Final Thesis Report

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Executive Summary
The UPS industry caters to providing power back up needs of various industrial segments such
as power, oil and gas, IT, telecom and several other segments which makes it a part of the B2B
market. In the past one decade the UPS industry in India has witnessed a number of mergers and
acquisitions which encouraged the industrys growth in the country. Mergers and acquisitions
(M&As) have an important role in developing a sustainable competitive advantage and this
applies to the various brands in the UPS industry as well.
The mergers and acquisitions that had taken place so far in the UPS industry indicate that brand
is one of the most valued assets that cannot be overseen in the process. In this context identifying
influential factors of brand equity is relevant. It would help firms to develop the appropriate
brand strategy oriented with business strategy. The previous instances of such M&As in this
industry indicate that often the strategy involved in M&A is to leverage the existing brand equity
of an established UPS brand in the particular market.
In order to understand the factors critical to brand equity in an M&A, two cases were chosen
from the two sub segments of the UPS industry for this research study. The first case is that of a
merger of the industrial grade UPS manufacturer from India, Hi-Rel with the internationally
acclaimed brand Hi-Rel in 2011. The second case is that of an acquisition of commercial grade
UPS brand Numeric by the French company Legrand in 2012. While Hi-Rel focuses its business
based on custom built UPS solutions serving power critical applications, Numeric is a leading
UPS brand largely serving IT and telecom applications which are less critical in nature and hence
low cost.
Buyers in the UPS industry are influenced by a certain set of factors associated with a particular
brand. The brand factors that have been identified as applicable to this study are brand
recognition, price premium, perceived quality and product support. As there are certain risks
involved in the purchase of these systems, especially industrial grade UPS systems, the buying
centre is a complex one involving more than companies. For the industrial UPS market (Hi-Rel
merger), three roles are identified to be making major decisions throughout the buying process;
consultants, EPC contractors and end users. As for the commercial UPS market (Numeric
acquisition), a different set of respondents involving two buyer roles were identified: consultants
and end users.
The meansend theory is applied to both the cases in order to identify the possible change in
brand equity as a result of this merger and acquisition for Hi-Rel and Numeric respectively. By
conducting research on respondents classified, results indicate a diverse range of implications for
brand management in the merger and acquisitions. Primarily, respondents appear to be
influenced by more rational and more emotional factors. The results of the study indicate that the
respondents are influenced by different underlying needs, values or motivations according to
their role and how their perceptions have a changed due to the merger and acquisition. Also
based on the perception changes of the buyer a brand score card was prepared comparing the
before and after scenarios for both Hi-Rel and Numeric as a result of M&A.
Final Thesis Report
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Although the research identified the perception changes in brand equity post M&A, it was not
able to assess the degree of influence of the M&A activity on product brand equity and corporate
brand equity. Data collection and analysis of the merger case provided knowledge about the
competitive frame of reference and brand positioning guidelines. However the results of the
acquisition case analysis gave an altogether different result with the least of changes in brand
equity. This minimal change is attributed to the fact that Legrand continue to be known only for
its original offerings and the new subsidiary, Numeric were allowed to retain their brand name.
By keeping the merger as a reference an analytical framework is constructed in order to discuss
proper pointsofparity and pointsofdifference associations in the industry. Results indicate four
relevant position considerations in the industry. Given the B2B context, additional implications
are discussed by balancing topdown and bottomup brand management activities.