Title: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BRAND EQUITY OF GULAKU AND GUPALAS SAND SUGAR IN THE MADIUN REGION

Author: DARUL BAKHTIAR

Item Type : Thesis (Thesis)

Affiliations: Master of Management Science Study Program, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Airlangga , Surabaya, Indonesia

Publisher: Universitas Airlangga

 

Abstract

In 2014, several companies operating in the sugar industry experienced very difficult financial performance, due to the smaller margins they obtained due to falling sugar prices. According to the Directorate of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of National Development Planning, the price of sugar on the world and Indonesian markets from year to year shows that the margin obtained by producers is decreasing with an average of 1.22%/year (from 19.04% in 2008 to 29.96 % in 2011, but then fell to 11.10% in 2012). To overcome the sugar price problems faced by producers, granulated sugar was transformed from a commodity product to a branded product. Brands can also generate financial income for the company or source of financial returns (Keller, 2008), to overcome the increasingly thin margins obtained by producers. The role of brand equity is very important as a basis for determining marketing steps and strategies for a product. The stronger the brand equity of a product, in this case a sand product, the stronger its appeal in the eyes of consumers to consume the product which will then lead the company to achieve the expected profits. This research aims to study various elements of brand equity of granulated sugar products, including: brand awareness, brand association, brand perceived quality, and brand loyalty by comparing two brands of granulated sugar products, namely Gulaku and Gupalas. Gulaku as a first mover advantage, namely the first player to enter a certain industry, is often considered to have the first opportunity to build market share since 2002, while Gupalas is a product that just appeared in 2011. The sampling method used was purposive sampling with the number of respondents taken. As a sample in the research, there were 100 sugar consumers, especially housewives in the Madiun area. The analytical tool used in this research is mean difference test analysis via the t test and as confirmation via the Manova test. The results of brand equity research show that Gulaku has higher brand equity than Gupalas. This difference is caused by the three elements of brand equity including brand awareness, brand association and brand loyalty. Gulaku is much higher than Gupalas. Meanwhile, Gupalas can only match Gulaku in terms of perceived quality alone. This research was used as input for the Gupalas producer, namely PT. Perkebunan Nusantara XI as an evaluation of brand equity from Gupalas includes which brand equity elements should be improved.

Keywords: Brand Awareness, Brand Association, Perceived Quality and Brand Loyalty

 

Sources: http://repository.unair.ac.id/39350/