Is it really possible to brand a nation? If yes, where does the Indian brand stand in the global landscape? Be it AdAsia 2003 or the Indian Economic Summit 2003, experts are discussing and debating the need and benefits of branding India. After all, why so much hype on the subject, ask Anil Gupta and Anupam Ghosh.
Do `Made in' labels really make a difference in the evaluation of products? Yes, they do and today an enormous amount of academic research is available to support this answer. It all started with a seminal study by Schooler in 1965 and subsequently, over 350 studies across the world have been undertaken to understand this phenomenon across various product categories and contexts. Popularly known as COO [Country of Origin] effect, research has proved that consumers consider this cue while evaluating the products. In fact, most of the studies have even proved that this is the most important external cue considered by consumers while evaluating products. Be it industrial segment or consumer goods segment the behavior is found to be similar and consistent.
All these seem too academic. Let us see if it makes sense. You have an option to choose a television, which is either `Made in Japan' or `Made in Bangladesh'. We are sure that you will not bet on the second choice, even if the brand offered is an established one. in a recent research undertaken by us, we observed the same phenomenon. We considered two product categories i.e., television and mobile phones and found that even in case when a consumer is presented with established brands like Sony and Nokia, the product evaluation varied when the variable `Made in' was changed. Consumers tend to evaluate Japanese products better than Chinese products. Country of Origin contributed to approximately 26% of the variance in the product evaluation. The metanalysis study by Peterson & Jolibert in 1995 revealed the average effect size to be 26% whereas the metanalysis study by Verlegh & Steenkamp in 1999 reveals this effect size to be as high as 39%. Under such circumstances can a country afford to ignore its brand equity? how can domestic firms compete globally when their country does not enjoy superior brand equity? |
