Paper #1016
- Title:
- Ownership structure, customer satisfaction and brand equity
- Authors:
- Anna Torres and Josep A. TribĂł
- Date:
- March 2007 (Revised: June 2007)
- Abstract:
- This paper studies the interaction between ownership structure, taken as a proxy for shareholders’ commitment, and customer satisfaction - the main driver of consumer loyalty - and their impact on a firm’s brand equity. The results show that customer satisfaction has a positive direct effect on brand equity but an indirect negative one because of reductions in ownership concentration. This latter effect emerges when managers are mainly customer-oriented. Such result gives out a warning signal that highlights the perverse effect of implementing policies, focused excessively on satisfying customers at the expense of shareholders, on a firm’s brand equity. The empirical analysis uses an incomplete panel data comprising 69 firms from 11 nations, for the period 2002-2005.
- Keywords:
- Corporate social responsibility, brand equity, shareholders’ commitment and customer loyalty
- JEL codes:
- M31
- Area of Research:
- Management and Organization Studies
Download the paper in PDF format