Creating a strategic competitive advantage through branding

Abstract

The focus of this research paper is the analysis of the creation of a competitive
advantage through branding, as a prerequisite for the strategic long-term survival of
the organization in conditions of intense competitive structure on the market. The main
goal is to define and sublimate the need to understand competition, as well as
consumers through researching competition, understanding the basics of competitive
marketing strategy, based on creating values for consumers, as well as recognizing the
need to balance consumer orientations and competitors in building a true market
oriented organization. The results of the research lead to a conclusion emphasizing
that companies today are facing the toughest competition ever. Understanding the
customers is an important first step in developing customer relationships, but it is not
enough. To gain a competitive advantage, companies have to use this understanding
to design market offers that deliver greater value than those of competitors vying for
the same customers. Competitive intelligence provides great advantages in the area of
product development. Knowing the progress of competitors' products, processes and
technology is very useful in a competitive market. An information that creates value for
the company, often creates great curiosity among competitors. Companies sometimes
go to great lengths to reveal these secrets. They develop techniques to obtain
information, sometimes at the boundaries of ethics and law.
The brand is the most powerful weapon a company can have, providing a competitive
advantage over other companies. Today, consumers are not satisfied only with a
product that would satisfy their basic needs. Building a recognizable brand is a
challenge for any company. The fact that only 10 companies control the majority of the
market in the world speaks volumes about the power that the brand has. What is
important is that every company applies a strategic approach in its operations when it
comes to this issue.
Precisely, to perceive these tendencies, this research paper integrates several
hypotheses. The focus is on the basic hypothesis related to "Corporate brand: sources
of value for business". While separate Hypothesis 1 tests the market share of strong
brands and Hypothesis 2 tests the entry barriers of competitors created by strong
brands.
In order to obtain a more complete and realistic picture of the investigated problem,
and taking into account the advantages and weaknesses of the research methods,
qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. The results are combined and
processed, based on which, conclusions are drawn. Some of the methods used are:
analysis, survey, interview, observation, comparison and statistical data processing.