Assignment 1: Pricing and Brand Equity

Firms often look for ways to improve the return on investment in costly innovation strategies. Barone and Jewell (2013) investigated a previously unexplored benefit of innovation that occurs when a brand’s reputation as a provider of valued new offerings allows it to earn innovation credit, a form of customer-based brand equity.

Innovation credit provides brands with the license or latitude to use strategies that violate category norms without the penalty (in the form of impaired attitudes) that consumers have been shown to levy on less innovative brands. Consistent with the proposed theoretical framework, the authors posited in three studies that innovative brands are granted the license to employ nonnormative strategies without consumer sanction. In addition to providing evidence regarding the inferential mechanism underlying this licensing effect, one study shows that, under certain conditions, innovative brands not only escape the penalty associated with using atypical strategies but are actually rewarded for utilizing such approaches. 

Review the following:

• Barone, M. J., & Jewell, R. D. (2013). The innovator’s license: A latitude to deviate from category norms. Journal of Marketing, 77(1), 120–134. 
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Use the Argosy University online library resources to identify two peer-reviewed journal articles on the concept of the innovator’s license.

Complete the following:

• Critically analyze the value of the innovation and branding approach suggested by Barone and Jewell. Be sure to provide your inputs on the pros and cons. 
• Compare the authors approach to the other approaches you are familiar with.
• Assess how the Barone and Jewell approach could be applied to your own organization.
• Discuss what might work and what is not applicable in their approach.
• Support your positions with at least two peer-reviewed journal articles.

Write your initial response in 300–500 words. Your response should be thorough and address all components of the discussion question in detail, include citations of all sources, where needed, according to the APA Style, and demonstrate accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation

Do the following when responding to your peers: 

• Read your peers’ answers.
• Provide substantive comments by 
• contributing new, relevant information from course readings, Web sites, or other sources; 
• building on the remarks or questions of others; or 
• sharing practical examples of key concepts from your professional or personal experiences
• Respond to feedback on your posting and provide feedback to other students on their ideas.
• Make sure your writing 
• is clear, concise, and organized; 
• demonstrates ethical scholarship in accurate representation and attribution of sources; and 
• displays accurate spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Grading Criteria