The effects of the country of brand and the country of manufacturing of automobiles: An experimental study of consumers\u27 brand personality perceptions

Purpose: This paper offers a new perspective of country of origin effects on consumers’ brand personality perceptions of domestic and imported automobiles. It assesses the perceived similarities and differences between automobiles from two countries with respect to the country of origin of the brand (COB) and the country of manufacturing (COM) of that same brand. Design/methodology/approach: An experimental design was used to investigate developed country consumers’ brand personality perceptions of three cars; a domestic car, a car manufactured in a developing country by a developing country manufacturer, and a car from developing country manufacturer that is manufactured in the developed country. Data was collected in the United States and therefore a U.S. car was used as the developed country car. China was selected as the developing country of origin. A structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Findings: Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicates that consumers’ brand personality perceptions varied according to the country of origin (COB) of the brand and the country of manufacture (COM) of the brand. We show that the COM of a car influenced the perceived brand personality of the car more than the COB. In some respects the Chinese car made in the U.S. was perceived to have a stronger brand personality than the U.S. car made in China. This suggests that for cars the COM exerts a greater influence on the perceived personality of a brand than the COB. Research limitations/implications: While this paper offers an exploratory glimpse of potential challenges and opportunities facing domestic and developing country automotive manufacturers, future research should take a larger respondent pool, respondents from other countries, other automotive manufacturers as well as assess the impact of COM and COB on purchase intention and behavior. Practical implications: Manufacturers of cars must understand the effect of country of origin and country of manufacturing of a brand on consumers’ brand perceptions in order to build, position and protect their brands in various international markets. Originality/value: This paper provides an important contribution to the existing literature and business practice by providing a new perspective on country of origin research by using the multi-dimensional construct of brand personality and analyzing the relationship between country of origin of a brand and country of manufacturing of that same brand. Moreover, it addressed a timely issue by investigating the challenges and opportunities Chinese and American car manufacturers are facing

Valuating Brand Equity and Product Related Attributes in the Context of the German Automobile Market

The concept of consumer-based brand equity has been discussed widely in the literature and there are a wide variety of both quantitative and qualitative measures used to assess it. For the most part, previous research has studied the way a brand and product attributes are perceived in a consumer’s mind and the empirical data used in most studies is based on self-reported survey data. In this research, objective data from the largest German Automobile Association, including actual prices, objective quality ratings of product attributes and market share of brands are used to estimate their effect on the actual price set by the manufacturer and paid by consumers for those automobiles in Germany. By conducting multiple hedonic regressions we are able to explain the actual price of a car on the basis of it’s product attributes, brand and the market share of that brand. Our results show that five out of the eight product attribute categories used in this research (chassis, interior, comfort, engine, and safety) influence the price paid by consumers. In addition, when brand dummy variables are added to the model the explanatory power of the proposed model increases. The paper also shows that product variety is positively related and market share negatively related to the price. Therefore, this paper provides an important contribution to existing literature on modeling and measuring the effect of product related attributes, market share and especially brand equity on price. It further provides important managerial insight as it shows which product attributes and how they are valued by consumers. In addition, the proposed model can be used by automotive manufacturers to approximate the price of existing and new automobiles

A study of visual puffery in fragrance advertising: Is the message sent stronger than the actual scent?

Purpose - This paper investigates visual exaggerations of fragrance advertisements by comparing subjects’ expectations resulting from print ads to their subsequent product evaluations. It then considers whether the actual scents fall short, meet or exceed these expectations. Design/methodology/approach - By means of a semiotic analysis we capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop adjective pairs describing the meaning of the ads. Interviews are conducted to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and we supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory product evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t-tests are used to compare subjects’ ad expectations to their subsequent product evaluation of the actual scent. Findings - Our results show that the visual cues and imagery in the fragrance ads appear, under certain conditions, to result in product expectations that exceed actual product evaluations, suggesting the existence of visual puffery. We also found that the more abstract descriptors of the ad resulted in significantly higher expectations, while the more concrete descriptors resulted in significantly lower expectations than the actual product evaluation. Research limitations/implications - A small sample size of homogenous consumers limits the generalizability of the results. No measures of attitude effectiveness were taken. Practical implications - Visual puffery may be effective and help marketers, even in countries where verbal puffery is illegal, to use another means to reach consumers. Originality/value - This paper investigates an under-researched area in advertising. A multi-method approach and primary data are used to assess subjects’ ad expectations of a fragrance and the actual product evaluation and demonstrates the existence of visual puffery

The Perfect Service-Learning Class Project: Implications for the SELEB Scale

A six-week public relations class held during the summer of 2009 conducted a very successful service- learning project. The students were able to raise money for charity, while showcasing their project on three local television stations as well as the local newspaper. Additionally, they communicated information about their event through social networking sites. Thus, this project became known as the perfect service- learning class project. The purpose of this article is to determine how the students participating in this service-learning project rated the items on the SELEB (Service Learning Benefits) scale, compared to less successful classes

Student Perceptions Of And Preferences For A Short Overseas Study Tour

Business programs and colleges of business have responded to calls from both AACSB and industry with many different methods of internationalizing business curricula.  One increasingly popular method of exposing business students to international issues is the short study tour.  This research investigates student perceptions of and preference for, different aspects of a short study tour.  Students at a medium-sized metropolitan university in the Midwest were asked to complete a survey.  Results suggest that for the students involved in this research, cost is the most important criteria, followed by the country or countries in which the tour will take place.  Students recognize the value of short study tours, and seem prepared to pay a reasonable price for the appropriate experience.  The paper concludes with a discussion of the value of study tours to developed versus emerging market countries

A study of visual puffery in fragrance advertising

Purpose - This paper investigates visual exaggerations of fragrance advertisements by comparing subjects’ expectations resulting from print ads to their subsequent product evaluations. It then considers whether the actual scents fall short, meet or exceed these expectations. Design/methodology/approach - By means of a semiotic analysis we capture the corresponding literary attributes of the ads to develop adjective pairs describing the meaning of the ads. Interviews are conducted to assess the meaning that consumers draw from the fragrance ads and we supplement these findings by performing a blind olfactory product evaluation of the fragrances. Paired sample t-tests are used to compare subjects’ ad expectations to their subsequent product evaluation of the actual scent. Findings - Our results show that the visual cues and imagery in the fragrance ads appear, under certain conditions, to result in product expectations that exceed actual product evaluations, suggesting the existence of visual puffery. We also found that the more abstract descriptors of the ad resulted in significantly higher expectations, while the more concrete descriptors resulted in significantly lower expectations than the actual product evaluation. Research limitations/implications - A small sample size of homogenous consumers limits the generalizability of the results. No measures of attitude effectiveness were taken. Practical implications - Visual puffery may be effective and help marketers, even in countries where verbal puffery is illegal, to use another means to reach consumers. Originality/value - This paper investigates an under-researched area in advertising. A multi-method approach and primary data are used to assess subjects’ ad expectations of a fragrance and the actual product evaluation and demonstrates the existence of visual puffery

Retailer Loyalty Cards in Retailing: An Exploratory Look at Consumers’ Attitudes

The objective of this exploratory study is to begin to examine the attitudes of consumers toward loyalty cards and their concern over privacy issues. The findings suggest that consumers’ concerns about privacy issues associated with involvement in loyalty-card programs may be unrelated to their attitudes towards involvement in loyalty-card programs. Furthermore, age and gender effects were observed, but only for attitudes toward involvement in loyalty-card programs. Finally, no relationships were observed between the relative attractiveness of loyalty-card programs offering different benefit sets and attitudes toward involvement in loyalty-card programs. Conclusions are drawn