eThesis - Kauppakorkeakoulun sähköiset gradut

The main objectives of this study are to find out which brand attributes have most value to end customers when they purchase high-technology products in business market, and are there differences in brand attribute preferences between different company sizes and lines of business. A case company operating in high-technology industry is involved in the study, and consequently, end customers’ assessment of the case company’s current brand performance is included in the study.

During the past decades, the role of brands has increased also in business markets. In addition, the manufacturers of high-technology products have acknowledged the importance of branding in differentiating their offerings. Furthermore, previous research suggests that instead of organizational buyers making purely rational choices, they can also be influenced by emotional values.

Importance of different brand attributes to end customers is studied by distributing a web-based questionnaire to case company’s end customers in Finland. The role of different brand attributes and case company’s brand performance are evaluated by using quantitative methods, and based on seven factors obtained from a factor analysis, three customer clusters are formed.

The results of this research support the previous researches. Brand choices in business market are not done based on purely rational, or tangible, attributes but intangible attributes are important as well. This research found that technical product support and product features are essential to end customers, and furthermore, machine price is less important than the operating cost of the machine. Most of the end customers prefer well-known brands in order to avoid risk and increase information efficiency.