Brand PowerMany manufacturers spend

Brand Power
Many manufacturers spend a great deal of promotional money to create brand awareness and acceptance among prospective buyers; as a result, they are typically identified by their product brands. The measure of a customer's purchase preference based on a manufacturer's reputation, product quality, and supply chain capabilities is known as brand power.
Buyers along the supply chain range from end customers to industrial purchasing agents. Under market conditions wherein a brand has high customer awareness,acceptance, and preference, manufacturers can be expected to have a great deal of influence. As a general rule, the stronger a firm's product brand image among buyers, the more leverage the manufacturing organization will have in determining supply chain structure and strategy. For instance, Deere & Company dominates how farm machinery, as well as lawn and garden products, is sold, distributed, and maintained.
Independent of customer acceptance is the reality that a firm that brands and markets a particular line of products may not, in fact, be engaged in either the actual manufacturing/assembly or in the performance of supportive logistics services. It is common practice for an organization to outsource some or even all manufacturing and logistics operations required to market a specific product. The nature of the manufacturing process, cost, and next destination in the supply chain go a long way to determine the attractiveness of outsourcing. Logistical requirements in terms of inbound materials and finished product distribution are created by the geographical relationship between location of manufacturing operations and those of suppliers and customers. However, the power to determine the range of value added services, physical product movement requirements, timing, and characteristics of flow along the supply chain is directly related to brand power. As illustrated in Industry Insight 5-3 a third party supplier can help a firm develop effective brand power.