Harvard Business Review on Brand Management (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series) [Paperback]

Harvard Business School Press (Compiler)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1578511445 | ISBN-13: 978-1578511440 | Publication Date: August 25, 1999 | Edition: 1

With the increasing globalization of brands, effective brand management in differentiating products has become even more essential. This helpful volume provides the latest strategies for maximizing the value of your brands and products. Articles include: Building Brands Without Mass Media by Erich Joachimsthaler and David A. Aaker; Brands vs. Private Labels: Fighting to Win by John A. Quelch and David Harding; How Do You Grow a Premium Brand? by Regina Fazio Maruca; Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is? by David A. Aaker; Extend Profits, Not Product Lines by John A. Quelch and David Kenny; The Logic of Product-Line Extensions, Perspectives from the Editors; Can This Brand Be Saved by Regina Fazio Maruca; and Your Brand's Best Strategy by Vijay Vishwanath and Jonathan Mark. The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Since 1984, Harvard Business School Press has been dedicated to publishing the most contemporary management thinking, written by authors and practitioners who are leading the way. Whether readers are seeking big-picture strategic thinking or tactical problem solving, advice in managing global corporations or for developing personal careers, HBS Press helps fuel the fire of innovative thought. HBS Press has earned a reputation as the springboard of thought for both established and emerging business leaders.

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Press; 1 edition (August 25, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578511445
• ISBN-13: 978-1578511440
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Product Management

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Pass on this... trust me (practicing Brand Manager), August 10, 2005

By 

Christopher J. Deasy (Depends on the time of year) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harvard Business Review on Brand Management (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series) (Paperback)

Really disappointed in this offering from HBR. I was tempted to give a single star rating, but feel that someone just looking for a few cases to amuse themself may find this book suitable. While I often purchase cases and articles from HBS, these selections are outdated and lack in shedding light on contemporary branding issues; you can get a better cross-section of cases by going directly to the case site. I guess HBR just wanted to cash in on the 'branding' buzz- unfortunately this is no way to steward their own brand.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful Perspectives, March 20, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harvard Business Review on Brand Management (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series) (Paperback)

In this volume, one of a series of anthologies of articles previously published in the Harvard Business Review, we are provided with a variety of different perspectives on a single business subject. Here are the titles and their authors:

"Building Better Brands without Mass Media" (Joachimsthaler and Aaker)

"How Do You Grow a Premium Brand?" (Maruca)

"Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?" (Aaker)

"Extend Profits, Not Product Lines (Quelch and Kenny)

"The Logic of Product-Line Extensions" (Perspectives from the Editors)

"Can This Brand Be Saved?" (Maruca)

"Your Brand's Best Strategy" (Vishwanath and Mark)

Even if you do not recognize at least a few of the authors' last names, The Harvard Business Review's brand is of sufficient credibility to encourage you to purchase and read this book. I am especially impressed by the inclusion of "Executive Summaries" of key points in each of the articles. No brief commentary such as this can do full justice to the rigor and substance of the articles provided. It remains for each reader to examine the list to identify those subjects which are of greatest interest to her or him. My own opinion is that all of the articles are first-rate. For me, as previously indicated, one of this volume's greatest benefits is derived from sharing a variety of perspectives provided by several different authorities on the same general subject.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for perspectives but not a full picture of branding, April 17, 2003

By 

Shashank Tripathi (Gadabout) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Harvard Business Review on Brand Management (Harvard Business Review Paperback Series) (Paperback)

This is a great collection of thoughtful "perspectives" on brand related issues, some very thoughtful (e.g., the one on extending premium brands with Transition health clubs as the lynchpin) and others somewhat perplexingly dichotomous (e.g., a chapter on the perils of line extensions which is immediately succeeded by another on the logic of line extensions leaving the reader with no cogent framework for how to decide between the two).

The "book" is structured as a collection of essays, each of which takes up a case study with an actual company and then presents the views of several big-tyke experts about branding issues that the company was faced with. This makes it a fascinating read as a case study guide. An attempt to weave these scattered insights into a summary recommendation at the end of each essay, or at least some mention of what the client in question actually ended up doing, would have been even more useful. Sans such synoptic editing, this book ends up being little more than thought piece for the branding experts on some issues that pertain to corporate identity (and the marketing bottomline) but this is by no means a holistic branding reference as one of the other reviewers seemed to indicate.

All the same, I would still give it is a 4 star for its readability, for the breadth and the reality of the cases picked for discussion, and for the sharpness/relevance of the insights that went into discussing them. Should be a no-brainer of a buy if you are interested in the identity/advertising/marketing strategy industry in any way, especially as a real-world companion to any of Aaker's works.