Markennetze This thesis shows that brand alliances or networks can be viewed and analyzed from an economic perspective analogously to alliances in other areas of a company or strategic partnerships between entire companies. Challenges arising from globalization market deregulation and changes in consumer behavior also have an impact on brands. As a result it now often appears that marketing a brand to a single market on a stand alone basis no longer holds promise of success.Brands as the object of interorganizational cooperative relationships exhibit characteristics that differ from those of other assets and parts of a business. Brands exercise much broader functions in the economy and society than merely guaranteeing product quality. A brand can be defined as a symbolically generalized communication medium as proposed by LUHMANN and or as a social interaction medium as proposed by PARSONS. This perspective provides a cohesive tot! al context for understanding different brand functions for different users or owners and also in different markets and areas of life. Furthermore such a holistic view of a brand as a medium makes it possible to integrate previously separately co existing brand perspectives and definitions.The notion of a brand as a medium and corresponding analysis of the medial layers produce a new mandate for brand management. Specifically brands must provide more latitude for consumers to assign the brands their own meanings; the symbolic significance of a brand cannot be directly and comprehensively planned by the company that owns or uses it. Furthermore brands with different symbolic functions also need to be managed differently. Nevertheless existing brand management concepts do not systematically differentiate their recommendations to match the different symbolic functions of the given brand...