Dissertation summary: Components of brand equity: The case of binh thuan dragon fruit

Research objective: Explore the components of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity; to measure the effect of components of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity to overall brand equity; and the effect of components of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity together; to suggest some policy for Development Research Center of Binh Thuan dragon fruit trees, Binh Thuan dragon fruit; association to increase Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRADING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS OF HO CHI MINH CITY

- -

NGUYEN VIET BANG

COMPONENTS OF BRAND EQUITY: THE CASE OF BINH THUAN DRAGON

FRUIT

Major: Commercial Business Code: 62.34.01.21

SUMMARY OF ECONOMIC DOCTORAL THESIS

HCM City, 2015

The reasearch was completed at:

University of Economics ò Ho Chi Minh City

PUBLISHED SCIENTIFIC WORKS

Nguyen Viet Bang (Coauthor), 2014, “Components

of Brand Equity: The Case of Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit”, Journal of Economic Development, No 285, pp 61 – 82

1 Nguyen Viet Bang (Coauthor), 2014, “Components of

Brand Equity: The Case of Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit”, Journal

of Economic Development, No 222, pp 142 – 160

2 Nguyen Viet Bang (Coauthor), 2014, “Components of

brand equity of Binh Thuan Dragon fruit”, Science & Technology Development, Vol 17, No Q2, pp 85 – 94

3 Nguyen Viet Bang, 2015, “Impact among components

of dragon fruit’s brand equity in Binh Thuan”, Economy and Forecast Review, Special Issue, March 2015, pp 60 – 62

4 Nguyen Viet Bang, 2015, “To enhance the brand of Binh Thuan Dragon Fruit”, Economy and Forecast Review, Special Issue, May 2015, pp 86 – 88

CHAPTER 1: RESEARCH OVERVIEW

1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Dragon fruit is a specialty ranked 1st out of 11 types of Vietnamese fruit with competitive advantage acknowledged by Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at the conference held in HCM City on June 7 2004 The fruit features high economic efficiency and considerably raises farmers’ income in general, and in Binh Thuan Province in particular, it helps restructure agricultural crops and change the face of rural districts

Dragon fruit yield and price during the past years has risen rapidly Yet, uneven quality and size of dragon fruit, technology packaging and preservation is too simple to reduce the time of preserve fruit So consumer perceptions of quality of Binh Thuan dragon fruit is low In addition, lax control of food sanitation from production to consumption stages, and irrational brand marketing programs prevent this product from creating a vivid image in consumers’ mind and intense loyalty toward the product, accounting for its low value So It is time to built and develop Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand However, building and developing brand, the manager need to understand brand equity (Keller and Lehmann, 2006), it mean that the manager can understand the role of brand equity and its conponents; how to measure them (Tho and Trang, 2011)

1.2 RESEARCH QUESTION AND OBJECTIVE

Research objective: (i) explore the components of Binh Thuan

dragon fruit brand equity; (ii) to measure the effect of components of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity to overall brand equity; and the

effect of components of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity together; (iii) to suggest some policy for Development Research Center of Binh Thuan dragon fruit trees, Binh Thuan dragon fruit Association to increase Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity Research question:

1.3 RESEARCH SUBJECT AND DELIMITATIION OF

1.3.2 Delimitations of the scope

Approach theoretical study: There are two principal and

distinct perspectives that have been taken by academics to study brand equity – financial and customer based (Lassar et al, 1995) Thus, author conducted research brand equity approach in view of the consumer in this study

The space: interview directly the respondents in HCMC and

Binh Thuan province

The time: indepth interviews is done from 11/2012 to

12/2013, the prestest survey is done from 12/2013 to 01/2014; main survey is done from 02/2014 to 06/2014

1.5 NEW CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE THESIS

Firstly, the result of the research show that: Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity have 05 components: (i) brand awareness, (ii) brand association, (iii) perceived quality, (iv) brand loyalty, (v)

perceived safety and 05 components directly affect on brand equity accepted at 0.05 significance level Thus, compared with model of brand equity of Aaker (1991, 1996), Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity have another component is perceived safety which is a new component of this research

Secondly, This research have two approaches (combines both direct consumer and indirect consumer, retailer) to measure the effect of components of Binh Thuan dagron fruit brand equity on the overall brand equity; and the effect of these components together

1.6 STRUCTURE OF THESIS

The research have 05 chapter: chapter 1: Research Overview; chapter 2: Literature Review; Chương 3: Research Design; Chapter 4: Research Result; and Chapter 5: Conclusion and Research Implied

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Customer approach to brand equity refers to brand equity as a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers (Aaker, 1991, 1996)

2.1.3 Components of brand equity based on consumer

Aaker (1991, 1996) suggests that brand equity can be measured

by the following four components: (i) brand awareness; (ii) perceived quality; (iii) brand associations; and (iv) brand loyalty; Keller (1993) explains that brand equity itself is consumer’s knowledge of that brand which comprises brand awareness and brand image

Among several brand equity models in the literature, we have chosen that constructed by Aaker (1991, 1996) due to its being most cited (Atilgan et al., 2005) and siutable for the research brand equity based on customer And the quantitative research results show that Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity have 05 components: (i) brand awareness, (ii) brand association, (iii) perceived quality, (iv) brand loyalty, (v) perceived safety

for a brand among a set of other competing brands That is also a highlight that comprehensively explains brand equity as a result of corporate marketing efforts to build positive awareness and behaviors toward the brand as well as for intangible value that leads

to consumers’ choices

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is “the ability for a buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category” (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1998) Thus, brand awareness of Binh Thuan dragon fruit is the ability for a buyer to recognize or recall that a brand is a member of a certain product category through shape, color, flavor, logo and can recognize Binh Thuan dragon fruit with the other And the authors propose H1 as given below:

H1: Brand awareness directly affects brand equity (+)

Brand Association

Aaker (1991) defines brand associations as “anything linked in memory to a brand” Thus, brand associations of Binh Thuan dargon fruit represents associations of consumers in shape, color, taste, safety of Binh Thuan dragon fruit when mentioning Binh Thuan dragon fruit.Hypothesis H2 is constructed as follows:

H2: Brand associations directly affect brand equity (+)

Perceived Quality

Perceived quality is “the consumer's judgment about a product's overall excellence or superiority'” (Zeithaml, 1988) So, Perceived quality of Binh Thuan dragon fruit is the consumer's judgment about Binh Thuan dragon fruit's overall excellence Thus, it can be hypothesised that:

H: Perceived quality directly affects brand equity (+)

Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred brand consistently in the future (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001)

There are two brand loyalty approaches which are based on: (i) consumer’s behavior; and (ii) consumer’s attitude (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001; Kabiraj and Shanmugan, 2011) The first approach views brand loyalty as a behaviour which is operationalised in the terms of repeat purchase, or purchase frequency, or share of purchase The second appoarch views brand loyalty as an attitude and the operationalises this as perference, commitment, buying intention, and recommendation willing This study explores consumer’s brand loyalty on the basis of attitudinal perspective Thus, H4 can be formed as below:

H4: Brand loyalty directly affects brand equity (+)

Perceived Safety

Perceived safety represents subjective perception of consumers about the safety of the product for their health (Kim, 2012) Thus, Perceived safety of Binh Thuan dargon fruit represents subjective perception of consumers about the safety of the product from producing to harvesting, processing, preserving and distributing fruit Thus, H5 can be formed as below:

H5: Perceived safety directly affects brand equity (+)

The effect of brand equity’s conponents

Consumer loyalty to the brand when they have knowledge that brand (Saleem et al, 2015); the characteristics of the brand to be created in their minds (Tho and Trang, 2011); the brand has high quality compared to other brands in a competitive set (Tho et al,

2011); and safety (Roosen, 2003; Kim, 2012; Fontes et al, 2013) So customer intend to buy the dragon fruit when they recognize this brand; easily associate with it; and think that it has high quality and safety.Thus, H6, H7, H8, H9 can be formed as below:

H6: Brand awareness directly affects brand loyalty (+);

H7: Brand associations directly affects brand loyalty (+);

H8: Perceived quality directly affects brand loyalty (+);

H9: Perceived safety directly affects brand loyalty (+)

Brand associations is the result in high brand awareness (Yoo et

al, 2000) and the associations are stronger when customers are based

on many experiences or exposures to communications (Yoo et al, 2000; Yoo and Donthu, 2001) So, customers associate to the Binh Thuan dargon fruit when they must recognize this brand; and think that it has high quality and safety.Thus, H10, H11, H12 can be formed

as below:

H10: Brand awareness directly affects brand associations (+);

H11: Perceived quality directly affects brand associations (+);

H12: Perceived safety directly affects brand associations (+) And consumers only think that Binh Thuan dragon fruit are more higher quality than others products when they feel it safety and they can recognize it Hence, the author suggest the following hypotheses:

H13: Brand awareness directly affectsperceived quality (+);

H14: Perceived safety directly affects perceived quality (+) Product safety is a factor which consumers desire in agricultural products when they decide to consume them (Grunert, 2005).However, customers only judge the the safety of products when they can recognize the brand of this products Hence, the author suggest the following hypotheses:

H15: Brand awareness directly affectsperceived safety (+) And there are the different between customers and retailers about needs and expectations (Fairhurst and Fiorito, 1990; Quan, 2006; Huong and Lin, 2011) So there are the different between customers and retailers about the components of brand equity Thus, H16 can be formed as below:

H16: there are the difference of regression conefficients (beta) in the model’s brand equity when approaching consumers and retailers

Picture 2.6 Proposed Model and Hypotheses

(Source: Authors’ design)

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESGIN

3.1 RESEARCH PROCESS

This study use a mix method research approach, incroporating both qualitative and quatitative research Qualitative research featured indepth interviews and focus groups Next, pilot study is conducted with 144 respondents, based on direct interviews by means of questionnaires to evaluate the consistency and scale structure Main study is conducted with 781 respondents direct interviews by means of questionnaires to test the research model and hypotheses

processes are written on paper

Data analysis: The collected data is aggregated to determine the

components of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity; adjust the observed variables to measure the concepts research (brand equity

and its components)

Focus groups

Focus group method: Focus groups are conducted by seminars

on the topic of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity and its components Focus group processes are written on paper

Data analysis: The collected data is aggregated to determine the

components of Binh Thuan dragon fruit brand equity; adjust the observed variables which has changed the word to suit the mind of

consumers and retailers use to measure brand equity and its components

3.2.2 Quantitative research results

3.2.2.1 Indepth interviews results

The results show that: (i) brand equity have 05 components: brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and perceived safety; 30 observed variables used to measure brand equity and its components

3.2.2.2 Focus group with consumers results

The results show that: (i) brand equity also have 05 components: brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty, and perceived safety; 30 observed variables which has changed the word to suit the consumer’s mind use to measure brand equity and its components

Brand Awareness: 05 Items

AW1: I am aware of Bình Thuận dragon fruit; AW2: I know the specific characteristics of the Binh Thuan dragon fruit; AW3: I can distinguish Binh Thuan dragon fruit from other types; AW4: I am aware of the design of its logo; AW5: Briefly, when referring to Binh Thuan dragon fruit, I can easily conceive of it

Brand Association: 06 items

AS1: When mentioning dragon fruit, I immediately associate it with Binh Thuan one; AS2: When mentioning Binh Thuan dragon fruit, some external characteristics of Binh Thuan dargon fruit come

to my mind quickly; AS3: When mentioning Binh Thuan dragon fruit, I picture the one with a thick peel and long-term preservation; AS4: When mentioning Binh Thuan dragon fruit, I picture the one with very tasty, sweet and pure flavor; AS5: When mentioning Binh

Thuan dragon fruit, I picture the one with high nutritional value; AS6: When mentioning Binh Thuan dragon fruit, I picture the one with safe for your health

Perceived Quality QL: 06 items:

QL1: The shape and colour of Binh Thuan dragon fruit is so beautiful; QL2: Binh Thuan dragon fruit is tasty, sweet and pure flavor; QL3: Binh Thuan dragon fruit offers high nutritional value; QL4: Binh Thuan dragon fruit can be long-term preserved; QL5: Compared to other brands of dragon fruit, Binh Thuan dargon fruit is

of very high quality; QL6: Binh Thuan dargon fruit is the best brand

in its product class

Brand Loyalty LO: 04 items

LO1: I always think of Binh Thuan brand when I want dragon fruit; LO2: I will not buy any other brands if Binh Thuan dragon fruit

is not available at fruit stores; LO3: I will purchase Binh Thuan dragon fruit in the future; LO4: I will introduce Binh Thuan dragon fruit to other consumers

Perceived Safety SA: 05 items:

SA1: I think Binh Thuan dragon fruit is safe for your health; SA2: I feel secure when I consume Binh Thuan dragon fruit; SA3: I think Binh Thuan dragon fruit is produced with pesticides standard; SA4: I think Binh Thuan dragon fruit is preliminary treatment and packing standard; SA5: I think Binh Thuan dragon fruit has preservation process standard

Brand Equity: 04 items

BE1: It makes sense to buy Binh Thuan dragon fruit instead of any other brand, even if they are the same; BE2: Even if another brand has same features as Binh Thuan dragon fruit, I would prefer