Brand-building may be at an early stage in Malaysia, but small- and medium-sized enterprises must be prepared to invest towards promoting their company's brands, said the Regent of Perak, Raja Nazrin Shah.

"The first thing that must happen is that SMEs must appreciate the exact role that branding has to play. They cannot afford to be just concerned about short-term profitability," he said in his keynote address at the Brand Entrepreneur Conference 2009 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

"They must be assisted to 'orchestrate' their purchasing, production and distribution networks in ways that are consistent with the building of sound brand equity," he added.

Apart from government assistance to give the much needed headstart, SMEs also need to have in place quality assurance and audit programmes.

"Many products have had their image wrecked by poor standards and performance leading the loss of the substantial investments made," he said.
Although the government can assist SMEs, brand-building is a private entrepreneurial activity and responsibility of the brand owner.

Brand-building, he added, is successful only when companies have a strong sense of purpose and a clear set of values established by their founders, citing successful brands like luxury goods Christian Dior and mass consumer offerings like McDonalds and Pizza Hut, all of which started out as SMEs.

The importance of branding, he said, has not diminished in light of the global economic crisis but has increased.

"With even blue-ribbon names having fallen victim to the crisis, there seems to be a clear need for companies to instil a sense of confidence and value in the products and services they offer.

"In the flatter and more competitive world that we now confront, brand development can be a major factor in almost every aspect of a company, from raising new capital to attracting the best brains," said Raja Nazrin.