week 1 discussion

Journal of Global Marketing, 23:171–176, 2010 Copyright c© Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0891-1762 print / 1528-6975 online DOI: 10.1080/08911762.2010.487417

INTRODUCTION

Special Issue on Brand Equity, Branding, and Marketing Communications in Emerging Markets

There has been much discussion about globalization and how Internet and communi- cation technologies are flattening the world and opening up massive opportunities in emerging markets from Asia, Latin America, and eastern Europe. In 2008, emerging markets accounted for about 45% of global GDP (evaluated at purchasing power parity exchange rates). This share will rise above 50% by 2013, and by 2050, emerging markets may well account for around 80% of global economic activity (Klein, 2008). From a marketing perspective, emerging markets offer some of the largest opportunities to build and expand brands. While the lure is ob- vious for many global companies to seek growth opportunities in the vast majority of emerging markets, significant challenges remain as to how to tap into indigenous inspiration and use global influence, involvement, and commitment to make a meaningful difference in these emerging markets. Although there are signs of worldwide consumer convergence of tastes and preferences (Dholakia & Talukdar, 2004), brand meanings and consumer-brand associations seem to be largely interpreted within the social fabric of lo- cal context (Eckhardt & Houston, 2002). Given that most emerging markets have confronted much of the impact of an increasingly global flow of goods, people, information, knowledge, and images, they need to be closely examined in specific aspects of worshipping things foreign

or local that are weaved into the unique cultural associations and local realities.

Recognizing the power and importance of understanding local knowledge for branding and marketing communications in the develop- ing or emerging countries, Keller and Moorthi (2003) pointed to the inability of some of the global power brands to build strong con- nections with the emerging-market consumers. They highlighted two types of dysfunctionali- ties of these global power brands in emerging markets, termed “value dysfunctionlity”flthe in- ability to deliver what is important to the lo- cal consumer; and “image dysfunctionality”flthe inability to communicate what is important to the local consumer. In their analysis, these de- ficiencies are due to several reasons, which include inadequate understanding of the con- sumer’s perceptions of brand value and improper or lack of marketing communications in rela- tion to brand identity in the home countries of emerging-market consumers. As they explained, “Failures in communication distort the mean- ing of the brand and can cause it to be inter- preted wrongly, narrowly, and often negatively” (p. 56). Therefore, there is an important need to re-think brand communication strategy to the local needs/desires and competitive situation in emerging economies.

In a recent book, Asian Brand Strategy, Roll (2009) provides general guidelines to emerging

171

172 JOURNAL OF GLOBAL MARKETING

market branding. The author emphasized that global brands must retain their brand identity at the strategic level but localize the tactical im- plementation through more relevant and adap- tive product modifications and communication strategies. In doing so, global brands would be able to leverage the unique local culture to re- late to the consumer and increase their chances to create a strong differentiation and weave into the fabric of the local society and make the brand a part of the community (Roll, 2009). While global brands rely on unique local cultures to re- produce themselves in emerging markets, local brands that aspire to compete successfully with foreign or global offerings must strive to tap into local myths and to rejuvenate their appeals to the mass segments of local consumers (Dawar & Frost, 1999). Interestingly, Young & Rubi- cam’s Brand Asset Valuator survey looked at ten emerging markets and identified their most re- spected local brandsflnot necessarily the largest or most valuable but that with the highest level of esteem. And in some cases, the little guys command even higher ratings than the giants.

Given the scope of the Journal of Global Marketing, this special issue attempts to address broad issues of brand equity, branding, and mar- keting communications in emerging markets. In the Calls for Papers, we have highlighted the following research questions: (a) What are the most effective marketing communication strate- gies for building global, regional, or local brands in emerging markets? (b) What are the rela- tive advantages of global, regional, and local brands in emerging markets? How are these ad- vantages sustained and enhanced in the face of increasing challenges in these emerging mar- kets? (c) In what ways are consumers in emerg- ing markets engaged with global, regional, or local name brands? What are the variations across different consumer segments in emerg- ing markets? (d) How is brand equity measured across cultures/nations? (e) What are various advertising-related issues for brand communi- cation in emerging markets? How are these is- sues evolved in the marketplace? What are the managerial implications for brand-building in these markets? (f) How do emerging market con- sumers perceive the equity of global, regional, or local brands? In which aspects can brand equity

be created through marketing communication strategies? (g) How do local consumers respond to global/regional companies’ brand acquisition strategy at their home markets? (h)What types of relationships are evolving concerning consumer tastes, consumption behavior, and brand prefer- ences in various consumer segments in emerg- ing markets? (i) What are the opportunities for emerging market consumers to engage with cor- porations and brands through various online so- cial networks? (j) How effective is the use of online social networks for building brand rela- tionships with the target audience?

We were impressed with the number of papers submitted to this special issue. After rigorous and blind peer review process, a total of six pa- pers were selected for publication in this special issue of the journal. In their article, “The Ef- fect of Brand Credibility on Consumers’ Brand Purchase Intention in Emerging Economies: The Moderating Role of Brand Awareness and Brand Image,” Xuehua Wang and Zhilin Yang build on the literature on brand credibility and ex- tend the general findings based predominantly in the Western context to the international joint-venture automobile brands available to the Chinese consumers. While brand credibil- ity, pertaining to expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness, is found crucial to affect con- sumers’ purchase intention, the facilitating role of brand awareness and brand image in the brand credibility effect seems to reflect the consumer desire for a clearer brand identity and meaning- fulness related to their consumption experience. Although not directly addressed in their analy- sis, the challenges due to the tension between the global and local brand connotations involved in marketing communications, as evident in many emerging markets, may characterize the need to have distinctive brand images in order to grasp the brand performance in emerging markets.

In the study of multicultural advertising effects in the “new” South Africa, Guillaume D. Johnson, Roger M. Elliott, and Sonya A. Grier look into a localized marketing communication framework featuring multicultural aspects and indigenous consumer identification with culturally embedded brand value. They define multicultural advertising as a type of advertising targeted at a culturally diverse target audience

Introduction 173

through the use of cultural representations, such as advertisement sources, symbols, traditions beliefs, values, attitudes, and/or objects from multiple cultural backgrounds. Based on their comprehensive literature review on multicultural marketing and advertising specific to emerging- market consumers, the authors highlight two aspects of the consumer social-identification processes, namely the “similarity process” and the “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) pro- cess, pertaining to the effectiveness of advertis- ing for building stronger brands in the politically and culturally/racially hypersensitive society of South African markets. The similarity process advocates the persuasiveness of advertising that conveys the consumer association and identifi- cation with the symbols, models, and cultural values in the ads, whereas the CSR process is ex- pected to create local consumer sentiment about larger goodwill of brands for South African society. Although such themes of multicultural advertising are not necessarily unique to the emerging market of South Africa, the country’s colonial and apartheid past has resulted in an extreme diversity of culture and human development, and therefore the ability to com- municate the larger social role of multinational brands can potentially curtail perceptions of neo-colonialism in countries like South Africa. From this point of view, their conceptualization reflects the acceptability and responsiveness of emerging-market consumers to indigenous values and the opportunity to enhance their perception of themselves.

In the article “How Consumer Ethnocentrism and Animosity Impair the Economic Recovery of Emerging Markets,” T. S. Chan, Kenny K. Chan, and Lai-cheung Leung propose a con- ceptual framework that looks into the effects of product and country images, consumer ethno- centrism, and animosity on attitudes for imports and overseas travel. They build on the country- of-origin literature by linking product-country images with protectionism and international af- fairs. Using a sample of respondents from two Asian emerging markets, India and Vietnam, the authors empirically affirm a reciprocal relation- ship between product image and country image in determining an individual’s intention to visit a foreign country or welcome its exports. Their re-

sults also reveal how consumer animosity toward a specific foreign country interacts with a general tendency of consumer ethnocentrism in affect- ing the product-country image effects within the context of the study. Overall, this article points to the challenges of establishing consumer sen- timent in the developing world for the imports from the developed nations and tourism. It will require a holistic view of the buy-in from a broad spectrum of diverse entities, constituencies and special interests that are susceptible to partisan politics and conflicts of interests (Papadopoulos & Heslop, 2002; Pike, 2005).

The study of “The Endorser’s Persuasiveness on the Purchase Intention of High-Involvement Products: A Comparison Between a Newly Launched Product and a Mature One” by Vin- cent Cho investigates how the endorser’s persua- siveness (with the endorser being an expert or a celebrity) affects consumer purchase intention of high involvement products, which usually need prolonged considerations before making a pur- chase. The author separates products into two types: newly launched and mature ones. As a result, there are four scenarios being created: (a) using an expert as the endorser for a newly launched product, (b) using a celebrity as the en- dorser for a newly launched product, (c) using an expert as the endorser for a mature product, and (d) using a celebrity as the endorser for a mature product. This would help us to better understand the endorser’s persuasiveness in an advertisement in different situations.

In the theoretical framework, which is based on the theory of reasoned actions (TRA) from Fishbein and Ajzen (1980), the author sug- gested that the endorser’s persuasiveness would significantly affect purchase intention of high- involvement products in different ways accord- ing to the type of endorsers and the stage in a product life cycle. Consumers purchasing high- involvement products usually seek related in- formation (Holmes & Crocker, 1987) and pay attention to the opinion of people around them before decision making (Charters & Pettigrew, 2006). Based on these characteristics, this re- search also revealed that social influence and consumer knowledge of the health care product are two significant moderators that affect con- sumers’ purchase intention.

174 JOURNAL OF GLOBAL MARKETING

The study findings showed that the impact of a celebrity’s persuasiveness on purchase in- tention is higher than that of an expert’s one for a newly launched product. In contrast, for mature products, the impact of an expert’s per- suasiveness on purchase intention is more in- fluential than that of a celebrity’s one. These findings are confirmed with Biswas et al. (2006) and Friedman and Friedman (1979) suggesting that celebrity would arouse more awareness of a newly launched product and expert would have a more sustainable persuading effect for a mature product.

For the moderation effect, both social influ- ence and consumer knowledge are proved to be important moderators in the relationship of per- ceived effectiveness of health care product and consumer purchase intention.

A trusting relationship with customers is criti- cal to a brand’s success in today’s highly compet- itive global market. Marketers have tried to seize every opportunity to enhance consumers’ trust, including improving product quality and per- formance, stimulating favorable word of mouth (WOM) and increasing advertising efforts. How- ever, little is known of the mechanisms through which user experience and other information sources influence brand trust. Better understand- ing of whether and how different information sources affect brand trust should provide valu- able insights for both practitioners and market- ing scholars.

In the article titled “How Do They Really Help? An Empirical Study of the Role of Dif- ferent Information Sources in Building Brand Trust,” Wang Xingyuan, Fuan Li, and Yu Wei examine how user experience affects brand trust in comparison with the effects of advertising and WOM communication. The fundamental as- sumption of this study is that brand knowledge affects brand trust and mediates the impact of in- formation sources on consumers’ trust. Informa- tion obtained from past consumption experience, WOM communication or exposure to advertise- ments determines consumers’ brand knowledge, which in turn affects consumers’ trust in the brand.

Data used to test proposed hypotheses were collected through central location interviews in

a major metropolitan area in China. The find- ings indicate that the three information sources exerted differential impacts on brand trust, with user experience having the strongest effect. In addition, user experience was shown to affect brand trust both directly and indirectly. This is not the case for WOM, and advertising for their effects were fully mediated by brand knowledge. Their findings confirm that enhancing brand awareness and increasing consumer knowledge of the product, company, and perceived value are important ways to build and sustain consumers’ trust.

A closer look at the findings reveals that the impact of different information sources on brand knowledge varies. Advertising was shown to be more effective in increasing brand awareness and conveying information on products and com- panies than in affecting consumers’ value per- ception. In contrast, WOM had greater impact on value perception than advertising, suggesting that when it comes to forming or changing con- sumers’ value perception, the focus of marketing communication should shift to stimulating pos- itive WOM. Their results also indicate that per- ceived value is the predominant consideration in consumer evaluation of high-tech brands. En- hancing consumers’ knowledge of the company and expanding brand awareness are also effec- tive ways to build and strengthen consumer’s trust.

From the empirical test conducted with a sample of Chinese consumers in an emerging economy, their results demonstrate the univer- sal applicability of the findings of the previous studies that were conducted in North America. The strong effect of user experience found in this study provides additional support for previ- ous findings. It confirms that ensuring positive user experience is the best way for marketers to foster consumers’ trust regardless of whether their product is marketed in the United States or in another country.

The present study demonstrates the dif- ferential impacts of various dimensions of brand knowledge and the different mechanisms through which information sources affect brand trust. These findings should enhance our un- derstanding of the role each information source

Introduction 175

may play in shaping consumers’ brand knowl- edge and consequently their trust in the brand. They should also provide valuable insights for practitioners on how to build brand trust as well as how to make the most efficient use of marketing resources in communicating with customers.

If asked “What drives international market- ing strategy in MNCs?” or “What determines the success and failure of brands around the world?” the answers could be recognized from international marketing and strategic manage- ment perspective as multilevel influences (i.e., firm, industry, and country factors). Brand value is a measure of the output from a series of brand investments and initiatives not only from finan- cial and economic perspectives but also from a marketing perspective. How to manage a brand across country borders becomes a salient issue in strategic thinking and practice.

In the article “The Persistence of Brand Value at Country, Industry, and Firm Levels,” Yi-Min Chen addresses these issues by using brand value as an economic performance mea- sure to explore what accounts for the persis- tence rate of firm, industry, and country ef- fects on long-term brand value in the context of Interbrand’s brand valuation formula. Encour- agingly, in general the results show that each effect is able to generate positive incremental benefits on brand value in the future and do not lend support to arguments that different speeds of convergence occur among firm, industry, and country effects. The findings yield the follow- ing managerial implications for the bridge of strategic management and international market- ing.

First, since country, industry, and firm effects are equally important to long-term brand value, the findings can gain insight into how these factors associated with international marketing strategy may compare with the other strategic options that firms pursue to improve their com- petitive positions in the domestic and foreign markets. For example, various research investi- gations on MNCs’ global marketing strategies provide the consistent evidence of the deploy- ment of standardized marketing strategies. Fi- nally, the concept of strategic fit asserts the importance of matching international market-

ing strategy to the context in which the firm operates.

Erdener Kaynak Editor, Journal of Global Marketing,

Professor of Marketing, School of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State

University at Harrisburg, Middletown Pennsylvania, USA

Lianxi Zhou Department of Marketing and International

Business, Brock University, St. Catharines Ontario, Canada

REFERENCES

Biswas, D., Biswas, A., & Das, N. (2006). The differential effects of celebrity and expert endorsements on con- sumer risk perceptions. Journal of Advertising, 15(2), 17–29.

Charters, N., & Pettigrew, S. (2006). Product involvement and the evaluation of wine quality. Qualitative Market Research, 9(2), 181–193.

Dawar, N., & Frost, T. (1999). Competing with giants: Sur- vival strategies for local companies in emerging mar- kets. Harvard Business Review, 77(2), 119–129.

Dholakia, U. M., & Talukdar, D. (2004). How social influ- ence affects consumption trends in emerging markets an empirical investigation of the consumption trends in emerging markets: An empirical investigation of the consumption convergence hypothesis. Psychology & Marketing, 21(10), 775–797.

Eckhardt, G. M., & Houston, M. J. (2002). Cultural para- doxes reflected in brands: McDonald’s in Shanghai, China. Journal of International Marketing, 10(2), 68– 82.

Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1980). Predicting and under- standing consumer behavior: Attitude behavior corre- spondence. In I. Ajzen & M. Fishbein (Eds.), Under- standing attitudes and predicting social behavior (pp. 149–172). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Friedman, H., & Friedman, L. (1979). Endorser effective- ness by product type. Journal of Advertising Research, 19(5), 63–71.

Holmes, J. H., & Crocker, K. E. (1987). Predispositions and the comparative effectiveness of rational, emotional and discrepant appeals for both high involvement and low involvement products. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 15(1), 27–35.

Keller, K. L., & Moorthi, T. L. R. (2003). Branding in developing markets. Business Horizon, 46(3), 49–59.

Klein, M. (2008). The international financial crisis: What next for emerging markets? The World Bank.

176 JOURNAL OF GLOBAL MARKETING

Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://web.worldbank. org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/

Papadopoulos, N., & Heslop, L. (2002). Country equity and country branding problems and prospects. Journal of Brand Management, 9(4/5), 294–314.

Pike, S. (2005). Tourism destination branding complexity. Journal of Product and Brand Management, 14(4), 258– 259.

Roll, M. (2009). Asian brand strategy: How Asia builds strong brands. New York: Pelgrave Macmillan.

Copyright of Journal of Global Marketing is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be

copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written

permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.