Using the fuzzy multicriteria decision making approach to evaluate brand equity: A study of privatized firms

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a multidimensional evaluation of brand equity performance incorporating dimensions adopted from the balance scorecard (BSC) approach to business performance. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, text mining is used for automatic extraction of valuable information from textual data such as the financial reports of firms. Instead of expert opinions, linguistic scales built upon outcomes of text mining are used as inputs for decision-making. The proposed model combines fuzzy DEMATEL (FDEMATEL), fuzzy ANP (FANP), fuzzy TOPSIS (FTOPSIS) and fuzzy VIKOR (FVIKOR) methods for weighting criteria and ranking alternatives. Findings: Using data from five privatized firms in Turkey, the study’s findings demonstrate that the customer is the most important dimension of brand equity performance evaluation. Cash flow and brand loyalty are identified as the most important criteria in the measurement of brand equity performance. Practical implications: Findings highlight the importance of firms taking action to increase consumer perceptions, attitudes and behaviors in the privatization processes. For this purpose, privatized firms need to understand the expectations of customers to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and therefore improve brand equity. Originality/value: The paper contributes to literature in several important ways. First, by adopting the BSC approach, it proposes a holistic and a multidimensional model for measuring brand equity performance. Second, the study offers a novel methodology using a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making model designed for the fuzzy environment. Third, the study uses the knowledge extraction tool of text mining in the fuzzy decision-making process. Finally, the study evaluates the brand equity performance of privatized firms in an emerging country context.