Brand Management: Research, theory and practice

It is interesting to compare our analysis with the Goodyear categorization,
because the starting point of the two frameworks is so different. Goodyear’s
analysis provides insight into how brands play different roles as a market evolves
and its consumers become more sophisticated, which is quite different from the
Kuhnian approach used in this book. The proposed brand roles are, however,
highly comparable to the evolution of brand management as a scientific discipline.
Hence, the macro-level analysis of evolving market places is comparable to the
analysis of how the academic discipline has evolved (even though the proposed
evolution of brand roles does not fit the chronology of the taxonomy).
In Louro and Cunha’s framework, the most influential brand management liter-
ature is categorized by two discriminators (brand centrality and customer
centrality). The four brand management paradigms identified in that framework
more or less cover five approaches of our taxonomy.
Holt compares axioms of the four most popular branding models. The side-by-
side presentation of these models is very much comparable to the five latest
approaches of the taxonomy in this book.

Concluding remarks

The proposed taxonomy of the seven approaches hence complements existing
frameworks or categorizations of brand management even though it stems from a
different background. The taxonomy provides much detail to enhance under-
standing of brand management, both when it comes to width and when it comes to
depth. The fact that the taxonomy proposes seven approaches to brand
management provides a very detailed insight into the subject. Furthermore, the

Taxonomy 257

Theory

Assumptions

Methods and data

Managerial implications

Figure 11.3The logic of the approach chapters