Managing Country-of-Origin Affiliations for Luxury Brand-Building in China

Abstract

The recent wave of luxury ventures in China has created an important need to understand luxury brand-building in China. A critical component of this research domain is the concept of country-of-origin (CoO). Chinese ventures use multiple country associations which makes the country one of the most suitable places to study the new phenomenon of hybrid brands. This marks a new stage in the evolution of CoO research. Findings stemming from a conceptual research and an explorative study are used to develop a conceptual model for managing CoO affiliations for hybrid brands within the context of Chinese luxury brands. Practical implications will help brand managers to understand which CoO facets make a luxury brand ‘Chinese’ and, on the other hand, how to improve brand prestige with Western CoO cues.

Qualitative Analysis of Sustainability and Innovation Within the Luxury Business Sector

“…Within the global consumer culture, there are influences from different local cultural elements (Bartikowski & Cleveland, 2017). According to Heine et al (2018), the country of origin principle has a significant impact on the purchasing intention of the customer for luxury items. Thus, for the segment of luxury cars in particular, the Chinese consumers experience positive brand attitudes when the label Made in China is presented/advertised (Bartikowski et al, 2019).…”

“…Apparently, the new generations of luxury consumers are not compliant with those types of advertising and retail offers (Giovannini et al, 2015), an example being the Chinese luxury consumer for whom it is more important the provenance of the luxury brand, its country of origin, rather than any other aspect of the product itself. This is a strategy for competitive differentiation and creation of consumer benefit (Heine et al, 2018). Moreover, the coherence between the consumer and the product has the potential to strengthen the promotional messages of the respective brand (Hung et al, 2017), and, in the same time, the strong relationship between the brand and the consumer is based also on the benefits provided by the brand, including the self-expressiveness ideal (Japutra et al, 2018).…”

Tiers and Fears: An Investigation of the Impact of City Tiers and Uncertainty Avoidance on Chinese Consumer Response to Creative Advertising

“…Over the years, much advertising research has focused on the idea that creativity stimulates cognitive information processing, mainly through attention effects (Heath et al, 2009). That is, creativity is thought to provoke sufficient attention in the advertised brand to allow cognitive processing to take place.…”

Shaping a comprehensive government-supported country brand program

“…With regard to equity, consumer perception of CSR signals and sustainability contribute to increasing brand value and may be more effective for corporate brands with low or medium COSR ratings. Heine et al (2019) developed a model of concept management by facet affiliations of a brand country of origin (COO) for hybrid brands in the context of Chinese luxury brands. Practical conclusions will help brand managers understand which COO facets make a luxury brand "Chinese" one and, on the other hand, how to increase the brand prestige.…”