Positioning Multicountry Brands: The Impact of Variation in Cultural Values and Competitive Set
研究多国品牌应如何在各国市场一致定位，发现若品牌形象属性在全球并非普遍受欢迎，则一致性会降低整体品牌态度；同时，竞争环境越相似，一致性对普遍受欢迎属性的正面影响越大。
Building on cultural values research, the authors identify specific image attributes on which multicountry brands should position themselves consistently across markets. Leveraging prior research, they identify three life values that are most equal (benevolence, universalism, and self-direction) and two that are least equal (power and hedonism) in cross-national importance. The authors link specific brand image attributes (e.g., friendly, social, elite style, arrogant) to these life values through empirical data and semantic analysis. Using an extensive field data set on consumer perceptions and preferences from 22 countries regarding more than 1,700 brands, the authors then show that greater global consistency of a brand's image decreases overall brand attitudes if the specific image attribute is one that is not equally desired worldwide. They also find that the attitudinal impact of a multicountry brand's positioning consistency on commonly valued image attributes is greater when the set of competitors the brand faces across its markets is more homogeneous. The authors discuss implications for global brand management theory and practice.