Is branding an effective tool to create wealth for shareholders of companies that are active in the business environment? Or other factors, such as innovation and production efficiency, or lack thereof, to create or destroy shareholder wealth? Based on the examination of nearly 1,700 companies listed on U.S. or European stock exchanges, this study shows that this is an important relationship can be described as a W-shaped curve with five distinct phases, depending on the strategic position of the company branding. Used strategically, business-to-business (B2B) companies with a balanced corporate brand strategy, tends to give a return to its shareholders, which is 5% to 7% higher. Therefore, it is vital that key executives, including the board of directors, to assess and monitor the strategic position of the company branding and how their investments perform branding against major competitors. This study shows that the shareholders should insist on systematic feedback from corporate performance on all key issues in the balance, it is - including branding. As described here, very few of the companies analyzed have the optimum balance between branding and financial performance. "Hide
by Lars Ohnemus Source: Business Horizons 8 pages. Publication Date: March 15, 2009. Prod. #: BH319-PDF-ENG