THE FACTORS EFFECT TO BRAND BUILDING EFFORT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN VIET NAM In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMISNITRATION In Marketing Management By Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Sang ID: MBA06028 International University – Vietnam National University HCMC August 2014 THE FACTORS EFFECT TO BRAND BUILDING EFFORT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN VIET NAM In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION In Marketing Management By Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Sang ID: MBA06028 International University - Vietnam National University HCMC April 2014 Under the guidance and approval of the committee, and approved by all its members, this thesis has been accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree. Approved: ---------------------------------------------Chairperson ---------------------------------------------Committee member ---------------------------------------------Committee member --------------------------------------------Committee member --------------------------------------------Committee member --------------------------------------------Committee member Acknowledge I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my Supervisor, Dr. Le Nguyen Hau for his patient and support to suggest guidelines, development orientation and encouragement, reading and commenting on this thesis. Secondly, I would like to send my grateful to Dr. Phan Trieu Anh, Dr. Ho Thi Bich Van and Dr. Pham Hong Hoa – members of the proposal examination for their valuable comments and suggestions. Thirdly, I would like to thanks to Association of Small and Medium Enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City for their help about contacting and connecting to SMEs in data collection. Lastly, I am thankful to my family, my friends and those who supported during my working on the thesis. i Plagiarism Statements I would like to declare that, apart from the acknowledged references, this thesis either does not use language, ideas, or other original material from anyone; or has not been previously submitted to any other educational and research programs or institutions. I fully understand that any writings in this thesis contradicted to the above statement will automatically lead to the rejection from the MBA program at the International University – Vietnam National University Hochiminh City. ii Copyright Statement This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognize that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author’s prior consent. © Nguyen Thi Thu Sang/ MBA06028/ 2014 iii Table of Contents Acknowledgement ...................................................................................................i Plagiarism Statements ............................................................................................ii Copyright Statement ...............................................................................................iii List of Table ........................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ..........................................................................................................x Abstract ....................................................................................................................xi Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................1 1.1 Background .........................................................................................................1 1.2 Problem Statement ..............................................................................................2 1.3 Research Question ...............................................................................................3 1.4 Research Hypothesis ...........................................................................................3 1.5 Research Objectives ............................................................................................4 1.6 Implication of the Research ................................................................................4 1.7 Research Scope ...................................................................................................5 1.8 Structure of the thesis ..........................................................................................5 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................7 2.1 Definitions of Concepts ......................................................................................7 2.1.1 Small and Medium Enterprises ...................................................................7 2.1.2 Brand ...........................................................................................................8 2.1.3 Corporate Brand ..........................................................................................8 iv 2.1.4 Brand Management .....................................................................................9 2.2.5 The importance of Brand .........................................................................11 2.2 Brand building in SMEs ......................................................................................11 2.2.1 Role of building strong brand in SMEs ......................................................11 2.2.2 Factors effect to brand building effort .....................................................12 2.2.2.1 Commitment of Owners ........................................................................12 2.2.2.2 Available of Resources ..........................................................................12 2.2.2.3 Culture of Organization .........................................................................12 2.2.2.4 Strategic Vision .....................................................................................13 2.2.2.5 Perceived Image ....................................................................................13 2.3 Conceptual Model Framework .......................................................................13 2.4 Brand Management Issues faced in SMEs .....................................................15 2.4.2 Narrow Interpretation on Brand Management .........................................15 2.4.3 Lack up Resource and Time .....................................................................16 2.4.4 Less attention on Brand building in SMEs ..............................................16 Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................................18 3.1 Research Design ..................................................................................................18 3.2 Sampling .............................................................................................................18 3.3 Data Collection ....................................................................................................19 3.4 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................20 3.4.1 Descriptive Statistic .....................................................................................20 v 3.4.2 Reliability Statistic ......................................................................................20 3.4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis ........................................................................20 Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS ..................................................22 4.1 Sample Demographics ........................................................................................22 4.2 Descriptive Statistics ...........................................................................................24 4.2.1 Attitude ..........................................................................................................24 4.2.2 Brand Building Effort ...................................................................................25 4.3 Reliability Test ....................................................................................................27 4.3.1 Commitment of Owners ...................................................................................27 4.3.1 Availability of Resources ..............................................................................28 4.3.2 Culture of Organization .................................................................................29 4.3.3 Strategic Vision .............................................................................................29 4.3.4 Perceived Image ............................................................................................30 4.3.6 Brand Building Effort ......................................................................................31 4.4 Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) .................................................32 4.4.1 Result of Factor Analysis each Independent Variables .................................32 4.4.2 Result of Factor Analysis Dependent Variable – Brand Building Effort ......36 4.5 Correlation Testing ............................................................................................38 4.6 Regression Analysis ..........................................................................................40 Chapter 5: DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION ...................................43 5.1 Explore the attitude of SMEs owners .................................................................43 5.2 Brand Building Effort .........................................................................................44 vi 5.3 Recommendation for SMEs ................................................................................44 Chapter 6: CONCLUSION AND LIMITATION ................................................46 6.1 Conclusion ..........................................................................................................46 6.2 Limitation of the Study .......................................................................................47 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................48 APPENDIX ..............................................................................................................54 vii List of Tables Table 3.1: SME Definitions Used by Multilateral Institutions .................................18 Table 3.2: SME Definitions of Decree 56/2009/NĐ-CP ..........................................19 Table 3.3: Sample size ..............................................................................................19 Table 4.1: Demographic information ........................................................................22 Table 4.2: Attitude scores .........................................................................................24 Table 4.3: Action scores ............................................................................................25 Table 4.4: Cronbach’s Alpha of Commitment ..........................................................28 Table 4.5: Cronbach’s Alpha of Resources ...............................................................28 Table 4.6: Cronbach’s Alpha of Culture of Organization .........................................29 Table 4.7: Cronbach’s Alpha of Vision ....................................................................29 Table 4.8: Cronbach’s Alpha of Perceived Image ....................................................30 Table 4.9: Cronbach’s Alpha of Brand Building Effort ............................................31 Table 4.10: KMO and Bartlett's Test of Independent Variables ...............................33 Table 4.11: Total Variance Explained ......................................................................34 Table 4.12: Rotated Component Matrix of Independent Variables ..........................36 Table 4.13: KMO and Bartlett's Test of Dependent Variable ...................................36 Table 4.14: Total Variance Explained ......................................................................37 viii Table 4.15: Component Matrix .................................................................................37 Table 4.16: Correlations ............................................................................................39 Table 4.17: Model Summary .....................................................................................40 Table 4.18: Coefficients ............................................................................................41 Table 4.19: Test of Homogeneity of Variances ........................................................42 ix List of Figures Figure 2.1: The conceptual research model ..............................................................15 x Abstract Brand concept has been discussed a lot in many big companies and multinationals. However, in many SME companies, brand management receives little or no attention in the daily run of affairs. Although the owners or director are the ones to take the lead in this area, they either seldom have the time for it or are not even aware of brand management as a concept. And because this concept is not ingrained within such an SME, there are no other employees available to give it sufficient attention. The study attempt to explore the attitude of SMEs owners towards brand building and aim to identify internal and external factor effect to brand building effort then draw managerial implications for SMEs. Based on the quantitative survey, the respondents were SMEs owners with samples size of 162. SPSS software 20.0 was used to analyze the collected data. The date was analyzed in five steps: the first step was Descriptive Statistic, the second step was Reliability Statistic, the third step was Exploratory Factor Analysis and the fourth step was Correlation Testing, the last step was Regression Analysis to show the positive influence of all independent variables on dependent variables. The result show that the most important dimension in effecting brand building effort was Vision concerning to company business strategy, business decision and leader’s impact. The other dimension was Commitment, Resources, Culture and Perceived Image also affected important to brand building. Keywords: Brand building, corporate brand, SMEs. xi xii CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Nowadays, brand management plays an important role in marketing (Keller, 2003). A brand contains several elements, and can essentially be described as “an identifiable product, service, person or place, which the buyer or user perceives as relevant, unique, or sustainable added values which match their needs most closely and provide more satisfaction” (De Chernatony, 2001). And famous brands have played an important role in business customer decisions (Bendixen, Bukasa and Abratt, 2004; Michell, King and Reas, 2001). For those reason, building strong brands has become an important point for many companies since it produces a number of marketing advantages and increases companies’s competitive strength (Hoeffler and Keller, 2002). Thus, building strong brands not only increases their visibility and credibility, but also distinguishes them from competitors, and acquires more market share. The principal focus of branding is to build a successful brand that can be distinguished from the competitor, be held in high esteem, and establish a relationship with target customers (Aaker, 1996; Keller, 2003). Brand management has been discussed a lot in many big companies and multinationals, and branding also creates tremendous value for them. However, the small and medium-sized enterprise group constitutes 95% percent of all businesses which cannot be ignored (Thurik, R., Risseeuw, P. and Uhlaner, L. M., 2003). Furthermore, too few researchers are focused on brand management issues in SMEs. It is apparent that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the economic development of a country (Muhammad et al. 2010). In Viet Nam recent year, SMEs have contributed important to growth and structure of the 1 economic, decrease unemployment, increase export turnover. Particular, SMEs create a haft of millions labors yearly and devoted 40% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The difference between large firms and SMEs can be described as the physical dimensions (Hutchinson, K., Quinn, B. and Alexander, N., 2006). Although the scope of SMEs is smaller than large enterprises, SMEs have their own features to gain market share. Carson and Cromie (1989) also mentioned that SMEs have their own particular characteristics and abilities which can largely determine their marketing preoccupations and concerns, so it is universally and widely accepted that small and medium businesses are not scaled-down big businesses. In Vietnam, a trend of ignored brand management was plainly discernible in recent time. Most of SMEs do not awareness of important in brand building in brand management; it is evident that less company has brand management department. In terms of brand managers, they are not only inexperienced, but also have no knowledge of brand management; in terms of company management, there are two missing from brand building and brand protection while brand protection must do in first period of company established together with launching campaigns. On the other hand, SMEs in Vietnam have general understandability about brand management. For instance, company supplies the best product and quality to customer and they expect to become loyalty with their clients, the question asked – is it enough to get client’s loyalty when their competitors do also the same? Particularly with SMEs, each company need to awareness their strength by bring “added value” to customers and overcome other competitors. 1.2 Problem Statement 2 In the competitive environment, SMEs have to face the challenges not only from the similar but also much stronger large firms. So, the brand strategy in SMEs should be built upon and apply for internal and external challenges (Abimbola, 2001). Small business but SMEs know how to manage their brand it can become well-known as large company. By measurement effected of factors of commitment, resources, culture, strategic vision and perceived image to brand building effort, SMEs can explore what they will manage their brand? What role of brand management? What problem they are facing with? And how to increasing brand awareness? 1.3 Research question From the statement problem, the research raises the following research question: What are the factors of commitment of owners, availability of resources, culture of organization, strategic vision and perceived image effect to brand building effort in SMEs? 1.4 Research hypothesis H1: Factor of commitment of owners direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort H2: Factor of availability of resources direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort H3: Factor of culture of organization direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort 3 H4: Factor of strategic vision direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort H5: Factor of perceived image direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort 1.5 Research Objectives Brand building is really necessary for those companies especially SMEs. However, in Viet Nam many owners of SMEs usually ignore the importance of brand and the benefits which derive from branding, or even worse they do not have a brand. Given this situation, this research aims to: - To identify factors (internal and external) effect brand building effort in SMEs - To draw managerial implications based on those results of the two above objectives 1.6 Implication of the Research This research describes the attitude of SMEs owners towards brand management as well as the effort to build a strong brand. In fact, the study can increase awareness of managers in SMEs who make business decision in company. On the other hand, SMEs will recognize their visibility, credibility and competitive strength. The study explore that brand building do not only limited into advertising, brand name and the logo in common but also identify internal and external factors which effect to brand building effort in SMEs. From the research, the managerial level can understand company’s demand to carry on brand strategy suitable in each 4 period. In economic situation now, SMEs can face with counterfeit problem, to protection; company will create orientation for brand building. 1.7 Research Scope Branding often considered as a large companies’ issue (Merrilees, 2007). The concept of brand includes product branding and corporate branding. Most of large companies have separate orientation development for two of them. However, in SMEs which often less attention to branding will have same orientation between product and corporate branding. In this study, the brand word will consider as corporate branding or company branding. Due to there is limited little research before. Thus, one limitation of this research is that the study lacks theoretical rigour. Similarly, secondary data related to SMEs is also limited. As the study is doing research 250 SMEs, the findings cannot be considered representative of all SMEs. Moreover, researchers’ understanding has limited in all of concept, so the objective result may happen. That is also limitation of the research. 1.8 Structure of the thesis Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter makes a general introduction about research background, research problem, research objectives, implication and scope of the research. Chapter 2: Literature review The literature review chapter focuses on related background concepts and theories of brand building. 5 Chapter 3: Research Methodology This chapter depicts research design, sampling methods, data collection, data analysis methods. Chapter 4: Data analysis and results Data analysis chapter provides the progress of processing data after carrying out the survey. Demographic information would be introduced in order to provide the overview about population participant in the survey. Then descriptive statistic is depicted through attitude and action to brand building effort. The next stage will be analyzing Exploratory Factor Analysis and the last is correlation testing and regression analysis. Chapter 5: Discussion and findings This chapter mainly focuses on discussion about the result through the survey. Basing on the data results, the researcher solve research objective includes: explore attitude of SMEs owners towards brand building and identify factors effect to brand building effort. Then recommendation was given. Chapter 6: Conclusions and Limitation The last chapter depicts the conclusions and limitation for the SMEs towards brand building concept. 6 CHAPTER 2 - LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definitions of Concepts 2.1.1 Small and Medium Enterprises SMEs include family businesses, startups, spin-offs and a variety of others (Sadi and Henderson, 2010). SMEs can be classified by the number of employees, annual turnover, and a combination of employee and turnover metrics (Hutchinson et al., 2006) The European definition of SME follows: "The category of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is made up of enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro” (European Commission, 2012). According the Word Bank defined SME has at least 300 employees and has maximum turnover 15 million dollar, and the assets exceeding 15 million dollar. Moreover, definition of SMEs has not been easy as different countries have different criteria for defining SMEs. Stokes and Wilson (2006), stated that the “SME is defined as a small to medium enterprise managed by its owner(s) in a personalized way with a relatively small share of the market in economic terms, and having 10-49 employees”. Medium-sized have bigger than both micro and small businesses in terms of operations, manpower capacity or number of employees, structure, capital investment and size. According to Darren et al. (2009), they are the businesses that employ up to 249 employees in UK, in European Union, they employ up to 250 employees, in Australia, they employ up to 200 employees while in U.S.A, they accommodate up to 500 employees. In Viet Nam, decree 56/2009/NĐ-CP of government defines at most 300 employees. 7 One of the most popular definitions of SMEs is given by the American Small Business Administration (SBA) as that business or firm which is independently owned and operated; it is not dominant in its field and meets the criteria for the SME business administration sponsored loans program (Arowomole, 2000). 2.1.2 Brand Kotler and Keller (2006) acknowledge the American Marketing Association’s definition of a brand as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers. The legal term for brand is trademark. A brand may identify one item, a family of items, or all items of that seller. If used for the firm as a whole, the preferred term is trade name”. A brand is thus a product or service that adds dimensions which differentiate it in some way from other products or services designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be functional, rational, or tangible – intangible – related to what the brand represents. Supporting Kotler and Keller’s view of a brand linking it to the tangibles of the brand, Rosetti (2005) suggested in a presentation that a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competition. Van den Heever (2000) is of the opinion that a brand is not a name, logo, sign, symbol, advertisement or spokesperson. A brand is everything that organizations want people, especially its target markets, to feel and believe about its product and services. 2.1.3 Corporate Brand 8 Branding, especially corporate branding is often a radically new concept for SMEs (Inskip, 2004). Corporate branding is defined as “a systematically planned and implemented process of creating and maintaining a favorable image and consequently a favorable reputation for the company as a whole by sending signals to all stakeholders and by managing behavior, communication, and symbolism” (Einwiller and Will, 2002). Corporate branding implies deserting product branding with its narrow marketing-driven focus on tactical, functional processes. Corporate branding is an attempt to accommodate these weaknesses. Product branding is based on short-term advertising ideas, while corporate branding is based on a long-term brand idea. Corporate branding also expands the parameters of differentiation by enabling companies to use their rich heritage actively to create strong brands. Corporate branding involves the whole organization and emphasizes the pivotal role employees play if they are to succeed in the creation of a strong corporate brand. Value and beliefs held by employees are key elements in the differentiation strategy. According Schultz et al. (2005) define corporate branding is a “move towards conceiving more integrated relationship between internal and external stakeholders linking top management, employees, customers and other stakeholders”. 2.1.4 Brand Management In practice of brand management, the main differences between large firms and SMEs appear in building and managing brand equity. According David Aaker (1996) brand management starts with developing a brand identity-the unique set of brand associations that represent what the brand stands for and promises to customers, an aspiration brand image. Aaker maintains that the identity should be differentiating on some dimensions, suggest parity on others, resonate with customers, drive brand-building programs, reflect the culture and strategy of the 9 business, and be credible. Credibility can be based on proof points, current assets or programs or strategic initiatives, or investment in new or revitalized assets or programs. Keller (2008) said strategic brand management process is all about “building, measuring, and managing brand equity”; and he also points out that the purpose of branding is to endue products and services with the strength of brand equity. A company’s brand management is integrated into the daily operation of the company. Furthermore, a brand strategy and brand management implementation is not a one-time effort, but a regular marketing strategy, and it should follow the development of the enterprise (Keller, 1998) 2.1.5 The importance of Brand Brands identify the source or marker of a product and allow consumers – either individuals or organizations – to assign responsibility for its performance to a particular manufacturer or distributor. Customers may evaluate the identical product differently depending on how it is branded. They learn about brands through past experiences with the product and its marketing program, finding out which brands satisfy their needs and which do not. As consumer’s lives become more complicated, rushed, and time starved, the ability of a brand to simplify decision making and reduce risk is invaluable (Rajneesh Suri and Kent B. Monroe, 2003). Brands also perform valuable functions for firms (Rita Clifton and John Simmons, 2004; Rik Riezebos, 2003 and Paul Temporal, 2002). First, they simplify product handling or tracing. Brands help to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm legal protection for unique features or aspect of the product (Constance E. Bagley, 2005; Judith Zaichkowsky, 2006; Maureen Morrin 10 and Jacob Jacoby, 2000). The brand name can be protected through registered trademarks; manufacturing processes can be protected through patents; and packing can be protected through copyrights and proprietary designs. These intellectual property rights ensure that the firms can safely invest in the brand and reap the benefits of a valuable asset. Brand signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again (Tulin Erdem, 1998). Brand loyalty provides predictability and security of demand for the firm, and it creates barriers to entry that make it difficult for other firms to enter the market. Loyalty also can translate into customer willingness to pay a higher price – often 20% to 25% more than competing brands (Scott David, 2000; Mary W. Sullivan, 1998; D. C. Bello and M. B. Holbrook, 1996; Adrian J. Slywotzky and Benson P. Shapiro, 1993). Although competitors may duplicate manufacturing processes and product designs, they cannot easily match lasting impressions left in the minds of individuals and organizations by years of product experience and marketing activity. In this sense, branding can be a powerful means to secure a competitive advantage (Naomi Klein, 2000). 2.2 Brand building in SMEs 2.2.1 Role of building strong brand in SMEs Through comparing the brand management activities undertaken by high versus low-performing SMEs, Berthon et al. (2008) find that high-performing SMEs emphasize following 7 of 10 brand management practice (BMPs) than less successful counterparts: - Brand delivers benefits customers truly desire - Brand stays relevant 11 - Brand is consistent - Brand portfolio and hierarchy make sense - Brand uses full repertoire of marketing activities to build equity - Brand managers understand what the brand means to consumers - Brand is given proper support and it is sustained over the long run. 2.2.2 Factors effect to brand building effort 2.2.2.1 Commitment of Owners In SMEs, most of owners who can determine company structure, such as what kind of marketing personnel, what the objectives of the company are and how much attention it can give to brand management (Krake, 2005). Thus, Krake (2005) emphasizes that entrepreneurs should be consistent in their policy and activities; link the brand to the character of the entrepreneur; develop a passion for the brand within the company. 2.2.2.2 Availability of Resources SMEs lack financial resources and brand management is not given the priority it needs for a strong brand image (Opoku et al., 2007). An SME has a much more limited of factors compared with a large company such as physical, knowledge and human which will certainly restrict the building brand effort. 2.2.2.3 Culture of Organization Organizational culture – the internal values, beliefs and basic assumptions that embody the heritage of the company and communicate its meaning to its members; culture manifests itself in the ways employees all through the ranks feel about the company they are working for (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). 12 2.2.2.4 Strategic Vision Collins and Porras (1998) define strategic visions within organizations as a description of a future objective. The function of a defined strategic vision is to provide organizations with inspiration and decision making criteria that can be applied in the entire organization. Defining strategic visions is a vital element of strategic management as it is the basis for all decisions within organizations and applies to all units, departments and sectors equally (Collins & Porras, 1998) 2.2.2.5 Perceived Image Corporate image is views of the organization developed by its stakeholders; the outside world’s overall impression of the company including the views of customers, shareholders, media, general public, etc. (Hatch and Schultz, 2001). Customers who sense information from interaction with employees that differs from their perception of the company’s reputation will experience a negative effect (Davies et al., 2010). Vice versa, their research shows that companies with a clear positive image and averaged gap grow 16% points higher in sales than companies with a clear negative gap. 2.3 Conceptual Model Framework The study objective brings three perspective and it will describe clarify in questionnaire. The research perspective starts with cognition of company owner and end of management behavior or in the other word is entrepreneur’s action. Cognition - Awareness Knowledge Affective - Like Prefer Behavior - Intention Action 13 The conceptual framework is final step of all stages, after SMEs recognize that they must action for their brand building effort. The article of Krake (2005) have found three branding guidelines which are about brand development, specifically he emphasizes on the entrepreneurs’ functions during managing brand. According to Hatch and Schultz (2001) successful corporate branding is typically based on the alignment between (1) the strategic goals of the top management level (strategic vision ), (2) the knowledge and attitude of the employees (corporate culture) and (3) the perceptions of external stakeholders (image). In other words, Hatch and Schultz claim that the strategic goals need to be supported by and fit with the corporate culture and must fit with the perceptions of key stakeholders to build and maintain a strong corporate brand. Base on above research, the conceptual research model will conduct like below: 14 Figure 2.1: The conceptual research model COMMITMENT OF OWNERS H1 AVAILABILITY OF RESOURCES CULTURE OF ORGANIZATION H2 H3 BRAND BUILDING EFFORT IN SMEs H4 STRATEGIC VISION H5 PERCEIVED IMAGE Source: Krake (2005), Hatch and Schultz’s (2001) 2.4 Brand Management Issues faced in SMEs 2.4.1 Narrow Interpretation on Brand Management Most of SMEs do not aware of role of brand management for company activities. That is general situation for SMEs community. According to Frank (2005) the owner or directors are the ones who should take the lead of brand management. The owners or directors do not pay attention to brand management, so how they can ask the other employees to pay attention to it (Frank, 2005). Some researchers indicate that SMEs are immature in the market (Boyle, 2003; Krake, 2005). This is due to a lack of understanding of the real meaning of branding. In fact, small 15 businesses, such as local corner shops and grocery stores, may even fail to recognize that they are a brand (Merrilees, 2007). Furthermore, Frank (2005) pointed out the fact that the names of the SMEs are often not the same as the brand name, and it is hard to gain people’s attention, therefore they will lose many chances in their business. 2.4.2 Lack of Resource and Time The limitation of time, resources is barrier to carry our branding activities in SMEs. According to Wong and Merrilees (2005), limitations on financial and human resources and time are the main obstructions. These limitations can force owners and managers to focus on short-term business strategy, like what and how they can do best in their daily tasks and get more profits in the short term. However, the short term focus on daily tasks can become an obstacle for the companies in developing a long-term branding strategy, and it is hard to keep focused on the long-term business (Wong and Merrilees, 2005). 2.4.3 Less attention on Branding in SMEs Many SMEs pay little or no attention on brand management in their daily tasks and their business strategy (Frank, 2005). Bresciani and Eppler (2010) state that a common problem is that SME entrepreneurs usually pay more attention to financial and production issues and less on brand management issues. The reason is that entrepreneurs believe a good branding and communication strategy is not necessary to start a business. Merriless (2007) suggested that many small firms believe branding is a big business issue, such as banks, well known international brands, motor corporations and the famous and popular companies with strong brand recognition. However, many companies later recognize that a clear brand vision is a 16 sound investment for them, because the cost of subsequent changes to their corporate identity can be very high (Bresciani and Eppler, 2010) 17 CHAPTER 3 - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design This study applies quantitative research methodology to conduct our research in SMEs. And the objectives in this study are to explore attitude of entrepreneur to corporate branding. After their mind is awareness, the research will continuous with analyze factors effect to brand building effort and how to implicate in SMEs. The primary data was collected from SMEs by face-to-face interview with the owner. On the other hand, researcher will send questionnaire through email to collect information. 3.2 Sampling The company should be a SME among all companies in Ho Chi Minh City with difference industrial, difference size and difference brand education. There are over 120 thousand SMEs companies in Viet Nam now so the sampling will base on criteria and quantity like below: Table 3.1: SME Definitions Used by Multilateral Institutions Maximum # of Max. Revenue or Maximum Assets Employees Turnover ($) ($) Institution World Bank 300 15,000,000 15,000,000 MIF - IADB 100 3,000,000 (none) 50 (none) (none) African Development Bank Asian Development No official definition. Uses only definitions of individual Bank national governments. 18 UNDP 200 (none) (none) Table 3.2: SME Definitions of Decree 56/2009/NĐ-CP Size Small Company Maximum Medium Company Maximum Assets (thousand # of Assets (thousand # of VND) Employees VND) Employees Sector Agriculture and forestry; and 20,000,000 10 - 200 100,000,000 200 - 300 20,000,000 10 - 200 100,000,000 200 - 300 10,000,000 10 - 50 50,000,000 50 - 100 aquatic Industry and Construction Trade and Service From the definitions above, the research will design sample size with 250 SMEs in different industrial sector. Table 3.3: Sample size Forms Manufacture Trade Service Small size 40 35 45 Medium size 35 40 55 3.3 Data Collection 19 Primary data for this research will be collected from the questionnaire. Researcher plans to deliver the questionnaire to 250 SMEs in Ho Chi Minh City follow two ways. Firstly, a face-to-face interview was met directly in company; researcher will contact to set-up a meeting before. Secondly, the questionnaire will be sent through email. 3.4 Data Analysis Data analysis was driven by the need to answer the research question (Carvalho, 2007), which is to investigate the problems SMEs faced when managing their brands and what efforts do SMEs make to solve their brand management problems. The quantitative analysis on this research was conducted using SPSS program version 20.0 with important statistical techniques applied factors for the analysis on the findings of the research. 3.4.1 Descriptive Statistic According to William M.K. Trochim (2006), Descriptive Statistics were used to describe the features of the data in a study. They provided simple summaries about the sample and the measures. Together with simple graphics analysis, they formed the basis of virtually every quantitative analysis of data. Descriptive Statistics in this research described the Minimum value, Maximum value, Std. Deviation, and Mean of all variables. 3.4.2 Reliability Statistic A reliability analysis (Cronbach’s alpha) was performed to test the reliability and internal consistency of independent and dependent variables. 3.4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis 20 Firstly, descriptive statistic was initially conducted to provide an overview of the samples. Secondly, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) is set up to check the factorial structure suitableness of the models. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Barlett’s test of Sphericity indicators would be checked to see whether data fulfills necessary conditions to be grouped into smaller set of underlying factors. If KMO’s value was equal or greater than 0.5, it would be valid. Besides that, Bartlett’s test of Sphericity was valid if the correlation matrix is not identity matrix. Items which had factor loading value below 0.5 will be excluded for further processing. 21 CHAPTER 4 – DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS Data analysis chapter provides the progress of processing data after carrying out the survey. Demographic information would be introduced in order to provide the overview about population participant in the survey. Then descriptive statistic is depicted through cognition of founders/manager level and action to brand building effort in their company and finally is scale assessment. The main part contains scale reliability and factor analysis. Scale reliability is undertaken to verify validity of instrument used to assess the brand building effort in SMEs. 4.1 Sample Demographics Following target’s respondent is founder or manager level of SMEs, 250 questionnaires have delivered. However, there are 162 valid ones after excluded 88 questionnaires which did not reach requirement due to not answer all questions or they do not belong to our target. Table 4.1: Demographics information 22 Description Founder ROLE Manager level From 0 – 5 years EXPERIENCE From 5 – 10 years Over 10 years Senior high School College EDUCATION University Postgraduate Manufacture BUSINESS Trade Service From 0 – 5 years BRAND AGE From 5 – 10 years Over 10 years From 10 – 50 From 50 – 100 EMPLOYEES From 100 – 200 From 200 – 300 Lower 10,000,000 From 10,000,000 – 20,000,000 ASSET (Unit: thousand VND) From 20,000,000 – 50,000,000 From 50,000,000 – 100,000,000 Quantity 87 75 38 64 60 38 44 48 32 55 56 51 54 65 43 42 41 40 39 44 39 39 Percent 53.7 46.3 23.5 39.5 37.0 23.5 27.2 29.6 19.8 34.0 34.6 31.5 33.3 40.1 26.5 25.9 25.3 24.7 24.1 27.2 24.1 24.1 40 24.7 About role of responders in the company, there are 87 person who is founder in the company, take 53.7% and 75 person who is manager level, take 46.3%. Working experience of responder distribute percentage to each stage is 23.5% (0 – 5 years); 39.5% (5 – 10 years) and 37% (over 10 years). Education level of responders almost is university grade within 29.6%, college takes 27.2%, senior high school takes 23.5% and postgraduate takes 19.8%. There are three fields of business in the research, among them manufacture takes 34%; trade takes 34.6% and service takes 31.5% 23 Regarding of brand age, 54 companies have lower 5 years operation take 33.3%, 65 companies have within 5 – 10 years take 40.1% and 43 companies have over 10 years take 26.5%. About employee’s number, there is 25.9% of company which has from 10 – 50 employees; 25.3% of company which has from 50 – 100 employees; 24.7% of company which has from 100 – 200 employees; 24.1 % of company which has from 200 – 300 employees. Regarding of asset’s company, there is 27.2% in fewer than 10 billion, 24.1% from 10 billion to 20 billion, 24.1% from 20 billion to 50 billion and 24.7% from 50 billion to 100 billion. 4.2 Descriptive Statistics 4.2.1 Attitude The detail of descriptive variables show in the table 4.1: Table 4.2: Attitude scores Code Item labels Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Conceive CONCEIVE1 Brand building increase company prestige on the market 1 5 3.48 1.138 CONCEIVE2 Brand building make outstanding than other competitors 1 5 3.44 1.164 1 5 3.56 1.147 1 5 3.62 1.131 CONCEIVE3 CONCEIVE4 Brand building protect company to brand counterfeit Brand building help company involve to any international market 24 Brand building start from company resource and result is business result 1 5 3.41 1.162 PERCEIVE1 Company has desire to build brand 1 5 3.51 1.116 PERCEIVE2 Company has commit to build brand 1 5 3.49 1.132 PERCEIVE3 Company want to give brand building becomes a strategy 1 5 3.61 1.149 1 5 3.48 1.099 1 5 3.43 1.168 1 5 3.66 1.132 1 5 3.46 1.115 CONCEIVE5 Perceive Action ACTION1 ACTION2 ACTION3 ACTION4 Company had brand building plan Company has established brand building department Company has prepared resource to build brand Company has carry out brand building plan Conclusion: In general, SMEs have particular awareness about brand building, all components have intended to build the brand with average number is over than 3. 4.2.2 Brand building effort The detail of descriptive variables show in the table 4.2: Table 4.3: Action scores Code Item labels Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation Commitment COMMITMENT1 Brand building policy was public to the whole company 1 5 3.64 25 1.107 COMMITMENT2 Sales and marketing activities of company were direction to brand image Manager level often mention to brand building in business meetings 1 5 3.93 1.078 1 5 3.77 1.082 Company has officially document about brand building 1 5 3.04 0.884 RESOURCES1 Brand building cost has planned yearly 1 5 3.3 1.328 RESOURCES2 Company has organized training, increased knowledge about brand management to staffs 1 5 3.6 1.248 RESOURCES3 Company has organized an own department to build brand 1 5 3.65 1.145 CULTURE1 Employees always show conscious of brand building in their own activities 2 5 3.02 0.772 CULTURE2 Company give prominence to increasing value of activities related to brand image 2 5 3.14 0.862 1 5 3.49 1.329 2 5 3.14 0.874 COMMITMENT3 COMMITMENT4 Resources Culture CULTURE3 CULTURE4 In this company, an employee did a good thing related to brand building, other colleges will support In this company, an employee did a good thing related to brand building, manager will praise Vision VISION1 Brand building is an objective in business strategy of company 2 5 3.63 0.863 VISION2 Business decisions of company have consider to brand 2 5 3.16 0.803 26 Company's leader are excited in brand building VISION3 Perceived Image PERCEIVED_IMA Customer always remind GE1 to company brand image Company's prestige has PERCEIVED_IMA increased by media GE2 impact Company received trust PERCEIVED_IMA from shareholders and GE3 suppliers 2 5 3.23 0.76 1 5 4.08 0.863 2 5 3.72 0.881 2 5 3.63 0.841 1 5 3.46 0.92 1 5 3.17 0.947 1 5 3.23 0.829 1 5 3.3 0.871 Brand building effort BRAND_BUILDI NG_EFFORT1 BRAND_BUILDI NG_EFFORT2 BRAND_BUILDI NG_EFFORT3 BRAND_BUILDI NG_EFFORT4 In this company, brand building plan has approved In this company, brand building department has established In this company, brand building resource has prepared In this company, brand building plan has carry out 4.3 Reliability Test The purpose of reliability analysis is to determine whether data are trustworthy or not through Cronbach’s alpha method which is frequently used that assessing the consistency of the entire scale. Cronbach’s alpha should exceed 0.6 to have reliability. In addition, “Corrected Item-Total Correlation” of all variable should be more than or equal to 0.3. 4.3.1 Commitment of Owners The result of calculating Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is higher 0.7. Almost the variables have corrected item total correlation are more than 0.3. However, the corrected item total correlation of COMMITMENT4 is .165 lower than 0.3 so that 27 variable will exclude in next analysis. After excluding COMMITMENT4 variable, corrected item total correlation of variables is accepted, Cronbach’s Alpha increase from .755 to .864. From this result we can concluded that the survey question are reliable. Table 4.4: Cronbach’s Alpha of Commitment Cronbach’s Alpha = .755 Scale Mean if Item Deleted Variables COMMITMENT1 COMMITMENT2 COMMITMENT3 COMMITMENT4 4.3.2 Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected Item- Cronbach's Total Alpha if Item Correlation Deleted 10.73 5.376 .665 .631 10.45 5.429 .681 .622 10.60 5.172 .745 .581 11.34 8.387 .165 .864 Availability of Resources Cronbach’s Alpha is .825, the corrected item total correlation is higher than 0.3 and there is not exclude any variable. For this reason, all variables are accepted and continuous for next analysis. Table 4.5: Cronbach’s Alpha of Resources Cronbach’s Alpha = .825 28 Variables Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted RESOURCES1 7.25 4.811 .637 .808 RESOURCES2 6.94 4.848 .706 .732 RESOURCES3 6.90 5.257 .708 .737 4.3.3 Culture of Organization The same case of COMMITMENT4 variable, CULTURE3 variable has corrected item total correlation is .194 lower than 0.3 and Cronbach’s Alpha .620 just questionable. So, this variable can exclude because it doesn’t affect too large to the measuring scale, plus Cronbach’s Alpha increases from .620 to .781 will be trustworthy. Table 4.6: Cronbach’s Alpha of Culture of Organization Cronbach’s Alpha = .620 Variables Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted CULTURE1 9.77 4.687 .583 .452 CULTURE2 9.65 4.650 .494 .491 CULTURE3 9.30 4.386 .194 .781 CULTURE4 9.66 4.611 .495 .489 4.3.4 Strategic Vision 29 Cronbach’s Alpha is .817, the corrected item total correlation is higher than 0.3 and there is not exclude any variable. For this reason, all variables are accepted and continuous for next analysis. Table 4.7: Cronbach’s Alpha of Vision Cronbach’s Alpha = .817 Variables Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted VISION1 6.40 2.054 .617 .809 VISION2 6.86 2.106 .674 .744 VISION3 6.79 2.130 .728 .696 4.3.5 Perceived Image Cronbach’s Alpha is .748, the corrected item total correlation is higher than 0.3 and there is not exclude any variable. For this reason, all variables are accepted and continuous for next analysis. Table 4.8: Cronbach’s Alpha of Perceived Image Cronbach’s Alpha = .748 Variables Scale Mean if Scale Variance Item Deleted if Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted PERCEIVED_IMAGE1 7.35 2.265 .552 .691 PERCEIVED_IMAGE2 7.71 2.083 .624 .606 30 Cronbach’s Alpha = .748 Scale Mean if Scale Variance Item Deleted if Item Deleted Variables Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted PERCEIVED_IMAGE1 7.35 2.265 .552 .691 PERCEIVED_IMAGE2 7.71 2.083 .624 .606 PERCEIVED_IMAGE3 7.80 2.325 .551 .691 4.3.6 Brand Building Effort As the result of reliability for brand building effort variables have corrected item total correlation more than 0.3 and Cronbach’s Alpha is .878. From this result we can concluded that the measuring scale is trustworthy. Table 4.9: Cronbach’s Alpha of Brand Building Effort Cronbach’s Alpha = .878 Variables Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted BRAND_BUILDING_ EFFORT1 9.70 5.479 .699 .859 BRAND_BUILDING_ EFFORT2 9.99 5.180 .756 .836 BRAND_BUILDING_ EFFORT3 9.93 5.908 .681 .865 31 Cronbach’s Alpha = .878 Variables Scale Mean if Item Deleted Scale Variance if Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted BRAND_BUILDING_ EFFORT1 9.70 5.479 .699 .859 BRAND_BUILDING_ EFFORT2 9.99 5.180 .756 .836 BRAND_BUILDING_ EFFORT3 9.93 5.908 .681 .865 BRAND_BUILDING_ EFFORT4 9.85 5.295 .819 .812 4.4 Results of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) Researching of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), researcher always follows some standards. All variables have relationship; it means that correlation coefficient is equal or more than 0.3, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO)’s requirement is over 0.6, Bartlett’s Test has significant that is = 0.5 is satisfactory. To explore this research with current community sample, the items of the scale will be subject to Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a form of factor analysis that is commonly used by researchers interested in scale development and evaluation and Varimax rotation using. In addition, all components have Eigenvalue above 1. 4.4.1 Result of Factor Analysis each Independent Variables 32 From reliability testing by Cronbach’s Alpha, there are 5 factors with 15 independent variables affect to brand building effort (follow the model) which will analyze EFA. Table 4.10: KMO and Bartlett's Test for Independent Variables Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartlett's Test of Sphericity .762 Approx. Chi-Square 1.006E3 Df 105 Sig. .000 Table 4.11: Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Component Total % of Cumulative Variance % Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Total Rotation Sums of Squared Loadings % of Cumulativ Total Variance e% % of Cumulative Variance % 1 4.545 30.303 30.303 4.545 30.303 30.303 2.388 15.922 15.922 2 2.135 14.231 44.534 2.135 14.231 44.534 2.235 14.897 30.819 3 1.599 10.658 55.191 1.599 10.658 55.191 2.231 14.875 45.694 4 1.459 9.729 64.920 1.459 9.729 64.920 2.149 14.323 60.018 5 1.295 8.634 73.554 1.295 8.634 73.554 2.030 13.536 73.554 6 .664 4.427 77.981 7 .548 3.653 81.634 8 .488 3.250 84.884 9 .478 3.188 88.072 10 .384 2.558 90.630 11 .354 2.359 92.989 12 .310 2.067 95.057 13 .281 1.874 96.930 14 .264 1.763 98.693 15 .196 1.307 100.000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis 33 In order to decide on the number of factors that should be extracted, the eignevalue criteria from Kaiser, above 1, has been preliminarily applied. In other words, it is supposed that any individual factor ought to explain the variance of at least one variable Field (2009). Later it was necessary to apply the criteria of the number of factors, as some of the variables have presented, as previously informed, high factor loading in more than a factor. It is to be observed though, that all the extracted factors presented eigenvalue above 1, despite the criteria change. Basing on the results of the tables 4.10 and 4.11, there were 5 factors extracted with eigenvalue above 1, explaining altogether 73.55% of variance, and it was suitable with criterion, a minimum number of 50% for the total variance was acceptable. Moreover, the indication of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) was 0.762 > 0.6, and the Bartlett’s test of Sphericity had Sig. = 0 < 0.5, it showed that there were the connection among five factors and they all were suitable with the case of factor analysis. Therefore, the Exploratory Factor Analysis method was seemed to be useful for my research. Table 4.12: Rotated Component Matrix of Independent Variables Component 1 COMMITMENT1 .854 COMMITMENT3 .853 COMMITMENT2 .842 2 RESOURCES2 .878 RESOURCES3 .810 RESOURCES1 .794 3 VISION3 .835 VISION2 .835 4 5 34 VISION1 .778 CULTURE1 .877 CULTURE2 .787 CULTURE4 .784 PERCEIVED_IMAGE2 .844 PERCEIVED_IMAGE1 .800 PERCEIVED_IMAGE3 .782 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations. After the author run EFA, the result was shown in table 4.12. The results of factor analysis of Independent Variables show that nearly all factors are loaded with a mix of items of different constructs including five new groups. To obtain the results shown in table 4.12, the author must remove 2 elements include COMMITMENT4 and CULTURE3, because of them have factor loading less than 0.5 or factor loading index depend on two factors and difference is smaller than 0.3. There are five groups of variables that had been aggregated as follows: Group 1: including 3 variables: COMMITMENT1 - Brand building policy was public to the whole company, COMMITMENT2 - Sales and marketing of company were direction to brand image, COMMITMENT3 - Manager level often mention to brand building in business meetings Group 2: including 3 variables: RESOURCES1 - Brand building cost has planned yearly, RESOURCES2 - Company has organized training, increased 35 knowledge about brand management to staffs, RESOURCES3 - Company has organized an own department to build brand Group 3: including 3 variables: VISION1 - Brand building is an objective in business strategy of company, VISION2 - Business decisions of company have consider to brand, VISION3 - Company's leader are excited in brand building Group 4: including 3 variables: CULTURE1 - Employees always show conscious of brand building in their own activities, CULTURE2 - Company give prominence to increasing value of activities related to brand image, CULTURE4 - In this company, an employee did a good thing related to brand building, manager will praise Group 5: including 3 variables: PERCEIVED_IMAGE1 - Customer always remind to company brand image, PERCEIVED_IMAGE2 - Company's prestige has increased by media impact, PERCEIVED_IMAGE3 - Company received trust from shareholders and suppliers. Result of Factor Analysis of Dependent variable – Brand Building 4.4.2 Effort Table 4.13: KMO and Bartlett's Test of Dependent Variable Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square Df Sig. .824 339.919 6 .000 36 Table 4.14: Total Variance Explained Initial Eigenvalues Component Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative % 1 2.937 73.417 73.417 2.937 73.417 73.417 2 .464 11.610 85.027 3 .358 8.948 93.975 4 .241 6.025 100.000 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis Table 4.15: Component Matrixa Component 1 BRAND_BUILDING_EFFORT4 BRAND_BUILDING_EFFORT2 BRAND_BUILDING_EFFORT1 BRAND_BUILDING_EFFORT3 .908 .869 .830 .818 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. a. 1 components extracted. Base on table 4.13, KMO and Bartlett’s Test the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of sampling adequacy is 0.824 > 0.6 and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity value is significant at 0.000 ([...]... vision and perceived image effect to brand building effort in SMEs? 1.4 Research hypothesis H1: Factor of commitment of owners direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort H2: Factor of availability of resources direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort H3: Factor of culture of organization direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort 3 H4: Factor... managers in SMEs who make business decision in company On the other hand, SMEs will recognize their visibility, credibility and competitive strength The study explore that brand building do not only limited into advertising, brand name and the logo in common but also identify internal and external factors which effect to brand building effort in SMEs From the research, the managerial level can understand... practice of brand management, the main differences between large firms and SMEs appear in building and managing brand equity According David Aaker (1996) brand management starts with developing a brand identity -the unique set of brand associations that represent what the brand stands for and promises to customers, an aspiration brand image Aaker maintains that the identity should be differentiating on some... vision direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort H5: Factor of perceived image direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort 1.5 Research Objectives Brand building is really necessary for those companies especially SMEs However, in Viet Nam many owners of SMEs usually ignore the importance of brand and the benefits which derive from branding, or even worse they do not... dimension in effecting brand building effort was Vision concerning to company business strategy, business decision and leader’s impact The other dimension was Commitment, Resources, Culture and Perceived Image also affected important to brand building Keywords: Brand building, corporate brand, SMEs xi xii CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Nowadays, brand management plays an important role in marketing... discussion about the result through the survey Basing on the data results, the researcher solve research objective includes: explore attitude of SMEs owners towards brand building and identify factors effect to brand building effort Then recommendation was given Chapter 6: Conclusions and Limitation The last chapter depicts the conclusions and limitation for the SMEs towards brand building concept 6 CHAPTER... company has brand management department In terms of brand managers, they are not only inexperienced, but also have no knowledge of brand management; in terms of company management, there are two missing from brand building and brand protection while brand protection must do in first period of company established together with launching campaigns On the other hand, SMEs in Vietnam have general understandability... recognize that they are a brand (Merrilees, 2007) Furthermore, Frank (2005) pointed out the fact that the names of the SMEs are often not the same as the brand name, and it is hard to gain people’s attention, therefore they will lose many chances in their business 2.4.2 Lack of Resource and Time The limitation of time, resources is barrier to carry our branding activities in SMEs According to Wong and Merrilees... or tangible – intangible – related to what the brand represents Supporting Kotler and Keller’s view of a brand linking it to the tangibles of the brand, Rosetti (2005) suggested in a presentation that a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of the competition... Corporate branding is an attempt to accommodate these weaknesses Product branding is based on short-term advertising ideas, while corporate branding is based on a long-term brand idea Corporate branding also expands the parameters of differentiation by enabling companies to use their rich heritage actively to create strong brands Corporate branding involves the whole organization and emphasizes the pivotal .. .THE FACTORS EFFECT TO BRAND BUILDING EFFORT IN SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (SMEs) IN VIET NAM In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION In. .. direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort H5: Factor of perceived image direct effect and positive associated to brand building effort 1.5 Research Objectives Brand building. .. advertising, brand name and the logo in common but also identify internal and external factors which effect to brand building effort in SMEs From the research, the managerial level can understand company’s