Building industrial brand equity with organizational resources: a comparison between component and original equipment manufacturer suppliers

Purposes Some studies have used the resource-based view (RBV) to explain how B2B relationships develop. However, the RBV has ignored how suppliers use various types of organizational resources to develop industrial brands that yield a superior competitive advantage in B2B relationships. Accordingly, the present study compared the relationship between organizational resources and the construction of industrial brand equity between component suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Design/methodology/approach This study adopted the “capability, knowledge and resource” framework, an extension of the RBV, in which organizational resources are classified into the following categories: capabilities, knowledge and resources. This framework was applied to the context of industrial brand equity in B2B manufacturing. The study empirically examined how suppliers leveraged different types of organizational resources – innovativeness (capability), customer orientation (knowledge) and relationship-specific investment (resource) – to build industrial brand equity and improve relationship performance with industrial customers. This study’s research model was tested using questionnaire data from 209 managers. Findings The findings revealed that suppliers’ innovativeness, customer orientation and relationship-specific investment can improve industrial brand equity, which in turn has a positive effect on relationship performance. A between-group analysis indicated that component suppliers and OEMs differently perceive the effects of innovativeness and relationship-specific investment on industrial brand equity but that their perceptions of customer orientation for industrial brand equity did not differ significantly. Originality/value The present research suggests that managers tend to focus on building industrial brand equity by leveraging organizational resources to cocreate value with industrial customers and thus achieve high relationship performance.