Ways to neutralize the country-of-origin effect in the emerging market firms international branding1
Article Category: Empirical Paper
Published Online: Mar 31, 2023
Page range: 46 - 56
Received: Mar 18, 2022
Accepted: Dec 07, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ijme-2022-0027
Keywords
© 2023 Marzanna Katarzyna Witek-Hajduk et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Paper’s objectives
The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which to neutralize the country-of-origin (COO) effect (COE) in the emerging market of firms’ international branding.
Design/methods applied/approach used
A multiple-case study of five companies from European and Asian emerging markets – owners of household appliances brands, with data sourced from in-depth interviews and secondary sources.
Findings
Companies from emerging markets neutralize the genuine COO in their international branding in various ways, for example, by applying brand or sub-brand names that do not refer to the genuine country-of-brand-origin, using slogans in foreign languages or establishing brand alliances with partners from developed countries.
Originality/value
This study offers original insights fostering a better understanding of international branding strategies applied by emerging market companies by identifying the ways they neutralize the COE both at the brand concept level and brand marketing communication tools.