Branding a B2B service: Does a brand differentiate a logistics service provider?

Existing research has shown that strong brands serve as an important point of differentiation for firms, assisting customers in their evaluation and choice processes. Although there is considerable research on the branding of consumer goods and an increasing literature on industrial and service bran...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Industrial marketing management 2008-04, Vol.37 (2), p.218-227
Main Authors: Davis, Donna F., Golicic, Susan L., Marquardt, Adam J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
B2B brand equity
B2B services
Brand equity
Brand image
Business studies
Business to business commerce
Customer services
Evaluation
Freight forwarding
Logistics
Logistics services
Service industry
Services branding
Studies
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Summary:Existing research has shown that strong brands serve as an important point of differentiation for firms, assisting customers in their evaluation and choice processes. Although there is considerable research on the branding of consumer goods and an increasing literature on industrial and service brands, little is known about branding in the context of business-to-business services. This research extends existing brand theory to a new setting, namely B2B services. Drawing on the results of two mail surveys, we examine B2B services branding in the context of logistics services. Findings suggest that brands do differentiate the offerings of logistics service providers and that brand equity exists for this commodity-like B2B service. Findings also support the extendibility of Keller's [Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity. Journal of Marketing, 57(1), 1–22] brand equity framework into the logistics services context. However, results of this study show that; logistics service providers and their customers have different perspectives on the relative influence of brand image and brand awareness on brand equity. Implications of these findings for managers and directions for future research are offered.
ISSN:0019-8501
1873-2062
DOI:10.1016/j.indmarman.2007.02.003