Leonidou et al. 2006 EJM.pdf

same time keeping their prices low. To achieve this, however, it is important todisseminate marketing knowledge among Chinese business people, through theintroduction of specialized marketing courses in academic business curricula, theorganization of executive training courses, seminars and workshops on marketingissues, and the provision of free hands-on marketing consulting services to firms thatintend to sell their products abroad.Corporate policy-makers should also realize that brand image has a more significanteffect on consumer evaluations than the image of their country, industry, or product.As such, they should invest time, money, and effort in building a strong brand imagethat will make their goods attractive to overseas consumers. US managers should takeadvantage of the favorable evaluations their country received from British consumersby trying to develop their brands in a way that will enhance their positive image evenfurther. Importantly, they should fully deliver to consumers whatever is promised intheir promotional and advertising campaigns, in order to avoid disappointment anddissatisfaction with the actual products sold, and a resulting drop in consumerevaluation. Individual firms could position their products along the lines of theproduct/marketing attributes that consumers consider favorable for US goods (e.g.quality, service, warranty), and present convincing arguments that will subsequentlyconvert them into repeat buyers. As opposed to that of US firms, the situation of theirChinese counterparts in the British market is not so optimistic, as demonstrated by themoderate to low evaluations received on almost all non-price factors. Thus, it isimportant for them to make every possible effort to improve their brand image, in orderto overcome the relatively unfavorable image observed at the country, industry, andproduct level. This can be achieved by better understanding consumer needs andwants, manufacturing innovative and quality goods, offering proper service, andproviding effective distribution and promotion, while at the same time maintainingprices at competitive levels.US versusChinese goods813Limitations and future researchThe previous conclusions and implications should be seen within the context of anumber of limitations, that provide the basis for undertaking future research on thesubject. First, this study was conducted among British consumers, whose idiosyncraticevaluation patterns may be different from those residing in other countries. Thus, toestablish the stability of the study findings, it is important to replicate this study indifferent socio-economic contexts (e.g. developing countries) and geographic regions(e.g. Asian countries). Second, the focus of this study was on goods manufactured inthe US versus goods produced in China only. There is scope for expanding thisresearch to a wider range of developed (e.g. Canada) and developing (e.g. India)countries, as well as including in the investigation newly industrialized countries (e.g.South Korea). Third, the same argument applies to the selection of products. Use ofdifferent industries, products, brands, and models may provide additional insights intocountry-of-origin evaluations and help to make more illuminating inferences about theway consumers’ attitudes toward foreign products and attributes are formulated.Fourth, the study excluded goods produced by indigenous manufacturers, althoughincluding them could provide additional information as to the way consumers evaluatedomestic goods vis-à-vis their foreign counterparts on different levels of analysis. Fifth,the study captured the evaluations of consumers at a single point in time, which was