Analyzing the antecedents of brand equity in an international context

Today, both in domestic and international arena, differentiation has become the prerequisitefor not only gaining competitive advantage but also firms? survivals. Technologicaldevelopments have taken functionality and tangible characteristics away from being the maindifferentiation strategy for both product brands and service brands. In today?s changing anddeveloping global environment, firm?s success has become identical with the brand?s success;and branding has become the most important differentiation and competitive strategy. When thestrong brand is considered as the most valuable asset of a successful firm, it should not besurprising that brand equity is the focal point of most of the firms? strategies, researches, andapplications. Despite this vital importance of brand equity concept, brand equity measurementsare only limited to financial analysis. Yet, branding strategies should be structured by customerperceptions and preferences; and every branding effort should match customer priorities. In thiscontext, the general structure of this study is built on the brand equity measurements focusingon customer based brand equity perspective.Identifying the antecedents of brand equity which are based on customer perceptions andattitudes and their relative importance are the focal points of this study. In this aspect,dimensions of brand equity are firstly discussed in order to highlight and refine upon brandingstrategies. Perceived quality, brand awareness, brand associations, and brand credibility are firsttaken as the antecedents of brand loyalty and then their indirect effect on brand equity isquestioned. Direct antecedents of brand equity, on the other hand, are taken as brand loyalty,brand credibility, and country of origin. For cross country analysis, global product and servicebrands (McDonald?s and Coca Cola) are selected; countries having different cultural andeconomical properties (U.S.A, Turkey, and Russia) are taken within the scope of this research.As a result, this study suggests that for any market and market offering, fundamentalantecedents of brand equity (perceived quality, brand associations, brand credibility, and brandloyalty) stay generally unchanged, and their degree of relative effect, in particular, depicts asimilar pattern.