Brand Management consistent with Sustainability (PDF)

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1,7, , language: English, abstract: Brands represent a significant factor in business success, therefore brand management has long become a key issue for corporate management. The relevance of brand management is reflected by the global importance of brands for consumers, which creates economic value for the company. Accordingly, an increasing number of new brands are registerd or expanded every year. Even in food retailing it has become normal to find wellknown brands, such as Chiquita bananas, what seemed to be impossible 30 years ago. Meanwhile, many international and global brands from different sectors has effectively developed (Apple, IBM, McDonald...).

Currently, a remarkable development towards the idea of sustainability can be observed in brand management. Constant new reports about financial crises, natural disasters and product scandals have increased population's awareness of the vulnerability of environment and social systems and led the sustainability issue to a global trend. Brands reflect quality, emotions and trust, and make up a substantial share of the company's overall value. Similar factors play an important role also in the sustainability aspect. Responsible brands have usually high-quality products, enjoy the trust of their customers and are often the preferred suppliers and employers.

Especially brands with a high value and reputation get involved in the topic of sustainability. It has long been considered that strong brands have an even bigger value for companies than buildings and assets. Therefore, an essential function for brand management is to build such a strong customer loyality that lead the buyers to refuse alternative brands, despite the low prices of competitors. Nowadays, building a strong brand seems doomed to failure if companies do not assume responsibility.