A Treatise on Isoattribute Curve Analysis, Consumer Induction Factor, and Country Brand Value

This research has endeavored to focus on three major issues that are yet to be explored as per the existing literature on marketing. The first issue focuses on the Isoattribute curve analysis, rooted in the theory of conjoint utility analysis. In other words, the first segment concentrates on the derivation of the Isoattribute curve model which helps to attain the consumer equilibrium condition in a two-commodity world (brand or non-brand products). The second segment of the chapter has transitioned from the microeconomic model to the macroeconomic perspective based on a ‘single-country' approach, i.e., USA, based on a derivation of consumer induction factor (CIF). Finally, the third and final segment of the chapter extends its horizon at a larger scale by conducting a cross-country time-series study of 10 years (2009 – 2018) which redefines branding in an absolutely new dimension where the ‘brand values' of seven sample countries are estimated by inculcating the socio-economic, political, and working environment factors as the major dimensions.

Országmárka-rangsorok a Covid-19 világjárvány idején – „Az az egy fontos: legyetek jók most!”

A termékek és szolgáltatások világában jó ideje megszokottak a márkarangsorok: a top100-as globális márkalistát többek közt elkészíti az Interbrand és a BrandZ-Kantar-WPP is. Az Interbrand 2020-as listájának első öt helyén például az Apple, az Amazon, a Microsoft, a Google és a Samsung áll, őket követi az első, nem technológiai márka, a Coca-Cola. De a BrandZ-Kantar-WPP 2020-as rangsora esetén is hasonló a helyzet, ott az első öt helyezett sorrendje: Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Visa. A klasszikus márkarangsorokhoz hasonlóan az országmárkákra is rendelkezésre állnak már toplisták. Sőt, szinte minden évben megjelenik legalább egy új ilyen. Van már Anholt Nation Brands Index, FutureBrand Country Brand Index, Anholt Good Country Index, Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking (Tourism Edition, illetve Trade Edition), Young&Rubicam Best Countries, Reputation Institute Country RepTrak és Global Soft Power Index is. Ezek mindegyikét lehetetlen taglalni egyetlen cikk keretei között, és nem is mindegyiknek van annyira friss országmárka-rangsora, ami már a Covid-19 járványidőszak alatt született, ezért most csak az első hármat vettük górcső alá közülük. A publikáció egyik célja az, hogy magyar nyelven először bemutassa ezek módszertanát, dimenzióit és faktorait, illetve az egyes rangsorok eredményeit, különös tekintettel arra, hogy 2020-ban miként változtak. Az írás másik célja, hogy rámutasson arra, hogy a jó országmárka, a jó országimázs alapja voltaképp nem más, mint maga a jó ország, pontosan ugyanúgy, ahogy egy klasszikus márka esetében is a kiindulópont a jó termék és szolgáltatás.

Country Brand-Strength Index for G7 Countries and Turkey

Even though, in the past, competition depended on the factors of production possessed, today it depends on the production of value-added goods, their export, and finally, branding of the country today. Since the late 1990s, the brand value of countries has been an important concept that has been studied. Current academic literature is deprived of weighting sub dimensions of country brand strength index and compare index values by years. Having an import-ant role in academic literature, Fetscherin (2010) identified five dimensions of the country brand strength index as export, tourism, foreign direct investment, migration and governance, but not giving any weighting to sub dimensions. In order to contribute to current country brand index literature, sub-dimensions of the index are weighted with the help of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method, comparing 2010 and 2015. Therefore, the innovation of this paper is its weighting method and the comparison of index values by years. The Country Brand Strength Index (CBSI) is calculated for G7 countries and Turkey using the survey based AHP method, consisting of 5 different indi-cators: exports, foreign direct investments, tourism, immigration, and governance. According to the results, it is deter-mined that “exports” has the most important weight among those indicators with Canada leading the group with the best index value in 2010 and 2015. The aim of this study, which was conducted with limited resources, is to shed light on studies to be carried out in the future in order to establish a strong country brand and increase country competi-tiveness in the international markets. In this respect, repetition of this research as regards to geographical and regional variations and performing qualitative and quantitative studies, incorporating different dimensions in the index such as culture, science and technology, will strengthen the academic literature in this field.

Brazilians and Americans habits and perceptions analysis for the translation of coffee packages and labels

In this paper, we analyze the consumption habits and perceptions of Brazilians and Americans regarding the consumption, preparation and handling of the coffee product and its packaging, in order to better think about translating the packaging of coffee produced in southern Minas Gerais to the USA market. Through bibliographic research and other resources, information such as preparation, reasons for consumption, and place of consumption were compared between the two populations to understand if there were relevant cultural differences. The packaging of eight coffee brands, four from each country, was also compared in order to notice any differences and similarities between them. The results show that there are indeed differences between the two cultures, both in their habits and in their packaging. Some examples are the valorization of the semantic field of coffee in Brazilian packaging, and the preference for quick methods of brewing the product for the Americans. We conclude that any translation of Brazilian coffee for the American public must consider these differences. Finally, we present some possibilities for packaging translation, using for this the idea of country brand and its influences on consumers, as well as the concepts of Localization, Intersemiotic Translation and Paratranslation.

Country Brand Equity: The Decision Making of Corporate Brand Architecture in Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions

Cross-border merger and acquisition (CBM&A) is a dominant and sustainable antagonistic strategy, but a relevant concern like a country has inadequately been emphasized over the five decades of acquisition studies. Therefore, this article attempts to examine the impact of country brand equity (CBE) on corporate brand architecture (CBA) in post-CBM&A. It first originates a hypothetical model esteeming Resource-Based View (RBV) and Industrial Organization (IO) theory following the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm. Then, it tests the model conducting a web survey on 124 acquiring corporates from 29 countries that accomplished CBM&A transactions between 1990 and 2014. The empirical findings clarify that the market aspect, such as the acquirer’s more substantial country brand equity, indirectly leads to the high degree of CBA standardization in the host market through prioritized intangible and strategic resources—corporate reputation and corporate brand management system. Individually, the acquirer’s corporate reputation cumulatively yields a high degree of CBA standardization with corporate brand power, which has only a direct effect. On the other hand, the corporate brand management system leads to a high degree of CBA standardization cumulatively with corporate reputation. It is deemed that the research findings as a whole reveal a framework for the application of country brand equity and corporate brand architecture in post-CBM&A.