Cross-cultural factors in international branding

Abstract

This is the second special issue resulting from the symposium titled ‘The Brand and Its History’. This issue aims at deepening the knowledge of the historical and cultural roots of the origin, uses, and meanings of modern branding. This editorial summarises previous contributions from economic, marketing, and historical literature; presents the main findings of the seven articles included in this issue; and reflects on possible further research.

Keywords:

• Branding
• culture
• nation
• business history

Acknowledgements

The authors want to sincerely acknowledge: (1) the Business History editorial board, and especially Ray Stokes and Andrea Colli, for their constant support in the preparation of this two-issue symposium; (2) attendees of ‘The Brand and Its History: Economic, Business, and Social Value’, at the UAM Multidisciplinary Research Seminar (Madrid, 22–23 May 2014), and of our session at the International Congress of the Spanish Economic History Association (Madrid, 4–5 September 2014); and (3) the selfless professional collaboration of dozens of scholars who acted as reviewers for this two-issue symposium: Glyn Atwal, John Balmer, María Inés Barbero, Patrizia Battilani, Lionel Bently, Stephen Brown, Andrea Caracausi, Catherine Carstairs, Montserrat Casanovas, Jordi Catalan, Samir Chargui, Howard Cox, Jennifer Davis, Bert De Munck, Stephanie Decker, Timothy Dewhirst, María Fernández Moya, Gabriel Galvez-Behar, Xavier García, Francesca Golfetto, Andrew Griffiths, Tristan Jacques, Kai Lamertz, Manuel Llorca-Jaña, Laura Macchion, María Eugénia Mata, Peter Miskell, Philippe Moati, Mads Mordhorst, Jonathan Morris, Simon Mowatt, Margrit Müller, Juan Luis Pan-Montojo, Eugenia Paulicelli, Yovanna Pineda, Jordi Planas, John Potvin, Véronique Pouillard, David Rolph, Jeremy David Rowan, Peter Scott, Marina Sheresheva, Fredrik Tell, Nebahat Tokatli, Jesús-María Valdaliso, Michelangelo Vasta, Terence Witkowski, and Sergei Zhuk.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 http://www.philkotler.com/quotes/.

2 Sáiz and Castro, ‘Trademarks in Branding.’

3 The American Marketing Association completes the definition with the entry ‘brand and branding:’ ‘a brand often includes an explicit logo, fonts, colour schemes, symbols, sound which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality.’ American Marketing Association, ‘Dictionary.’

4 Chernatony and Riley, ‘Defining a ‘Brand’,’ 418–424.

5 Some examples of pre-modern brands are in Moore and Reid, ‘The Birth of Brand;’ Zangger, ‘Chops and Trademarks;’ Belfanti, ‘Branding before the Brand.’

6 Bastos and Levy, ‘History of the Concept of Branding,’ 355.

7 See Sáiz and Castro, ‘Trademarks in Branding.’

8 Babutsidze, ‘How Do Consumers Make Choices?,’ 752; Ramello and Silva, ‘Appropriating Signs and Meaning,’ 952.

9 Casson and Wadeson, ‘Export Performance and Reputation,’ 31.

10 Akerlof, ‘The Market for ‘Lemons’.’

11 Landes and Posner, ‘Trademark Law.’

12 See Carter, Casson, and Suneja, ‘Introduction,’ xiii–xiv.

13 Ramello and Silva, ‘Appropriating Signs and Meaning,’ 938.

14 In fact, it is not only the experience for themselves; many people buy branded goods for the purpose of impressing others. Landes and Posner, ‘Trademark Law,’ 308.

15 Pine and Gilmore, The Experience Economy.

16 Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class. One attempt was undertaken by Yuran, ‘Meaningful Objects or Costly Symbols?’

17 Moore and Reid, ‘The Birth of Brand,’ 420.

18 Hattwick, ‘Behavioral Economics,’ 141.

19 Costa, Carvalho, and Moreira, ‘Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance,’ 1–3.

20 Hattwick, ‘Behavioral Economics,’ 142.

21 Oliveira-Castro, Foxall, and Schrezenmaier, ‘Consumer Brand Choice,’ 147–148.

22 Simon, ‘Rational Decision Making.’

23 Kahneman and Tversky, ‘Choices, Values, and Frames.’

24 Mohaidin, ‘Behavioural Economics Approach,’ 411–413. The matching law states that individuals will distribute their behaviour between alternatives in the same ratio that reinforcement has been obtained for those alternatives; that is, choosing what they think will provide them the maximum possible reward.

25 Shin, Misra, and Horsky, ‘Disentangling Preferences.’

26 Wells, ‘Behavioural Psychology,’ 1138–1144.

27 Hardie, Johnson, and Fader, ‘Modeling Loss Aversion,’ 379; Foxall and Schrezenmaier, ‘The Behavioral Economics;’ Foxall, Oliveira-Castro, and Schrezenmaier, ‘The Behavioral Economics;’ Foxall et al., Behavioral Economics of Brand Choice.

28 Gardner and Levy, ‘The Product and the Brand,’ 118.

29 Smith, ‘Product Differentiation.’

30 See Goyat, ‘The Basis of Market Segmentation.’

31 Cunningham, ‘Brand Loyalty;’ Chaudhuri and Holbrook, ‘The Chain of Effects.’

32 Martineau, ‘The Personality.’

33 Lazer, ‘Symbolism and Life Style;’ Berkman and Gilson, Consumer Behavior.

34 Roper and Parker, ‘Evolution of Branding Theory,’ 58.

35 Ries and Trout, Positioning.

36 Kornberger, Brand Society.

37 Leone et al., ‘Linking Brand Equity,’ 126.

38 Aaker, Managing Brand Equity; Aaker, Building Strong Brands.

39 Simon and Sullivan, ‘The Measurement and Determinants.’

40 Keller, ‘Conceptualizing, Measuring and Managing.’

41 Christodoulides and de Chernatony, ‘Consumer-Based Brand Equity,’ 48.

42 Brodie, Glynn, and van Durme, ‘Towards a Theory;’ Hampf and Lindberg-Repo, ‘Branding,’ 233.

43 Fournier, ‘Consumers and Their Brands.’

44 Kapferer, The New Strategic Brand Management.

45 Aggarwal and Mcgill, ‘When Brands Seem Human.’

46 Aaker, Fournier, and Brasel, ‘When Good Brands Do Bad;’ Swaminathan et al., ‘When Brand Personality Matters.’

47 Belk, ‘Possessions and the Extended Self.’

48 Dong and Tian, ‘The Use of Western Brands.’

49 Han, Nunes, and Drèze, ‘Signaling Status;’ Casson, ‘Brands: Economic Ideology,’ 51; see also the contribution of Brigita Tranavičiūtė in this same Special Issue.

50 Casson, ‘Brands: Economic Ideology,’ 50–53. The author identifies several types of cultural characteristic: emotion, morality, allegiance, and status, among others.

51 Aaker, Benet-Martínez, and Garolera, ‘Consumption Symbols,’ 507.

52 Holt, ‘How Consumers Consume;’ Roth, ‘The Effects of Culture.’ The Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) is essentially concerned with the cultural meanings and social dynamics that shape consumers’ experiences in their everyday lives; it has contributed to a better understanding on the matter over the last 20 years. For an overview, see Arnould and Thompson, ‘Consumer Culture Theory.’

53 Steenkamp, Batra, and Alden, ‘How Perceived Brand Globalness,’ 53.

54 Keller and Lehmann, ‘Brands and Branding,’ 750; Roth, ‘Effects of Global Market Conditions;’ Levitt, ‘The Globalization of Markets;’ Holt, Quelch, and Taylor, ‘How Global Brands Compete;’ Mooij and Hofstede, ‘The Hofstede Model,’ 85. A model that scholars have used often is Geert Hofstede’s dimensional model of national culture. Hofstede, ‘The Cultural Relativity.’

55 Kapferer, Strategic Brand Management; Keller, Strategic Brand Management; Holt, Quelch, and Taylor, ‘How Global Brands Compete.’

56 Shimp and Sharma, ‘Consumer Ethnocentrism;’ Zambuni, ‘Developing Brands across Borders.’

57 Holt, Quelch, and Taylor, ‘How Global Brands Compete.’

58 Verlegh and Steenkamp, ‘A Review and Meta-Analysis,’ 522.

59 See Pappu, Quester, and Cooksey, ‘Country Image,’ 727–728.

60 Toncar and Fetscherin, ‘The Effects of the Country,’ 166.

61 Dichter, ‘The World Customer,’ 116.

62 Schooler, ‘Product Bias.’

63 Pharr, ‘Synthesizing,’ 34–35; Peterson and Jolibert, ‘A Meta-Analysis,’ 886.

64 Peterson and Jolibert, ‘A Meta-Analysis,’ 894–895. In the mid-1990s, Robert Peterson and Alain Jolibert undertook the most important attempt to synthetise the literature on the CoO effect. Despite showing that CoO has a strong influence on product evaluation, they confessed that the phenomenon was not well understood at that time.

65 Obermiller, ‘Comments of Evolving Country.’

66 The advantages of CoO indications primarily appear when it comes to products that are more dependent on the brand image, such as the more expensive wines or perfumes. In these cases, the origin, price, and brand name to a greater extent serve as a guarantee of quality. Toncar and Fetscherin, ‘The Effects of the Country,’ 165–166; Agrawal and Kamakura, ‘Country of Origin.’

67 Yasin, Noor, and Mohamad, ‘Does Image of Country-of-Origin Matter to Brand Equity?’

68 Samiee, Shimp, and Sharma, ‘Brand Origin Recognition Accuracy.’

69 Verlegh and Steenkamp, ‘A Review and Meta-Analysis.’

70 Fournier, ‘Consumers and Their Brands.’

71 Anholt, ‘Nation-Brands of the Twenty-First Century;’ ‘Beyond the Nation Brand.’ Anholt has created an index that measures the power and appeal of the brand image of different countries. For the United States, for example, see Anholt, ‘Nation Brands Index.’

72 Olins, ‘Branding the Nation;’ Anholt, Brand New Justice.

73 Varga, ‘The Politics of Nation Branding,’ 828.

74 Hansen, ‘The Narrative Nature of Place Branding.’

75 Varga, ‘The Politics of Nation Branding,’ 828. See also Kaneva, ‘Nation Branding.’

76 Schroeder, ‘Cultural Codes,’ 124.

77 Church, ‘New Perspectives,’ 428.

78 Wilkins, ‘The Neglected Intangible Asset.’

79 Corley, ‘Consumer Marketing;’ Hollander and Rassuli, Marketing, XV; Tedlow and Jones, The Rise and Fall.

80 Jones and Morgan, Adding Value, Chapters 2–5.

81 Casson, ‘Brands: Economic Ideology.’

82 Balasubramanyam and Salisu, ‘Brands and the Alcoholic.’

83 For a European vision, see Segreto et al., European Business.

84 Koehn, ‘Henry Heinz,’ 362.

85 She also identifies other successful entrepreneurs who lived and worked during periods of widespread change: Henry Heinz, Marshall Field, Estee Lauder, Howard Schultz (of Starbucks), and Michael Dell. See Koehn, Brand New.

86 Lopes and Casson, ‘Entrepreneurship and the Development,’ 678.

87 Lonier, ‘Alchemy in Eden,’ 697, 701.

88 Jones, ‘Brand Building,’ 87.

89 Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul; Bird, Better Living.

90 Heller, ‘Corporate Brand Building.’

91 Barjot, ‘Michelin’s Corporate Image.’

92 George, ‘The Sun’s Only Rival,’ 62, 70.

93 Heller, ‘Corporate Brand Building,’ 194.

94 See the section ‘Key concepts in the study of reputation, brands and trademarks’ in Casson and Wadeson, ‘Export Performance and Reputation,’ 32–36.

95 Akerlof, ‘The Market for ‘Lemons’.’

96 Casson and Wadeson, ‘Export Performance and Reputation,’ 33.

97 Duguid, ‘Brands in Chain.’

98 For the toothpaste industry, see Miskell, ‘Cavity Protection,’ 31–32. For Unilever, see Miskell, ‘Unilever’s (Other) Brand Wars,’ and Miskell, ‘Unilever and Its Brands.’

99 Lopes, ‘Building Brand Reputation,’ 482.

100 Lopes, Global Brands, 149.

101 Fernández, ‘Unsuccessful Responses.’

102 Casson and Wadeson, ‘Export Performance and Reputation,’ 45.

103 Olins, ‘Branding the Nation,’ 245.

104 Head, Made in Germany.

105 Casson and Wadeson, ‘Export Performance and Reputation.’

106 For embedded institutional structures, see Mordhorst, ‘Arla.’ For the importance of a state’s intervention, see Higgins and Mordhorst, ‘Bringing Home,’ 179; Higgins and Mordhorst, ‘Reputation and Export Performance,’ 199. On the negative effects of state intervention, see Câmara, ‘Madeira Embroidery.’

107 Higgins, Brands, Geographical Origin, especially Chapters 3, 4, and 9.

108 Hansen, ‘Co-branding Product,’ 77, 83.

109 Rius-Ulldemolins, ‘Barcelona and SEAT,’ 837–838.

110 Goñi-Mendizabal, ‘Brands in the Basque Gun Making Industry,’ 11.

111 Miranda, ‘Expansion of Spanish Fashion Companies.’

112 Mercer, ‘A Mark of Distinction,’ 32, 35; Schwarzkopf, ‘Turning Trademarks into Brands.’

113 Schwarzkopf, ‘Turning Trademarks into Brands,’ 166, 173, 188.

114 Heller and Kelly, ‘Throwaway History.’

115 Colli and Merlo, ‘Family Business.’ In the same line, see Merlo, ‘The Ascendance.’

116 Pouillard, ‘Design Piracy.’

117 Pouillard, ‘Fashion for All?’

118 Pouillard, ‘Keeping Designs and Brands.’

119 Pouillard, ‘Managing Fashion Creativity.’

120 Bonin, ‘A Reassessment.’

121 Manera and Garau-Taberner, ‘The Invention of the Camper Brand;’ Carmona, ‘Corporate Growth.’

122 Capalbo, ‘Creativty and Innovation.’

123 Belfanti and Merlo, ‘Patenting Fashion.’

124 Amerian, ‘Fashioning and Selling.’

125 Blaszczyk and Pouillard, European Fashion.

126 Other issues are the visions of charismatic designers, notions of luxury, icons of attraction, and concepts of consumer taste, appearance, and identity. See Zhiyan, Borgerson, and Schroeder, Chinese Brand Culture, 46.

127 Jones, ‘Brands and Marketing,’ 2.

128 Lopes and Casson, ‘Entrepreneurship and the Development,’ 678.

129 Hansen, ‘Co-branding Product.’

130 Jastrząb, ‘Operation Abundance.’

131 ‘It’s the Real Thing – Schumpeter,’ The Economist, 14 November 2015.

132 Kathman, ‘Brand Identity Development,’ 24.

133 Simonson and Rosen, Absolute Value.

134 http://ibcnetwork.org/gestion/uploads/news_events/document_23.pdf.

135 Goldsmith et al., ‘Consumer Attitudes,’ 340.

136 Rossi, Borges, and Bakpayev, ‘Private Labels versus National Brands,’ 74.

137 Several firms adopted a PLBs strategy. First A&P (1859), followed by Penney (1914), Sears (1926), and Marks and Spencer (1928). Montgomery, ‘Marks and Spencer Ltd. (A);’ Spector, ‘The Evolution.’

138 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/14/business/sears-bankruptcy-filing-chapter-11.html.

139 OECD, Trade in Counterfeit, 11.