Business Approaches in Managing Luxury Brands by Kapferer - Literature review Example

CRITICAL AND EVALUATIVE INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY OF JEAN-NOEL KAPFERER College Critical and Evaluative Intellectual Biography of Jean-Noel Kapferer Jean-Noel Kapferer is one of the most influential brand experts in the world. In the modern business environment, brand design has been a great priority for many business organizations as understanding the market and consumer behaviours has a direct link to the productivity of the organization. Kapferer has published a series of brand management articles that have influenced the understanding of brands and the marketing strategy applied in many business organizations. A number of his scholarly works revolve around luxury products as some of the most misunderstood goods in the business market. Although many managers feel that investment in luxury business is one of best ways to remain profitable, they fail to understand the nature of the products and the best way to approach the market to optimize organization profits. Through a series of research based articles, Kapferer eliminates the vagueness that hinders understanding of luxury brands and provides an approach to invest in luxury business by analysing the client behaviour and their purchasing patterns. Through creation of brand awareness, Kapferer has managed to influence the contemporary business strategies. A close analysis of Kapferer’s contribution the design of the luxury brands will show his great influence in the business market. The main area of focus of Kapferer has been in modern business, especially in the branding of luxury brands. He has dedicated a number of his works to the luxury market that for long has become vague, putting the managers at the risk of failure in this market. His strong background in business is linked to his great experience and knowledge in the field of business. Kapferer is MBA holder from HEC Paris and PhD in North-western University in USA. Currently, he serves as a professor as HEC Business school, one of the schools that have won the first position among Europe business school. Overtime, Kapferer has developed the skill of indepth and critical analysis of brands with the aim of providing product design strategies that can be applied in the practical business environment. He has produced a number of books in different languages that have become brand icons in the business environment. His experience as a business consultant in the international business environment has contributed to his influence in the business environment (Kapferer, 1996). Having identified the vagueness that exists in the understanding of luxury products, Kapferer seeks to provide disambiguation through an in-depth analysis of the factors surrounding the luxury products. In his article, managing luxury brands, Kapferer (1996) notes the gap that exists in the definition of luxury brands within the business field. While many managers have considered the luxury business market as one of the potential business markets, they have failed to define the luxury market and this underpins their performance in this market. Kapferer seeks to define the luxury brand by providing an answer to the question of the difference between luxury brands and ordinary brands. According to Kapferer (1996), the main reason why the concept of luxury brands remains vague is because the term luxury is nature and its meaning varies from place to place. While one product may be luxury for a given market, it may be an ordinary product in another market. As such, Kapferer advises the managers to define luxury products depending on the market characteristics in their target segments. From a critical point of view, the author implies that the ability of managers to invest in luxury market depends on their ability to use creativity and inspiration to develop products that glitter, provide extra pleasure and flatter all sense at once (p. 253). In his analysis of brand management strategies, he provides advice to the business managers to remain focused to the dynamic nature of the luxury brands as they are sensitive to time and space. By unveiling the mystery of luxury brands, Kapferer provides managers with viable strategies to approach the luxury market. Later, Kapferer (1998) proceeded with his long journey of creating the luxury by launching an article that provides the reason why people are seduced by brands. Kapferer uses this approach to identify the factors surrounding the luxury products and how these impact on the purchasing patterns of the customers. As other economists have pointed out, the best approach to ensure that a product is on demand in the market is to understand the factors that influence the demand in the market. Organizations strive to produce products that can seduce buyers and provoke them to form a lasting relationship with the organization. On this note, Kapferer seeks to provide a research based approach to consumer reaction to luxury brands. From his research, he identified that the reasons why many people chooses to buy one luxury good over the other is the beauty, excellence, magic, uniqueness and creativity of the product. In his view, these are the qualities that brand designers should pay attention to while polishing their products to give them a glitter in the market. One of the key consumers that Kapferer sees to influence the luxury market is the youth consumers. Despite their low purchasing power, they remain an influential target market for business investors over the history of the luxury brand. Through a thorough market scan, Kapferer identifies the unique qualities of luxury brands, but also the target populations that managers should consider while launching their investment strategies. In collaboration with Bastien, a successful luxury manager, Kapferer (2009) provides viable strategies to luxury brand management. The two authors recognize the confusion that the luxury business managers have when it comes to the development of luxury products. First, they identify that fashion and luxuries have become two complex myths that brand managers have interpreted to mean the same. To disambiguate this, the two refer to the time perspective of the two terms; while fashion is time bound, luxury focuses on timelessness and is meant to last in the long term. As such managers should design luxury brands that can last over time and dominate in the market. Unlike other products, luxury brands must remain superlative, that is, the best of their own kind. On this note, Bastien and Kapferer point out that brand identity and not brand positioning is crucial in the luxury market. Managers must strive to design unique products that sustain the merit and remain unique in the market. Additionally, the authors point out that luxury is something that must be earned if it has to remain unique. Therefore, managers should ensure that the customers, who are the kings in this business, pay for the luxury they want to enjoy. This way, the product remains unique and will have a long term performance in the environment. Kapferer engages ontological and epistemological assumptions in his development of the concept of luxury brand. Ontological perspectives are the assumptions that refer to the nature of the world. Kapferer assumes that the nature of human behaviour affects the way human beings perceive luxury products. For instance, he states that human beings will identify expensive products as the most unique sources of leisure. On this ground, he advises the brand managers that luxury products must be earned and hence high prices ensure that luxury products are in demand in the long term (Kapferer and Bastien 2009). As long as the prices of luxury goods remain high, the product retains its identity in market as less people can afford the product. Epistemological assumptions are concerned with the influence of the knowledge that one has and the decisions that they make. Epistemologically, Kapferer assumes that the reason why managers fail to understand branding is because they have little evidence on the nature of the luxury products. By providing a deep analysis of the luxury product, he aims at enriching the managers with adequate information on the nature of luxury products. Kapferer applies both analytic and quantitative methodologies in providing the factors underlying the luxury business. He provides a deep analysis of the factor surrounding the luxury business environment and how these influence the image of the luxury products. He strives to disambiguate fashion and luxury to eliminate the confusion that faces brand managers in their market venture. Through an in-depth analysis, Kapferer provides reasonable arguments on the nature of luxury business and provides a concrete definition of the luxury products. In a quantitative research method, Kapferer analyses the various factors that affect the demand for luxury products within the business industry (Kapferer, 1998). A quantitative research allows him to rank the characteristics of the products and their desirability within the society. Given the soundness of quantitative approaches, Kapferer provides viable conclusions that the managers can use to impact efficiency in their business environment. From a critical point of view, Kapferer provides an intelligent approach to brand construction in his articles on luxury products. First, the author identifies that understanding luxury will help managers to develop luxury products that meet the standards of the market. He defines luxurious products as unique creations that remain in demand over a long time in the market. For managers to brand their products, they have to understand the nature of the luxury business and clear the vagueness of the term that has existed for long. His research on the product qualities that seduce buyers in the market adds to the nature of luxury products and provides the relationship between nature of luxury products and the consumer behaviour. Finally, Kapferer and Bastien (2009) provide the managers with the best approach to manage luxury products. Through the papers, Kapferer uses a chronological and integrative approach to develop cohesive ideas that influence the luxury market. The author intelligently develops the relationship between luxury, luxury products, the customer behaviour and brand management. This approach provides the managers with an approach that they can use to survive in the contemporary luxury market. Kapferer’s ideas on luxury brand management are relevant and practical in the contemporary business environment. In many market segments in the world, the luxury market is opening up making it a potential market for both domestic and international investors. To take advantage of this market, the managers must have an understanding of the nature of the luxury market and the factors that surround it (Kapferer, 1996, 1998). Kapferer seems to put customer tastes and preferences as priority of the luxury business. This idea is practical in the modern market where managers where customer based models are gaining favouritism as the best approaches to sustain customer loyalty. He provides the various customer characteristics such as age and wealth that influence the customer purchasing pattern in the luxury market. Secondly, his brand management strategies are applicable in the luxury market. Today, brand identity, as he forecasted, matters as much as brand positioning matters in the business market. Companies are struggling to remain unique in the way they design their products to ensure they have a long term association with their customers. On this ground, it is possible to judge Kapferer’s work as influential and applicable in the modern luxury market. In conclusion, Kapferer is one of the influential brand creators in the contemporary business environment. He intelligently utilizes his knowledge and experience in the branding industry to empower managers to create unique brands that are attractive in the market. In his wide range of business related books and articles, he provides an in-depth analysis of various product brands to uncover the mysteries that surround their performance. In his articles on luxury brands, he creates luxury products from scratch and brands them for the international market. He provides a concrete definition of the luxury products and uses research driven approaches to understand the purchasing behaviour of the customers in this market. On this ground, he provides managers with a viable approach which they can apply at any time to ensure that they win over customers and remain successful in the market. His branding approaches have become more relevant today in the dynamic business environment where business is demanding new business approaches. Bibliography Kapferer, J., 1996, Managing Luxury Brands. The Journal of Brand Management, 4(4). Kapferer, J., 1998, Why Are We Seduce by Luxury Brands? The Journal of Brand Management, 6(1). Kapferer, J. and Bastien, V., 2009, The Specifity of Luxury Management: Turning Marketing Upside Down, Brand Management, 16 (5). Read More