadand growing access to corporate virtual communities have increased, and customers whoare pro-community tend to be loyal, committed, and willing to repurchase and, are moreexposed to brand information. This research investigates the impacts of value creationactivities in social media on customer repurchasing behavior through brand loyalty. Themethod is a descriptive-survey one. For this purpose, members of the virtual communityof Novin (a leather brand) in its Instagram page were selected as the statistical populationand the research data wascollectedfrom381 of them. A questionnaire was used tocollect data. The data analyzed by SPSS and Lisrel applications and the study’ s model wastested by structural equations model. The results show that value creation activities inconsumer societies enhance consumer-brand-consumer links and increase the level ofcommitment of the community, which ultimately increases consumer loyalty.