Place Images and Nation Branding in the African Context: Challenges, Opportunities, and Questions for Policy and Research

Abstract

This paper examines nation branding in Africa, based on a comprehensive and integrative review of past research. This considers, among others, current place images on the continent in the context of traditional views, which see it as a poor and underdeveloped region, versus the newer perspective of an evolving “African Renaissance”; efforts at systematic place marketing in sectors including tourism, foreign investment, natural resource and manufactured exports, and higher education; the absence of intra-African research on place image effects; reverse ethnocentrism, or the generally positive view of African consumers about products originating from more developed countries outside the continent; and the “continent effect”, which may affect individual countries' efforts to establish their own identities. Information and insights from this review are synthesized to highlight implications and potential directions for future research and policy, on both specific thematic areas as well as overarching research topics that affect all aspects of African images and nation branding.

Keywords:

• Nation branding
• Product-Country Images
• country of origin
• foreign direct investment in Africa

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Dr. Nicolas Papadopoulos is Chancellor's Professor of Marketing and International Business at the Sprott School of Business of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. His research focuses on international strategy and buyer responses to it and includes expansion strategy, foreign direct investment, place images and branding, and international market systems. He has over 290 publications, including books, book chapters, conference papers, and recent articles in such journals as International Business Review, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Macromarketing, and International Marketing Review. He is a member of the Senior Advisory Board or Editorial Review Board of eight journals including the Journal of International Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, and International Marketing Review.

Dr. Hamzaoui-Essoussi is an Associate Professor of International Marketing and Consumer Behaviour at the Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa. She is the Director of the MSc in Management Program. Her research focuses on brand management and the effects of a product's country of origin on consumer behaviour in industrialized and emerging countries. She is especially interested in international branding issues, place branding, and international market selection. Her work was published in such journals as Journal of Business Research, European Journal of Marketing, International Marketing Review, and Journal of Consumer Marketing. She has made numerous presentations at national and international conferences. She serves as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals on a regular basis.