The importance of Interactive Network Branding for business relationship development: insights from emerging markets

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to clarify the meaning of Interactive Network Branding (INB) and demonstrate its importance for business relationship development, within a cross-cultural context of emerging markets (EM). More specifically, it integrates the idea of INB through its three branding dimensions into the first three relationship development stages introduced in the seminal article by Ford (1980). By bringing INB into relationship development, and by considering its embeddedness in a cultural context, the study extends current understanding of business relationships in connection to corporate branding. Design/methodology/approach The study is empirical and explorative. To reach the research aims, the authors apply a qualitative approach and present findings from four business relationships in two EM contexts, namely, the Croatian and Russian markets. Ten interviews have been undertaken, and the analysis was conducted by applying sensemaking and narrative approaches. Findings Findings show the influence of INB dimensions on three stages of business relationship development. In both EMs, the external dimension is found to be dominant for the pre-relationship stage while the internal dimension for the early stage. At the same time, mutual INB dimension, which is built on interpersonal interactions, is influencing each stage to a certain manner, while being a dominant dimension in the development stage. Also, the role of each dimension in a specific stage of relationship development is conditioned by the cultural context in which business relationships are embedded. Research limitations/implications Based on the chosen qualitative research approach and focus on two countries, the findings might lack generalizability. Thus, future research is needed to observe business relationship development through INB dimensions in different cultural environments. Practical implications This paper provides a new perspective for managers on coping with the development of business relationships and branding in the EM context. Originality/value This is the first attempt to study business relationship development through branding perspective in general and INB perspective in particular. It builds a deeper understanding of identity, reputation and mutual INB dimension and their manifestation and influence on each relationship stage. In addition, the study has a cultural context, which makes it one of the rare cross-cultural studies related to branding in business marketing research.

Interactive Network Branding: demonstrating the importance of firm representatives for small and medium-sized enterprises in emerging markets

“…Moreover, the paper corresponds to the findings from business relationship studies in the EM context that argue about the importance of personalized business contacts for overcoming uncertainties in fast-changing business markets (see, e.g., Salmi and Mattsson, 2015;Koporcic and Ivanova-Gongne, 2019). In addition, it has been demonstrated that recommendations and business connections can create a base for deeper interactions between partners, thus corresponding to the study conducted by Håkansson and Snehota (2006).…”

“…Therefore, they are implemented as part of networking. These findings suggest that the INB process is complex, non-linear, and Koporcic and Halinen, 2018;Koporcic andTörnroos, 2019a, 2019b;Koporcic and Ivanova-Gongne, 2019).…”

“…The concept of Interactive Network Branding (INB) has recently been introduced (Koporcic, 2017; Koporcic and Halinen, 2018; Koporcic and Törnroos, 2019a, 2019b). As a novel concept, INB has its roots in the relationship marketing and network literature of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) Group (Håkansson, 1982; Axelsson and Johanson, 1992; Håkansson et al , 2009), as well as in corporate branding literature (Hatch and Schultz, 2003; Melewar et al , 2012; Biraghi and Gambetti, 2015).…”

How to improve new product performance through customer relationship management and product development management: evidence from China

“…Recent studies have paid increasing attention to emerging economies, which are experiencing rapid changes in their legal, institutional and economic environments (Cannizzaro and Weiner, 2018; Gu et al , 2008; Johnson and Tellis, 2008; Ju et al , 2018; Walters and Saeed, 2003; Zhou and Poppo, 2010). Prior studies have explored various strategic issues in emerging market contexts, including the effect of branding on business relationship development (Koporcic and Ivanovagongne, 2020), the impact of different strategic orientations on firm performance (Jiang et al , 2019; Yao et al , 2019) and the importance of relationship networks for firms (Chung, 2019; Dadzie et al , 2017; Mandjak et al , 2019). A few recent studies have also addressed NPD in emerging economies (Fletcherchen et al , 2017).…”

The influence of brokers on networking behaviour during internationalization: a study of Czech SMEs

“…SMEs use networking activities to overcome several challenges in the international market (Ellis, 2000;Johanson and Vahlne, 2009) and to explore new opportunities. These firms focus on secure network building (Koporcic and Ivanova-Gongne, 2020;Koporcic and Tornroos, 2019) to be successful in the international market (Masiello and Izzo, 2019;Srivastava et al, 2018). More specifically, despite being part of the EU, these firms still experience issues such as market failure (Estrin et al, 2006).…”