Ebook: Student-based brand equity in the business schools sector: An exploratory study

Faced with increased competition, business schools seem to have realized that having the
strongest brands, hence, a distinct image, is vital to strengthen their presence in the education
marketplace. It is in this context that the present paper focuses on assessing the dimensions of
brand equity of business schools from the MBA-enrolled student’s perspective, with a
specific reference to the Peruvian market. In this regard, it builds an instrument around five
dimensions of brand equity, namely, brand loyalty, brand association, brand awareness,
perceived quality, and overall brand perception. Additionally, it furnishes a snapshot of the
Peruvian business schools sector by means of providing the order of dimensions pertaining to
each business school. The analysis suggests that perceived quality seems to be the most
important dimension of brand equity, while the overall brand perception is almost always
ranked last. Conceptualizing brand equity from the MBA-enrolled student’s perspective can
prove to be useful as this framework could assist business schools in designing marketing
strategies to improve their brand equity and gain a higher student share.
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CENTRUM Católica’s Working Paper No. 2015-09-0023
Keywords: Business schools, brand loyalty, perceived quality, brand awareness, brand
association, brand equity, emerging markets, factor analysis, higher education