The Role of Corporate Brand Dominance Strategy on Firm Performance: A View from Internationalization, Cross-National Distance, and Firm Diversity

Firms differ in terms of the structure of their brand portfolio on the basis of the classification well established by prior literature: corporate branding, house of brands, or mixed branding. The issue of effectively managing brand portfolio has become simultaneously complex and important in the international business setting. Notably, it is the degree to which a firm emphasizes corporate name in a brand portfolio that determines the firm’s branding strategy (referred to as corporate brand dominance strategy in this study). Departing from previous categorical branding strategy classification, this study attempts to measure firms’ branding strategy as continuously with reference to the degree of leverage of corporate name across the firm. With this continuous measure, this study seeks to study the effect of corporate brand dominance strategy on firm performance as well as how it is influenced by an array of contingent factors that are worthy of investigation when firms operate in international markets. This study draws on literature on branding strategy, corporate branding, strategic management, and international business and takes three main perspectives to propose the research arguments: 1) internationalization, 2) cross-national distance, and 3) firm diversity.

Many thanks to Saejoon’s Defense committee:

Committee Chair: Hyokjin Kwak, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Marketing Committee Member: Pravin Nath, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Oklahoma Committee Member: Trina Andras, Ph.D. Professor and Head of Marketing Committee Member: Rolph Anderson, Ph.D. Royal H. Gibson, Sr. Professor of Marketing Committee Member: Bert Rosenbloom, Ph.D. Rauth Chair Professor of Marketing Management Committee Member: Brent Smith, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Marketing at Saint Joseph’s University