USING BRAND AS AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON TO COMPETE IN THE MARKET: A CASE STUDY OF NHAT LINH COMPANY

I wish to express my profound gratitude and great appreciation to my advisor Dr. Truong Quang for his valuable guidance, advice and encouragement throughout the research study

USING BRAND AS AN EFFECTIVE WEAPON TO COMPETE IN THE MARKET: A CASE STUDY OF NHAT LINH COMPANY by Duong Manh Cuong A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration Examination Committee Dr Truong Quang (Chairman) Dr Hans Stoessel Dr Clemens Bechter Nationality Vietnamese Previous Degree: Bachelor of Engineering Hanoi University of Transport & Communications Hanoi, Vietnam Scholarship Donor The Government of Switzerland/Swiss Development Cooperation (SAV) Asian Institute of Technology School of Management Bangkok, Thailand April 2001 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my profound gratitude and great appreciation to my advisor Dr Truong Quang for his valuable guidance, advice and encouragement throughout the research study Special thanks are extended to the other members of the Examination Committee, Dr Hans Stoessel and Dr Clemens Bechter for taking interest and giving valuable suggestions to improve the content of this study Deep appreciation and thanks are also extended to Mr Nguyen Van Dong Assistant Manager, Mr Nguyen Van Bien, Deputy Manager, and Ms Nguyen Thu Phuong of Nhat Linh Co Ltd for providing me the needed information and data to complete this research study Last but not least, I would like to thank the government of Switzerland for providing me a full scholarship to study at SAV in HCMC, Vietnam and at School of Management in Bangkok, Thailand ABSTRACT In a market economy, the success or failure of the companies depends on how they fulfill consumers’ needs and wants In a fierce competition environment, companies must compete with each other in terms of price, quality, services, technology, innovation, and brand name, etc To differentiate their products from other competitors’, companies often create brand names for their products or their corporate Therefore, branding has become an essential means for companies to survive and develop in the long term In case of wide product portfolio, “branding” even replaces “marketing” activities Many companies recognize that branding is the most effective weapon to win consumers’ purchasing decision Indeed, attracting consumers becomes a very difficult task for any company in a highly competitive market Although a company gets many benefits from its brand name, it is not easy to manage a strong brand To understand more how a company builds and manages its brand to get the full benefit from it, a study into the case of the LiOA brand at Nhat Linh Co., Ltd., an auto voltage stabilizer (AVS) manufacturer, is undertaken The case study will focus on analyzing the external market environment, the company internal situation and its brand development and management basing on interviews with the Company managers and its employees At the same time, a customer survey is carried out to evaluate what consumers know about LiOA’s brand name and products From the analysis of the survey results, some recommendations for LiOA branding management and communication program will be made to help the Company manage its brand better and to strengthen its LiOA brand name in the AVS market TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Introduction -1 1.1 Rationale of the Research .1 1.2 Problem Statement 1.3 Objectives of the Research 1.4 Research Methodology 1.5 Scope and Limitations of the Research 1.6 Structure of the Research Report Chapter Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 2.2 What is a Brand? 2.3 The Importance of Brand Name 2.3.1 The main contribution of brands 2.3.2 A brand is more than a product 2.4 The Brand Equity 2.5 Brand Identity 2.5.1 Definition 2.5.2 The brand position trap 2.5.3 Four brand identity perspectives 2.5.4 The identity structure 2.6 Value Proposition 2.7 Strategic Brand Management 10 2.8 Brand position 12 2.9 Communication Program .13 2.10 Brand Leverage 13 2.11 Important Factors For Building Strong Brands 14 Chapter -15 ANALYSIS OF THE COMPANY CURRENT SITUATION 15 3.1 External Environment Analysis 15 3.1.1 Macro Environment 15 3.1.2 The Industry Environment 17 3.2 Internal Analysis 20 3.2.1 Company Overview 20 3.2.2 Company Performance .21 3.2.3 Strategic intent 22 3.2.4 Company Structure 24 3.2.5 Company resources and core competencies .24 3.3 SWOT Analysis 30 Chapter -31 Company’s Brand Management 31 4.1 LiOA’s Positioning 31 4.1.1 The AVSs Market 31 4.2 Brand Analysis .32 4.2.1 The origin of the name .32 4.2.2 LiOA symbol 32 4.2.3 Trade mark protection 33 4.2.3 Advertising activities 33 4.3 Brand Management 34 4.4 Brand Leverage And Extension .34 4.4 The Company’s Brand Intention 35 4.4 Conclusion 35 Chapter -36 findings OF the Customer survey -36 5.1 Overview of the Sample’s Characteristics .36 5.2 Consumers’ Brand Awareness and their Behavior 36 5.2.1 Brand awareness .36 5.2.2 Brand choice 37 5.2.3 Factors Affecting Consumers Choices of AVS Brand 38 5.3 Questions Relating To LiOA Products .39 5.3.1 LiOA name 39 5.3.2 Country of origin 40 5.3.3 LiOA knowledge information sources 40 5.3.4 LiOA usage .41 5.3.5 Consumers’ evaluation of LiOA AVS 41 5.3.6 Price of LiOA AVSs 42 5.3.7 LiOA shops convenience 42 5.3.8 LiOA advertisement contents 42 5.3.9 LiOA promotion program 43 5.4 Conclusion 43 Chapter -45 Developing a Branding strategy for LiOA -45 6.1 Developing LiOA Brand Identity 45 6.1.1 The brand as a product 45 6.1.2 The Brand-as-organization 46 6.1.3 The Brand-as-person: Brand personality 46 6.1.4 Band as a symbol .46 6.2 Brand Value Proposition 46 6.2.1 Functional benefits 46 6.2.2 Emotional benefits 47 6.2.3 Self-expressive benefits 47 6.3 Brand Anatomy of LiOA 47 6.4 LiOA Brand Position .48 6.5 Branding activities in line with its intention strategies 48 6.5.1 Consolidate LiOA brand name in the North 48 6.5.2 Expand its market share and brand awareness in the South .50 6.5.3 LiOA expansion to other foreign markets 51 6.5.4 LiOA CABLE branding 51 Chapter -52 Conclusion and recommendations 52 7.1 Conclusions 52 7.2 Recommendations 53 References -55 APPENDIX -1 LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 The Brand Position Trap Table 3.1: Vietnam’s Economic Indicators 15 Table 3.2: Summary of the Business Opportunities and Threats 20 Table 3.3: LiOA AVS Current Product Line 21 Table 3.4: Sales Performance of Nhat Linh Co Ltd., 1996-2000 -22 Table 3.5: Summary of the Company’s Strengths and Weaknesses -29 Table 3.6: SWOT Analysis Summary 30 Table 5.1: Factors Affecting Consumers Choices of AVS Brand -38 Table 5.2: Respondent’s Evaluation of LiOA AVSs -41 Table 5.3: Respondents’ Evaluation of LiOA Advertisement Contents 43 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Research Framework -2 Figure 2.1 A Brand Is More Than a Product 11 Figure 2.2: The Brand Management Process 11 Figure 2.3 : A Variety of Ways of Leveraging Brand 13 Figure 3.1: Changes in Foreign Direct Investment -16 Figure 3.2: Nhat Linh Company’ s Organizational Chart 24 Figure 4.1 LiOA Logo -33 Figure 5.1: Respondent’s Awareness about AVS Brands 37 Figure 5.2: Brand Selection of Respondents -37 Figure 5.3: Information Source for Knowing LiOA 40 Figure: 6.1 LiOA Brand Anatomy 48 Figure 7.1 The Proposed Model for Strategic Brand Management Process -54 Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the Research In a market economy, the success or failure of the companies depends largely on how companies fulfill consumers’ needs and wants If the products or services meet the consumers’ needs (physical and emotional), consumers will be satisfied Once they are satisfied with the products, they will continue to buy or refer to other consumers by means of “word-of-mouth” As a result, the companies will enjoy a long-term profitability and customer’s loyalty In a fierce competition environment, companies must compete with each other in terms of price, quality, services, technology, innovation, and brand name, etc To differentiate their products from other competitors, companies often create brand names for their products or their corporate Consumers are made aware of the products by their brand names with unique, distinctive and particular characteristics In this case, the choice of a customer for a product, then, is a result of brand recognition for quality or uniqueness of the company’s offer Therefore, branding has become an essential means for companies to compete with other competitors In case of wide product portfolio, “branding” even replaces “marketing” activities Many companies recognize that branding is the most effective weapon to win consumers’ purchasing decision Indeed, attracting consumers becomes a very difficult task for any company in a highly competitive market Although a company gets many benefits from its brand name, it is not easy to create and maintain a strong brand To understand more how a company builds and manages its brand to get the full benefit from that, a study into the case of LiOA brand at Nhat Linh Co Ltd., an auto voltage stabilizer (AVS)manufacturer is carried out 1.2 Problem Statement To compete with other competitors in automatic voltage stabilizer market, Nhat Linh Company has to build its own brand name and manage it well This study will see how the Company manages its brand as an effective weapon to compete with other competitors 1.3 Objectives of the Research This study focuses on analyzing brand management of the Company Its specific objectives are: • To analyze the external market environment of the auto voltage stabilizer industry and the Company situation • To analyze the current Company branding management process • To survey customer’ attitudes towards the Company’s brand/products • To recommend a brand strategy and marketing communication program for the Company 1.4 Research Methodology The conceptual framework of the study can be illustrated by the Figure 1.1 company should not only rely on its high quality AVSs to attract consumers, but also build its brand name awareness further • To enhance its brand name awareness, the company should optimize on its advertising campaigns to communicate with consumers As revealed from the result of the survey, 90 percent of the respondents knew LiOA from advertising campaigns shown on TV, nevertheless, the Company’s advertising content was not considered good by the respondents It should be noted that the company has spent a lot on its advertising campaigns so far for not much effect Therefore, the company should pay more attention to the quality of the ad content • Newspapers and magazines also provide effective channels for the Company to communicate with target consumers However, the company should select the most read by its target consumers in order to gain the highest cost-effective benefits • Word-of-mouth from satisfied consumers is an important means to build its LiOA brand name However, this only happens as and when the company’s AVSs have been used and evaluated directly by the consumers That is why product quality, product price and other supporting activities such as technical assistance, after sales service and free delivery, etc are all necessary factors that enhance the consumers reference towards their friends and relatives Although the respondents did not specially mention that such activities as supporting services were the most important affecting their buying decision, they are certainly important to enhance the customer’s word-of-mouth Therefore, the company should focus not only on its product’s quality, but also on its other sales related activities to make it a full fledged customer-oriented company to get full benefits from that In sum, to fulfill its new objectives and mission, the Company should continuously improve its AVS quality to remain superior to that of others and try to develop a good distribution system and supporting services At the same time, the Company should also improve the quality of its advertising campaigns to impress the consumers in order to increase the consumer’s awareness for its LiOA brand name and thus further push the demand for the products Only by so doing, the Company can optimize on its current strengths and develop a firm and long lasting competitive edge for its future growth 44 Chapter DEVELOPING A BRANDING STRATEGY FOR LIOA From what has been found at the Company internal situation and its objectives, together with the results of the survey, we can say that although LiOA brand name is quite strong in Vietnam AVS market, it should be protected from fierce competitions from other AVS brand names The competitors are spending a lot of their money for advertising activities aiming at gaining the market share in the slow growth AVS market The company has not advertised for its LiOA on TVs for a long time It has just advertised for its LiOA Cable and neglected its LiOA AVS Moreover, LiOA advertising quality is not impressive to audiences since the Company does not work out its brand positioning Hence, apart from its other activities in product, price and distribution, the Company should the following activities to use its LiOA brand name as a valuable asset • Understand how to manage a brand systematically • Learn the nature of the brand name, its brand personality, brand identity, brand equity and its brand anatomy Find a good advertising agency to make its advertisement Building communication programs in line with its corporate strategy and branding strategy, brand identity and brand position for particular areas • •  Consolidate its brand name in the North  Expand its market share and brand name awareness in the South  Prepare necessary actions to export LiOa AVS to the South China market Only by doing these activities, can the Company make its LiOA brand name actually strong in Vietnam AVS market and use it as an effective weapon to compete with other competitors 6.1 Developing LiOA Brand Identity 6.1.1 The brand as a product • Product scope association with product class: LiOA AVS is divided into kinds, household and industrial products Therefore the Company can serve two types of consumers, family and industrial ones When thinking of LiOA AVS, people will know that the product is available for their electric equipment both at their family and at their business The Company can use LiOA as the company brand name to communicate with consumers • Product related attributes: When people buy LiOA they will get a high quality product; safety, reliability, durability, and use-friendly product They will receive free delivery if needed and product warranty within years • Quality and value: For LiOA AVS, it is considered the highest quality products with reasonable prices Since the Company is the big one among AVS manufacturers, it can benefit from the economies of scale and scope and easily buy imported high quality materials That is why the cost of producing the highest quality is not much higher than that 45 of competitors, if not smaller Therefore, consumers can get the highest quality domestically made products with affordable price • Associations with use occasion: The product is used when unstable power current occurs or when the power current is too low or too high for some time With the presence of LiOA these problems will be settled and consumers feel safe for their other modern electric equipment • Associations with users: People have to use the product due to the unstable power current happening at their living environment People, who are careful and want their modern electric equipment to be safe, usually use the product • Country of origin: LiOA AVS is a Vietnamese product It has a name similar to other Vietnamese products as mentioned above the name LiOA means “Linh On Ap” (Linh Auto Voltage Stabilizer) Moreover, Although the brand name does not suggest the country of origin, it suggests the name of producer and is very similar to the name of other Vietnamese products like CASUMINA, HALIDA, HUDA (South Rubber Company, Hanoi And Denmark JV Brewer Company, Hue And Denmark Brewer Company) Therefore it easy for people to realize that it is domestic product 6.1.2 The Brand-as-organization Nhat Linh Co is an organization with innovation culture to pursue for the highest quality products in order to get and maintain the position of AVS market leader in Vietnam that it has aimed at In addition, the Company has better technology than competitors to build better products Although, the Company is a local one, its product quality is as good as imported ones, even better than some imported ones The Company has achieved some awards in the name of “Vietnam products with high quality” So consumers feel more confident in buying the Company’s products 6.1.3 The Brand-as-person: Brand personality LiOA AVS is the highest quality domestic AVS product in Vietnam with affordable price LiOA AVS has many functional attributes with high reliability, safety and durability etc Therefore when the users use the product they think that they use the best locally made product This makes them safe for themselves as well as for their electrical appliances The product is trustworthy 6.1.4 Band as a symbol LiOA symbol is a descriptive one It is easy for Vietnamese people to understand and accepted So far, there has been no problem with its logo However, the Company should correct the word “electric” into “electrics” since it present for the Company’s all electric products 6.2 Brand Value Proposition 6.2.1 Functional benefits LiOA AVS is produced from high quality materials with imported technology Its quality is better than that of other local competitors and the same as that of foreign ones Among products’ attributes, reliability safety and durability are the highest attributes of the products since the product is made of high quality materials with competitive technology That is why 46 the Company use the slogan “an ideal AVS for all electric equipment” to inform the consumers its products’ functional benefits 6.2.2 Emotional benefits When using LiOA, consumers benefit not only from its functional benefits, but also give consumers a positive feeling, emotional benefit They feel safe for themselves as well as their electric home appliances, and above all for their family LiOA advertisements try to convey message “happiness to every family” to refer consumers the emotional benefits when using LiOA 6.2.3 Self-expressive benefits LiOA is the highest quality domestically made AVS with superior functional characteristics to those of competitors Although consumers consider it high price, a lot of them still buy it Since they think that they use the best AVS that is available in Vietnam 6.3 Brand Anatomy of LiOA Core identity: The most important component of a brand is its core identity, that is what consumers feel inside when thinking of a product Starting with the idea of a high quality product that solve unstable power current, bringing the safe mood to the users, the core identity of LiOA AVS is reflected in the following message: LiOA is an ideal AVS with affordable price for all electric equipment The main idea is to impress the consumers that they will use equally imported high quality products with affordable price The Company ensures a consistent quality and pricing policy and its supporting marketing activities like after sales service, delivery and warrantee to support the product Extended identities: are the brand name, the symbol, country of origin, and packaging etc Apart from core identity, other brand characteristics will be in the extended identities of the brand The brand anatomy of LiOA can be illustrated in Figure 6.1 Innovative Company 8-arrow circle High quality Safety Trustworthy Red brown & Safe for dark blue electric colors equipment country name Ideal products with affordable prices Reliability Brand name familiar with Vietnamese country name Domestically made Userfriendly Durability 47 Low power consumption Family & industrial products Unstable power solver Figure: 6.1 LiOA Brand Anatomy 6.4 LiOA Brand Position Basing on the brand identity and its value proposition and other characteristics of LiOA brand, LiOA brand positioning is constructed LiOA brand positioning consists of the target customer group and need, the brand name, the benefits that it brings to the consumers, the reason why and the brand characters To those having electric equipment, who live in unstable power system condition and want to keep their electric equipment safe and operating smoothly LiOA is the brand of high quality AVSs that is best for resuming stable power in a blink and consuming little power to protect your electric equipment The products are produced by selected materials and modern technology, and checked thoroughly before sales LiOA is a strong, reliable, durable and dependable AVS with affordable price For the brand characters and the benefits, we can emphasize more about the brand identity and its value proposition; and both functional and emotional benefits in order to inform consumers more detail about the product as a value-added one 6.5 Branding activities in line with its intention strategies 6.5.1 Consolidate LiOA brand name in the North From chapters 3, 4, and we know that LiOA’s market share and brand awareness in the North, especially in Hanoi are very high However, the Company is still very weak at advertising and other competitors want to enter into the North So the Company must, together with other activities, consolidate its brand name in the North in order to prevent other competitors from penetrating into the North AVS market The Company should focus on advertising activities in order to strengthen its brand name in the North The Company should hire and experience-advertising agent to the job and the communication message should be built based on its LiOA brand identity, value proposition and brand position 48 • Advertising The Company should continue using mass media advertising such as nation TV and local TV channels, to create and maintain its LiOA brand awareness and its brand loyalty The Company can use national channel VTV3 and provincial channel to communicate with consumers in the North since most Vietnamese people can see programs VTV3 channel and for those not seeing VTV3 they can see LiOA ads on the provincial channel For advertising on newspapers in the North area, the Company should also can advertise on selected newspapers such as “Thoi Bao Kinh Te,” “Gia Ca Thi Truong,” and “Lao Dong,” for LiOA products These papers are often read by the Company’s target consumers; mild income people For advertising on magazines, the Company should select “Consumer Magazine,” to advertise since this magazine is most read by people that want to know what new products are available in the market Both newspapers and magazines can be use to show the company’s achievements so far in order to inform people more about the Company and its products since advertising on TV channels can not deliver a lot of information in a short time period The Company should continue to use billboards at strategic location in big cities such as Hanoi, Hai Phong In Hanoi, the Company should continue using its lighted billboard at Hang Bong, Dien Bien Phu, Trang Thi and Nguyen Thai Hoc Streets to build Hanoians awareness towards LiOA brand The Company should manage its LiOA brand accordingly since some retailers did not make the signboard with correct logo colors By doing it is easy for people to notice LiOA brand Apart from that brochures and booklets, and poster should be done and distributed to retailers in order to build s strong position for LiOA in retailers’ shop and remind target audiences once they come to the shops At Company’s show rooms, the company should spend money for renovating its showrooms since the showrooms have not been paid attention much so far Furthermore, showrooms represent the Company images Only by doing so consumers can see a consistent message that the Company wants to deliver to them • Public relations From the results of the survey we know that electric technician is also a good source of information for the respondents to know LiOA Hence, the Company should create relationships with electric/electronic school at the colleges and universities in Hanoi and other North provinces By doing that the Company can reach those who will be effective informers in future • Personal selling The Company should participate in all the related trade shows and exhibitions organized in Hanoi so that it can communicate its products to both potential family and industrial consumers Furthermore, the company can gain some awards from the trade shows and exhibitions These awards will contribute an evidence of high quality product to the consumers • Sales promotion 49 Since Hanoian people not care much for sales promotion, the Company may not need this method to consolidate its LiOA brand in the North market Only by doing all of the mentioned activities, together with other marketing activities, the Company can communicate a consistent message to its target consumers, strengthen LiOA brand awareness and image in the North market 6.5.2 Expand its market share and brand awareness in the South The Company should the following communication activities, together with its other activities such as distribution and supporting activities, in order to expand its market in the South From the interview with Company’s vice director, we know that Ho Chi Minh people and people in the South in general want to buy products with promotion more than Hanoian people So among its communication activities to inform the South consumers, the Company should focus on its promotion activities in the areas in order to maximize its benefits • Sales promotion and advertising activities The Company should work out its promotion activities and budgets in details in order to attract target consumers from other competitors It is noted that there are about 40 AVS companies in the South area So the competition in the South will be much tougher than in the North To support its promotion activities partly and build consumers awareness about LiOA brand, the Company should advertise on HTV (Ho Chi Minh TV channel) and other provincial TV channels in the South to reach its potential consumers For advertising on newspapers and magazines in the South area, the Company should also can advertise on selected newspapers such as “Sai Gon Tiep Thi,” “Tuoi Tre,” and “Lao Dong,” for LiOA products Most people in Ho Chi Minh City and in the South area read these newspapers Its lighted billboards at Saigon river is a good one to build LiOa awareness to Ho Chi Minh people and other living in the South provinces since there is a water bus station near the billboard location Many South provincial people go to Ho Chi Minh City by water road Brochures and booklets, and poster should be done and distributed to retailers in order to build s strong position for LiOA in retailers’ shop and remind target audiences once they come to the shops • Public relations Only basing on further study of the South people demographic characteristics, can the Company work out its activities for PR in the South in order to strengthen its position in the South • Personal selling The Company should participate in all the related trade shows and exhibitions organized in Ho Chi Minh City and in Can Tho province to introduce its products to consumers Furthermore, the Company can know its competitors’ products more from the trade shows and exhibitions 50 6.5.3 LiOA expansion to other foreign markets To extend its LiOA AVSs to foreign countries like as China, the Company face not many difficulties as many Chinese traders have bought LiOA AVSs so far LiOA quality is accepted by Chinese people Therefore, the Company should the following activities: • Find a good distributor to sell the product • Check its name and symbol to know whether they are culturally accepted in the target market or not Register its LiOA name and logo internationally in order to avoid fraud Put Company name and address in the product package for easy contact Put its certificate of quality management process on its LiOA AVS (the Company is applying for ISO 9002) to make foreign consumers confident in LiOA AVS Advertise on newspapers that are often read by targeted consumers and on TVs • • • • 6.5.4 LiOA CABLE branding For its electric wires and cables products, the Company should register its LiOA Cable brand name and manage the brand systematically The Company must build LiOA brand identity, value proposition, brand personality and brand position for its LiOA Cable Only by doing like that and working out a communication program for its LiOA Cable, can the Company build its LiOA Cable a strong brand name However, each of its branding activities in different areas must follow the Company brand identity, value proposition and brand position of the Company If it does not strictly follow, it can not build and maintain its brand as a strong one 51 Chapter CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 7.1 Conclusions • The AVS market in Vietnam has been negatively affected by the slow down of FDI investment in Vietnam rooted from the Asian financial crisis, Vietnamese currency devaluation, and foreign exchange rate The slow growth of the AVS market makes existing AVS producers compete more with one another to gain the market share Moreover, the demand for industrial AVS and 3-phase AVSs have been decreased AVS producers now focus on family AVSs The frequency of advertising message of competitors on TVs has been increasing recently Competitors have launched promotion programs aiming at attracting attention of consumers who are price conscious Nhat Linh Co has not paid due attention to advertising its LiOA AVSs on TV recently • Furthermore, the Enterprise Law that came into effect from January st, 2000 has opened many favorable conditions for establishing small and medium enterprises To establish and AVS company requires no much money Hence, many companies want to enter into the AVS business if the look from outside, i.e the AVS market will be tougher • Although Nhat Linh co has, with its modern technology and selected materials, produced better AVSs than its competitors, consumers are still influenced by frequent advertising and promotion programs launched by competitors Furthermore, the Company’s products depend so much on the quality of imported materials Other competitors can seek high quality imported materials and technology to compete with the Company This will affect the Company’s business and reduce LiOA reputation if the Company does not take proper actions • In addition, according to the Company report in 2000, the demand for AVS still grows for to years before it slows down The Company has paid more attention to its new business, electric wires and cables, and seemed lack of focus on LiOA business, especially in its communications activities • The survey results of consumers in Hanoi showed that many people knew LiOA name and wanted to choose the products for their home usage They could easily find a LiOA retail shop in Hanoi Although the price of LiOA was considered high, consumers still wanted to choose the product However, the Company’s advertising message was not impressive to consumers • Most of them knew that the Company advertised for its LiOA but they rated the quality of the ads not high Therefore, the Company should something to improve the quality of the ads, since advertising is the information source to create consumer awareness about the Company product and to stimulate their purchase behavior • Furthermore, the Company’s people did not know what the essence of the brand, the brand identity, value proposition, and brand position are That is why the Company and its advertising agent could not create a good advertising message to attract the attention of consumers and the Company’s communication activities were still weak Hence, the Company should build a consistent brand strategy to build LiOA a strong brand name basing on developing brand identity, managing brand image, and maintaining brand 52 equity Its communication programs should be built on the basis of the created brand position and current AVS market situation in each area For the North area, the Company should consolidate its advertising activities in order to build awareness and confidence in consumers For the South area, the Company should, together with its advertising activities, focus on promotion activities, in order to attract Southern people As from the Company report we know that they want to buy products with promotion campaigns For its further expansion to foreign market and LiOa cable the Company should work out the plan, especially communication plan, to build its LiOA as strong brand in these market 7.2 Recommendations Although the Company has paid attention to its branding activities and achieved fairly good results so far, it has managed its brand unsystematically Hence the Company should understand the essence of brand management and the benefits of strong brand in order to use it as an invaluable asset It should be noted that a brand becomes a valuable asset as and when it is managed systematically and carefully However, a good brand first has the following characteristics: • • • • • • • A typical image of a Company or product Assurance of high quality As a competitive advantage of company and an important source of generating benefits Increasing perceived value and consumers satisfaction and product usage encouragement A valuable asset of a company A brand must be maintained in a prolonged period Protected by legal registration A brand should be unique and distinct from other brands It means that it should have the following features: • Its name should be easily read and remembered • Its logo should be sharp and meaningful • Its slogan should be short, deliver the essence of the brand and be used together with advertising • Advertising methods should be massive, intensive and focused, and targeted • Product should be directly sold to consumers through the Company’ s distribution channel or through distributors and retailers • Product achievements can be illustrated through its leading market share, accepted by many people The branding process requires high commitment of top management A need for establishing a position of brand management department becomes urgent, especially when the Company wants to expand its brand A brand should be thoroughly managed throughout its life but in a consistent manner to ensure its original brand values Care should be taken to harmonize all brand attributes and associations 53 Brand identity and image are in constant adaptation, without changing the fundamental values, which could create confusion for consumers For instance, its logo should not changed much and often Interaction between the Company and consumers and retailers should be emphasized especially during sales and after sales It should be noted that brand identity and image always change as culture and circumstance change The Company should allocate adequate resources, structures, people and commitment to communication The Company must follow the needs and want of consumers and act upon what it discovers The Company should systematically follow a strategic brand management process so that it can gain maximum benefits The Company has to know how to develop, manage and maintain its LiOA brand basing on its consistent brand strategy It means that the Company has to develop brand identity for LiOA from brand concept; manage its LiOA brand image through portfolio management; and maintain its brand loyalty through equity building (Figure 7.1) DEVELOP MANAGE MAINTAIN Brand Identity Brand Image Brand loyalty Consistent brand strategy Brand concept Portfolio management Equity building Communication program MARKETS Figure 7.1 The Proposed Model for Strategic Brand Management Process Source: Quang (1998) The Company’s communication program will, then, be made on the basis of the brand strategy Only by doing so, can the Company build its LiOA 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Brand Power, London: Macmilian Press 55 Upshaw, L., (1995), Building Brand Identity: A strategy for Success in a Hostile Marketplace, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc Vietnam Venture Group vietnam/com/economics_cvr.htm, (2001), VVG-Economic 56 Indicators, http://vvg- APPENDIX QUESTIONS USED IN THE INTERVIEW WITH NHAT LINH CO LTD Information about the Company: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • What are the Company’s current products? What are the Company’s consumers? Which provinces does the Company serve? Which provinces does the Company sell best? How about the Company’s distribution network? What are the Company’s sales revenues for the past years? What is the Company’s overall market share? In North Vietnam, and in South Vietnam? What is the Company’s organization structure? What are its main departments and the roles of each department? How does the Company delegate authority to its departments? What is the Company’s communication mechanism and network? How many employees are there in your Company? How about their attitudes and experience in working? And how about the Company’s policy for HRM? Describe the Company’s marketing strategy in terms of segmentation, positioning, product, price, distribution and promotion Describe activities in R&D, operation management, inventory control, inbound and outbound logistics Describe the Company’s branding activities so far, trade mark registration, etc Describe the Company’s infrastructure systems? How is about the Company’s financial situation? Sources of capital? In general, what are the Company’s strengths and weaknesses? What are the main problems that the Company has to confront? And what are the solutions? What are external factors that affect the Company? What are the Company’s vision, mission? What is the Company’s strategy? What are the Company’s objectives? (enhancing market shares, maximize profit, ) Information about Competitors • What are the Company’s main competitors? • What are their market shares? • What are their strengths and weaknesses? • What are their competitive strategies? A-1 QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Sir/Madam, I am an MBA student at Asian Institute of Technology This questionnaire is an enquiry for information for my final research study, which is a requirement of the academic program All information will be kept confidential and be used for the research study only We would highly appreciate if you could share some of your knowledge by filling out the questions below Your input is certainly of necessity to my work Thank you very much for your cooperation Which kinds of the following automatic voltage stabilizer/regulator you know? (You can choose more than one answer.) Hansil Robot LiOA AST Lion Others (specify) If you want to buy an automatic voltage stabilizer/regulator, which one of the following will you choose? (Select only one.) Hansil Robot LiOA AST Lion Others (specify) Please rate the following factors according to the importance of each factor on your decision to choose an automatic voltage stabilizer/regulator brand? Not important at all Very important - Reliability - Noise-free - Safety - User friendly - Size - Design - Durability - Brand reputation - Easy-to-find shops - Supporting services - Price - Advertising - Promotion - Others (specify) In your opinion, LiOA is the name of (you can choose more than one choice): Automatic voltage stabilizer/regulator Amplifier Voltage cable A company Emergency lamp Others (specify) Socket A-2 ... not easy to create and maintain a strong brand To understand more how a company builds and manages its brand to get the full benefit from that, a study into the case of LiOA brand at Nhat Linh. .. and manages its brand to get the full benefit from it, a study into the case of the LiOA brand at Nhat Linh Co., Ltd., an auto voltage stabilizer (AVS) manufacturer, is undertaken The case study. .. worth of a brand; the tangible and intangible assets that the brand contributes to its corporate parent both financially and in terms of selling leverage.” Brand equity can be defined as the added