Research on Product Identity and Brand Equity – The Case of Apple Inc.

• Main Authors: Chun-nan Kuo, 郭俊男
• Other Authors: Tai-Hwa Chow
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/uwy9zk

碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 企業管理學系研究所 === 97 === Firms invested numerous resources in enhancing brand equity. The overall efforts in enhancing design, researching, manufacturing, marketing mix, quality, customer satisfaction, etc are all necessary conditions needed for a firm to enhance its brand equity. Among them, enhancing product identity is one of the ways available. Firms have been developing corporate identity systems (CIS) for years, yet beyond distinctive shop signs, trademarks and layouts, they could spend efforts on products. Firms could develop products with high identity, and use them on enhancing their own brand popularity. If combined with other advantages possessed by a firm, the brand equity must thus be further enhanced. This is the key issue when Taiwan’s industries are trying to transform into OBM. This thesis served 陳國祥’s (1995) six dimensions on product styles as the basis, and tried to verify the hypothesis that Apple’s series products possess high identity. This research also examined the relation between customer satisfaction and product identity. In addition, this study added the marketing mix, user and using conditions as variables in order to understand the comments of Apple’s users (consumers) on Apple’s series products. This study also conducted questionnaire surveys with aforementioned dimensions, participated in Apple users’ gatherings and interviewed employees in Apple’s channels in Tainan and Kaohsiung. The outcomes indicate that high identity is found on the exterior of Apple’s products, and high satisfactions are found regardless of user and using condition. On marketing mix, however, results are indicating that the satisfactions of Apple’s marketing mix are generally low, yet high scores are still documented on dimensions of Apple’s brand equity. This research discovered that product identity dimension and marketing mix dimension bear positive relations with brand equity, and the customer satisfaction was performed as a mediating factor. Insignificant loadings are found on the user and using condition factors.