Western Brands Research Articles

Understanding the younger Singaporean consumers’ views of western and eastern brands

This study examines consumer brand associations, focusing on the differences between association held for western brands and eastern brands by young Singaporeans under the country‐of‐origin umbrella. The study also examines consumer ethnocentric tendencies (CET), finding very low levels of ethnocentrism among respondents, and results indicate CET had no effect on brand preference or purchase intention.

A comparison of the purchasing and consumption behaviour of Slovenian and other Eastern European consumers

Formation of a single market within the EU and democratisation and development of a market economy in Eastern Europe undoubtedly enhance standardisation of marketing in the European area. Multinational companies planning to enter the Eastern European market frequently assume that this region is culturally and economically undifferentiated. The purpose of the study is to analyze whether the purchasing and consumption behaviour of Slovene consumers is similar to that of consumers from other Eastern European countries. The attention is focused on the following five dimensions: orientation towards domestic brands versus Western brands, experimentation with unknown brands and new products; brand loyalty; quality orientation and quality indicators; and price sensitivity.

A cross‐cultural comparison of style in Eastern European emerging markets

Torn between socially‐mandated dress conformity and the glitter of Western designers, consumers in Eastern Europe have always been interested in Western style. After the fall of Communism, fashion, led by Western brands, quickly conquered consumers, while local manufacturers started to offer quality goods. Exposure to Western brands and advertising affected consumer values: former collectivist values are gradually being replaced by individualism. These changes are occurring at different rates and vary in different market segments. Under these conditions, a study was conducted in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, comparing respondents on two dimensions of style: fashion‐consciousness (capturing individualism) and dress‐conformity (capturing collectivism). The findings support the hypothesis that fashion consciousness is highest for Westernized Hungarian respondents, who have the highest income and can afford fashionable clothing. Dress conformity was highest for Bulgarian respondents, who had setbacks in adopting a market economy and are less Westernized. The findings support demographic differences predictions: younger individuals are more fashion conscious than older individuals, whereas dress conformity is higher for older than for younger individuals. Finally, men are more fashion conscious than women. The findings on gender differences in dress conformity are mixed. Marketing implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed.

Market closeness, commitment, and the international customisation of brand image: The case of Western brands in the Czech Republic

A sample of 85 UK-based Western businesses known to sell in the Czech Republic was surveyed to establish the extent to which market knowledge gained from close links with local Czech partners (distributors, retailers, agents, consultants, etc.) encouraged them to customise their brand images in the local Czech market. The influences on image customisation of a company's commitment to, and dependence on, sales in the Czech Republic were also examined. It emerged that market closeness and market commitment significantly affected the degree of image customisation. The results for market dependence were inconclusive. Image customisation seemed to depend more on marketing executives' belief in the existence of major cultural differences between the Czech Republic and the UK than on economic differences or disparities in national advertising media or distribution systems.

A Liberation Psychoanalysis for Russia

���������� Background During my visit to Russia I found it to be a confused and confusing place. Since my visit to Russia in October of 1997, I have developed some tentative ideas concerning the possible “place” of psychoanalytic theory and practice in today’s Russia. While there, and now as well, I feel that the present Western psychoanalytic establishment, which I believe is very vulnerable itself, may be taking an hegemonic approach toward Russia which would be in Western self-interest rather than in the interest of the Russian people. I think that Western psychoanalysts might be enticed by the market value of Russia in at least two ways: the chance to spread a Western brand of psychoanalytic thought and practice to a potentially newly developing democratic/capitalist nation; and to reap the “profits” of their “God’s Eye View.” The “God’s Eye View” of the orthodox psychoanalyst is that they represent a universal standpoint that reifies neutrality in all circumstances. In Russia’s current political atmosphere of post communism/post-totalitarianism and authoritarianism, neutrality and politics cannot coexist. Russia, with its totalitarian history, has a population that responds unreflectively to authoritarian rule. Western orthodox psychoanalysis delivers its messages with authority. The paradox is that although Western analysts are working from a so-called free model of the mind, their delivery style might greatly appeal to Russians who are used to dogma, rigid thinking, and taking orders. The Russians, it seems clear to me, have “no mental model of freedom” (Sebek, Michael, personal communication, Prague, Oct. 1997). The “God’s Eye View” as taken by Western orthodox psychoanalysis might have

Popular journalism with Chinese characteristics

This paper is an interpretative attempt to explore the rise of what the author calls 'popular journalism with Chinese characteristics'. Inspired by the concept of 'popular journalism' discussed in numerous European works, the author uses this term for a new kind of market-driven, readership-oriented journalism that has emerged in the People's Republic of China along with the country's shift from the Soviet-style planned economy to a 'socialist market economy'. Like popular journalism of the Western brand, 'popular journalism with Chinese characteristics' caters to reader interest and needs. Nevertheless, it is government-bound, and has to follow the Chinese Communist Party's political line and policies. For this reason, its role in politics is limited to promoting the Party's cause. Popular journalism with Chinese characteristics is an unintended social consequence in the reform era, not a result of a planned move for political reforms. Despite that, no student of Chinese affairs can afford to make light of its influence on Chinese society even though such influence is often imperceptible.-

How Fast and Why Did Early Capitalism Benefit the Majority?

How long did it take for early rapid capitalist transformations to benefit the majority of the population? This essay examines three presumed success cases, concluding that rapid capitalist development took at least five decades to benefit the majority. A neglected political force for success was the effectiveness of local public and quasi-public institutions in creating wide networks of transportation and other public investments responsive to changing market requirements. Economists today should pay close attention to distributional benefits and local government effectiveness before urging western brands of capitalism on countries where failures to benefit the majority threaten severe political instability.

Hungary-A Market Ready for Western Brands?

Hungary-A Market Ready for Western Brands?

Design, Development, Culture, and Cultural Legacies in Asia

The very idea of writing on contemporary or design issues pertaining to any country or civilization seems to evolve around two methodological assumptions. The first assumption is that there exists something called design as ontological equipment. If not, at least a belief that design exists as a full-fledged discipline in quite the same way as economics, sociology, or history exist, distinct from the specifics of disciplines such as current monetary policy of the People's Republic of China, analyses of football hooliganism in Britain, or the causes of World War I. This broad rubric then could accommodate architectural, industrial, communications, and fashion/garment design, woven together as it were by a common methodological thread. Constituted thus, it could form the basis of teaching curricula. The second assumption is that nation states have identifiable cultural, socioeconomic, and esthetic aspirations and predictable patterns of lifestyle, which despite all their variegated heterogeneities, exhibit at least a certain identifiable common cultural substance and provide the necessary tabula rasa on which modern design may be projected. When these general assumptions are applied to Asian design, new problems emerge. Despite dissensions, the contemporary mainstream concept of design in the West is in some vague manner connected with new sources of energy, technological breakthroughs, mass production, minute specializations, and global quest for markets. It is perceived as a visible tool of both commerce and industry, carrying with it other legacies of nineteenth and early twentieth century ideals, for example, that design could act as a leveler of society through more equitable accessibility to mass-produced goods as well as introduce a sense of clean, rational, impersonal order. This sense of rational order is a direct descendant of the Enlightenment ideology, which in Weberian terms produced the Western brand of capitalistic transformation of society. There were, no doubt, several variants to this historic Western model, but underlying it all were two central principles: The first was that modernization, of which design was but a tool, was endogenous, that society was capable of transforming itself from within, and where there was inadequate endogenous impetus, such as in Germany, the state would become a central agent in the transformation of society. The second principle was that this

The Institutionalization of Soviet Sociology: Its Social and Political Context

Existing accounts of the history of Soviet sociology are deficient in that they sometimes attribute the reemergence of sociology in the USSR to a single cause; or they place too much emphasis on separate groups or individuals. The development of sociology in the USSR must be seen as shaped by the interplay of various important state and party institutions-the Central Committee of the Communist party of the USSR, the Academy of Sciences, the Soviet Sociological Association, the Ministry of Education, and the major universities. The part played by the Communist party, as active promoter and supporter of sociology, is underlined; as is the important influence of the universities of Marxism-Leninism (organized by the Party) in preparing cadres of sociologists throughout the country. This was especially crucial since such professional education was lacking in the more traditional schools. The evolution of these various interlocking influences during two periods of the development of sociology (1956-60 and 1960-68) is traced. The analysis of the revival of Soviet sociology leads us to recognize two major differences between Soviet and American sociology: the mode of thinking (hence the nature of social research, itselp; and the character of the organization and development of a community of sociologists. Soviet sociology is distinguished from any Western brand by its propensity for measuring everything from a collectivistic rather than individualistic point of view. An analyis of the employment of members of the Soviet Sociological Association shows a large proportion of party officials among the sociologists: Soviet sociology has close and multiple connections with the establishment. It is essential to recognize the practical functions of Soviet sociology, its intricate connection to the power system, and its particular pragmatic and ideological orientation.