The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-1335.htm IMR
24,4

Multiple roles for branding in international marketing

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Faculty of Business and Informatics, School of Commerce and Marketing,
Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia, and

Ho Yin Wong
Bill Merrilees
Department of Marketing, Griffith Business School, Griffith University,
Gold Coast, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the inter-related relationships among various branding issues such as brand orientation, brand re-positioning, brand performance and international marketing issues in terms of international marketing strategy, financial …show more content…

It can shape business development by realising an alignment between the capabilities of the firm and the external environment. The emphasis of brand strategy is shifted to brand-based strategy (Mosmans and van der Vorst, 1998). In parallel with their argument, Urde (1994, 1999) also advocates the use of a brand as a starting point in the formulation of firm strategy. He coined the concept “brand orientation” which uses customers and brands as central points in the formulation of company strategy
(Urde, 1994). Brand orientation is thus a choice of strategy that would determine a firm’s competitive edge with favourable consequences for their future survival. Wong and Merrilees (2005) found that brand orientation can positively impact on firm performance. While the extant literature has covered a range of topics from management of a brand to the strategic use of a brand, the major limitation of the literature is the lack of attention to the international context.
International branding
While the importance and management of a brand have been well addressed by the literature from the perspective of domestic marketing, studies examining a brand from

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an international perspective are limited. Moore et al. (2000) argue that the role of branding receives only limited comment from the existing literature on the international growth strategies of companies. As noted by Shocker et al. (1994),