Brand creation and development in ecosystem contexts
(A2025-126481)

AUTHORS

Bruno Pires, University of Minho; Cláudia Simões, University of Minho; Elisabete Sá, University of Minho

ABSTRACT

Brands are very important assets, both for individuals as wells as for companies. However, considering the growing presence of ecosystems in the literature and their increasing economic importance for territories, little is known about the importance of brands for ecosystems, how these can be created and by whom, and the information that exists is fragmented. The purpose of this work is to gather and organize the existing information about brands in ecosystem contexts, to understand its foundational sources and evolution, as well as to establish future orientations to further the topic. This paper provides a co-citation analysis showing the intellectual structure underlying the topic of brands in an ecosystem context, displaying the S-D logic as one of the pillars of the theory supporting that topic. It also provides a conceptual structure by means of a thematic map, which provides an overall perspective by clustering the most relevant keywords used by the authors, positioning them according to relevance and state of development. As a conclusion, this work highlights the importance of the service-dominant logic theoretical framework for the development of branding in the context of ecosystems. The evolution of branding in an ecosystem context followed the consecutive upgrades made to the S-D logic, benefiting from its service ecosystem perspective to explore the co-creation of brands. This work answers the calls of various authors, and the results offer, not only a foundational source, but also directions for further research to all those interested in branding in ecosystem contexts.