EFFECT OF CORPORATE BRANDING ON SALES PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

The study focuses on effect of corporate branding on performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria. The objective of the study is to: determine the effect of brand awareness on performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria; ascertain the nature of the relationship between brand associations and sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria and determine the influence of perceived quality on performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria. The population size was 1168 out of which a sample size of 369 was realized using Cochran’s sample size at 5% error tolerance and 95% level of confidence. Instruments used for data collection were primarily questionnaire and interview. Out of 369 copies of the questionnaire that were distributed, 385 copies were returned while 11 were not returned. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The hypotheses were tested using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient t and Simple Linear Regression Statistical tools. The findings indicate that brand awareness significantly affect performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria (r = 0.864; t = 33.536; p < 0.05). That there is a positive relationship between brand associations and performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria (r = 0. 812, p < .05). That perceived quality significantly influences performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria (r = 0.883; t = 36.848; p < 0.05). The study concluded that branding enable customers to distinguish between different products and services and recognize what they perceive satisfies their needs the most. The study recommended that manufacturing firms should adopt brand awareness so as to ensure that customers’ recall and recognize the brand as reflected by their ability and to identify the brand under different conditions which will promote firms’ performance. i Correspondence: email okocha.rejoice@evangeluniversity.edu.ng, humblerejoice@yahoo.com Okocha, Ebere Rejoice; Emezue, Leonard Nnabugwu EFFECT OF CORPORATE BRANDING ON SALES PERFORMANCE OF SELECTED MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA European Journal of Management and Marketing Studies Volume 6 │ Issue 4 │ 2021 174


Introduction
The emergence of brands probably started at the end of the 19th century (Davis, 2018). Symbols and logos were used to indicate retailer's specialty and exclusiveness of the brand (De Chernatony et al., 2011). In consumer marketing, brands can be critical to the success of companies, as they often provide the primary points of differentiation between competitive offerings. More than simply a name, symbol or a tagline, a brand is a set of associations and expectations with a company or product evoked in the minds of consumers (Kumar et al., 2014). According to Schroeder et al (2016), brands have become vital dimensions of the so-called marketing democracy. Today, brands represent economic entities and sources of power which impose modes of thinking and behaving. The term 'brand equity' emerged in the 1980s and today, most top executives agree that brand equity is one of the most important assets of the organization (Herremans et al., 2017).
Corporate branding is a holistic brand management approach adopted by firms to craft a unique corporate identity (Abratt & Kleyn, 2018). The concept of corporate branding has gained popularity in the marketing literature as corporate brands are said to add value to the products and services offered by the company (Harris & de Chernatony, 2011). In order to develop and sustain a strong brand, it is important to manage the brand correctly and in today's competitive market, two tools are essential for brand management: brand positioning and brand identity (Kapferer, 2016). Brands have had impact on people's perceptions of the products and also raised the direction of the world's passion to functional products. Brands can represent lifestyles and values (Lexus, Rolex, 2009) and functions such as the meanings of symbols, on the basis that people who are specialists in brands provide the level of quality of the product that cannot always be proven in the lab (Franzan & Moriarty, 2019). Aaker & Joachimsthaler (in Chikwe, 2018) showed that the challenges facing companies when they are constructing brands are: to get the brand to be noticed, to be remembered, to change perceptions, to strengthen attitudes and to create a deep relationship with the customers. Because any brand, no matter how strong it was at one point in time, vulnerably and can be destroyed by inadequate brand management such as when changes in market conditions is not considered (Keller, 2002).
Branding attract and keep customers by promoting the value, prestige and a lifestyle. Branding is a technique to build a sustainable differential advantage by playing the nature of human being. Once consumers become habituated to certain brands, they do not willingly accept the substitutes; this means that through developing a brand, brand image and identity has a great importance for brand development (Rooney, 2015). In many businesses, branding is an instrument that passes on item advantages to clients as names or images to which interesting and persuading affiliations are appended.

Statement of the Problem
Companies all over the world whether the service or manufacturing firms, recognize the essential role branding plays in the course of business. In the present day marketing practice, branding has become an active weapon used by firms to strengthen their competitive advantage and thus, improve the accomplishment of their prearranged objectives.
In addition, consumer behaviour in manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly less predictable, more fragmented and less consistent. Customers are demanding value-added products which satisfy their needs and wants apart from having quantity in product. Due to intensive competition, manufacturers started working on research and development as well as branding of the new and existing products in order to get prosperous. Manufacturing companies should be market oriented and required to get much understanding about the market. Although, the development of products is crucial for manufacturing company's ability to meet and sustain customers demand. There are considerable challenges faced by the product formulator during product development; these include constraints of finance, manpower, time and the need for continual innovation. The manufacturing companies are required to take into consideration and develop areas like brand development and market orientation. There is also the existence of positive relationship between market orientation and company performance. Thus, the study seeks to investigate effect of branding on sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Objective of the Study
The main objective of the study is to investigate effect of corporate branding on sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria. The study has the following specific objectives: 1) To determine the effect of brand awareness on sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria. 2) To ascertain the nature of the relationship between brand associations and sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria. 3) To determine the influence of perceived quality on sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Research Questions
For this study to accomplish the desired objectives, these research questions were formulated: 1) What is the effect of brand awareness on sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria? 2) What is the nature of the relationship between brand associations and sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria?
3) What is the influence of perceived quality on sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria?

Research Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were formulated for this study: 1) Brand awareness affects sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria. 2) There is a relationship between brand associations and sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria. 3) Perceived quality influences sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Brand
The American Marketing Association (2016) defined a brand as "a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to distinguish them from those of competitors." These differences may be functional, rational, or concrete. They may also be more symbolic and emotional in relation to what the brand represents (Kotler & Keller, 2009;Crane, 2010). Asacker (2015) offered that "a brand" is a means of representing and identifying product or range of products. Branding creates a unique identity for a product making it recognizable to its customers (Franzen and Moriarty, 2019). Most definitions emphasized that brands are expected to deliver a range of objectives; the most important is to identify the goods or services from one seller or a group of sellers and differentiate them from those of competitors.

Brand Awareness
This is an important determinant which can be identified in most models of branding, (Mackay, 2001). Keller (2003, pp 17) defines brand awareness as "the customers' ability to recall and recognize the brand as reflected by their ability to identify the brand under different conditions and to link the brand name, logo, symbol, and so forth to certain associations in memory". According to Asacker (2015), there are other higher levels of brand awareness apart from recall and recognition. He added brand dominance, top-of-mind, and brand opinion and brand knowledge. Keller (1993) also added that brand knowledge is the complete set of brand association attached to the brand. Vrontis & Papasolomou (2017) posit that powerful brands are more likely to benefit when customers' awareness of the brand is high. In addition, brand awareness occurs when a potential buyer is able to identify and recall brands belonging to a product category of a company (Atilgan et al., 2015).

Brand Associations
The most accepted aspect of branding is brand association (Aaker, 1992). It represents reason for deciding to purchase and having loyalty for a brand. According to Kotler and Keller, (2006), brand association consists of all brand related feelings, thoughts, images, beliefs, experiences, attitudes and is everything associated with the brand. There are two types of brand association; they are organization association and product associations (Crane, 2010). Research by Hamann et al. (2017) showed that customers most often use and are willing to pay higher prices for branded products when they have the opportunity to choose other products that fall into the same category. Corporate brand association refers to a customers' evaluation of a brand that is determined by the knowledge stored in their memory, based on past brand-customer interactions.

Perceived Quality
Another dimension viewed in branding is perceived quality rather than been viewed as part of the overall brand association (Feldwick, 2016). Perceived quality is how the customer judges the overall superiority or excellence of a product or service that is different from its objective quality. The objective quality of a product or service refers to the measurable, technical and its verifiable nature, process and quality controls. A higher objective quality does not necessarily add any value to brand equity (Abratt & Kleyn, 2018). It is difficult or impossible for customers to make correct and complete judgment of objective quality; therefore, they use quality attributes that they can associate with quality.

Performance
Performance is sometimes substituted for productivity. However, Rooney (2015) mentions that there was a variation between productivity and performance. He said that productivity was a ratio representing the amount of work done in a given time frame.
Performance is a broader indicator which includes productivity and quality, consistency and other factors. In oriented evaluation results, productivity procedures were generally considered. Rooney (2015) says that the results-oriented behaviour (based on criteria) and relative (normative) measures concepts and instruments, education and training, management development and leadership training are needed skills and attitudes for building performance. Therefore, from the above, performance must be defined in a broader view to include economy, customer satisfaction, profitability, effectiveness, quality, efficiency, consistency behaviour and normative measures (Rooney, 2015).

Theoretical Review
This study anchored on choice and rational choice theories. Choice theory emphasizes the individual's control over his or her own feelings and actions and teaches the concept that all behaviour is chosen. It was created by Dr. William Glasser. The theory states that all human behaviour is driven by the desire to satisfy five basic human needs: the need to be loved and accepted, the need to be powerful, the need to be free, the need to have Another offshoot of choice theory, rational choice theory states that people make decisions based on analyzing the pros and cons of a situation. This means that people weigh the costs and benefits of potential choices before settling on a course of action. Originally conceived as an economic theory, it was a way to understand how people make decisions to maximize their money. As time has passed, however, rational choice theory has evolved to include all areas of human decision making, including sociology and political science.
Under this assumption, all human behaviour can be seen as a way to meet individual needs. According to rational choice theory, human interaction is a transactional process where the perceived gain is emphasized over other motivations. Muhammad & Muath (2018) investigated the impact of brand elements on creating brand equity of Jordanian Corporations and quantitative approach was adopted in this research. A questionnaire was developed and administered for collecting data from the sample. 160 copies of questionnaire were distributed using cluster sampling method to the Marketing Officers of the Corporations that appeared in the sample, 138 copies were retrieved while 131 were accepted for analysis. Data analysis took place to examine the study variables and test hypotheses using the Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS). After conducting the analysis of study data and hypotheses, the study found that Jordanian Corporations most frequently used brand elements -name, logo, symbol, packaging or signage and these have positive impact on creating and sustaining brand equity. Based on the findings, it was recommended that Jordanian Corporations pay more attention to branding and brand elements due to the positive influence that they have on brand equity. Asaad & Serdar (2015) carried out an analytical study on improving brand awareness and its impact on consumer behaviour via media in North Cyprus (A Case Study of Fast Food Restaurants). However, this study aimed at discovering among these three dimensions (brand image, brand loyalty and consumer behaviour), which seems to have the slightest brand equity in restaurants and to find out whether customer basedbrand equity differs between fast food with respect to each characteristic of brand awareness, brand image, consumer behavior and brand loyalty. Brand awareness was treated with independently from different dimensions because of the difference in scale, and moreover media and sorts of media affecting on consumer behaviour. An organized survey was constructed to provide answers to research question. In this study, one hundred and fifteen questionnaires, on facilities available in the society, and technology were distributed. The research studied four dimensions of consumer's based-brand equity specifically brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality and brand loyalty. Among the three dimensions, brand loyalty seems to have the minimum brand equity rating by consumers than alternate dimensions. Although, the dimension seems to have impact on consumer perceptions of brand. This paper likewise provides a solution to brand awareness via media store sellers which may help the sellers to promote their products in light of consumer behavior.

Empirical Review
Anjum & Anwar (2016) did a study on examining the effects of marketing and branding on sales performance via mediation of employee training in telecom industry in Pakistan. The data was collected from 384 employees and the customers of the telecom sector through self-administered questionnaires through convenience sampling. The data was further analyzed by using multivariate statistical analysis for getting either the acceptance or rejection for the hypotheses. The results showed that marketing and branding practices significantly predicts the sales performance in the telecom sector and also employee training significantly mediates the relationship between marketing skills and sales performance and branding and sales performance respectively. So, the employee who enters a company in start shall be given either on-job or off-job training to make him/her a worthy and efficient player in the field. This will save lots of efforts and money for the company afterwards as these employees will be well-furnished with marketing skills and branding practices and can bring bounteous sumptuousness and triumph to the company.
Fatima & Muhammed (2014) did a study on the impact of branding on consumer behaviour. Brand knowledge is a very important factor. As the consumer is more aware of the brand and has all the knowledge about its price, quality etc.; the more he will be attracted towards that brand, the loyalty level increases with the age. Family is the most influential reference group. The consumers who are more social are affected by their friends like on Facebook. The consumers who are more status-conscious are more status conspicuous than those who are not status-conscious. According to the research, all the factors are statistically significant, but gender is the only variable which is not statistically significant, and its value is different from the 0.05 In the reliability table, it was calculated that the research validity and reliability is 89.6% which is great. In the end, it was concluded that branding impacts the consumer behaviour in relation to the different dependent and independent variables. Jewel et al. (2018) conducted a study on the effect of branding on marketing performance of companies in the mobile phone industry (Case Study of Techno Ghana, Accra). The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of marketing mix elements on brand loyalty. The present study is applicable in terms of objective and descriptive survey in terms of data collection. To identify the challenges associated with branding at Techno Ghana, identify the importance of branding in the marketing of Techno Products, determine the branding strategies adapted by Techno Ghana and ascertain the relationship between branding and the performance of Techno products in Ghana, descriptive research design was used, and data was collected from a sample size of 50 with the aid of questionnaires. Convenience sampling method was used for the selection of the respondents. Results revealed that lack of branding know-how and insufficient branding guidance for entrepreneurs are major challenges in techno Ghana. Also, the results indicated that, brand impacts on the purchase decision of customers, helps customers to identify the source of products, and communicates features and benefits while developing and maintaining branding activities through both internal and external agency. Brand extension and multiple branding are the major branding strategies used by Techno Company. Finally, the findings showed that the company employs logos, jingles and packages and communicated them through TV campaigns and events.

Methodology
The study was carried out using survey design. Primary data was obtained through the use of interviews, questionnaire and observations while Secondary data were obtained through books, journals, and the internet. The population of the study was 1168 drawn from employees of the selected manufacturing firms in Enugu State Nigeria. The firms are Nigeria Breweries PLC and Innoson Technical and Industry Limited Enugu State, Nigeria. A sample size of 396 was determined from the population using Cochran's sample size determination method. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire structured in 5-point Likert scale and validated with content face validity. The reliability test was done using test-retest method. The result gave a reliability coefficient of 0.727, indicating a high internal consistency of the items. Three hundred and ninety-six (396) copies of the questionnaire were distributed and three hundred and eight five (385) copies were returned while eleven copies (11) were not returned. The three hypotheses formulated were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Simple linear regression was used to test hypothesis one, and three while hypothesis two was tested using Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. A computer aided Microsoft special package for social science (SPSS Version 20.00) was used to aid analysis.

Data Analysis and Discussion
The data obtained from the field were presented and analyzed with descriptive statistics to provide answers to the research questions while the corresponding hypotheses were tried out with Simple Linear Regression and Pearson's Correlation at 0.05 alpha level. Item 1 of Table 4.1 indicates that 189(49.09%) of the respondents strongly agreed with the statement that customers' ability to recognize company product increase their products. 174(45.19%) 10(2.60%) were undecided, 9(2.34%) disagree that customers' ability to recognize company product increase their products while (0.78%) of the respondents strongly disagreed with the statement.
In item 4 of the Table 4.1: 208(54.02%) of the respondents strongly agreed that Brand awareness occur when customers are able to identify product patronage, 163(42.34%) agreed, 5(1.30%) were undecided, 6(1.56%) disagreed while 3(0.78%) strongly disagreed Brand awareness occur when customers are able to identify product patronage.
Ho: Brand awareness does not affect performance of manufacturing in Enugu State, Nigeria.
H1: Brand awareness affects performance of manufacturing in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Interpretation
The regression sum of squares (736.886) is greater than the residual sum of squares (250.948), which indicates that more of the variation in the dependent variable is not explained by the model. The significance value of the F statistics (0.000) is less than 0.05, which means that the variation explained by the model is not due to chance. R, the correlation coefficient which has a value of 0.864, indicates that there is a positive relationship between brand awareness and performance. R square, the coefficient of determination, shows that 74.6% of the variation in performance is explained by the model. With the linear regression model, the error of estimate is low, with a value of about .80945. The Durbin Watson statistics of 0.057, which is not more than 2, indicates there is no autocorrelation. The brand awareness coefficient of 0. 871 indicates a positive significance between brand awareness and performance, which is statistically significant (with t = 33.536). Therefore, the null hypothesis should be rejected and the alternative hypothesis accepted. Thus, Brand awareness significantly affects performance of manufacturing in Enugu State, Nigeria. Item 5 of Table 4.2 indicates that 205(53.24%) of the respondents strongly agreed that brand association encourage customer to be loyal to the company product. 161(41.82%) agreed, 10(2.60%) were undecided, 7(1.82%) disagree while 2(0.52%) strongly disagreed that brand association encourage customer to be loyal to the company product.
Item 6 of the Table 4.2 states that brand association promote our feelings, thought and image of the product. 285(74.03%) strongly agreed with the statement, 76(19.74%) agreed, 11(2.86%) were undecided, 9(2.33%) disagreed while 4 (1.04%) strongly disagreed that brand association promote our feelings, thought and image of the product.
In item 7 of the Table 4.2, 55(14.29%) of the respondents strongly agreed that Customer a times pay higher for product because of the brand association, 319(82.85%) agreed, 4(1.04%) were undecided, 5(1.30%) disagreed while 2(0.52%) strongly disagreed that Customer a times pay higher for product because of the brand association.
In item 8 of the Table 4.2, 251(65.19%) of the respondents strongly agreed that Product knowledge stored in their memory, based on past brand customer interaction, 122(31.69%) agreed, 3(0.78%) were undecided, 3(0.78%) disagreed while 6(1.56%) strongly disagreed that Product knowledge stored in their memory, based on past brand customer interaction.  difference in terms of the standard deviation scores. This implies that there is about the same variability of data points between the dependent and independent variables.
Table (4.2b) is the Pearson correlation coefficient for brand association and performance. The correlation coefficient shows 0.812. This value indicates that correlation is significant at 0.05 level (2tailed) and implies that there is a significant positive relationship between brand association and performance. (r = .812). The computed correlations coefficient is greater than the table value of r = .195 with 383 degrees of freedom (df. = n-2) at alpha level for a two-tailed test (r =. 812, p< .05). However, since the computed r = .812, is greater than the table value of .195, we reject the null hypothesis and conclude that there is a significant relationship between brand association and performance (r =.812, P<.05). Item 9 of Table 4.3 indicates that 62(16.10%) of the respondents strongly agreed that product quality is customer point of judgment over a product. 310(80.51%) agreed, 7(1.81%) were undecided, 5(1.29%) disagree while 1(0.30%) strongly disagreed that product quality is customer point of judgment over a product.

Interpretation
The regression sum of squares (723.171) is greater than the residual sum of squares (203.988), which indicates that more of the variation in the dependent variable is not explained by the model. The significance value of the F statistics (0.000) is less than 0.05, which means that the variation explained by the model is not due to chance. R, the correlation coefficient which has a value of 0.883, indicates that there is a positive relationship between perceived quality and firm's performance. R square, the coefficient of determination, shows that 78.0% of the variation in goal attainment is explained by the model. With the linear regression model, the error of estimate is low, with a value of about .72980. The Durbin Watson statistics of 0.304, which is not more than 2, indicates there is no autocorrelation. The perceived quality coefficient of 0. 883 indicates a positive significance between perceived quality and firms' performance, which is statistically significant (with t = 36.848). Therefore, the null hypothesis should be rejected and the alternative hypothesis accepted. Thus, perceived quality significantly influences performance of manufacturing in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Summary of Findings
The findings at the end of this study include the following 1) Brand awareness significantly affect sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria (r= 0.864; t = 33.536; p < 0.05) 2) There is a positive relationship between brand associations and sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria (r = 0. 812, p < .05). 3) Perceived quality significantly influences sales performance of manufacturing firms in Enugu State, Nigeria (r = 0.883; t = 36.848; p < 0.05)

Conclusion
The study concludes that brand help companies to differentiate themselves from competition and to attract certain groups of the market. Branding also enables customers to distinguish between different products and services and recognize what they perceive satisfy their needs the most. Brand equity is the added value to the firm, the trade, or the consumer with which a given brand gives a product. There are liabilities and assets linked to brand and these brand assets can provide value to both the company and customers in form of brand equity.

Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study and the conclusions drawn, the following recommendations were made: 1) Manufacturing firms should adopt brand awareness so as to ensure that customers' recall and recognize the brand as reflected by their ability to identify the brand under different conditions which will promote firms' performance. 2) Manufacturing firms should practice brand associations because it refers to a customer's evaluation of a brand that is determined by the knowledge stored in their memory, based on past brand-customer interactions which add value on firm performance. 3) Manufacturing firms should ensure that the perceived quality of their products must stand the test of time, that help in boosting firms' image.

Emezue, Leonard Nnabugwu (MSc)
is a lecturer 1 in the Department Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Nigeria. The author has published a good number of research articles in the field of marketing, brand management, management and consumer behavior.