A framework of brand value in B2B markets: The contributing role of functional and emotional components

a r t i c l e i n f o The creation of value is admittedly a critical task for marketers regardless of industry. This paper focuses on a type of value that has traditionally been perceived as irrelevant to industrial markets and argues that brand value facilitates the progression from goods and services value to relationship value. To address the limited amount of research on B2B branding from the suppliers' point of view, we complement insights gained from a literature review with ten exploratory interviews with B2B supplier managers, and develop a framework of brand value applicable to industrial markets. important for the development of industrial brand equity. Situational (e.g. nature of the purchase) and environmental factors (e.g. the economic situation) affecting suppliers' perceptions of the importance of brand in a B2B context and the role of functional versus emotional brand qualities are discussed. The value of the brand as a driver for the development of business to business relationships is also highlighted. The framework provides a basis for B2B practitioners to build their brands in such a way as to make a functional as well as an emotional connection with buyers that is more likely to lead to a supplier–buyer relationship. The significance of creating value for buyers and other stake-holders is well documented in the marketing literature (e.g. Doyle, 2000; Lindgreen & Wynstra, 2005). Indeed, the creation of value is prominent in AMA's latest definition of marketing as " the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering , and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients , partners, and society at large " (Gundlach & Wilkie, 2010, p.90). The (added) value of a brand is widely accepted in the B2C domain (e. While in the past little attention was paid to branding in a B2B context, more recently there has been a surge in the studies addressing various elements of B2B branding including B2B brand equity It is notable that although a considerable amount of this B2B stream of research has been carried out from the buyers' perspective (e. there is little undertaken from the suppliers' perspective. Research on B2B branding has yet to answer fundamental questions. B2B marketers have traditionally been more skeptical about the benefits of branding (Leek & Christodoulides, 2011) with the conventional view being that the organizational decision making process is rational and focused on the functional qualities …