Correlation of Brand Rankings

Correlation of Brand Rankings

On October 10^th 2013, Vinay, a college student, noticed a page in a business daily that had brand rankings 2013 of various global brands. He took the page and went to his classroom. During the lunch hour, Vinay discussed about the brand rankings with his friend Rahul. They recollected the days before joining the B-school, during which they referred to many B-school rankings to select and join for their MBA.

Vinay: Each ranking entity has its own ranking based on certain criteria weighed. Some focused on overall rankings, while others focused on rankings within certain categories.

Rahul: Yes. You are correct. Because of different methodologies used, brand ranking varies in each ranking list.

Vinay: Not only that. The rankings tend to change from year to year.

Rahul: Mostly the same brands occupy the top 100/top 50 over the years, i.e., the same brands will move up and down in the rankings. However, as an exception, sometimes a small subset of upcoming brands may climb up in the rankings

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Annexure

Annexure I: Global Brand Rankings (2013)

Correlation of Brand Rankings

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding

Prerequisite Conceptual Understanding (PCU) material is the background material that would aid immensely in mapping the decision areas of this caselet and bring a synthesis amongst the relevant concepts. The participants/students should be encouraged to read this material to benefit from the broader perspectives outlined in the caselet.

• • Richard I. Levin and David S. Rubin, “Chapter 14: Nonparametric Methods”, Statistics for Management, 7^th Edition, Pearson Education, 2008

Synopsis

This caselet enables an understanding of the basics of rank correlation and its business applications. Every year global brands are ranked worldwide by prominent institutions like Brand Finance and Interbrand. Two college friends – Vinay and Rahul – discuss and try to understand the ranking methodology and the efficacy of the criteria used to arrive at the rankings. They are concerned about different ranks being awarded to the same brands in the same year by different institutions. Would the conceptual understanding of correlation and rank correlation and appropriate application of the same help resolve there dilemmas ?

Pedagogical Objectives

• • To understand the basics of rank correlation
• • To discuss the difference between correlation and rank correlation
• • To discuss the applications of rank correlation

Assignment Questions

• I. How do you measure whether two set of variables differ significantly or not?
• II. Analyze the global brand rankings by Interbrand and BrandFinance.

Teaching Plan

The Teaching Note follows a defined Teaching Plan [Annexure (TN)-I], to guide in conducting the classroom discussion...........

Exhibits

Exhibit (TN)-I: Analysis of Brand Rankings

Exhibit (TN)-II: Significance of Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficients and Degrees of Freedom