The brand leadership: Scale development and validation

The primary purpose of this empirical research was to develop and validate the brand leadership scale (BLS). In this study, brand leadership is defined as consumers' perception about the relatively distinctive ability of a brand to continually achieve excellence through sufficient combinations of trendsetting and brand positioning within an industry segment. The BLS, comprising perceived quality, value, innovativeness and popularity, provides a unique methodological and conceptual approach for measuring products' brand leadership in market dynamics. The measurement scale helps develop a clear understanding of competitive relationships among leading and trailing brands from a strategic perspective based on consumers' perceptions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.