Foundations of Scholarship (MARK 1022)

Positioning and Branding your Organisation

Reg No: 000575587

INTRODUCTION
This essay would review and critically analyse the article relating it to different
literatures and authors’ opinion on different issues on positioning and branding of an
organisation. The major issues in branding, looking at branding as an organization and
as a product would be explained. And how customers see brand and how it influences
their purchasing decision.
In this essay, there would be a critical analysis of corporate branding relating the
opinion of Simon Knox with some other writers on corporate branding.
Literature view on corporate brand would be looked at critically and how it could be
applied by an organization in order to make the brand sustained by their customers so
as to get them loyal to them as their supplier.
Furthermore, how organization tend to get added value either to their brand or
customer value. Importantly, interest will be geared towards the need for an
organization to sells itself as a brand not just the product that they manufacture. This
could require the organization to manage their reputation effectively in order to
maintain customer value, and how organization should develop and market their
customer value propositions at a wider level. Emphasis would be placed on
understanding how organization perceives customer value, what determine a customer
purchasing decision. In ascertaining these, the organization would be able to maintain
and sustain this value in order not to create a gap that could cause them to loose value
expected from their customers.
Finally, this essay would look at the positioning of the organization; the effective
ways of positioning the organization, how to apply strategic positioning tools to
maintain the organizations reputation. Positioning is the process of influencing
perceptions by specifying the attributes or images which represent differentiation
( Kotler, 1997; Sujan and Bettman, 1989). Measurement of the organizations position
at the present and the image would be ascertained and how to create and maintain
market niche for the organization’s repositioning. Effort would be made to evaluate
how organization would apply the marketing mix strategy to carry out a good
positioning. Issues on how the organization can position its offer to determine
whether the positioning is based upon reputation, product and service performance,
product and customer portfolio or its network.

BRANDS AND BRANDING

A Brand is a name, items or symbol or combination that identifies a product and
differentiates it from those of competitors (Mc Donald et al, 2003). It could be either
company brand name or product brand name. For example: IBM, BMW, Cadbury are
all company brand names while Persil, Nescafe, Dulux and Fosters are examples of
product names. A brand name is not just a name on a product or service, it has been
identified as an entity that offers customers and other relevant parties’ added values
based on factors that extend beyond its functional performance. It is this added value
referred as brand value that differentiates products and helps determine customers’
preferences, affinity and loyalty.
A successful brand contributes immensely by adding values that motivate customers
to buy and buy again, thereby safeguarding and strengthening the organization and
providing a strong base for expansion into product development, added services and
new outlet. They also protect the organization against the treat which could be posed
by imitators, intermediaries and other competitors. Brand is a company’s’ asset and
with no proper investment depreciates in value (McDonalds et al, 2003). In view of
this, companies with successful brands tend to work consistently in providing for a
product of high value and quality to its customers who are willing to pays for it even
at high price because of its quality. On the other hand, an unsuccessful brand has poor
positioning, poor quality and poor support from the organization, this may be seen as
neglect of customers satisfaction and needs, this invariably places the organization in
a very disadvantaged or less competitive state with other competitors in the market.
Branding is a process that emphasises the importance of a comprehensive assessment
of a company, its customers, and competitors, creating a defined brand and
communicating the brand message clearly to all audience segments, managing the
brand over time and distance; and measuring results in a consistent and
comprehensive way (Gregory, 2004).
It may also be seen as a means by which a product can be recognised and identified;
this may entail improving the product in such a way that customers can differentiate it
from their competitors and make a quick purchase decision (Fill, 2005). This idea
holds that branding creates personalities and encapsulates the entire values of a
product. Hence through brand a product can be understood and appreciated by
customers. The benefit of brand is shared between the suppliers and the customers
alike. Customers appreciate that it helps them to recognise the preferred products; it
reduces the customers’ perceived risk and so enhances their confidence for a quality
shopping experience (Fill, 2005). The suppliers recognise that it allows premium
pricing and motivates customers to be loyal to it, as the product may be differentiated
effectively from its competitors, this thereby encouraging for repeat purchases (Fill,
2005)

BRAND PERSONALITY
According to Aaker (1997) cited in smith, et al (2006), brand personality can be seen
as the set of human characteristics that consumers attribute to a brand and these
include; (i) sincerity (down-to-earth, honest, wholesome and cheerful); (ii) excitement
(daring, spirited, imaginative and up till date); (iii) competence ( reliable, intelligent
and successful); (iv) sophistication (upper class and charming); and (v)
ruggedness(outdoorsy and tough). Other view points from Azoulay and Kapferer
(2003) cited in Smith (2006) considers brand personality as the set of human
personality traits which are both applicable to and relevant to a brands. An example is
a sports drink which is viewed as being ‘energetic’. From Smith (2006) point of view
what is very much relevant is the personality trait which is used to describe a brand
and not necessary whether the consumer is influenced by its personality.

CORPORATE BRANDING
Gregory (2004) define corporate brand as a product of long time experiences
organisations create with; employees, vendors, investors, reporters, communities and
customers and the emotional feelings these group develop over time as a result of
these. Gregory also reasoned that a strong corporate brand has a great number of
advantages; makes marketing more efficient, commands a premium price, makes it
easier for company to recruit talent, it increases a company appeal for financial and
investor market, it can slow or stop a market share erosion.
People association with a brand most times depends on experiences and this should be
very important to a corporation as this determines how customers patronise them or
recommend them for others.
Corporate brand involves the decisions of the managers to make the attributes of the
organisations identity well known through a clearly defined branding proposition
which underpins the organisations effort to communicate, differentiate and enhances
the brand through its stakeholder group and network (Balmer, 2001). He goes further
to argue that from the marketing angle, the traditional attention to the external
activities, controlled communication, branding, visual identification etc have for the
some time now focused on product activities rather than corporate activities. Knox
(2004) also emphasises that “the traditional marketing department can act as a barrier
to the marketing of the organisation brand if it does not support process management
in this broader approach to delivering customer value”. It is argued that organizations
are presently realizing that given each product its own clear identity and personality
while it is being marketed using the company’s name as its umbrella helps build
loyalty from the customers for the company. By this, customers become brand loyal
to that organization and not necessarily to a particular product. A number of
companies has built upon this idea to establish itself in the world market today, these
includes: Kellogg, Nestle, Coca cola and a host of others. Kellogg’s uses a multiple
product branding where each product range is given a clear identity and
characteristics yet it also marketed using the Kellogg’s name as an umbrella.
Knox (2004) portrays this using Nestle as an example after it acquired Rowntree.
Each of its brands now carries Nestle as its brand name which has drastically
increased their distribution. This invariably shows that corporate brand name of
Nestlé goes a long way of influencing customer decision making. The corporate brand
name goes a long way to earn the company the desired customers’ loyalty they seek.
For example, coca-cola calculates that the real value of its asset is based on its
corporate brand name, which has indeed built customer loyalty to it as a corporate
brand Knox (2004). The trust of corporate branding is the realization of managers that
giving their product a particular identity which is marketed under the company’s
name is what corporate branding portrays and it goes a long way in giving the brand
its desired place in the market. Companies are striving for sustainable attributes that
would differentiate their brands. Baiwise and Meeham (2004) cited in Chernatony and
Cottan (2008) advised on focusing on differentiation of brands.

Brand Management: McDonald (2003) affirms that brand management aims to

optimise the brand potential through managing its constituent parts carefully. It is
obvious that a strong brand re -assures the customer and giving confidence in terms of
quality and satisfaction that may be perceived through buying. In order to
management a brand effectively, there is need for a brand extension which will
enhance the brand ability to connect with its consumer directly to convey a set of
values. Ellwood( 2002 ) In deciding to extend your brand, you need to evaluate how
far you can profit from extending your brand without damaging the core brand
proposition.

BRAND VALUE AND CUSTOMER VALUE:

Weinstein (1999) defines the concept of value as the strategic driver that multinational
companies, as well as entrepreneurial firms, utilize to differentiate themselves from
the pack in the minds of customer.
Brand value may have been relevant in determining to a greater extent product
marketing, at an organizational level; it affects the perception of investors
and financial analysts, and subsequently plays a role in determining
the stock prices of firms (Simon and Sullivan, 1993). And at the
consumer level it has been associated with a positive behavioural
outcome, including purchase intent (Cobb-Walgrenet al., 1995).
Hence it could be argued that the value attached a particular brand
of a product
could be a driven force in positioning, for it to stand competitively among its
contemporary in the market.
Customer value is an important issue to company as the profitability and viability of
organizations according to Yamamoto (2001) depends on the efforts of increasing
diverse customer value. Contemporary business and organizations are recognised to
be faced with fierce competition and challenges following; increased customer
demands/taste, changing technology and innovation and increased new businesses in
the market. In view of this Knox (2004) recognises a shift in what customers view as
value, indicating that a superior customer value may go beyond company satisfying or
touching their customers in their services and products. Knox (2004) noted that
customer value is built upon customer contacts made through the company Web site
and in the tailoring of products and services sold over the Internet; from call centres
and help lines for product advice and complaints; the overall experience provides a
context for customers to evaluate and test the organisation’s image and reputation; its
ability to deliver against expectations.
Hence we may consider Yamamoto (2001) view on customer value as the total sum of
product value, services value, personnel value and image value. Weinstein (1999)
suggests that superior customer value means continually creating business
experiences that exceed customer expectations.
Customers’ loyalty has been considered to be an important determinant of profit
(Heskett, et al (2008).In view of this the business of today are very much inclined to
attracting customers using available marketing communication resources. Once the
customer is loyal to a particular brand following satisfaction in either the company or
the product as a result of favourable cost of the quality product and services, there is
usually a positive drive for such customer to patronise the product. It is imperative
then for an effort to be put in ensuring that customer value is maintained and managed
at all times.

BUILDING STRATEGIC MARKETING AND SUSTAINING CUSTOMER

VALUE:
It is very important that an organizations image, reputation and values are intact and
this generally may be argued to have a positive out-turn on customer value and overall
intent to patronise the company goods and services. Doyle (1989) cited in Knox
(2004) recognises that as the portfolio increases or the company diversifies into
different market segments, the risk of a service or product failing becomes magnified
with increasing scale and operational complexity; hence there will be a need for a
strategic marketing to optimise and upheld the viability of the company. The issue of
marketing strategy that best improve customer value enhance organizational
reputation and enhance profitability. Knox (2004) argues that while 4Ps marketing
remains central to product and sales strategies, the organisation’s marketing mix is
more appropriate in an environment where customer value is created through the
activities of the entire organization. The marketing strategies that may be discussed
which are important in securing and sustaining customer value are discussed under the
following headings: organizational positioning and brand positioning.

POSITIONING
Once an organization has determined its market segment and the target market, it
tends to decide how to position it appropriately to optimise the market and stand out
above its competitors. According to Kotler(1997) cited in Fill (2005), ‘Positioning is
the act of designing the company’s offering and image so that they occupy a
meaningful and distinct competitive position in the target customers minds’.
In essence, positioning is all about what the customer thinks or feels about the product
or the organization but not only all about the product itself.
From Fills (2005) point of view, positioning is a process whereby the product or
organizations communicate its information in a way that objective is understood by
the stakeholders or customers; this will be differentiated from the competitors so as to
occupy its space in the market. Recently, many organizations are working towards
maintaining the positions their brands occupy, and in managing that try to employ
decisive positioning strategies to retain this position in the minds of their customers.
This is very crucial in marketing a product following the definition of Vanderveer
(2007) on positioning which emphasise that organization desires its product to be
placed in the customers’ mind in order to achieve maximum utilization. Ideally,
positioning forms a fundamental base for marketing strategy, marketing a product a
product and occupies an internal expression of purposes which drives the
improvement of all subsequent marketing communication (Vanderveer (2007).

ORGANISATIONAL POSITIONING
Organisational positioning favours a decisive focus of action by exploring the internal
branding, which entails the way in which brands and brand management are
interpreted in the organization (Hankinson, 2004). It could be reasoned out that brands
that have been focused externally pay attention to customers and stakeholders and try
to recognise as well as satisfy their specific needs. However, internal branding which
is considered as new concept favours increasing interest in internal market. This
according to Ahmed et al, (2002) cited in Hankinson, (2004) argues that brand
commitment and performance by employee can lead to the customer recognising the
company and as well could perceive it as a brand in itself, this indeed is beneficial to
the company as customer value for the organization is increased.
It could be argued that internal quality of any working environment generates
customer satisfaction, and this is determined by the belief an employee has about his
or her job, co workers or even the company (Heskett et al, 2008).
Internal marketing is also been characterised by people’s attitude towards one another
in terms of the services they offer to another. Meanwhile, the internal service quality
of an organization is links directly to the employees’ satisfaction. This was further
emphasised by Heskett et al (2008) as showing chain of service profit that established
a relationship between profitability of the organization, customer loyalty and then
productivity. There is a link which follows that service – profit chain which can also
be regarded as proposition for the profit growth of the company is directly enhanced
by customer loyalty which is as a result of customer satisfaction. This satisfaction
may also be stimulated by the value of services customers derive from employees
who are satisfied, loyal and productive in their services to the organization. Knox
(2004) outlines elements that contribute to environmental influence in marketing like;
Reputation: This is the reputation of a company, how customers view the company
and its product and services. It is not necessarily what customer thinks, but also the
shareholders, supply chain and even the society. Maitland, (2003). A company’s good
reputation is a basic requirement for the success of its organisation’s brand.
Product and Customer Profile: There is need for the organisation to identify who
their target customers are in order to serve and also make sure that its product and
services on offer reflect closely to their demand and expectations. Knox (2004)
Product and Service Performance: This is an aspect of corporate branding which is
mainly concerned with business being viewed as serving the customer rather than
selling just the branded product. Knox (2004) argues that the manipulation of brand
marketing cannot override fundamental weakness in the product or services of the
company.
Network Management; there are other networks that a business need to be managed
effectively, the product or service of the company are likely to rely on the
performance of these other networks. Knox (2004) used an airline to depict this issue
where its network evolves around other services he receives at the airport like taxis,
car hire etc.

BRAND POSITIONING
This involves concerted efforts aimed to promote a brand that differs from that of the
competitors and ensures the brand has a specific position in the market and is of value
to the customers (Virtsonis, 2009). Importantly this could be achieved through some
strategic marketing communication directed to the target audience.
In positioning the organizational brand, there are important processes that creates
customer value through the organizational marketing mix, these are as follows and
would be discussed further;
a. Customer Development: This is one of the core processes for positioning the
organization in order to gain customer value. This is confirmed by Dussange et al
(1992) cited in Ekdahl et al (1999) that the customer focus is the prerequisite for
efficient development of activities. This requires that the customer needs be
determined and a concerted effort be channelled towards improving those needs, this
invariably helps build up strong customer value for the organization. There is a
requirement also for managers of organization to empower its workforce by allowing
them do their best by encouraging taken personal responsibility for duties and
allowing and trusting them in taking some decisions involving the company. Ekdahl
et al, (1999) argues that such empowerment of staff helps the organization to stand a
better chance of getting the best of its customers by ensuring their satisfaction and for
the unsatisfied customers; they may be won back easily to the company by concerted
effort of the organizational workforce. Knox (2004) has importantly emphasised that
efficient customer development and the organization managing efficiently its asset
improves brand value and invariably ensures customer satisfaction.
b. Asset Management: Using First Direct, Knox (2004) tries to illustrate that their
brand are delivered through an effective asset management, which upholds a position
based upon product/ service performance, that is “customers moment of truth”,
c. Resources Transformation: This developed in an organisation so as to meet the
broad need of the customer both in financial and non financial areas.
d. Supply Chain Partnership: is one of the most popular hybrid organisational forms
(Powell, 1987 cited Maheshwari et al, 2006) which have been adopted by company in
order to manage the inter-organisational collaboration in their supply chain. If the
supply chain partnership is successfully formed, nurtured and managed by an
organisation it becomes a factor that will influence an outstanding performance
(Spekman et al 1998)
e. Marketing Planning; Marketing planning can improve organisation’s ability to
handle the complexities of their business environment, thus relieving tangible
economic benefit (Dibb, et al 2001). There process of marketing planning which is
believe that all bushiness use to prioritise their opportunities and strategies in order to
develop marketing activities and enforce massive business direction (Dibb et al.,
1997)

THE CRITICAL REVIEW:

Strength and weakness of the article: Almost every academic works are bound to
have area of strength and weakness. The way in which the article was presented
would be examined. Taking a close look at the background of the author, the abstract,
introduction body and conclusion of the article
Background of the author: Simon Knox is a professor at the institute of Advance
Research In marketing, Cranfield School of management, Crangield University,
Cranfield UK. He is well informed in this field.
Abstract: The abstract of this article has been well presented because it gives a
succinct summary of the purpose of the article. In order to ascertain the quality,
reliability and source of the article many researchers read the abstract of an article. He
points out that for an organisation to have a broader view of customer value there’s
need for a shift beyond the traditionally 4Ps in brand marketing.
Introduction: The introduction has a good link with abstract, the author allowed a
connection between the two which helped to maintain the readers’ interest in reading
the article.
Body: The author explores different angles of branding in a broad way, how a brand
value generates customer value. He used different organisation as an example to
illustrate the transition in brand marketing, how the managers of the organisation
contributes in the building of a strong brand value to realise customer value. Knox
have use First Direct and lots of diagram to illustrate his ideas which is a weakness
to the article as some reader may not see this diagrams in the same light with him, to
some it could be a waste of time and distracting. In the authors bid to explain the
issues evolved around the topic, he stretched so wide that from the beginning of the
main body some readers may get frustrated and would want to jump the conclusion.
Conclusion: The conclusion gives direct view of the purpose of his article and what
he wants CEO’s of company to know about their firm, brand and even staff. It
summarizes the augment that managers have a great responsibility in positioning their
organisation as a brand as well as the product the offer. The conclusion is quite
helpful, the reader would easily fit in line of the major points Knox tried to portray.
Parts of the strength of the article are that it is well researched as the references are
easy to go through. It is also well structured.

CONCLUTION:
The positioning and branding of an organisation by Knox has come to stay. A
reflection on the article gives a broader and wide opportunity to look at the argument
being put forward. The internal and external branding of an organisation, how internal
branding leads to external brand and the organisation’s desired goals and targets are
realised (Hesekett, et al, 2008). Knox is totally right as internal service quality affects
the whole of the service the company offer which in turn generates the huge profit and
customer loyalty to desire. The article also suggests some framework which if applied
should reveal the organisation’s positioning and its delivery of the brand value aligns
to the key customer’s segments value expectation

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