Brand alliance and value creation: an interorganizational approach - Application to the Fair Trade and health & food markets

Les marques, souvent perçues comme des signaux de qualité, atteignent aujourd’hui leurs limites sur le marché. Alors pour se différencier et renforcer leur position, de nombreuses entreprises se lancent dans des relations d’alliance de marques définie comme la combinaison de deux marques dans un produit ou un service donné. Les études antérieures sur les alliances de marques ont surtout mis l’accent sur la dimension marketing autour du consommateur. Pourtant les alliances de marques ont lieu dans un contexte concurrentiel très agressif et les problèmes de partage des bénéfices, de réduction de coûts et au final de création de valeur se posent pour les entreprises impliquées. Ainsi nous cherchons à déterminer les modes de création et de maintien de la valeur des alliances de marques dans une perspective interorganisationnelle. Partant des travaux de la littérature sur les fondements des alliances de marques, nous mettons en évidence l’importance des enjeux organisationnels. Nous proposons un cadre d’analyse des alliances de marques à partir de différentes composantes clés : l’environnement de l’alliance, les acteurs, leurs objectifs, leurs comportements, les ressources et les mécanismes organisationnels mobilisés. A travers une démarche qualitative appliquée à des études de cas, nous mettons en œuvre ce cadre d’analyse pour trois types d’alliance de marques, sur les marchés du commerce équitable, de la nutrition santé et du complément alimentaire, en effectuant 40 entretiens semi-directif centrés complétés par 10 questionnaires. Nous dégageons deux principaux résultats. Premièrement, nous montrons que les alliances de marques peuvent être analysées sous un angle statique et dans une situation dynamique à travers des composantes clés qui sont à la base du processus de création de valeur. Deuxièmement, nous produisons des connaissances au travers du cadre conceptuel élaboré sur le fonctionnement des alliances de marques du point de vue interorganisationnel.Brands, frequently being perceived as quality signals, reach today their limits on the market. Then to be differentiated and to reinforce their position, many companies launched out in brand alliances defined as the combination of two brands in a same product or a service. The previous studies on brand alliances are mainly focused on marketing aspects centered on the consumer. However brand alliances take place in a very aggressive competing context and several problems of sharing of the benefit, of reduction of costs and finally the question of value creation are addressed to these companies. So we seek to determine the ways to create and to maintain value of brand alliances in an interorganizational perspective. On the basis of previous researches on brand alliances, we underline the importance of organizational issues. We propose an analytical framework of brand alliances in using various key components: environment of the alliance, actors involved and their objectives, their behaviors, resources and governance mechanisms mobilized. With a qualitative methodology applied to case studies, we use this analytical framework for three types of brand alliances, in the fair trade market, the nutritional health market and the dietary food supplement market. We conducted 40 semi-directive interviews completed with 10 questionnaires. We obtain two key results. First, we show that value creation processes in brand alliances can be analyzed in a static and dynamic situation in using key components which are at the basis of the value creation process. Second, we produce knowledge through our proposed analytical framework, to the functioning of brand alliances from an interorganizationnal point of view.Brands, frequently being perceived as quality signals, reach today their limits on the market. Then to be differentiated and to reinforce their position, many companies launched out in brand alliances defined as the combination of two brands in a same product or a service. The previous studies on brand alliances are mainly focused on marketing aspects centered on the consumer. However brand alliances take place in a very aggressive competing context and several problems of sharing of the benefit, of reduction of costs and finally the question of value creation are addressed to these companies. So we seek to determine the ways to create and to maintain value of brand alliances in an interorganizational perspective. On the basis of previous researches on brand alliances, we underline the importance of organizational issues. We propose an analytical framework of brand alliances in using various key components: environment of the alliance, actors involved and their objectives, their behaviors, resources and governance mechanisms mobilized. With a qualitative methodology applied to case studies, we use this analytical framework for three types of brand alliances, in the fair trade market, the nutritional health market and the dietary food supplement market. We conducted 40 semi-directive interviews completed with 10 questionnaires. We obtain two key results. First, we show that value creation processes in brand alliances can be analyzed in a static and dynamic situation in using key components which are at the basis of the value creation process. Second, we produce knowledge through our proposed analytical framework, to the functioning of brand alliances from an interorganizationnal point of view.ou