THE IMPORTANCE OF BRAND ON B2B MARKETS: EXPERT INTERVIEWS WITH HILTI AG MANAGERS

This paper investigates the importance of brand building in the business-to-business world. Not only B2C companies must take branding into account and put it among their top priorities in order to survive and succeed on the market. The ¿ rst part of the article deals with the theoretical background of brand importance and market speci ¿ cs of B2B markets and results in the setting of two hypotheses. The following research has to ¿ nd out how the managers of a pure business-to-business company perceive the importance of a brand; moreover, it has to evaluate the importance of eight speci ¿ c brand building factors. Fourteen expert interviews document the growing of brands in the B2B market and their main aspects. At the end of the article, we will focus on future implications for B2B management. JEL classi ¿ cation: M3