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The perspective that dependence on vertical trade partners should be avoided has been countered recently by the view that there are advantages to strong ties between firms. The author offers a framework from which trade partners can assess the potential costs and benefits of trade relationships and empirically investigates the impact of trade relationships on the firm's ability to realize performance goals.

Consistency among the various elements of a marketing program is believed essential in building and maintaining brand image and equity. And yet, a brand's ultimate presentation to customers is controlled more often by the retailer than by the manufacturer. In this research, the authors demonstrate that the retailer's display decisions can negate the equity of an established brand. The authors suggest that this occurs because consumers have expectations about retail displays and the relationship among displayed brands. Display conditions that disconfirm these expectations can lead consumers to reevaluate the brand. Specifically, the results demonstrate that high-equity brand valuations are influenced by an unfamiliar context brand when (1) a mixed display structure leads consumers to believe that the context brand is diagnostic for judging the high-equity brand, (2) the precedence given to one brand over another in the display makes expectations about brand differences or similarities accessible, and (3) the unfamiliar context brand disconfirms these expectations. Brand Equity Dilution: Retailer Display and Context Brand EffectsThe ability to build and maintain a strong brand image depends, in part, on maintaining consistency in brand communications (cf. Keller 1993;Park, Jaworski, and MacInnis 1986). Management must ensure not only that there is consistency in the brand's positioning over time, but also that each part of the marketing mix reinforces that positioning. That is, the brand's positioning must be supported by product characteristics as well as by the advertising message, price points, and choice of distribution outlets. A corollary to this point is that inconsistencies in brand communication may lead to reevaluation of the brand and ultimately reduce brand equity.Although brand managers make most of the strategic decisions that influence consumer impressions of the brand,

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