Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to learn how strategic hybrid orientation – constructed from brand and market orientations – is related to the brand awareness, brand credibility, and financial performance of business-to-business (B2B) small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach – The questionnaire was used in a survey to collect data from 250 Finnish B2B SMEs. The sampled firms were categorized into four clusters according to a two-by-two matrix, and their relationships with the brand performance outcomes were examined using one-way ANOVA and multiple regression. Findings – The results indicate that strategic hybrid orientation is positively related to all three dimensions of brand performance, showing that two dissimilar orientations can complement each other in improving brand performance outcomes. However, the strength of complementary interaction seems to vary depending on the degree to which brand- and market-oriented attributes dominate in a firm’s strategy. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies to provide empirical evidence to support the concept of strategic hybrid orientation for branding in B2B SMEs. This study aims to contribute to existing research on SME branding by capitalizing on B2B branding and strategic management literatures.

Introduction

Brand building is one of the key objectives of marketing strategy. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are actively involved in strengthening their brand have a significant performance advantage over their competitors (e.g. Agostini et al., 2015; Berthon et al., 2008; Odoom, 2016; Selase Asamoah, 2014). Similarly, Hirvonen et al. (2016) demonstrated that business-to-business (B2B) SMEs have achieved high business growth with the help of their strong brand. Particularly in B2B markets, the stronger brand produces more trust and a close relationship with customers and other stakeholders (Leek and Christodoulides, 2011). While the importance and process of brand building in SMEs have been emphasized in the literature (e.g. Khan and Ede, 2009; Spence and Essoussi, 2010; Krake, 2005), it has received far less attention in the context of B2B markets (Glynn, 2012; Seyedghorban et al., 2016; Hirvonen et al., 2016). According to Hakala (2011, p. 200), “strategic orientations are viewed as principles that direct and influence the activities of a firm and generate the behaviours intended to ensure the viability and performance of the firm.” And consequently, various firm performance measures show improvement when relevant strategic orientation is devised in SMEs (Weinzimmer et al., 2013; Batra et al., 2015; Pérez‐Luño et al., 2016; Hirvonen and Laukkanen, 2014; Dutot and Bergeron, 2016). Moreover, a number of studies have shown that often two or more relevant strategic orientations can have a combined effect on SME’s performance (e.g. Li et al., 2008; Baker and Sinkula, 2009), including its brand performance (Laukkanen et al., 2013, 2016). The concept of developing two or more strategic orientations for firm performance is one of the widely researched topics in the strategic management literature (Hakala, 2011), but this approach for brand performance in B2B SMEs has caught scholars’ attention quite recently (Reijonen et al., 2015). There is research suggesting that brand and market orientations are independently positively related to B2B brand performance (e.g. Lee et al., 2008; Baumgarth and Schmidt, 2010), but the research does not tell how they influence it collectively. Urde et al. (2013) provided a theoretical framework for examining the synergic interaction between brand and market orientations in relation to brand performance. They proposed that instead of seeing brand and market orientations as substitutes, it is possible to combine these two to create a unified orientation in hybrid form: a strategic hybrid orientation. Hence, the strategic hybrid orientation has the characteristics of both brand and market orientations.