Personal Finance or Managing Brand Equity

Personal Finance: Turning Money into Wealth

Author: Arthur J Keown

This personal finance book introduces readers to the concepts, tools, and applications of personal finance and investments. It builds on the 15 Axioms of Personal Finance, and helps individuals develop an intuitive understanding not only of the financial planning process, but also the logic that drives it. In order to leave a lasting impression, this book concentrates on the fundamentals and underlying principles of personal finance, rather than focusing on equations and specific tools which are more easily forgotten.Chapter coverage includes how to prepare for the financial future and highlights some of the important decisions to be faced. The book covers pertinent topics that relate to getting a job and turning that job into a successful career. It also provides easy to follow advice from an expert CPA that can be used as a learning tool in such areas as purchasing a car, getting insurance, investing in mutual funds, etc.For anyone looking for a guide to personal finance and financial planning.

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Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing on the Value of a Brand Name

Author: David A Aaker

The most important assets of any business are intangible: its company name, brands, symbols, and slogans, and their underlying associations, perceived quality, name awareness, customer base, and proprietary resources such as patents, trademarks, and channel relationships. These assets, which comprise brand equity, are a primary source of competitive advantage and future earnings, contends David Aaker, a national authority on branding. Yet, research shows that managers cannot identify with confidence their brand associations, levels of consumer awareness, or degree of customer loyalty. Moreover in the last decade, managers desperate for short-term financial results have often unwittingly damaged their brands through price promotions and unwise brand extensions, causing irreversible deterioration of the value of the brand name. Although several companies, such as Canada Dry and Colgate-Palmolive, have recently created an equity management position to be guardian of the value of brand names, far too few managers, Aaker concludes, really understand the concept of brand equity and how it must be implemented.

In a fascinating and insightful examination of the phenomenon of brand equity, Aaker provides a clear and well-defined structure of the relationship between a brand and its symbol and slogan, as well as each of the five underlying assets, which will clarify for managers exactly how brand equity does contribute value. The author opens each chapter with a historical analysis of either the success or failure of a particular company's attempt at building brand equity: the fascinating Ivory soap story; the transformation of Datsun to Nissan; the decline of Schlitz beer; the makingof the Ford Taurus; and others. Finally, citing examples from many other companies, Aaker shows how to avoid the temptation to place short-term performance before the health of the brand and, instead, to manage brands strategically by creating, developing, and exploiting each of the five assets in turn.