Darren Paproski - final PhD submission.pdf - University of ...

providing what the central planners decided. These institutions now are required to identify
consumer needs and satisfy them in a very competitive market place. Further, although
countries develop at different rates, and other factors such as industry, natural resources,
political structure, and demographics may impact the speed of development, it should be
possible to make some generalizations about marketing's role during different stages of
development. This study helps to understand the current state of marketing in China and thus
aims to enhance knowledge of the role marketing institutions play in a transforming economy.
This research provides information on brand awareness among a number of brands in various
cities. Moreover, this study also interests managers from the perspective of whether
consumers generally prefer local or international (primarily Western) brands, and provides
insight into the reasons behind their brand preferences as well as to whether different ethnic
groups purchase the same brand for different reasons.
Finally, fine tuning a framework of brand choice with respect to Chinese consumers assists
marketing managers in understanding the factors that contribute to a brand's success in that
market. This framework also forms the basis for similar frameworks in other regional
developing countries. It must be emphasized, however, that the overall focus of this study is on
consumer behaviors and not marketing management per se. The results of the research do,
however, indirectly impact the management issues discussed above and are also supported by
anecdotal evidence from industry interviews.
1.5 Structure of the Thesis
The thesis is organized into eight chapters which are briefly described below.
� Chapter 1 - Motivation and Summary of Results (the importance of the research and key
findings).
� Chapter 2 – Managerial and Consumer Perspectives on Branding: An international context
(reviews the literature on brand meanings and evolution, discusses involvement,
situational factors, attitudes, and brand loyalty).
� Chapter 3 – Chinese Culture and Marketing (examines the socio-cultural environment,
brand symbolism, Confucian face, and consumer motivations in China).
� Chapter 4 - A Framework for Studying Brand Choice in China (discusses alternative
consumer behavior models, details the framework and key moderators used in the study
including country of origin, discusses the general research questions and propositions
following from the framework used).
� Chapter 5 - Methodology (discusses research methodology and data collections, the
results of pre-tests used for the primary survey, and implications of the preliminary tests
for the main survey, and depth interviews).
� Chapter 6 - Data Analyses (presents the findings from the quantitative study and relates
them to the framework).
� Chapter 7 - Discussion (relates both quantitative and qualitative findings to evidence).
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