Marketers and managers cannot directly control the environment, but they certainly can influence how stakeholders perceive company image, thereby influencing brand equity. Brand equity plays a key role in the success of a firm (Aaker, 1991; Ambler, 2003; Davis, 2000; Kotler, 1991), and often differentiates a company from its competitors (Hunt & Morgan, 1995; Capron & Hulland, 1999). Brand equity refers to additional value a company earns that is attributed to a variety of elements, most of which are intangible in nature. Among these elements are a recognizable name or symbol, superior quality and reliability compared to competitors or generic brands, and elements known as “behavioral assets” (Falkenberg, 1996).
Behavioral assets are not attributable to individuals, but instead they are the culmination of both hard and soft skills among all members of a company (Falkenberg, 1996). Hard skills include the knowledge and abilities used to develop processes and procedures, whereas soft skills include such things as empathy, motivation, listening ability, and relationship-building (Hunt, 1997). Few scholars or practitioners would dispute that building relationships among organizational buyers/sellers and stakeholders is important (Kadic-Maglajlic, et al., 2016; Keillor, et al., 2000).
