此論文旨在研究台灣中小企業可以如何成功地建立品牌資產 (brand equity) 以及將其品牌引進歐洲視訊設備市場。此論文利用品牌資產以及來源國效應的理論概念來分析位於高雄的中小企業卡訊電子；此外，台灣企業的成功品牌案例，包括宏碁和捷安特，以及在荷蘭國際視聽及系統集成展 (ISE) 的競爭展商也會被加以比較。研究結果顯示，即使台灣產品的正面來源國效應對於企業品牌資產有著正面的影響，歐洲當地的消費者還是比較喜愛歐洲當地品牌。
另外，品牌知名度為台灣中小企業進入西方市場的最大阻礙，而創新度對於增加消費者品質認知更扮演著關鍵角色。從歐洲端來看，由於系統集成商為視訊設備製造商的最大宗客戶，目標市場 (歐洲市場) 已呈現零散及飽和的狀態；且相較之下，歐洲競爭者注重高品質、產品可用性及品牌建立，中國製造商則主要強調產品的技術層面。研究結果更進一步指出，不同於歐洲和中國製造商，台灣卡訊電子並無清楚的品牌定位，建議可參考已成功進入歐洲市場的日本競爭同業，採用全新的品牌策略。

This thesis aims to answer how Taiwanese SMEs can successfully build brand equity and introduce their brand to the European audiovisual market. The theoretical concepts of building brand equity and country-of-origin effect have been used to analyze the approach of Kaohsiung-based case company BXB, the successful Taiwanese brands Acer and Giant as well as competitors present at trade fair ISE Amsterdam. The posi-tive country-of-origin of Taiwanese products today has a positive influence on their brand equity; however European brands are often still preferred by local customers.
Brand awareness has been identified as a critical barrier for Taiwanese SMEs entering Western markets that needs to be overcome; innovation is furthermore crucial in order to increase perceived quality. The target market has been identified as highly frag-mented and saturated, with system integrators being the major customers for producers of AV equipment. European competitors have been found to focus on high quality and usability with their branding, whereas Chinese players mainly stress their technical competence. Taiwanese SME BXB has been found to be lacking a clear brand posi-tioning focus between these two approaches, which should be overcome by adopting a new branding strategy based on the method of a successful Japanese competitor.

1 Introduction 1
1.1 The issues of Taiwanese SME brands in Western markets 1
1.2 Research objectives/questions 3
1.3 Structure of thesis 4
2. Literature Review 6
2.1 B2B branding strategy for SMEs 6
2.2 The influence of country of origin on branding 16
3. Methodology 25
3.1 Secondary Research 25
3.2 Company case: BXB Electronics Co., Ltd. 27
3.3 Primary Research: Attending ISE Amsterdam 30
4. Findings 33
4.1 Findings of Taiwanese SME’s building B2B brand equity 33
4.2 Findings of the European AV industry 49
5. Discussion 70
5.1 How can Taiwanese SMEs successfully build brand equity? 70
5.2 How is the European AV market characterized, and how should a Taiwanese SME best position itself? 74
6. Conclusion 79
6.1 Conclusion of this thesis 79
6.2 Limitations 81
6.3 Directions for future research 83
References 84
Appendices 93

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Marketing materials received in hard copy at ISE Amsterdam
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