The Effect On Brand Image After Mergers And Acquisitions

Nowadays,more and more mergers and acquisitions activities happen around the world.Mergers and acquisitions can occur in all kind of form.Sometimes a big corporation acquires a smaller company,and sometimes a new and less wellknown company who has lower brand image acquire a larger and well-known company.This case happens when Geely Automobile Holding who has less than twenty years of experiences acquire Volvo car from Ford in 2010,who is well known worldwide and has more than hundred years of experience in automobile industry.Many studies on the effect of the acquisition of the brand image of Volvo were conducted.However,it is hard to find any paper that reviews on the same effect on Geely.In this thesis,I will tell how acquisition affects Geely's brand image,how Geely consumer feels about this acquisition and how Geely position its brand after the acquisition.In 353 responses were collected through random sampling from an internet survey platform in China,the majority of the sample come from Guangdong,Beijing,Shanghai,Shandong,and Tianjin,which can show a great effeteness of the sample.The research is using inductive approach,quantitative analysis method and case study.This methodology allows author to have a thorough understanding of phenomena and explore the problems easily.This study uses a case study and data from the survey to discuss and analyze the related variables in brand image and acquisition.The result from this study found out that there is a positive relationship between brand image and acquisition.Moreover,I discovered that there is also a relationship between brand image and brand positioning as well.When the brand image of a company improves,brand positioning in the market may also improve.Few studies have been conducted on brand image and mergers and acquisitions(M&A).However,it's hard to find any paper that investigates the effect on acquirer brand image with a case study.This research will help the marketer to understand more this effect and also help a company who want to increase their brand image through acquire another company.