Peter Doyle

An exploration of branding in industrial markets

Is branding important in industrial markets? To answer this question, the authors synthesize previous research in branding and related areas to develop a new conceptual model of industrial brand value to the customer. Expected brand value consists of four components: product performance, distribution (ordering and delivery) performance, support services performance, and company performance, with each component integrating both tangible and intangible elements. This model is then compared to the views elicited from in-depth interviews with manufacturers, distributors, and purchasers of precision bearings. This exploratory study of the decision-making process and the sources of industrial brand value highlights the importance of relatively intangible product and company attributes. The findings indicate that branding may play a powerful role, especially in industrial markets where it is increasingly difficult to maintain meaningful differentiation on the basis of product quality or price.

Building successful brands: The strategic options

The debate on whether to include brands on the balance sheet has created a new interest in branding strategies. Successful brands clearly generate higher returns on sales and on investment. But quality and service, rather than advertising, is the best way of creating such brands. Acquisition strategies frequently produce inconsistent portfolios of brands. The policy towards brand extension is shown to depend upon the similarity of positioning strategies between current and new brands.

Marketing in the new millennium

Considers the relevance and contribution of marketing to business performance in the new economic environment which makes the marketing positioning strategies of the 1980s look irrelevant. Considers the orientation of marketing departments towards line extensions rather than genuine new product development. Finds traditional marketing has been undermined by the reshaping of competition from firms to networks. Marketing is radically changing both in the numbers employed and in how, and where, they work. Claims marketing in the future will increasingly be about the management of internal and external networks geared to achieve effective core business processes.

Marketing and competitive performance: an empirical study

Hypothesises that high performance companies have a defined mission which includes specification of their target markets and broad goals. Competitive advantage is founded on customer satisfaction, which in turn is built on a market‐led strategy, effective systems and committed and empowered staff. All these building blocks are influenced by a changing and increasingly competitive international environment. Influential government reports on industrial competitiveness have ignored the contribution of marketing. This is partly because academics themselves have not shown the link between marketing effectiveness and business performance. Explores the contribution of marketing within a broader model of the determinants of competitiveness using an empirical study.

Building Successful Brands: The Strategic Options

Examines branding strategies in the light of the debate about whether brands should be included on balance sheets. Discusses the factors involved in the creation of successful brands and how brands work. Concludes that there are four levers for developing successful brands: quality, service, innovation, and differentiation, and that the danger of including brands in balance sheets is that it leads to weaker rather than stronger branding strategies.

Random utility models in marketing research: a survey

Abstract Random utility (RU) models are well-established methods for describing discrete choice behavior. Recently, there has been a strong upsurge in interest driven by advances in data gathering and estimation technology. This review paper describes the principles and issues, and develops a taxonomy of three major families of models. The paper summarizes and classifies the different approaches. The advantages and limitations of the various alternatives are outlined. Practical issues in implementing the models are also discussed.

Setting business objectives and measuring performance

Western companies tend to over focus on profitability as a measure of performance. Exceptional success on one such measure of performance invariably creates organisational instability because it implies minimising expectations. Peter Doyle introduces the notion of a tolerance zone whereby the firm matches the minimum expectations of all its key stakeholders. The task of management is to broaden this tolerance zone through creating a long-term mutuality of interest between potentially disparate stakeholder interests.

Valuing marketing's contribution

Marketing has not had the impact in the boardroom that its importance justifies. The major reason is that marketers have failed to show how marketing activities and costs influence shareholder value. Instead they have relied on metrics such as sales volume and customer awareness that are unrelated to financial performance. This paper redefines marketing in value terms and explains how shareholder value analysis can be used to demonstrate the importance of marketing, value brands and test marketing strategies.

Strategic orientation and corporate performance

Abstract In recent years British industry has shown a remarkable improvement in efficiency without a corresponding improvement in international market performance. This paradox is explored through detailed interviews with a large sample of British senior marketing executives. Two types of companies are distinguished: those orientated to long run market share and those more orientated to short run profit performance. The study suggests an increasing appreciation of the constraints of the latter approach. Interestingly, companies orientated to long term market share are shown to have not only superior market positions but also stronger financial performance.

A comparative study of British, U.S. and Japanese marketing strategies in the British market

This empirical study compares the marketing strategies and organisations of a matched sample of American, Japanese and local competitors in the British market. Japanese subsidiaries in Britain are shown to be much more marketing oriented, more single minded in their pursuit of market share and more alert to strategic opportunities than their U.S. and British counterparts. American subsidiaries appear less committed to the UK, home country oriented and, like their British competitors, excessively concerned with short term profit performance.