Andreas Strebinger

The effect of e-commerce on the integration of IT structure and brand architecture

Abstract.  A companys information technology (IT) structure and its brand architecture are intended to minimize transaction costs both within the organization and between the organization and its customers. Business‐to‐Consumer (B2C) e‐commerce fundamentally alters the structure of those transaction costs relevant to the IT structure and the brand architecture. We conducted a survey among 102 chief information officers and chief marketing officers in 67 of the 100 most important B2C enterprises in Austria. The results show that companies typically implement a certain set of changes in the IT structure and the brand architecture if B2C e‐commerce is highly important to them and that these changes result in a stronger integration within and between the IT structure and the brand architecture. B2C e‐commerce projects thus require closely aligned conceptual, organizational and financial measures in both areas.

Werbe- und Markenforschung

Henry Bartel • Carsten Baumgarth • Florian Becker Sigrid Bekmeier-Feuerhahn • Manfred Bruhn • Sandra Diehl Salima S. Douven • Franz-Rudolf Esch • Alexander Fischer Gereon Friederes • Andrea Gröppel-Klein • Arnold Hermanns Stephanie C. Kiendl • Richard Köhler • Dietrich Kropfberger Ernest Kulhavy • Helmut Kurz • Wolfgang Mayerhofer • Josef Mazanec Gernot Mödritscher • Bruce I. Newman • Thomas Otter • Tanja Ringle Lutz von Rosenstiel • Henrik Sattler • Anja Spilski Hartwig Steffenhagen • Andreas Strebinger • Kristina Strödter Anke Trommershausen • Franziska Völckner • Martin Waiguny Peter Weinberg • Junichi Yoshida

Rethinking brand architecture: a study on industry, company- and product-level drivers of branding strategy:

Purpose – This study aims to compare academic prescriptive models on how to choose a branding strategy on the continuum from a “branded house” to a “house of brands” with real-life branding strategies of leading companies. Design/methodology/approach – Data from an executive survey, observations and desk research on 75 leading companies in Austria are analysed with multilevel weighted least squares (WLS) regression. Findings – Branding strategies for products are determined by industry (23 per cent of variance), the overall strategy of the company (28 per cent), the remaining variance being product-level decisions deviating from both. Service and consumer durables companies lean more towards corporate branding than consumer nondurables. On the company level, synergies in advertising, e-commerce and e-CRM (customer-relationship management) increase the usage of shared brands. A higher company age leads to brand proliferation. On the product level, quality differences between products, the emphasis on and d...

E‐Adequate Branding: Building Offline and Online Brand Structure within a Polygon of Interdependent Forces

Due to the new Web‐based forms of communication and customer interaction, the Internet directly impacts corporate branding strategies through the concept of e‐branding. Further, the Internet may al...

Prioritizing Geo-References: A Content Analysis of the Websites of Leading Global Luxury Fashion Brands

ABSTRACT The current study investigates the extent to which various types of references to geographic entities are being used in communications with consumers on global websites of 15 leading luxury fashion brands. Using the Relevance-Distinctiveness-Believability framework, we posit that references to country of brand origin and to relatedness to developed Western countries are the most distinct and relevant and will be used more frequently than references to brand globalness and non-Western developed countries. We also suggest that Caucasian (i.e., “White”) models will be depicted more frequently than other ethnicities to further connect brands to Western countries. The analysis of 3,750 explicit-verbal, implicit-verbal, and non-verbal geo-references supports our predictions. These results suggest that, at least for the luxury fashion industry, the value of references to the country of brand origin and to the brands relatedness to Western countries is substantially higher than the value of brand globalness. The article discusses the applicability of the RDB framework for prioritizing different types of geo-references and suggests venues for future research.

B2C-E-Commerce als Treiber simultaner Veränderungen in IT-Struktur und Markenarchitektur

KernpunkteIT-Struktur und Markenarchitektur verbindet das Ziel der Minimierung von Transaktionskosten innerhalb des Unternehmens sowie zwischen Unternehmen und Kunden. B2C-E-Commerce verändert die Zusammensetzung der für IT-Struktur und Markenarchitektur relevanten Transaktionskosten tief greifend. Eine Untersuchung unter 101 IT-und Markenverantwortlichen in 67 der 100 wichtigsten B2C-Unternehmen in Österreich belegt, dasseine hohe Bedeutung von B2C-E-Commerce für ein Unternehmen zu typischen Bündeln an Veränderungen in IT-Struktur und Markenarchitektur führt, welche in Richtungeiner stärkeren Integration innerhalb und zwischen den beiden Strukturelementen weisen. B2C-E-Commerce-Projekte erfordern daher ein hohes Maß an konzeptioneller, organisatorischer und finanzieller Abstimmung der Maßnahmen in beiden Bereichen.AbstractWe analyze the influence of B2C e-commerce on IT structure and brand architecture based on conceptual considerations, a case study and an empirical survey. We first discuss the changes in transaction costs that are induced by B2C e-commerce. The effects of B2C e-commerce on IT structure and brand architecture, which are anticipated from a transaction cost perspective, are illustrated using a case study from the tourism industry. We conducted a quantitative study among 101 chief information officers (CIOs) and chief marketing officers (CMOs) from the most important consumer brand companies in Austria. The results of a correspondence analysis show that a high importance of e-commerce triggers a typical bundle of changes in IT structure and brand architecture, which point toward a stronger integration within and between these two structural elements. We therefore conclude that B2C e-commerce calls for a better coordination of those measures that impact IT structure and brand architecture.

Darstellung der Marken-Modelle im Detail

Nachfolgend werden die Modelle der identifizierten Cluster ausfuhrlich dargestellt. In Anschluss an die Beschreibung eines Marken-Modells wird dieses kritisch gewurdigt. Der Abschnitt ist folgendermasen gegliedert: In Abschnitt 5.1 werden die Markenstrategie-Modelle dargestellt, in Abschnitt 5.2 die Markenwert-Modelle, in Abschnitt 5.3 die Wertekongruenz-Modelle, in Abschnitt 5.4 die Quantitativen Marken-Positionierungsmodelle, in Abschnitt 5.5 die Qualitativen Marken-Positionierungsmodelle und in Abschnitt 5.6 die Marken-Kommunikationsmodelle.

Ergebnisse der quantitativen Analyse

Im folgenden Kapitel sind die Ergebnisse der Clusteranalyse und der Multidimensionalen Skalierung beschrieben. Zu Beginn werden die Eigenschaften des gesamten „Marktes“ der Marken-Modelle dargestellt. Anschliesend erfolgt die Darstellung der identifizierten Cluster. Jedes der Cluster wird detailliert beschrieben.

Vorgehensweise bei Erhebung und Analyse

Bevor mit der Suche nach Marken-Modellen begonnen werden konnte, musste zuerst der Untersuchungsbereich abgesteckt werden. Zusatzlich zu den in Kapitel 2 definierten Anforderungen an ein Marken-Modell wurden fur unsere Untersuchung folgende Kriterien definiert: Das Marken-Modell bietet einen minimalen Grad an Formalisierung in der Formulierung der Aussagen zu Prozess, Inhalt oder Methode der Markenfuhrung. Der Anbieter des Marken-Modells ist ein privatwirtschaftliches Unternehmen, das im deutschsprachigen Raum aktiv ist. Das Marken-Modell zielt auf eine Steigerung des Markenwertes ab und ist im Business-to-Consumer-Bereich anwendbar5.