Authors
Teemu Moilanen
Publication date
2008
Publisher
Helsinki School of Economics
Description
Several industries have turned to a network form of organization to coordinate complex products or services in uncertain and competitive environments, and the network form of organization also appears to be becoming more common in the field of branding. Examples of brands formed by a network of independent firms include One-World and Star Alliance brands in the airline industry, Verbier and Chamonix ski destination brands in tourism industry and the Santa Foods brand in food production. Many of these networks are adopting branding techniques in an attempt to create competitive advantage, and thus aspire to create and manage a brand which is not a brand of a single product or a company, but a brand of the network itself. I use the term Network Brand to refer to this type of brand. One area in which Network Brands appear to be common is place marketing. Countries, cities and tourism destinations are increasingly competing in an attempt to attract tourists, new residents, businesses and investments into their areas. Many places are adopting branding techniques in an attempt to differentiate their identities and to emphasize the uniqueness of their offerings. This is accomplished by practices adopted largely from the models developed for branding simple physical goods by a single firm. These models may be ill-suited to branding tourism destination products, which are developed through complex networks of multiple service companies. If we accept the proposition that brands form pivotal resources for generating and sustaining competitive advantage (for instance Aaker 1989, 1991; Grönroos 2001; Keller 1993, 1998; Kotler 1999, 2003 …
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