National Research University – Higher School of Economics
Faculty of Management
Department of Marketing
Project proposal Breakthrough brands creation in the service sphere. The case of FedEx.
Group 421
Anna Oronova
Supervisors:
Prilipko E.V.
Kazakov S.P.
Moscow 2011.
This paper describes a proposed study that will examine the technologies, which help to create breakthrough brand in the service sphere. The general purpose of this project is to explore the approaches to this theme that various scholars have advocated and to define the steps which lead to the creation of breakthrough brands. Based on the interpretation of the data obtained from the questionnaires, table will be developed to range collected data from less critical to the most important and to provide universal list of critical success parameters for creating breakthrough brands. The proposal includes the following sections: introduction to the study, literature review, methodology and summary of the results anticipated.
Introduction
The first part of the proposal introduces the background of the study, states the problem, indicates the professional significance, determines the scope of the research and defines the key terms.
Background of the study. There is currently an undeniable interest in brand management. The board of directors and senior managers aim at a strong brand creation. The companies are in need of a strong brand which consumers are to be loyal to. This is necessary if companies want to be competitive. However, the overwhelming majority of managers do not pay attention to the fact that the idea of “brand” in the service sphere and the same idea in the goods market do have essential distinctions. Brand managers whose firms are working in the service sphere while creating a brand stick to the models which are typical of the goods market, but these managers do not take into account the specific nature of services. This can lead to undesirable consequences, for example, the operation of the company might become inefficient and unprofitable in the future that could lead this company to the brink of bankruptcy.
At present this paper is topical because all companies hold almost the same resources, so the ability to create a strong brand becomes one of the key competitive advantages, which enables the company not only to develop successfully, but to stand for its market position for a long period of time. The author of this paper aims at making the executives and brand managers engaged in the service sector not only to be aware of the importance of the strong brand, but also to understand which steps should be implemented to turn the brand into the competitive advantage.
Quite a number of scholars and experts have analyzed and discussed this problem, but there is no unified approach to this challenge, so it appears that additional researches seem to be necessary in this field.
Problem statement. The research question in this study is how to set up a strong competitive brand in the service sector. For this reason the general purpose of this study is to define the steps which lead to the creation of breakthrough brands in the service sphere.
To achieve the stated purpose it is necessary to:
Explore literature on this problem.
Classify the theories presented on this topic.
Collect information about “FedEx”.
Analyze the case of FedEx.
Describe the most successful marketing technologies, which contribute to creation of the breakthrough brand.
In addressing the above problems, this study seeks to make contribution to managerial practice.
Professional significance of the study. The professional significance of this study explains in what sense the proposed study is worth doing and what contribution it will make to professional knowledge. There is no much literature devoted to the subject matter of the present research. Therefore the study proposed could provide a greater depth of knowledge about previous developments in this field of research. Moreover the results of the current investigation might initiate new research work in this sphere.
The research study will be of primary significance to brand managers, senior managers, executives, namely, for all professionals who are interested in brand management. Particularly, current research is necessary to Russian brand managers, as the majority of them do not take into account the specific nature of services. This research will be of primary significance to them in everyday process of brand management.
Delimitations of the study. The study findings are limited by a number of strong constraints, which will be spelled out below. Firstly, for practical reasons, the study will be severely bounded in the amount of information to be collected, for example, it is rather difficult to find necessary information about the brand of “FedEx” and Landor’s model. Secondly, the present research is limited by one (specific) market. Finally, it should be noted, that the opinions of interrogated experts and analysts are relatively subjective.
Definition of the key terms. Nowadays there are a lot of definitions of “service” and “brand”. The most popular definitions are presented in this paper.
The American Marketing Association offers the following definition of a brand: “A name, term, sign, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s product or service as distinct from those of other sellers”.1
The U.K. brand planning guru Paul Feldwick defined a brand this way: “A brand is simply a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer”.2
And finally, according to Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong a brand is defined as “a name, term, sign symbol or combination of these, that identifies the maker or seller of the product” or service.3
A service is a complicated phenomenon. Therefore it is rather difficult to find a definition that would be universal. According to the author of this paper, the definition, which will be presented bellow, reveals the idea of “brand” most broadly. Service – “a type of economic activity that is intangible is not stored and does not result in ownership. Services are one of the two key components of economics, the other being goods”.4