The impact of the brand management system on brand performance in B-B and B-C environments

Many companies are interested in the issue of how to develop strong brands. Although the brand management system (BMS) within a firm is very likely to have a positive impact on brand performance, there have been no empirical studies on the roles of the BMS. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model using the BMS and empirically examine its effect on brand performance. In particular, we compare how the BMS works as a mediating variable between market orientation and brand performance under B-B and B-C environments. The empirical results based on survey data from 1000 brand managers (from 770 B-C and 230 B-B firms) show that firms possessing a well-organized BMS dramatically enhance brand performance. The links of market orientation-BMS-brand performance are confirmed under both B-B and B-C environments. However, no other effects exist for B-B firms whereas a positive effect of market orientation on brand performance is observed in B-C firms. This study also offers some implications and future research questions based on the current results.{A figure is presented}.