Single brand with multiple country images: the effect of discrepancies between country images on brand credibility and prestige

Country image refers to the holistic image that consumers harbor toward a particular country. Traditionally, one brand was thought to possess a single country image; an Italian brand would theoretically be owned by an Italian company and manufacture its products in Italy. However, due to increasingly common practices of cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) and offshoring practices, most brands today can have multiple country images for a single branded item, which include the decomposed labels of country-of-brand origin (COB), country-of-company (COC), and country-of-manufacturing (COM). Due to cross-border M&A and offshoring, the COC or COM can shift from its home country to another country in two different directions: downward (a high fashion image country ? a low fashion image country) and upward (a low fashion image country ? a high fashion image country). When consumers are exposed to the information that the COC or COM of a brand actually differs from its COB, what reactions will appear in consumers’ minds? How do such reactions affect consumers’ brand evaluations? Do such effects differ between luxury brands and mass market brands or between the downward and upward shifts of country images? To address these questions, this study examined the effects of discrepancies in country image on consumers’ perceived brand credibility and prestige in the fashion industry context, examining both luxury and mass market brands and both downward and upward scenarios of M&A/offshoring. The moderating role of consumers’ clothing product involvement was also tested. Using research gained from literature review, a total of twenty hypotheses (H1a-H9h) were developed based upon two specific theories. Festinger’s (1957) cognitive dissonance theory suggests that when consumers encounter discrepancies in country image, they will modify their brand evaluations to liberate themselves from the resulting cognitive dissonance. Homans’s (1958) social exchange theory suggests that the impact of discrepant country images, however, would be significant for luxury brands but not for mass market brands, due to consumers’ differing levels of input with regard to each brand purchase. For hypotheses testing, 426 college students were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental studies (Study 1 – Study 4), which collectively manipulated eight scenarios: luxury/mass market brand (2) x downward/upward (2) x M&A/offshoring cases (2). Italy and China were selected to represent high and low fashion image countries respectively, and the images of four fictitious brands (Italian/Chinese luxury/mass market brands) were developed through pre-tests and used in the experiments. In the experiments, changes in the participants’ perceived brand credibility and prestige before and after the manipulation of the scenarios were examined using repeated-measure ANOVA. The results of the data analyses provided support for six of the twenty hypotheses. The downward shifts in the COC/COM manipulated by M&A and offshoring scenarios significantly decreased the brand credibility and prestige of luxury brands (H1a, H1b, H5a, H5b supported). However, the downward shifts in the COC/COM also decreased mass market brands’ credibility, thus refuting H3 and H7. The upward shifts of the COC/COM through M&A and offshoring did not significantly increase brand credibility and prestige, neither for luxury brands (H2a, H2b, H6a, H6b not supported) nor for mass market brands (H4 and H8 supported). Consumers’ clothing product involvement did not exhibit a significant moderating effect in the experiments (H9a-H9h not supported). These findings suggest that consumers generally act in negative ways toward downward shifts in country image, regardless of brand tiers. Moreover, upward shifts in country image—for instance, the acquisition by a foreign company from a high fashion image country or the manufacturing of products in a high fashion image country—cannot by themselves improve the original image of brands from a low fashion image country, regardless of brand tiers. These patterns were common to all consumers, with no significant difference based on their individual involvement with clothes. These findings provide empirical evidence regarding whether cognitive dissonance theory or social exchange theory can explain the phenomena of country image effects. In addition, these findings fill gaps in the country image literature by examining the impact of country image shifts in both downward and upward directions, while also comparing the impact across brand tiers by focusing on brand-level outcomes (i.e., brand credibility and prestige). It also suggests managerial implications, such as the development of communication strategies for fashion brands that minimize downward shifts in country image. Limitations for the study and suggestions for future studies are also discussed

Do consumers want a "good" apparel brand? the effects of apparel brands' Corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on brand equity moderated by culture

Do consumers want a `good' apparel brand? Although Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been a crucial issue for the apparel industry, there was a lack of evidence showing how consumer perceptions of apparel brands' CSR affect brand equity, compared to apparel product attributes cross-culturally. This study aimed to unveil the comparable effects of CSR and apparel product attributes on apparel brands' brand equity among U.S. and Korean consumers.Total 447 survey questionnaires were collected from U.S. and Korean college students. The results found that both intrinsic and extrinsic apparel product attributes enhance brand equity, supporting H1. As only product responsibility, economics, and environment-related CSR dimensions significantly enhance brand equity, H2 was partially supported. There was no moderating effect of culture thereby H3 was rejected. However, additional analyses revealed that U.S. consumers more positively evaluate CSR and are more affected by CSR in improving brand equity than Korean consumers. In conclusion, in enhancing brand equity, consumers wanted a "good" apparel brand that is responsible for product, economics, and environments-related CSR issues in business practices, along with intrinsic and extrinsic apparel product attributes. And U.S. consumers more wanted responsible apparel brands than Korean consumers. The findings of this study give useful information of "what product attributes brands need to focus on," "what kinds of CSR dimensions they need to focus on," and "what they need to do for different consumers across countries.

Duke Vincentio of Shakespeare's Measure for measure : a review of the criticism from a dialogic viewpoint

Since the neo-classical period, critics writing about Duke Vincentio have exhibited different forms of literary provincialism (generic, historical, New Critical, psychological, ideological, etc.), and recently these different provincial approaches have been subjected to rigorous "scientific analysis" under the influence of post- Hegelian dialectics, thus making the critical situation more complicated, if not worse. This writer reviews some of the criticism of the Duke in several "provincial" categories from the early conventionalism of the neo-classicists, through psychological relativism of the romanticists, down to ideological "representations" of the neo-historicists, and highlights some inadequacies of these approaches from the writer's East Asian dialogic (yinyang) viewpoint

Fractal assembly of micrometre-scale DNA origami arrays with arbitrary patterns

Self-assembled DNA nanostructures enable nanometre-precise patterning that can be used to create programmable molecular machines and arrays of functional materials. DNA origami is particularly versatile in this context because each DNA strand in the origami nanostructure occupies a unique position and can serve as a uniquely addressable pixel. However, the scale of such structures has been limited to about 0.05 square micrometres, hindering applications that demand a larger layout and integration with more conventional patterning methods. Hierarchical multistage assembly of simple sets of tiles can in principle overcome this limitation, but so far has not been sufficiently robust to enable successful implementation of larger structures using DNA origami tiles. Here we show that by using simple local assembly rules that are modified and applied recursively throughout a hierarchical, multistage assembly process, a small and constant set of unique DNA strands can be used to create DNA origami arrays of increasing size and with arbitrary patterns. We illustrate this method, which we term ‘fractal assembly’, by producing DNA origami arrays with sizes of up to 0.5 square micrometres and with up to 8,704 pixels, allowing us to render images such as the Mona Lisa and a rooster. We find that self-assembly of the tiles into arrays is unaffected by changes in surface patterns on the tiles, and that the yield of the fractal assembly process corresponds to about 0.95^(m − 1) for arrays containing m tiles. When used in conjunction with a software tool that we developed that converts an arbitrary pattern into DNA sequences and experimental protocols, our assembly method is readily accessible and will facilitate the construction of sophisticated materials and devices with sizes similar to that of a bacterium using DNA nanostructures

PKCδ regulates force signaling during VEGF/CXCL4 induced dissociation of endothelial tubes

Wound healing requires the vasculature to re-establish itself from the severed ends; endothelial cells within capillaries must detach from neighboring cells before they can migrate into the nascent wound bed to initiate angiogenesis. The dissociation of these endothelial capillaries is driven partially by platelets' release of growth factors and cytokines, particularly the chemokine CXCL4/platelet factor-4 (PF4) that increases cell-cell de-adherence. As this retraction is partly mediated by increased transcellular contractility, the protein kinase c-δ/myosin light chain-2 (PKCδ/MLC-2) signaling axis becomes a candidate mechanism to drive endothelial dissociation. We hypothesize that PKCδ activation induces contractility through MLC-2 to promote dissociation of endothelial cords after exposure to platelet-released CXCL4 and VEGF. To investigate this mechanism of contractility, endothelial cells were allowed to form cords following CXCL4 addition to perpetuate cord dissociation. In this study, CXCL4-induced dissociation was reduced by a VEGFR inhibitor (sunitinib malate) and/or PKCδ inhibition. During combined CXCL4+VEGF treatment, increased contractility mediated by MLC-2 that is dependent on PKCδ regulation. As cellular force is transmitted to focal adhesions, zyxin, a focal adhesion protein that is mechano-responsive, was upregulated after PKCδ inhibition. This study suggests that growth factor regulation of PKCδ may be involved in CXCL4-mediated dissociation of endothelial cords. © 2014 Jamison et al

The Mitochondrial Genome Is a “Genetic Sanctuary” during the Oncogenic Process

Since Otto Warburg linked mitochondrial physiology and oncogenesis in the 1930s, a number of studies have focused on the analysis of the genetic basis for the presence of aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells. However, little or no evidence exists today to indicate that mtDNA mutations are directly responsible for the initiation of tumor onset. Based on a model of gliomagenesis in the mouse, we aimed to explore whether or not mtDNA mutations are associated with the initiation of tumor formation, maintenance and aggressiveness. We reproduced the different molecular events that lead from tumor initiation to progression in the mouse glioma. In human gliomas, most of the genetic alterations that have been previously identified result in the aberrant activation of different signaling pathways and deregulation of the cell cycle. Our data indicates that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, leading to increased nuclear DNA (nDNA) mutagenesis, but maintaining the integrity of the mitochondrial genome. In addition, mutational stability has been observed in entire mtDNA of human gliomas; this is in full agreement with the results obtained in the cancer mouse model. We use this model as a paradigm of oncogenic transformation due to the fact that mutations commonly found in gliomas appear to be the most common molecular alterations leading to tumor development in most types of human cancer. Our results indicate that the mtDNA genome is kept by the cell as a “genetic sanctuary” during tumor development in the mouse and humans. This is compatible with the hypothesis that the mtDNA molecule plays an essential role in the control of the cellular adaptive survival response to tumor-induced oxidative stress. The integrity of mtDNA seems to be a necessary element for responding to the increased ROS production associated with the oncogenic process

Programmable disorder in random DNA tilings

Scaling up the complexity and diversity of synthetic molecular structures will require strategies that exploit the inherent stochasticity of molecular systems in a controlled fashion. Here we demonstrate a framework for programming random DNA tilings and show how to control the properties of global patterns through simple, local rules. We constructed three general forms of planar network—random loops, mazes and trees—on the surface of self-assembled DNA origami arrays on the micrometre scale with nanometre resolution. Using simple molecular building blocks and robust experimental conditions, we demonstrate control of a wide range of properties of the random networks, including the branching rules, the growth directions, the proximity between adjacent networks and the size distribution. Much as combinatorial approaches for generating random one-dimensional chains of polymers have been used to revolutionize chemical synthesis and the selection of functional nucleic acids, our strategy extends these principles to random two-dimensional networks of molecules and creates new opportunities for fabricating more complex molecular devices that are organized by DNA nanostructures

Inducible expression of Pisum sativum xyloglucan fucosyltransferase in the pea root cap meristem, and effects of antisense mRNA expression on root cap cell wall structural integrity

Mitosis and cell wall synthesis in the legume root cap meristem can be induced and synchronized by the nondestructive removal of border cells from the cap periphery. Newly synthesized cells can be examined microscopically as they differentiate progressively during cap development, and ultimately detach as a new population of border cells. This system was used to demonstrate that Pisum sativum L. fucosyl transferase (PsFut1) mRNA expression is strongly expressed in root meristematic tissues, and is induced >2-fold during a 5-h period when mitosis in the root cap meristem is increased. Expression of PsFut1 antisense mRNA in pea hairy roots under the control of the CaMV35S promoter, which exhibits meristem localized expression in pea root caps, resulted in a 50–60% reduction in meristem localized endogenous PsFut1 mRNA expression measured using whole mount in situ hybridization. Changes in gross levels of cell wall fucosylated xyloglucan were not detected, but altered surface localization patterns were detected using whole mount immunolocalization with CCRC-M1, an antibody that recognizes fucosylated xyloglucan. Emerging hairy roots expressing antisense PsFut1 mRNA appeared normal macroscopically but scanning electron microscopy of tissues with altered CCRC-M1 localization patterns revealed wrinkled, collapsed cell surfaces. As individual border cells separated from the cap periphery, cell death occurred in correlation with extrusion of cellular contents through breaks in the wall

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes

Early metabolic response using FDG PET/CT and molecular phenotypes of breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Background: This study was aimed 1) to investigate the predictive value of FDG PET/CT (fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography) for histopathologic response and 2) to explore the results of FDG PET/CT by molecular phenotypes of breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods: Seventy-eight stage II or III breast cancer patients who received neoadjuvant docetaxel/doxorubicin chemotherapy were enrolled in this study. FDG PET/CTs were acquired before chemotherapy and after the first cycle of chemotherapy for evaluating early metabolic response. Results: The mean pre- and post-chemotherapy standard uptake value (SUV) were 7.5 and 3.9, respectively. The early metabolic response provided by FDG PET/CT after one cycle of neoadjuvant chemotherapy was correlated with the histopathologic response after completion of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (P = 0.002). Sensitivity and negative predictive value were 85.7% and 95.1%, respectively. The estrogen receptor negative phenotype had a higher pre-chemotherapy SUV (8.6 vs. 6.4, P = 0.047) and percent change in SUV (48% vs. 30%, P = 0.038). In triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the pre-chemotherapy SUV was higher than in non-TNBC (9.8 vs. 6.4, P = 0.008). Conclusions: The early metabolic response using FDG PET/CT could have a predictive value for the assessment of histopathologic non-response of stage II/III breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Our findings suggest that the initial SUV and the decline in SUV differed based on the molecular phenotype