The role of services in creating brand loyalty for B2B manufacturers

This paper adds to a growing body of literature emphasizing the importance of branding to business -to -business (B2B) organizations. In particular, it addresses the paucity of research about branding in manufacturers that develop services alongside products (service infusion). The study assesses the relative importance of brand familiarity and three service categories (customer support, product support, and operational) in driving B2B brand loyalty. Following a qualitative scoping study, we collected data from 328 customers of manufacturers in two industries, photocopying/printing (high service intensity) and paper/packaging (low service intensity). Results reveal the pre-eminence of customer support services and brand familiarity in driving brand loyalty. Industry differences are based on customer support services and operational services. In high service intensity industries, customer support services dominate whereas operational services dominate in low service intensity industries. Our findings demonstrate that both services and brand familiarity drive brand loyalty in B2B settings.