Impact of value-adding services on quality, loyalty and brand equity in the brewing industry

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of logistics value-adding services and perceived service quality on brand equity among B2B customers of a brewery company. Design/methodology/approach: A theoretical model is developed and tested using survey data from 173 hotel, restaurant and catering (HoReCa) industry customers of a brewery company in Finland. Findings: Value-adding services play an important role in building the brewery company’s brand equity through perceived service quality. Besides a direct impact on overall service quality, an indirect impact is detected through the operational dimension of service quality in logistics. Research limitations/implications: A broader data set would be needed to generalize the findings also beyond the brewery business and the HoReCa industry customers in Finland. Practical implications: To increase brand equity, value-adding services like logistics can play an important role for B2B customers. This study is important for practitioners and academics, as there has been little quantitative research available regarding value-adding services in the context of service quality and brand equity research. Originality/value: This paper combines logistics as value-adding service to customers’ willingness to pay extra profits to cooperate with service producer.