Understanding Co-branding Opportunities in B2B context: empirical evidence from Russian companies for Work-in Progress

Co-branding is a widely known phenomenon, studied in research literature and substantially applied in business practice. However, exploration of this branding strategy in business-tobusiness is still unsystematic and fragmentary. Current study is focused on potential drivers of co-branding’s impact on business-to-business relationships and the situations, when cobranding strategies can create beneficial conditions for relationship development. To test our assumptions and to understand and explain the circumstances under which co-branding would be crucial, empirical study is conducted on example of Russian bakery industry. Both documents content analysis and in-depth interviews with industry experts have been conducted to investigate the role and specifics of co-branding partnerships in the market. The findings allow identifying particular market-related features of co-branding decisions.