International Brands and Corporate Strategy

Abstract

Although there is a huge debate on the reasons for internationalization, the strength of brands and branding are not among the most studied aspects in the literature. For companies, brands are valuable assets and branding may be used as a sign of quality leading consumers to repurchase the brand and an increasing market entry barrier for competitors, an important aspect is that branding underpins relational strategies, especially in the wine market. To understand the importance of brands as enablers of international strategies, namely its international positioning, a case study was developed seeking to understand the role of brands in the internationalization of Sogrape, a leading Portuguese company in the wine industry. Analizing Sogrape's main brands, in terms of their performance in national and international markets, it is possible to conclude that branding plays a crucial role in the internationalization of Sogrape, segmentation and positioning strategies being extremely important for synchronizing and leveraging the national market with the outwards expansion of the firm.