THE STRATEGY OF BRAND ORIENTATION AND CUSTOMER-CENTRIC PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES IN THE CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN SMALL-SIZED FIRM SETTING: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

This tentative paper focuses on the role of brand orientation (BO) in the African small business setting. It assesses the relationship between BO and a small-sized firm's customer-centric performance outcomes. This study has made an attempt at disentangling customer-centric performance outcomes into three interrelated but independent measures - customer referrals, customer satisfaction, and customer-brand loyalty. Usable data for this particular study was obtained from 143 small-sized service firms in Nigeria. To accomplish the major goal of this study, which was to explore the potential relationship between BO and the previously mentioned customer performance measures, the survey data was subjected to a statistical analysis (using partial least squares-PLS-path modelling). Preliminary evidence is suggestive that BO is a (substantial) strategic imperative for small-sized firms since the study finds that BO is a significant predictor of the three customer performance outcome variables and that customer satisfaction partially mediates the BO-customer-brand loyalty link. Although, an attempt has been made in this paper to empirically validate the conceptual model, the author is quick to point out that the findings in the study are still preliminary in nature for one to actually conclude on. Nevertheless, the tentative results contribute to the emergent research stream in SMEs branding, particularly in the context of small enterprises in the contemporary African marketplace.