While the contract manufacturers in Taiwan take orders from their brand-name buyers, some of them have started to move up to own brand management (OBM). This study examined three factors contributing to the performance of OBM: learning from the key buyer, learning from the key subsidiary and the focal firm's own cultural heritage identity. We found learning from the key subsidiary and one's own cultural heritage identity related positively to OBM performance. Further, there is a counterintuitive negative moderating effect of identity on the relationship between learning from the key buyer and OBM performance. Although preliminary, our results suggest that partners with asymmetric power relationships are prime candidates for future studies to explore the role of identity and pride.
