Branding Innovation: The Case Study of Turkey

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Abstract

The impact of innovation on the competitive ability of firms is obvious. R&D activities are expensive, time consuming, and risky. Hence, protecting the rights to any innovative output is extremely important. Given this context, the author delves into understanding how branding works to help companies to benefit from the fruits of their innovation. Patent rights are important; however, as it is discussed in the literature, owning patent rights might not suffice. Business and process improvement without branding could face problems in the 21st knowledge economy. Companies should see brand as a “patent” through which customers emotionally connect and choose their products and services over competitors. Just as patents are designed to provide exclusivity in a market, brand offers that, tacitly, if properly executed. Branding can establish a self-sustaining relationship between customers and the producers thereby helping companies to be protected from patent infringement. In this study, the author shows evidence to the lack of any viable branding strategy on innovation by the few Turkish firms that have filed patents. This explains the lagging of the Turkish companies in internationalizing their brands.