National Image Branding- China as an Example

Abstract

With the ever-increasing of globalization all countries must compete with each other for the attention and respect of investors tourists consumers donors immigrants and governments of other nations Therefore competitiveness of a nation is one of the most important concepts for any nations in the modern day It is an idea that had generated much interest for countries such as United States Germany France etc and now China All those nations all brought in experts to help them tinker with their nation’s identities and image If any of those nations is lucky enough to have a powerful and positive image it could provide a crucial competitive advantage over other nations Therefore it is inevitable that many countries would turn through branding The general assumption about competitiveness of a nation is any attribute that can associate with a country which affects nation’s brand identity image and reputation The only problem is that there are no clear definitions what it is or what attributes actually make up of it Therefore it is difficult to find an adequate theory and model that would reflect comprehensiveness of this subject Hence due to the lack of awareness on the subject it raises many questions such as what is national image branding What parts of the nation is being branded? Is it possible to branding a nation? What are the tools and measurement need for national image branding? Does a nation actually need branding? What effect of branding has on a nation? In order to achieve our purposes the dissertation used brand China as an example; dissertation intended to explore the current perceived image of China and to identify the “gap” between its image and its reality By defining what competitiveness of a nation’s element is the researcher could formulate a strategic model which will help nations improve their overall identities images and reputations With the advanced research on the subject we can possess better methods and understanding and it could be benefit countries economic development and use in the future Therefore the main contributions of the dissertation are to fill a major gap in the literature and provide a working definition on competitiveness of a nation The dissertation was designed to show not only conventional brand management techniques that can be applied to a nation but also to provide some in-depth background on the context and nature of the subject This dissertation offered a multidisciplinary approach and an affluent exploitation of different perspectives regarding the controversial topic The dissertation was trying to contribute to a better measurement of the nation reputation of nation construct and to develop an agenda for future research The research found three significant facts within competitiveness of a nation 1) the mechanisms by which a nation’s reputation can influences people’s attitudes toward nation’s products 2) the extent to which the reputation of a nation can be manipulated easily by different media and 3) marketing may be the keys to unlock such cultural barriers The nation’s overall reputation as a result of the interplay between the different brand images in relation to reality as well as reflecting the attitudes and especially the supportive potentials and supportive behaviors of all relevant stakeholders The study does not claim to have arrived at a definitive definition or a model for competitiveness of a nation but it has arrived at a working definition of the strategically managed process of applying branding techniques to a nation in order to gain competitive advantages by improving the perceived image and promoting the principle values of the nation

Date of Award	2015 Feb 24
Original language	English
Supervisor	Shiann-Far Kung (Supervisor)