Building Brand Equity in B2B Service Industry : Examination of the Servbrand Framework in Logistics Industry

Sammanfattning: This study investigates a debatable subject of branding; building brand equity in industrial service markets, particularly within the logistics service industry. The extant literature provided many brand equity models, the brand resonance pyramid being the most predominant one. However, the literature suggests the model should be amended for the B2B service markets as the industry has numerous different characteristics to consider. Servbrand Framework is one of the undergoing efforts to provide a brand equity framework applicable within the B2B service industry as an amended version of the brand resonance pyramid. Nevertheless, the model is based on a single empirical context. This research assesses the transferability of the model to the logistics service industry and therefore provides a guideline to build a strong brand in the logistics service industry. The research took an interpretivist approach with an exploratory qualitative research design to apply the Servbrand Framework within the logistics industry. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with the decision-makers in purchasing logistics services within the automotive industry in Germany, who were subject to the non-probability sampling process. The results indicated that the Servbrand Framework is transferable to the logistics service industry with minor changes. Two new subdimensions are proposed as ‘service experience’ and ‘consideration’ to be part of the client-brand opinions block within the framework. Also, the ‘servicescape’ and ‘personableness’ subdimensions were not relevant for the context of the study. Logistics service providers can build strong brands by initially creating salience among the customers by using corporate naming strategies attached to core competencies. Service providers also need to develop good performance and people attributes connected to their brand, which will create positive brand opinions and, therefore, long-term relationships and partnerships. The people aspect was a key element to build strong brands and facilitate the brand's meaning to the customers.