Why do consumers prefer one brand over another? The economics and sociology of brand competitiveness

Sebastiano Della Lena and Andrew R. Timming

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2023, vol. 74, issue C

Abstract: In this paper, we introduce mathematically a formal definition of brand competitiveness. We propose a unified formal framework, where agents, in choosing a brand, have both economical and sociological motives (consistent with the behavior of both Homo economicus and Homo sociologicus). In particular, we take into account four key characteristics of a brand: (i) price, (ii) quality, (iii) peer recommendations, and (iv) the effectiveness of the firm's marketing campaign. Brand competitiveness is shown to depend on these dimensions and on consumers' sensitivities to them. The formal definitions and analysis we provide can be used in future empirical work to test the emerging construct of brand competitiveness, as well as its antecedents and effects. Our paper demonstrates the value-adding synergies associated with the combination of economics, sociology, and strategic brand management.

Keywords: Brand competitiveness; Homo economicus; Homo sociologicus; Brand value; Peer recommendations; Marketing effectiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698923001637
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:74:y:2023:i:c:s0969698923001637

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2023.103416

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services is currently edited by Harry Timmermans

More articles in Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().