Following the announcement by Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, regarding the continuation of the $85 bn per month stimulus program, the economies world over heaved a sigh of relief. The business world, which was struggling before this decision was announced, got a renewed and rejuvenated impetus to formulate strategies for the coming future. With the zest coming back to the business and economic arena, insights generated by cutting-edge research are again in vogue.

In the first paper, “The Sins of Brand Portfolio Management”, the author, Henrik Uggla, discusses various forbidden sins within brand portfolio management—never substitute brand identity with platform capitalization, never sell aligned brands, never reduce the brand portfolio to a marketing aspect alone, and do not confuse brand equity with brand value. According to the author, these sins are more common than expected, and perhaps they are not mutually exclusive, and instead they build on each other in a most cumulative fashion. The author proposes an open-ended attitude, a strong brand identity, and clear and concise brand portfolio objectives to help the brands and the brand portfolio to thrive.

The next paper, “The Morocco Brand Through the Eyes of Its Emigrants”, by Fatimazohra El aouni, Rosalía Cascón Pereira and Ana B Hernández Lara, explores the main elements of the Morocco brand transmitted by Moroccan emigrants and their perceptions of their influence on the construction of the Morocco brand as a tourist destination. As per the analysis, the most relevant factors of the Morocco brand transmitted by the emigrants to the local population in Spain are landscape, nature, beaches, mountains, gastronomy and climate, as tangible attributes of the country brand; and hospitality, tradition, joy and multiculturalism, as intangible attributes. The authors believe that these attributes together can be considered as the content of the Morocco brand constructed by emigrants. According to the authors, emigrants think that they exert a strong influence on the construction of their country brand, and that the message they transmit of their country is positive, clear and consistent.

In the third paper, “The Brand Value of FM Channels in Indore: A Comparative Analysis”, the author, Rekha Attri, attempts to carry out a comparative brand value analysis of different FM radio channels with special reference to Indore. The author uses the Brand Asset Valuator model developed by Young and Rubicam (1980) for analysis. The paper provides many interesting and insightful results which would enable effective strategy formulation.

The authors, Johannes Rid and Waldemar Pfoertsch, in their paper, “Ingredient Branding of Industrial Goods: A Case Study of Two Distinct Automotive Suppliers”, provide insights as to whether successful ingredient branding can be transferred to industries where it has not been a common phenomenon. The industry which they have chosen is automotive suppliers. Two major companies in the automotive industry—Autoliv and Bosch—have been analyzed in the paper. According to the authors there is enormous potential for B2B companies in the field of ingredient branding. According to them, in the purchasing decision of potential car buyers, the ingredient ABS, provided by a strong ingredient manufacturer (e.g., Bosch), could have led to the buying preference of a specific car, adding to the supplier’s reputation and revenue.

Finally, the research note, “Status of Luxury Branding in India”, by Y Hemantha, addresses the reasons as to why the concept of luxury branding is in its nascent stage in India. In addition to this, attempts are made to understand the nature of luxury and luxury branding by critically analyzing the existing literature on the same and extending the concept without contradicting the existing managerial concepts to arrive at factors likely to be responsible for luxury branding in Indian companies. The author concludes that the people of India are aware of luxury brands, and though they are willing to buy luxury brands, they are skeptical about buying luxury products because of the higher cost. The Indian consumers are very price-conscious and lack a clear understanding about the elements associated with luxury.

- Nitin Gupta
Consulting Editor