Prestige in Partnership: A Case Study in Leveraging University Excellence to Elevate Brand Success

Many organisations are strengthening their brands nowadays, in response to increasing competition and the intensifying struggle for customers resulting from recent changes related to socioeconomic development and technological advances (see, e.g., Mardhiyah, & Azizah, 2018; Cvetanović & Grujić, 2021; Vesal, Siahtiri & O'Cass, 2021). Brand strategy should therefore focus on building a competitive advantage that can be sustained over time (Morgan & Hunt, 1999; Chailan, 2008; Farida & Setiawan, 2022). To prosper in today's globalised and competitive marketplace, organisations must look for new ways to differentiate themselves from the competition and increase their market share.

Organisations can meet the challenge of competition through a number of means. One of them is building a strong brand to stand out in the market and gain the trust of customers (Kall, 2006; Supiyandi, Hastjarjo & Slamet, 2022). A good brand allows them to attract new customers and increase the loyalty of existing ones. Another factor is the ability to adapt to changing market conditions (Amankwah-Amoah et al., 2022). Organisations that are able to react quickly to changes and adapt their strategy to new conditions have a better chance of surviving and growing in the market.

One type of organisation operating in the market is the university. Despite the fact that the basic activity of a university lies in the non-profit fields of providing education, conducting research and serving the academic community and society at large, they also seek customers for services that should come at a fee (Gillespie & Zachary, 2010), in line with other scientific and research organisations and businesses (Etzkowitz, 1983; Ankrah & Omar, 2015). The activities carried out by universities are very diverse, ranging from traditional teaching activities which are dedicated to students, to scientific research activities in cooperation with other universities and scientific research units, and to collaboration with enterprises (Abramo et al., 2017; Mascarenhas et al., 2018; Bezrukova et al., 2019; Figueiredo & Ferreira, 2022). In the case of cooperation with enterprises, this can range from research work to various types of construction work.

The foundation for a university's cooperation with other units is the recognition and prestige that it enjoys (Crane, 1965; Kall, 2001; Kuenzel & Halliday, 2010; Fazli-Salehi et al., 2019). Stronger partners, after all, will be preferred over weaker institutions. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to identify and analyse how a university's reputation and brand can be beneficial for its collaboration with other research units. The analysis will concentrate on how prestigious universities successfully collaborate with research institutes and identify the reasons why they may do so even in many situations they do not receive any financial gains.

Branding is one of the key concepts in the field of marketing, which is inextricably linked to a company's recognition and image (Dinnie, 2022). A brand can be defined in many ways, but in the simplest terms it is a name, symbol or other graphic element that identifies a specific product or service and differentiates it from other offerings on the market. Branding helps build customer awareness, trust and loyalty, as well as differentiating products and services from those of competitors.

The essence of a brand, however, is not just a name or logo; it also represents the values that a company wants to convey to its customers. A brand can be associated with product quality, prestige, fashion or other factors that translate into consumer preferences and decisions. This is why building and maintaining a strong brand is so important for companies that want to succeed in the market.

Kapferer (1986) developed a model called the ‘Brand Identity Prism,’ which reflects various aspects of brand identity building. The model is very extensive, with key factors including: individual construction, personality, culture, relationships, reflection, and self-image. The Brand Identity Prism underscores the importance of communication in establishing a brand, as brands can only exist through communication.

For a brand identity to be successful, it must fulfil three essential functions. Firstly, it must be in tune with customers' expectations; secondly, it must differentiate the brand from the competition, and thirdly, it must correspond to what the company can and will do in the near or distant future. While brand identity is how brand owners or marketers want the brand to be perceived, brand image is how the customer actually interprets the brand. The brand message disseminated through various media channels often encounters competing brand messages, leading to discrepancies between brand identity and brand image (De Chernatony, 1999).

Table 1 clarifies important distinctions between the key terms: identity, image, reputation, and brand (Stock, 2009; Da Camara, 2011; Hemsley Brown et al., 2016). The multifaceted nature of these terms often leads to confusion (Srivastava, 2011; Radomir et al., 2014), but understanding their subtle differences is fundamental to effectively managing a company and building a lasting relationship with customers (Manzie, 2003; Eisingerich & Bell, 2007; Le Ray & Pinson, 2020).

There are numerous universities that have successfully built their relationships with scientific institutions as well as industry partners thanks to their strong brand. Forbes (2023) thas indicated the world best universities, including: the University of Oxford, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, University of Cambridge (UK), Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, Imperial College London, University of California, Berkeley and Yale University. The methodology by which these top universities were selected (the selection criteria) is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

As illustrated, reputation plays a crucial role in such rankigs – both teaching reputation as well as research reputation. The most recent Academic Reputation Survey that underpins this category was carried out between October 2022 and January 2023. It examined the perceived prestige of institutions in research. This metric is the total number of votes obtained from the reputation survey from the last two years (Times Higher Education, 2023).

The present study used two research methods: an Internet-based research method (a university website review) in order to present the significant aspects of the institution (Kranz, 2020), followed by a case study analysis of a specific university that is known worldwide – namely, Coventry University (in the United Kingdom). This university was selected because the author has had direct contact to this institution for many years and in the last part of the article a practical example of such cooperation is shown.

The analysis of the selected university's ‘prestige commissioning strategy’ took the following criteria into consideration:

Establishing a strong research culture;

The literature highlights several reasons why research institutions wish to collaborate with top-leading institutions. These include enhanced research opportunities, increased funding opportunities, knowledge exchange and expertise, access to specialised facilities and equipment, publication opportunities, talent pool development, networking, prestige and recognition.

The collaboration between the Lukasiewicz Institute for Sustainable Technologies (Lukasiewicz–ITEE) in Radom, Poland, and Coventry University in the United Kingdom began in 2018, when the Lukasiewicz–ITEE was searching for partners for a new Erasmus+ project. Thanks to previous contacts with various European institutions, the staff made first contact with the staff from Coventry University. The collaboration was very good from the very beginning. The British staff shared their knowledge on content-related issues important for the project which were related to the gamification in education; they also supported the Lukasiewicz–ITEE team in understanding the financial aspects of the proposed project. As a result, the project application was approved by the National Agency and the Lukasiewicz–ITEE had the opportunity to collaborate with Coventry University for the next 2.5 years.

During that time, the Polish staff received substantial support from the UK institution. The project outputs were of a high quality. What is more, the project team succeeded in submitting and publishing a scientific article in a JCR journal. This was a new experience for the team at Lukasiewicz–ITEE, but in fact the staff were learning a lot more that this from the British team. In fact, the Coventry University team did not gain a great deal from this project – small amount of funding and one good publication. However, given that the British team had previously published in similar journals, the publication did noto represent significant added value for them.

Figure 2 illustrates the benefits received from Coventry University during the first joint project application and subsequent project execution.

Figure 2.

Surprisingly, the collaboration did not finish after the end of the Cult_Risk project, like in many other partnerships. The British team remained interested in collaborating, although the scientific level of the Polish team was lower than the British one. The British scientists behaved like mentors and coaches for the Polish team, fostering a supportive and educational relationship.

Another example of this ongoing fruitful cooperation involved the submission of a small project to Poland's National Research Centre in which one of the Polish team members applied for a short fellowship to Coventry University. The British team supported her in preparing a good project application, although they did not receive any funds from this project and this was fully out-of-cost work for the British team. Clearly, the standing of Coventry University is something more than just a name. The British scientists, despite having a high number of citations and high Hirsch numbers, remained interested in the cooperation with less experienced institutions.

Another initiative involved supporting the application for a long-term fellowship financed by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. In this initiative the British team received a small amount of money, but the crucial aspect was their support for the preparation of the application.

In the next stage of the collaboration, the two teams jointly prepared a Horizon Europe application, with Lukasiewicz–ITEE as the lead institution. The Coventry University staff undertoook to teach the Lukasiewicz staff how to write high-quality articles to submit to highly-indexed journals and how to write good project applications. The British scientists were fully committed to ensuring the project's success, underscoring the collaborative spirit of the relationship.

In summary, the collaboration with Coventry University extends beyond financial considerations. Rather, the partnership emphasizes networking, talkcling new challenges, and supporting each other's growth and development. This approach is encapsulated in several key aspects listed in Table 3.

In sum, such collaboration has yielded a lot of benefits to the team from Lukasiewicz–ITEE, including being a leader on joint projects, acquiring funding from the European Commission, developing project proposals a truly high quality, being engaged in writing scientific articles submitted to highly-indexed journals, and especially education from the top leading scientists.

Coventry University is a kind of ‘magnet’ for Lukasiewicz–ITEE in the relm of research excellence. Thanks to the support of this esteemed British institution, the Polish institute hs successfully executed several successful projects and further projects are under development. As is demonstrated by this case study, which can be treated as an example of best practice, there are several advantages and profits from such collaborations:

Enhanced Research Opportunities: Collaboration with renowned research institutions provides access to a broader range of research opportunities leading to more substantial and impactful research projects, as well as exposure to cutting-edge methodologies and technologies.

Although this article has highlighted the supportive activities provided by Coventry University, it has not addressed the specific behaviours necessary to sustain such collaborations. Understanding how to maintain and nurture these partnerships is crucial to avoid losing valuable partners. While this may seem trivial, the multicultural aspects involved in these collaborations can be challenging to navigate. Future research should focus on these aspects to provide deeper insights into successful international collaboration strategies.