BRANDING FAMILY BUSINESSES IN THE TOURISM SECTOR

Motivation and background: We are in front of a society where there is a hard competition between companies to get a higher market share. It is a race against time through different sorts of strategies to avoid running out of the market place. The strategies of the businesses have to be oriented to the differentiation of the business itself, not just a product differentiation, because that one is easily imitable for competitors. This paper takes a closer look at how family businesses, which mostly are small or medium companies, can build and manage a brand. We argue that family firms have unique resources and capabilities, called familiness, which affect their competitive position. This supports recent research that has shown the importance for family businesses of developing their own brand. The aim of the present paper is focused on finding out which brand strategy a family business should opt for building a strong and differentiating brand.