How do firms process info? Monitoring brand equity drivers in Food and Beverage Sectors

The main purpose of this chapter is to show how to set a quantitative analysis of consumer behavior in the food and beverage industry and how the results from such analysis could be entered into producers’ decision making. The goal is to bridge the gap between theoretical research and practical needs of companies to improve their performance. The theoretical framework is the analysis of the relations among key brand equity drivers (brand experience and brand trust) and consumers’ behavior intentions (intent to buy, intent to use word-of-mouth, willingness to accept brand extensions). The empirical research proposes a structural equation model for analyzing such relations. The case study concerns the consumption of two product categories: coffee (nonalcoholic drink) and beer (alcoholic drink). Particular attention is paid to the interpretation of results and their use for managerial implications.