Varumärkets utveckling till strategisk resurs : varumärkesarbete i svenska statliga bolag

Abstract: Today, Sweden has about forty companies owned by the government. These are active on markets with variable competition. Some have been given special areas of responsibility that in a practical notion make them monopolists. The period when most public companies where formed (and with that the following subjection to competition) during the nineties and early 2000's, forced the formerly protected businesses to act on the terms of the open market. Parallel to this development the brand has for the last twenty years evolved into something great strategic importance for the business, including the business-to-businesses (B2B). This change has also had implications on how Sweden's government owned companies work. The studied governments owned companies, including the government case firm (Green Cargo), are active on markets that demand increasingly more of the companies to reach the customers. The corporate brand's importance in government owned companies is relatively unknown. The difficulty, for the companies, lies in formulating their brand strategies to match the individual need of differentiation, coordination of communication and the overall competition. The object of this paper is split into two parts. The first part is aimed at studying how six public companies in the present work with their brands on B2B-markets. The second part is aimed at studying possibilities to develop the case firm's, Green Cargo, brand in a given area of business contacts. The conclusions from the case firm study form a base for an activity plan, meant to be used within the case firm company. Since this plan might include sensitive information about the company, it is not included in this paper. The studies have been conducted through interviews with key personnel within the six public companies, with key personnel and customers of the case company. Theories on the subjects of the brand's function and consolidation within a B2B-company, business communication and relations have been used to form a framework for the study. The paper has two focus areas: Firstly through an illustration of how the six government owned companies works with their brand, second, on how the case firm Green Cargo has worked with their brand and how a brand strengthening program can be deployed in their case. In the latter focus area, a conceptual model has been assembled from the theoretical reference frame to analyze the case firm's work with the brand. The conclusions of the study are divided along the two focus areas. In recent times, the brand's importance has grown inside the studied public companies and is increasing in the strategic areas of the businesses. How well the brand is integrated within the companies is, according to the authors' findings, dependent on the companies' competitive situations. In the study of the six companies no conclusions can be securely drawn regarding how government ownership affects brand management. Additionally, the study shows that the companies do not measure the brand's financial value but half of the questioned firms conduct surveys of their brand images. The findings of the second focus area of the study include; that the case firm's work with the corporate brand is well underway, but that it's lacking an overall strategy of conduction. Additionally the author has found that an efficient communications management is lacking, when handling information originating from within and outside of the company.