Consumer-based brand equity and country-of-origin relationships: some empirical evidence

Abstract

Purpose – The objective of the present research is to examine the impact of the country of origin of a brand on its consumer-based equity.Design/methodology/approach – Brand equity was conceptualized in this paper as a combination of brand awareness, brand associations, perceived quality and attitudinal brand loyalty. A doubly multivariate design was incorporated in a structured questionnaire to collect data via mall intercepts in an Australian capital city.Findings – Multivariate analysis of variance of the data indicated that consumer-based brand equity varied according to the country of origin of the brand and product category. This impact of country oforigin on brand equity occurred where consumers perceived substantive differences between the countries in terms of their product category-country associations.Research limitations/implications – An important direction for future research would be to examine how the consumer-based equity of a brand would be affected, if the country of origin were changed from a country with weaker association with the product category to a country with strong association with the product category. The results would be useful to MNCs contemplating international manufacturing.Practical implications – Marketing managers operating in the international context must identify the sources of brand equity, and understand the importance of incorporating country of origin intotheir brand equity measurement. Further, the results suggest that, when a brand offers a variety of product categories, brand managers should monitor and track the brand’s consumer-based equity foreach product category.Originality/value – The present study is one of the first to empirically examine and confirm the impact of country of origin on the consumer-based equity of a brand.