Strategic Planning – Understanding the Competitive Value of Your Brand

September 30, 2012 By

Strategic Planning – Understanding the Competitive Value of Your Brand

Brand IS a competitive advantage

One of the most commonly overlooked sources of competitive advantage is brand. Branding is not just advertising, nor is it simply a catchy name for a company or product. The most important value in a brand is the value that it holds for actual customers. This value is very difficult and expensive to build – and fragile and easy to destroy. The difficulty of building and maintaining a brand is one reason why managers the world over tend to avoid spending much time or money on branding – especially in smaller companies. This is a shame, because a well-managed brand is so powerful that it can overcome almost any other competitive advantage. This one fact is the reason why larger companies with lots of managerial horsepower tend to spend a lot of time and money on branding.

What makes a brand valuable?

Brands are valuable simply because they cause customers to be inclined to purchase your product rather than someone else’s. In a way, a brand is shorthand for the things the customer can expect from your product. In products that hold little meaning for the customer, this might be worth less, but in markets where the customer invests his or her ego in the purchase of a particular brand, that meaning can be priceless. Let’s look at some examples to see where branding may or may not be important.

First of all, let’s look at some examples of brands with tremendous pull. These brands will sell well just about anywhere they show up, because the customer associates the brand with qualities they prefer. Examples include:

Disney

Nintendo

Sony

Harley Davidson

Apple

Interestingly, none of these brands has universal appeal, in that not every possible customer will prefer the attributes of the brand over their alternatives. For example, the Disney brand is applied to many products:

Theme Parks

Movies

Licensed products such as clothing and toys

Computer games

Time shares

Cruise line

Broadway shows

Television programming

In each of these very different product areas, the Disney brand means something a little different. For example, in theme parks, Disney means clean, family-oriented, creatively designed, expensive and (to many) crowded. The negative elements of the Disney branding in their theme park business are inevitable – you always have to accept the negative with the positive. But the positive elements are so compelling that millions of people from around the world spend a significant portion of their income to travel to a Disney theme park.

The Apple brand has a similar story. Apple carries a number of meanings, including well designed, easy to use, less popular and expensive. As with any great brand, this brand has a lot of ego invested in it for some people. This aspect of branding is more visible in computers because it is significantly more difficult and time consuming to use a computer operating system that isn’t the most popular (in other words, Microsoft). Despite this difficulty, Apple has a hard core of fans who wouldn’t think of using another brand, given a choice. Clearly, this doesn’t translate into top market share for Apple, but it is a significant advantage that has clearly kept the Apple name alive when others have fallen by the wayside. Apple’s newer products – notable the iPod – have drawn upon the positive elements of the Apple brand. The negative elements of the Apple brand have been far less problematic for the iPod because it is competing in a new product area where niche status has not been seen as a drawback. This is an excellent example of using a brand to grow beyond the core product line.

Why branding is important in the global marketplace

In an increasingly global market, branding can serve two distinct functions that may be useful to you: first, a “local” brand gives you and entrenched customer base that is more difficult (and expensive) to displace, and second, a “global” brand can give you a foot in the door when seeking to enter new geographic areas. Be forewarned: building a “global” brand is expensive, and often a “local” brand can be just as costly. Even so, the brand can be a useful offensive tool and defensive tool when you are competing with non-local companies.

There is one reason why “local” brands can be more cost-effective, and a good tool for defending your home turf from foreign competition: brand success is built upon three critical factors:

1. Understanding the key values in the mind of your customer

2. Knowing how to put the customer’s values into your product or service

3. Effectively associating your brand with those values

Two of these factors, understanding your customer and associating your brand with values, are very much defined by culture. Thus, someone from outside your culture – and this could even be someone who speaks the same language from a different region – will find it much more difficult to get an accurate read on what your customer’s key values are, and how to convince the customer that his product or service embodies those values. This is not saying that a foreign competitor cannot do this – just that it’s a lot more expensive and difficult.

How to evaluate your brand

Objectively evaluating your brand is difficult, especially if you want to put an exact dollar number on it. Fortunately, this is usually not required for good strategic decision making. Still, it’s a good idea to have at least a general concept of the value of your brand when you are considering strategic options.

The most objective way to evaluate your brand is to measure the outcomes that occur with and without the use of your brand. Sometimes this is simple, because the way you market may well lend itself to testing different hypothesis about your brand. For example, a seminar company might test mailing brochures that feature (or don’t feature) specific brands, to find out the extent to which one of those brands is pulling in attendees at the seminars. Likewise, if you have the wherewithal, you might go so far as to test selling a “generic” version of your product in the marketplace to see if it can carry the same price as your current brand – at acceptable volumes. This is a little more difficult with retail products, as some retailers will insist on only stocking brand name products on their shelves. In addition, retail stores – especially large chains – typically demand some kind of compensation for the use of their shelf space, which makes retail brand testing quite expensive.

If testing is out of the question, you can also approximate brand value by looking at the popularity and price of competing brands with little or no brand power. If you don’t have an absolutely generic “no-name” competitor, it can be difficult to be objective about this – after all, how do you decide which competitor has the least brand power? Also, there may be some confusion about value because there are several components to the success of a brand:

Brand Sales = (Cost + Margin) * Volume

If you were to attempt a calculation of brand value, you would be faced with extracting non-brand factors which affect these three numbers. For example, cost can go up or down depending on operation skills, management, underlying cost structure, and purchasing skills. Margin may be driven by brand power, pricing skill, and power in the distribution/retail channels. And volume can be affected by both cost and margin, brand power, and distribution network, as well as underlying demand for the products or services being offered.

Even so, at the end of the day your brand gets you one of two measurable outcomes: margin or volume. Comparing your margins to the competition is one way to assess the value of your brand, if you take heed of the caveat about other factors which may change margin. Comparing volume is less likely to yield a good estimate of brand value, because you can – in many markets – drive higher volumes with no brand value at all by charging lower prices. This, by the way, is a terrible strategy to be following if you are concerned about cheaper foreign competition, because there are significant costs that you simply will not be able to beat your foreign competitors on.

So your brand isn’t that valuable – is there hope?

In some cases, companies run into a “brick wall” when they objectively evaluate their own brand. This can be caused by a number of factors, but the outcome is the same: some brands just don’t mean anything to the customer, and so do not carry any premium in the marketplace. Naturally, such brands offer little defense against inexpensive foreign competition, and companies that rely too heavily on brand power that doesn’t really exist inevitably get into hot water as foreign competition uses its compelling power – the lower price – to erode the market share of domestic competitors.

Is there a “crash course” way to build brand? Yes – but it’s inherently risky and not for the faint of heart. This is because branding is driven by the brains of our customers, not our desires. In order to build a strong, positive awareness of your brand in a hurry, you will have to do something that stands out. By “stands out” we don’t mean “is a bit better” – we mean something that is truly remarkable, or, in other words “worthy of remark”. Customers don’t make remarks about brands that are a little better – they remark on differences that they find really interesting.

An excellent example of something remarkable is the Honda Element. This is a truly distinctive design in the overcrowded sport utility vehicle market. The design is, in fact, so unusual that it almost never made it into production. Marketing people at Honda were extremely uncomfortable that the design was so different from any other brand in the SUV market that they wanted to scrap it. The designers won the fight to manufacture a small number of Elements as a “niche” product, along with a more mainstream design. By the end of the first year of production, the Element was outselling the “safe” design by five to one!

The lesson here is clear: if you are behind some savvy competitors, you should be prepared to seriously consider strategic options that make you uncomfortable. We wouldn’t recommend betting the farm on outlandish new brands – in most cases – but we would suggest that having one or two every couple of years might just push your brand into the lead by giving you a reputation for having edgy, innovative products.

Copyright 2007 by Center for Simplified Strategic Planning, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan – Reprint permission granted with full attribution.

Strategic Planning – Understanding the Competitive Value of Your Brand

Strategic Planning - Understanding the Competitive Value of Your Brand

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Antique Bottle Value

September 18, 2012 By

Antique Bottle Value

Most of the antique collectors are confused about how to determine antique bottle values. If you are an antique collector, this comprehensive guide helps you to know how to determine the antique bottle value. Let us check this topic in detail.

According to antique colleting experts, one can determine the antique bottle value by checking the following factors. All these factors are not sufficient always to make an antique bottle valuable. Antique bottle value is determined by checking whether the bottles have one or more of these value factors.

Given below are the main factors which determine the antique bottle value:

o Demand and supply

o Age

o Condition

o Rarity

o Size

o Color

o Category

o Design and embossing

o Esthetic appeal

o Historic significance

o Individuality

o Locale

Demand and supply of the antique bottle

Demand and supply of antique bottle is the first factor which determines the antique bottle value. For example, milk bottles as well as soda bottles with beautiful labels, mostly built after the turn of the century, has become a favorite collectible antique item recently. The main reason for the increase in the antique bottle value is the demand and excellent supply of these items antique bottles of different types.

Age of the antique bottle

Age of the bottle is an important factor which determines the antique bottle value. Collectible antique bottles are mainly divided into different periods to determine the value. The ‘Open Pontil’ bottles are considered as the earliest in America, which are made between 1600 and 1850. The ‘Iron Pontil’ bottles are generally built from 1840 to 1865. ‘Smooth Based’ bottles are those which were created after the American Civil War and before the World War I. While all those bottles which were created ahead of the turn of the century are completely or partly hand made and shaped. Generally after 1914, the bottles were made by machines.

Condition

Just like any other hobbies, antique bottle collectors also need items in the original condition. Bottles which are in their original condition have good antique values. Generally chips and cracks will decrease the antique bottle value. Bottles with wrappers, original labels, and boxes will help to raise the antique bottle value.

Rarity

Rarity also determines the antique bottles value. Rarity alone will not make an antique bottle valuable – it is seen that there are numerous rare bottles which are not as expensive as there is no demand for them. So if you are a novice antique collector, it is better to consult antique specialists or other collectors to know about the rarity and demand of the antique bottles.

Size

Size is another factor which determines the antique bottle value. Even though the size is less important when compared with the other factors, it influences the price of the bottle. Large sized antique bottles bring more money when compared with small antique bottles. For example, large cathedral pickles, large sized Pontil medicines, large bitters, and half gallon jars have high antique bottle value.

Color

The color of the bottle also determines the antique bottle value in various ways. Antique bottles boast a wide variety of colors for which attracts the collectors. Antique bottle value will be high for those bottles with rare and remarkable colors. Some of the popular antique bottle colors include amber, aqua and a wide range of greens (such as olive green, blue green, teal, and emerald). One of the rare colors for antique bottle is cobalt (blue). Hence antique bottles of cobalt color are highly expensive.

Design and Embossing

Without beautiful embossing and design, a bottle with common color will not get any demand. That is, the antique bottle value will be less for these types of bottles. But there are some exceptions – if the bottle is very old, rare or have any historic value, then it will have high antique bottle value. Embossing will add valued to antique bottles. The place where embossing is done is also significant. For example, if the embossing is on the center and can be seen from the front view, then the antique bottle value will be high.

Esthetic Appeal

Esthetic appeal of an antique bottle is entirely subjective. Generally antique bottles which are beautiful in shape, design, or color will yield more demand. Labels with eye-catching graphics or color, neural fancy panels, and crudity can increase the demand of a bottle which results in the antique bottle value.

Historical Significance

The historical significance of a bottle can increase the antique bottle value. That is the combination of age, rarity, color and historical significance can increase the antique bottle value.

Individuality

As antique bottles are generally hand made, most of them have less uniformity when compared to modern bottles. For example, some antique bottles are crudely made, while others feature numerous bubbles on it, some have ‘whittle marks’ etc. These types of individuality can increase the antique bottle value.

Locale

The geographical area of origin of a bottle can increase the antique bottle value. For example, Hawaiian and Alaskan bottles have more antique bottle value than similar bottles from other areas.

Even though these are major factors which affect the antique bottle value, antique bottle collectors from various parts of the country shows varying interests. For example, Western state collectors are much interested in early whiskey bottles, Hawaiian sodas are popular antique bottles in Hawaii. That is, the interests of the collectors tend to change in different places. Therefore, the antique bottles value can also change in different places.

Antique Bottle Value

Antique Bottle Value

Sonali Sen for http://www.affordableantique.com Read more about Antiques http://www.affordableantique.com/Antique-Appraisals-Certification.html Copyright 2005 http://www.affordableantique.com

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Dental Insurance – How Dental Insurance Can Be A Value Added Benefit For Employees

September 12, 2012 By

Dental Insurance – How Dental Insurance Can Be A Value Added Benefit For Employees

Dental insurance is a benefit that costs very little to provide to the employee. The employer needs to pay very small amount as premium and in return the employees will enjoy good dental health which translates to fewer off days due to dental problems.

Most dental insurance/dental plans provide for preventive dental care so employees can have regular check-ups and go for routine visits to the dentists which will help detect dental problems early. Dental problems can be detected early and preventive treatment is both cheaper and effective.

Also, having dental insurance gives employees a sense of security when it comes to dental illness. A family with even two kids can cost a lot of money in dentists visits, routine cleanings and check-up. Even simple dental problems like cavities can cost money that can be a major drain on most families. So a employer provided insurance can mean a lot to them.

As I said earlier a little benefit like dental insurance can go a long way in earning employee satisfaction and loyalty. These small things add up and make big difference to employee morale. Don’t you want this for your company too?

Your company can avail Group dental insurance and get much discounted rates in premiums – an advantage of group power. If your employer does not provide dental insurance you can tell them about this and convince them to get you this valuable benefit at little extra cost to the company.

Your employer can choose any of the following options in order to provide you with dental cover. This may be full dental insurance – covering all dental problems. Dental Reimbursement plans – employee get the dental treatment and submits the dental bills, company reimburses the employee for the expenses incurred. Usually there is an upper limit to this. Group dental insurance – employees get discounts on premiums, usually the company also pays part of the amount or group dental plans – which are discount dental plans that allow dental treatment at pre-determined discounted rates if you avail treatment with dentists contracted under the plan.

Dental Insurance – How Dental Insurance Can Be A Value Added Benefit For Employees

Dental Insurance - How Dental Insurance Can Be A Value Added Benefit For Employees

Cumba Gowri author, webmaster and blogger.
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Your Resource For The Best Dental Insurance Plans On The Web.

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Hardware Store Franchises – True Value and Ace Hardware

September 5, 2012 By

Hardware Store Franchises – True Value and Ace Hardware

Almost every household in the country will visit a hardware store at least one a year. This potential for business is one of the reasons that a hardware store has always been one of the more popular businesses that an owner can start or buy.

The generic hardware store exists in the mind’s eye as a retail store that a person can go to and buy just the right nut and bolt or the odd sized screw. This mythical store is run by knowledgeable people who can answer almost anything that has to do with home repair. This is what the public has come to expect when visiting a hardware store. Some chain store outlets have gotten away from the help side of hardware stores and just sale products off the shelf. Getting answers to questions in these stores is not what the hardware store visit is about. The great help of the old type hardware store is missing. Except in those stores that are run the old fashion way and continue to prosper as their customers are repeat customers and would not think about going somewhere else to shop. Two franchises that carry on this tradition are True Value and Ace Hardware associated stores.

True Value stores

True Value is the third largest co-op in the hardware business. True Value is a cooperative that allows the store owner who is a member to buy merchandise at reduced prices since this group can make large wholesale purchases. The store owners can also enjoy the advantage of group advertising buys. Being able to buy at the large volume prices makes the advantage a significant profit maker. Group advertising can also reduce the cost of getting customers into the store.

The average True Value store investment

The average investment in a True Value store works out to about $35 a square foot for inventory. The fixtures or equipment will come in at about $8 a square foot. The start up cost can vary by area of the country, but the average is about $4 a square foot. The additional cost to become a True Value store can be found by contacting True Value corporate.

Ace Hardware stores

Ace Hardware is the largest hardware co-op Like True Value it offers members the capability to buy merchandise through the co-op at reduced prices and thereby make more profit from sales. They also offer the advantage of group advertising which reduces the cost of getting customers through the doors.

Group buying of the co-op saves all of the member’s money as the co-op gets better pricing due to large volume buying. This savings is then passed on to the members and allows them to make more money.

Ace Hardware Investment Structure

The Ace membership application is about $5000 Initial stock ownership is another $5000. Liquid capital needed to start a store is $250,000 with a loan from Ace of an additional amount of $390,000 to $740,000, which depends on the store size. The total investment is between $650,000 and one million dollars.Land and building cost are not included in this pricing.

The Ace investment numbers are based on a 12,000 square foot store. Dollar amounts are for fixtures, inventory, office equipment, computer system and operating costs.

Other factors that will help the owner

Both of these hardware operations offer the owner training and seminars, which are designed to help the store grow. Suggestions for operating the store more efficiently can be taken in and used to good effect. Special purchases that include a targeted advertising campaign will attract customers into the store. The staff’s helpful attitude will impress the customers and insure they will come again.

Buying a local hardware store

Local stores that are affiliated or not do come to market every now and then for purchase. The owner may be willing to deal very favorably in order to make the sale. Contact a business broker or look up businesses that are for sale listed on the Internet. A good business broker may be wise to contact, as these pros are very good sources of current information. If an existing business is for sale, the price may be excellent due to the store being established. A store with cash flow is always a business to be considered. Customer habits are in the favor of the new owner as long as the service stays the same or gets better. If you are going to make some significant changes, make sure they are well thought out before putting them into practice. If there is a strong benefit to the customers, they will probably be met with enthusiasm.

An old owner may be willing to help with the financing of the business. In most cases the price of the business will increase some and will have to be negotiated as part of the sales contract. The other way to get the needed money is to see if a business lender would be willing to give you the needed loan. Many of these money lenders are easily found on the Internet.

Conclusions

The hardware business is one business that has a variety to customers that need what the store is offering. Every person of age is a possible customer. This large potential customer base is what will make a new hardware store quickly grow and in the right location become profitable. . As with all retail stores location is important. Name recognition is also very helpful which is why the two co-ops have so many members. Customers will come to a store with a familiar name.

Friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff is critical if you want to stand out from the box stores. Their pricing will be competitive to yours, so you have to beat them by having better help. If you try to compete on price alone, you will be fighting a losing battle. Store hours are also important in this business. Early openings are almost a necessity of the business. People like to get up and get started on projects.

Hardware Store Franchises – True Value and Ace Hardware

Hardware Store Franchises - True Value and Ace Hardware

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Prosperity’s 12 Affirmations are 12 powerful affirmations of prosperity and well-being drawn from the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and the book Prosperity’s 10 Commandments by Georgiana Tree West. The 11th and 12th affrimations are inspired by Jesus’ 2 great commandments found in Matthew 22:37-39. Prosperity’s first 4 affirmations help to internalize ideas that contribute to establishing a prospering relationship with the Fundamental Creative Energy of the Universe – God. In this article we will look at four affirmations, which will help you internalize ideas that aid in creating prospering relationships with other people. As you use these affirmations to create your abundant life, you will begin to establish habits of language and action that will enable you to create mutually prospering relationships with other people. Affirm these affirmations daily and you make these powerful prosperity principles a basic part of your life experience.

Four Affirmations for Prospering Relationships with Others

“I maintain my highest integrity when connecting with God and interacting with God’s agents of my wealth”. Perhaps this affirmation should be “I am faithful to God and respectful of people”. The key to success with this affirmation is to stay conscious of our relationship to God, our only Source of supply. Then we will remember that others are also connected to the God-Source. In this consciousness we create the possibility for everyone with whom we interact to bless us in some way. However, we must be open and receptive to the blessing. When we maintain our integrity and treat people with respect, we empower them and they are likely to empower us, quite possibly in unexpected ways.

“I keep my wealth circulating and creating blessings for others and for me”. The Commandment upon which this affirmation is based is “Thou Shalt Not Murder”. Habitual thoughts of poverty and limitation are murderers of prosperity. We affirm this affirmation in language and in action through our generosity, tithing and giving. In using this affirmation we are creating our experience of the unimpeded circulation of wealth and abundance.

“I only use my wealth for creative, uplifting, enlightening, joyful and life affirming purposes”. This affirmation helps us to keep our motives and uses for money pure and unadulterated. We remind ourselves that money is Love in action and we focus on the positive uses of our money as a pure expression of love. With this affirmation we exercise the power of intention. When we create a field of clear intention we take advantage of the natural processes of creation to yield the object or service for which we expended a portion of our wealth but we have the added benefit of spiritual and emotional satisfaction because others are blessed and benefited by our intentions and actions.

“I always give generous and fair compensation for value received”. This affirmation helps us practice the Law of Compensation which reminds us that when we are attempting to get something for nothing, we are actually trying to steal. However, when we are willing to give fair compensation for everything we receive, we stay in the continuous flow of prosperity.

Next Steps Take action by repeating these affirmations until they feel natural to you. You may want to craft your own version of these affirmations to really make them yours. The time and energy you invest in working with the affirmations will pay large dividends in your experience of prosperity and abundance.

September 3, 2012 By

One of the things you can do to accelerate your progress is to engage in conversations based on these four affirmations with family, friends and acquaintances. I invite you to visit Prosperity’s 12 Affirmations Blog, http://www.prosperingtimes.com/blog and if you wish to powerfully accelerate the potency of this affirmative process, accept our invitation to subscribe to the complimentary e-course “Introduction to Prosperity’s 12 Affirmations at http://www.prosperingtimes.com/Intro2P12Registration.html

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Determining the Value of Brand Origin and Brand Image Investment for High End Luxury Brands

August 13, 2012 By

Determining the Value of Brand Origin and Brand Image Investment for High End Luxury Brands

In today’s market place, a large number of brands use strong brand origin cues in their promotions campaigns. This is highly prevalent when it comes to luxury brands including behemoths like LVMH and Gucci to specialist luxury players like Patek Phillipe and Bremont, which highlight their brand origin in each and every promotion. For example, specialist luxury watch maker Baume & Mercier highlights its brand origin inside their logo itself. Researchers suggest that in markets for example luxury fashions and accessories, a specific country of origin or foreign image generally may carry a prestige connotation. It’s also been observed that luxury brands spend a disproportionate level of their overall financial budget on brand image building.

When looking at the country-of-origin literature, it’s possible to note that the majority of the country-of- origin literature has emphasized origin effects at the product level rather than brand level. Professor Keller opines that brand related cues behave as an important competitive advantage aspect for luxury brands. Moreover, researchers have progressively required measuring the impact of brand name origin and brand image on purchase intentions. In one of my earlier papers, I discovered that due to the highly social nature of luxury consumption, consumers make an effort to gain social advantage by using the desired group’s consumption pattern. Concentrating on different facets of the independent self, it can be theorized that consumers will demonstrate fitting in behaviour by using brands which match the look with the group they wish to belong to. Furthermore, scientific study has emphasized that brand related cues may give a key to a greater understanding of luxury consumption. Thus, if consumers use branding cues to produce a sense of belonging, it would seem logical to review how such branding cues may influence customer purchase decision.

In recent years, the issue of luxury consumption has brought a lot of interest among marketing scholars. However, little is known about how exactly to optimize and control consumer expectations using management controlled factors for instance brand origin and brand image.

To discover an answer towards the issue of how management controlled factors can be used to optimize consumer expectations, we completed research emphasizing following two questions:

1. What will be the effect of branding cues (i.e. brand origin and brand image) on purchase intentions?

2. Is the impact similar across developing and emerging markets?

The answer to the issue one will help researchers and managers in knowing whether the wide range of money luxury brands devote to brand image is worth it or otherwise not. Similarly, the answer to question two highlights what type of standardization and adaptation is required when promoting luxury brands in various markets.

Using this goal at heart, we studied consumers from your UK and India employing a structured quantitative survey.

Prior scientific studies concentrating on regularly consumed products have found a greater influence of brand name origin on collectivist consumers. However, contradicting results were noticed in the context of luxury purchase intentions. The research results claim that consumers in individualist developed market rely more on brand origin cues than consumers in collectivist, developing markets. This is often caused by the nature of the market and competition. British consumers have come across the entire process of globalization for a longer period than their Indian counterparts. While the elite within the Indian market were as aware and consuming global luxury brands as their developed country counterparts, the masses were not. Furthermore, global luxury brands entered several developing markets including India in the late 1990s and early 2000s. For example, LVMH entered India by way of a partnership in 2003, and Armani found its way to India only in mid-2007. The longer exposure with the masses to global luxury products, availability of more brands, and greater competition make British consumers increasingly conscious of the brand origin cues associated with the luxury products or brands. Therefore, to differentiate themselves, British consumers use stronger brand origin cues than Indian consumers who only recently have been exposed to global luxury brands within their home markets.

The finding relating to brand image is worth attention. The research findings revealed that brand image does not influence consumer purchase intentions directly nonetheless it significantly moderates the connection between normative interpersonal influences and luxury purchase intentions in both countries. This finding gives empirical support for the theorized argument submitted earlier regarding gelling behaviour and the impact of brand name image. The study implies that people display higher self-brand connection if the brand image is in conjuction with the image of the social group they need to keep company with. Brand image seemed to be found to be a disciplined moderator for the relationship between informational interpersonal influences and luxury purchase intentions. However, it was only significant in the context of the UK. This result corroborates the sooner result regarding the utilization of strong brand cues on the list of British consumers. It once more stresses the importance of brand building.

Managers vying for acceptance of the luxury brands in developed markets like the UK should concentrate on having a strategy that stresses the brand origin prominently. The findings highlight the fascinating contrasts in buyer behavior across nations. Indian consumers are highly dedicated to social acceptability and look for others views of reality to suit in. On the other hand, British consumers associate with a favourable brand origin to fit in. Luxury brand managers have to be conscious of consumers’ limited awareness and knowledge of luxury brands in developing markets (as a result of less exposure). As a result, it may be required to go for significant co-branding and joint ventures such markets to accomplish a greater prominence of these brands in consumers’ minds which often will build strong loyalty and equity in these markets.

Overall, the results also highlight an original contextual association of luxury. Previous researchers observed the significance of brand origin and image when it comes to Indian consumers’ consumption decisions for regularly purchase products however, contradicting findings of this study claim that luxury like a context is fairly unique. Therefore, managers should approach generalized findings relating to regularly purchased products with caution when it comes to it in the context of luxury consumption.

Source: luxury brand origin

Determining the Value of Brand Origin and Brand Image Investment for High End Luxury Brands

Determining the Value of Brand Origin and Brand Image Investment for High End Luxury Brands

Dr. Paurav Shukla is an expert in luxury marketing and a global academic, researcher and management consultant. He is well-known for his research on consumer decision-making and consumption experiences.

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Brand Strategy – Brand Value – Brand Identity Guru

August 7, 2012 By

Brand Strategy – Brand Value – Brand Identity Guru

Developing brand strategy is extremely critical. The most important asset your company has is its brand. Quite simply, for better or worse, it drives the direction of your business. You should definitely have a well thought out brand strategy in place. Unfortunately, too many companies don’t have a brand strategy, or have an inconsistent brand strategy. A brand strategy company should realize there’s probably a good reason you may not be paying attention to your brand strategy–you’re busy running your business.

What you don’t realize is that a proper brand strategy can make running your business easier and more profitable. A brand strategy is truly powerful, and a brand strategy company should be ready to help you find and develop the right brand strategy for your company.

Just how important is it that you hire someone who understands what makes a solid brand strategy? Consider this. Say you want to remodel your kitchen. If you were to do it yourself with no prior experience, it would take a lot of time and a lot of trial and error to get it right. That’s why it’s a better idea to hire a good contractor to get the job done right the first time and on budget. The same is true for brand strategy.

Creating the right brand strategy for your business requires research and a great deal of thought on how to creatively execute a brand strategy that captivates your audience. Then, it takes a talented group of creative branding strategy gurus to execute it. A branding company should be ready to be your “contractor” and develop a brand strategy that works for your business.

Brand Strategy – Brand Value – Brand Identity Guru

Brand Strategy - Brand Value - Brand Identity Guru

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading Corporate Branding and Branding Research firm in Boston, MA.

Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation.

This Article may be freely copied as long as it is not modified and this resource box accompanies the article, together with working hyperlinks.

Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.

Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Franklin Sports and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.

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The Value of Custom Baseball Gloves

August 5, 2012 By

The Value of Custom Baseball Gloves

Baseball gloves have advanced tremendously over the years. From the original game played with the bare hands to the advanced models of today, baseball gloves have as rich a history as the game itself.

The first gloves developed were not accepted easily since many players thought negatively of those using them. Today’s players, however, accept baseball gloves as a necessary and standard part of the game. Modern baseball gloves come in a variety of sizes, comforts, accessories and price ranges.

For the more serious baseball enthusiast, custom baseball gloves are all the rage. Today’s baseball gloves can be customized for a particular fit, color, type of leather, and more. Since pricing can range from $100, on the low end, to more than $400 for high-end custom made baseball gloves, most beginning players do not find them necessary. For semi-professional or professional baseball players, however, most will say that they would not go back to generic gloves.

Different companies will obviously offer different custom baseball gloves to choose from. Some companies specialize in material types and others will specialize in matching the player with a glove with the perfect fit. Some baseball glove manufacturers also offer custom baseball gloves that are designed for catchers, infielders and outfielders. Those earning a living playing baseball or those who are very serious players will likely benefit from purchasing a custom baseball glove.

Most every major supplier of American baseball gloves will offer customizable options. When shopping for the right glove, you can begin by reviewing the company or companies’ Web sites to see what they have to offer. Keep in mind that the custom baseball gloves offered will be quite a bit pricier than “generic” models available at sport and discount stores. From reading reviews and comments on custom baseball gloves, those who use them are not likely to revert back to standard gloves. You can expect to spend several hundred dollars on a custom glove, but the glove is designed with you in mind and can meet and exceed your highest expectations.

The Value of Custom Baseball Gloves

The Value of Custom Baseball Gloves

Baseball Gloves Info provides detailed information about custom and discount baseball gloves, as well as baseball batting gloves, baseball glove reviews, and advice on how to break in baseball gloves. Baseball Gloves Info is the sister site of Baseball Bats Web.

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Antique Furniture Value

August 5, 2012 By

Antique Furniture Value

The first thing that most antique people are interested – is the VALUE of antique! You might ask why, but the answer lies in the question. Antiques are antiques, if they offer great value and contribution to owner. Most of the time antique value is determined by supply and demand on the market.

Supply and demand is simple. You have something very old and unique, preserved if possible, you have yourself a true antique furniture of great money worth. As you may know the world of antiques is vast. Finding antique that offers uniqueness, quality and age is not an easy task.

The first steps should be determining the type of antique, after that head for the most respected style (Victorian, Queen Anne, French, German, Holland, and lots more). After that go for it. Try to get yourself antique that brings satisfaction for your needs. The info that you were collecting should give you an edge when making a deal. Useful informations such as: antique American furniture is much more rare than English antique furniture. One fact that confirms my words is that most of valuable antiques from American history are in museums or in private collectors hands. And as we learned earlier, rarity does effect the demand and in the final cut the asking price.

So you must be asking yourself what am I looking for? Just to give an example try to look for an alternative. The one like 17th century furniture from the States that looks like English antique furniture crafted 50 years earlier. Why? Because it looks remarkably similar. This time lag continues throughout the majority of the 18th century. The vast majority of the settlers of the New World were from England. It’s only natural they would copy the fashionable furniture of that country.

Now how to determine your furniture value?

It is quite easy to determine the antiques provenance and condition, but when it comes to rarity and quality are quite hard for even the most cunning minds out there. I do not mean that for a novice antique hunter this is impossible. But I am saying that it is more time consumable. In order to get those two demands in line you need lot and lots of research and maybe even expert help advice. Needless to say that I forgot patina, color and finish as a secondary criteria for determining the antiques furniture value. As you can se many factors can make your antique priced more or even less that you might have thought. Keep in mind on suggestions such as: – vigorous carving on a piece of American Chippendale antique furniture generally increases its value – keep in mind that more ornate design need more handwork, thus increasing its value as well – delicate additions and fancy framework gives also some edge when it comes to price – size is not always advantage, if antique furniture is too big than it loses desirability a so on.

When trying to find valuable antique furniture think also on its usability not just beauty that is my advice to bring with you when going to antique hunting. Most information on antiques you can get from the specialized forums and discussion board or even few good sites. Bear in mind that experience wise you can always use some additional help from an antique expert.

All in all, your antique findings are going to be the product of your research and overall involvement. The stuff from assessing the condition of antique to determining authenticity, thus in order to get a good bargain you need to know the market supply and demand.

Antique Furniture Value

Antique Furniture Value

Albert Hoff is antique collector and expert in field of antique furniture values and antiques. You can search his site or blog for more info on that subject, and also find a free mini course Antiquing Tricks of the Trade.

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Importance Of Employment Contracts – Know Their Value

August 4, 2012 By

Importance Of Employment Contracts – Know Their Value

Anyone who works for an employer for a regular wage or salary automatically has a contract of employment, regardless of whether it is written or not. The majority of employees work under open-ended contracts of employment. In other words, the contract continues until such time as the employer or employee ends it.

Many other employees however, work under fixed-term or specified-purpose contracts which are contracts which end on a specified date or when a specific task is completed. The contract of employment will include some or all of the following elements (regardless of whether the employer and employee have specified them or not):

The terms that the courts say are in every contract of employment. Examples include the duty of every employer to provide a safe workplace and the duty of every employee to carry out the job to the best of his/her ability. This part of the contract is occasionally referred to as “common law”.

Terms that must be part of the contract as a result of laws passed. Examples include the right to take maternity leave. Such terms are part of the contract of employment even if the employer and employee do not specifically include them and replace any agreement between the employer and employee not to apply the particular law. So, the statutory right to take maternity leave overrides any agreement between the employer and employee that the employee will not take maternity leave.

Terms and conditions states must be in every contract, for example, the right of an employee to join a trade union.

Collective agreements

Joint Labor Committee Regulations

In addition, custom and practice in a particular workplace may form part of a contract. An example would be a particular level of overtime pay for employees.

In the case of these items instead of giving each employee the details in writing, the employer may refer an employee to other documents, for example, a pension scheme booklet or a collective agreement, provided that the employee has easy access to such documents.

The statement of terms must indicate the reference period being used by the employer for the purposes of the calculation of the employee’s entitlements under the Minimum Wage Act, 2000. (Under that Act the employer may calculate the employee’s minimum wage entitlement over a reference period that is no less than one week and no greater than one month).

The statement of terms must also inform the employee that he/she has the right to ask the employer for a written statement of his/her average hourly rate of pay for any reference period (except the current reference period) in the 12 months prior to the date of the employee’s request.

Note. Specific provisions in contract of employment

In recent times, some employers are adding in specific provisions in contract of employment that limit the ability of employees to work in a certain sector, with certain suppliers, clients, for a period following termination of employment. (For example, it may specifically state that the employee cannot work in a certain sector, with or for suppliers or clients of the former employer, etc.). There is nothing in employment law in that strictly forbids this, but there is no provision in employment law that allows this either.

Essentially, this is an issue of contract law – that is, the contract of employment signed and agreed between the employer and employee. If you have any concerns about this issue, you are strongly advised to seek legal advice from a competent legal professional in advance of signing this contract of employment. However, even if the contract of employment is signed, you are always free to seek such legal advice. Attorney fees can vary widely so shop around and obtain some quotes for legal advice before you proceed.

Note. Probationary period

The contract can include a probationary period and can allow for this period to be extended. The Unfair Dismissals Acts will not apply to the dismissal of an employee during a period at the beginning of employment when he/she is on probation or undergoing training provided that:

* the contract of employment is in writing

* the duration of probation or training is one year or less and is specified in the contract.

The above exclusion from the Acts will not apply if the dismissal results from trade union membership or activity, pregnancy related matters, or entitlements under the maternity protection, parental leave, adoptive leave and career’s leave legislation.

Changes to your contract of employment.

Changes to your contract of employment can occur due to a change in the law, but otherwise, changes must be agreed between your employer and yourself. The requirement for both the employer’s and the employee’s consent to changes in the terms of the contract is part of contract law.

From the above information you will see that the contract of employment is a very important document to have. Whenever you get hired, ensure that your new employer offers you this kind of security. Be cautious of employers who don’t give contract of employment.

Importance Of Employment Contracts – Know Their Value

Importance Of Employment Contracts - Know Their Value

Abhishek is a Career Counselor and he has got some great Career Planning Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 71 Pages Ebook, “Career Planning Made Easy!” from his website http://www.Career-Guru.com/769/index.htm. Only limited Free Copies available.

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