Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - (Page 22)
Timothy Heath
BIOGRAPHY
Timothy Heath began teaching marketing and consumer behavior at HEC in January 2012. Before that, he taught at the University of Pittsburgh in
the US for 13 years, at Miami University for eight years, then at Essec in Paris for two years. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the
University of Iowa and sits on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
Extending product lines up and
down in quality:
Asymmetric effects on brand evaluation
Companies frequently extend product lines in a bid to target diverse market segments and increase sales,
though this risks diluting brand image, especially when extending the brand to lower-quality products. But
a series of studies shows that the positive effects of line extensions to higher quality are stronger than the
negative effects of line extensions to lower quality. Also, the risk of image dilution can be mitigated through
various branding strategies.
Be it creating new flavors of a given pasta sauce by adding every
possible spice, vegetable or amount of cheese, or introducing
a bargain-priced line of vehicles by a given carmaker, offering
more products under the same umbrella brand is one of many
ways for companies to boost growth. What is known as "line
extension" can be done horizontally-within the same quality
or price level-or vertically-across price or quality levels. For
example, chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer, known in
the US for aspirin, is now beginning to sell fertilizer and weed
killer under its own brand name. It's a matter of exposure,
of making consumers more comfortable with the brand, as
Timothy Heath explains. "If consumers have the choice, they
are more likely to go for a brand they know, an effect known
as 'neophobia'," he adds. And as consumers travel, as the globe
shrinks, brands want to be recognized around the world-so
they splash their names across wider ranges of products.
DILUTING BRAND IMAGE?
But in the case of downward line extensions, doesn't associating
a recognized brand name with lower-quality risk tainting the
brand's image? That's what Timothy Heath and his co-authors
hypothesized, wondering why a successful multinational such
as Procter & Gamble would risk diluting brand equity by
marketing, say, inferior paper towels under the name of the
market's leading paper towel, Bounty. After all, humans tend
to give more weight to negative experiences than to positive
19
But when the researchers asked consumers to rate middlequality brands in common product categories (beer, pasta
sauce, restaurants, etc.) now seen with lower or higher quality
line extensions, they repeatedly found the opposite: Higherquality line extensions improved brand perception and evaluation
far more than lower-quality extensions damaged brand them.
Two psychological mechanisms contributed to this asymmetric
effect: Opponent processes and what the authors dubbed
"best-of-brand processing."
OPPONENT PROCESSES
Offering a higher-quality line extension associates the brand
with higher quality (a positive quality association effect) and
also increases the number of products under the brand's
umbrella, which consumers generally like (a positive variety
effect; e.g., more products signal brand energy, expertise,
and innovativeness while offering options to a wider range of
consumers). Both effects then improve overall brand evaluation.
However, offering a lower-quality line extension associates
the brand with lower quality (negative quality-association effect)
but still increases the number of products offered under the
brand umbrella, a positive variety effect, which then tempers
negative consumer responses.
Knowledge HEC
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊
Cover
Partner companies
Table of Content
公司治理 (David Thesmar)
Corporate governance
欧洲的可再生能源 (Andrea Masini)
Renewable energies in Europe
决策 (Mohammed Abdellaoui)
Why do decision makers underestimate rare events?
建立信任 (Michel Lander)
Building trust for successful mergers and acquisitions
产品线质量的高低端延伸 (Timothy Heath)
Extending product lines up and down in quality
制度变革 (Carlos Ramirez)
Institutional change
奢侈品市场 (Anne Michaut-Denizeau)
The luxury market
创业 (Anisa Shyti)
Entrepreneurship
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 公司治理 (David Thesmar) (Page 1)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 公司治理 (David Thesmar) (Page 2)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Corporate governance (Page 3)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Corporate governance (Page 4)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 欧洲的可再生能源 (Andrea Masini) (Page 5)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 欧洲的可再生能源 (Andrea Masini) (Page 6)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Renewable energies in Europe (Page 7)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Renewable energies in Europe (Page 8)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 决策 (Mohammed Abdellaoui) (Page 9)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 决策 (Mohammed Abdellaoui) (Page 10)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Why do decision makers underestimate rare events? (Page 11)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Why do decision makers underestimate rare events? (Page 12)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 建立信任 (Michel Lander) (Page 13)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 建立信任 (Michel Lander) (Page 14)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Building trust for successful mergers and acquisitions (Page 15)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Building trust for successful mergers and acquisitions (Page 16)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 产品线质量的高低端延伸 (Timothy Heath) (Page 17)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 产品线质量的高低端延伸 (Timothy Heath) (Page 18)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Extending product lines up and down in quality (Page 19)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Extending product lines up and down in quality (Page 20)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 制度变革 (Carlos Ramirez) (Page 21)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 制度变革 (Carlos Ramirez) (Page 22)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Institutional change (Page 23)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Institutional change (Page 24)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 奢侈品市场 (Anne Michaut-Denizeau) (Page 25)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 奢侈品市场 (Anne Michaut-Denizeau) (Page 26)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - The luxury market (Page 27)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - The luxury market (Page 28)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 创业 (Anisa Shyti) (Page 29)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - 创业 (Anisa Shyti) (Page 30)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 31)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 32)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 33)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 34)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 35)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 36)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 37)
Knowledge@HEC - Special Issue - 巴黎HEC商学院 研究专刊 - Entrepreneurship (Page 38)
http://www.nxtbook.fr/newpress/hec/knowledge-at-hec_Compilation_of_Research_Articles-Chinese-2016
http://www.nxtbook.fr/newpress/hec/knowledge-at-hec_Special_Issue_02-Compilation_of_Research_Articles-Chinese
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/hec/knowledge-at-hec_Special_Issue-Compilation_of_Research_Articles-Chinese
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/hec/knowledge-at-hec_Special_Issue-Compilation_of_Research_Articles
https://www.nxtbook.com/newpress/hec/research-at-hec_Special_Issue-Compilacao_de_Pesquisas
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com