Brand popularity and country image in global competition: managerial implications
| Published date | 01 December 1995 |
| Pages | 21-33 |
| Date | 01 December 1995 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/10610429510103818 |
| Author | Chung Koo Kim |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
JOURNAL OF PRODUCT & BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 4 NO. 5 1995 pp. 21-33 © MCB UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1061-0421 21
Introduction
Competition among brands has become fiercer as the number of brands
originating from foreign countries accrues. Many foreign brands compete
with domestic brands within the North American automobile market.
Individual brands vary widely in terms of popularity. According to
Automotive News, some brands are categorized as follows:
(1) “popular” or “top-selling” cars – Escort, Taurus, Camry, Accord,
Cavalier, Civic, Saturn, and Sentra;
(2) “nonpopular” cars – Mazda 323, Lemans, Fox, Colt, and others.
It seems that many firms allocate much effort in creating or maintaining the
popularity of their car models, believing that once a particular model has
become popular, the popularity component will bring an intangible positive
contribution to the brand’s loyalty, image, or market sales (Aaker, 1991; Raj,
1985). When a brand becomes the most popular model, or the market share
leader in a market (or a market segment), it benefits from the long-term
popularity or the leadership position due to the fact that consumers praise
and pay respect to the popularity level, or the brand withholding a leadership
position.
Another question that has been addressed consists of determining the main
difference between a set of automobiles such as the Camry, Accord, Civic,
and Mazda 323, and another set comprised of the Escort, Cavalier, Omni,
LeMans, and so on. The first grouping represents a set of brands originating
from a foreign country (specifically Japan), while the rest consist of US
brands. Some consumers have expressed their preferences for one country
over another (Johansson and Thorelli, 1985). For example, car buyers have
often expressed that, everything else being equal, a Japanese model would
be preferred over a US model within a segment. Brand managers have often
asked themselves whether a country name could have a significant positive
influence on the marketing effectiveness and the market share of a brand.
A challenging issue in relation to country of origin consists of the fact that
several foreign brands (e.g. Accord, Camry, Civic) are currently made in the
USA. An interesting question to pose is whether the effects of country of
origin are elevated or suppressed by the country where the product is
manufactured (foreign direct investment or FDI). It is not clear how FDI
Brand popularity and country
image in global competition:
managerial implications
Chung Koo Kim
The author would like to thank several people including Gerald Albaum, Hideo Hayashi,
Jay Chung, and particularly Lea Katsanis, as well as the anonymous reviewers and the
editor, Dennis Cahill, of Journal of Product & Brand Management, for their helpful
comments for this article. He also acknowledges that this article is supported in part by a
research grant from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
(SSHRC).
Long-term popularity
Foreign direct investment
To continue reading
Request your trial