Reflection of Country of Origin on Brand Image, A Case Study on IKEA Istanbul

Reflection of Country of Origin on Brand Image:A Case Study on IKEA Istanbul

Yalçın KIRDAR, PhD

AbstractThis study moves on from the theory that the county of origin hasinfluence upon brand perception and image. Focusing on thereflection of the image of country on that of the brand, SwedishIKEA brand is analyzed as a case study. Awareness of IKEA consumerson the elements of Swedish culture in the store is tested based ongender, number of store visits, and knowledge of brand origin.Frequency analyses are conducted and cross-tabulation is createdusing SPSS software. Hypotheses are tested using t-test (independentsamples t-test) and Anova (One-way Anova – Scheffe) tests andfindings thereof are interpreted. Keywords: Country of Origin; Brand Image; Country Image; Country ofManufacture Product-Specific Image; IKEA

ÖzetBu çalışmada, ülke kökeninin markanın algılanmasını ve imajınıetkilediği teorisinden hareket edilmiştir. Ülke imajının markaimajına yansıması konu edilirken, uygulama örneği olarak İsveçkökenli IKEA markası analiz edilmiştir. Cinsiyet, mağazaya gelişsayıları ve marka kökenini bilip bilmemelerine göre, IKEAmarkasından alışveriş yapan müşterilerin mağaza içindeki İsveçkültürüne ait unsurların farkındalığı test edilmiştir. SPSS programıkullanılarak; frekans analizleri yapılmış, çapraz tablolaroluşturulmuştur. Hipotezler t-test (independent samples t-test) veAnova (Oneway Anova – Scheffe) testleri ile analiz edilerek,bulgular yorumlanmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Ülke Kökeni; Marka İmajı; Ülke İmajı; IKEA

Building strong brands has become a marketing priority for manyorganizations today because it yields a number of advantages. Strong

* Yalçın KIRDAR is Assistant Professor, Department of BusinessAdministration, Gediz University, İzmir, Turkey. (E-mail:[email protected])

brands help the firm establish an identity in the market place(Aaker, 1996), less vulnerability to competitive actions, largermargins, greater intermediary co-operation and support and brandextension opportunities (Delgado-Ballester & Munuera-Aleman, 2005).In measuring the overall value of a brand, marketing researchers andpractitioners have begun to examine the concept of “brand equity”(Aaker, 1991; Baldinger, 1990; Keller, 1993) which has been referredto the tremendous value that the brand name brings to the producers,retailers and consumers of the brand.

Several aspects of consumers’ reactions to brands that maycontribute to brand equity have been identified, including brandimage, brand personality, brand affinity, brand relationships, brandcharisma, brand attitude, and the like, but there is no generallyaccepted model relating these constructs to purchase processes(Thakor & Kohli, 1996). However, if brand equity is regarded as aset of assets and liabilities connected with the brand (Aaker,1991), brand image – defined as “that cluster of attributes andassociations that consumers connect to the brand name” (Biel, 1993)– must be of central interest to researchers as a key determinant ofbrand equity.

The equity of a brand is the result of consumers’ perception of itwhich is influenced by many factors. Brand equity cannot be fullyunderstood without carefully examining its sources, that is, thecontributing factors to the formation of brand equity in theconsumers’ mind. Most of the brand equity research focuses on themarketing mix variables such as advertising, distribution, price andproduct quality as the contributing factors. However, not muchattention is given to the nonmarketing mix factors. In the processof buying, consumers are not only concern about the quality andprice of a product but also other factors such as the brand’scountry-of-origin. Many consumers use country-of-origin stereotypesto evaluate products for example, “Japanese electronics arereliable”, “German cars are excellent”, “Italian pizza are superb”.Many consumers believe that a “Made in . . .” label means a productis “superior” or “inferior” depending on their perception of thecountry. Brands from countries that have a favourable imagegenerally find that their brands are readily accepted than thosefrom countries with less favourable image (Yasin, Noor & Mohamad,2007).

It is very hard to differentiate the product image from the countryimage. A company like Samsung is maximizing their marketing effortsto survive from the highly competitive electronics market. Theirmarketing strategy has been successful and Samsung showed the

capability to share its electronics market with giant multinationalmakers such as Sony, Panasonic, JVC, Magnavox, and Toshiba. Samsungis a Korea-based company. However, no empirical research hasindicated that the country image has played a role on the success ofSamsung’s marketing efforts (Kim, 2006).

A product’s country of origin, or product country image, influencesconsumers’ evaluations of it. German, Swedish and Japanese cars,Japanese home electronics and French wines, for examples, aregenerally perceived and evaluated differently from, say, Russiancars, Brazilian electronics, or Israeli fashion. The marketingliterature abounds with examples and research evidence in support ofsuch an argument (Liefeld, 1993; Baughn & Yaprak, 1993; Verlegh &Steenkamp, 1999; Jaffe & Nebenzahl, 2001).

The fact that a product’s origin matters to consumers hassignificant strategic implications for firms engaged in bothdomestic and international business. Findings from product countryimage studies can provide valuable strategic information to firmsexporting their products, manufacturing abroad, and/or competing intheir home markets against foreign companies. The relevance ofcountry of origin research becomes even more salient when oneconsiders the increasing trend toward free trade and high pace atwhich national economies are turning global (Laroche, Papadopoulos,Heslop & Mourali, 2005). The numerous practical and theoreticalimplications of country of origin research have made it one of themost fruitful research areas in marketing, with hundreds of studiespublished since the 1960s.

The purpose of the study is to measure the extent to which thecountry of origin is reflected on brand image and how this isperceived in IKEA. As consumer image will be studied, basic researchobjectives are how IKEA customers perceive the brand, how theyposition the brand in their minds, and whether or not they identifyit with Swedish culture. Other research objectives are to find outif the country of origin of IKEA is known, if any element of theSwedish culture (Swedish flag, Swedish writings, Swedish food,Swedish books on shelves, Swedish scenery photographs in the store)is seen in the store, with whom IKEA is visited most often (co-visitor), to whom the idea of visit belongs, and the basic reasonunderlying shopping at IKEA are other research objectives. IKEA,which reflects the country of origin onto brand image and, whendoing this, introduces its own culture to the world without arousingthe antipathies of other peoples (customers), has been covered asthe subject of this case study.

Reflection of Country of Origin upon Brand Image

Brand Image and Country ImageThe importance of a brand name or image in consumer evaluation of aproduct is well documented. Consumers who do not have any specificideas about the product commonly rely on a brand name to infer thequality of a product (Szybillo & Jacoby, 1974). Existence of brandloyalty is a good supporting evidence of brand names' importance inconsumer evaluation of products (Ettenson & Gaeth, 1991).

Like a brand name, country of origin is an image or extrinsicvariable which works as summary statistic in consumer decisionmaking (Han, 1989; Huber & McCann, 1982; Johansson, 1989). As such,country of origin can be utilized as a proxy for judging qualitywhen other information about the product is lacking. From thecategorization theory perspective, a country name serves as acategorical cue for consumer information processing. Upon seeing acountry of origin label on a binational brand, consumers are likelyto draw an affective judgment associated with the country name. Ifthe country name is associated with a positive image, attitudestoward the binational brand are likely to be positive. On thecontrary, if it is associated with a negative image, negativeattitudes are likely to result.

The image of countries as origins of products is one of manyextrinsic cues, such as price and brand name that may become part ofa product’s total image (Eroglu and Machleit, 1989). Origin biaseshave been found for both developed countries and less developed ones(Nes & Bilkey, 1993). Generally speaking, products from the latterare perceived to be riskier and of lower quality than products madein more developed countries.

In meta-analysis, Liefeld (1993) concluded that country imageappears to influence consumer evaluation of product quality, risk,likelihood of purchase, and other mediating variables. He also notedthat the nature and strength of origin effects depend on suchfactors as the product category, the product stimulus employed inthe research, respondent demographics, consumer prior knowledge andexperience with the product category and consumer informationprocessing style.

Country of Origin

It seems that “popular” brands, including the market leader, tend toacquire more favourable evaluations and larger market shares with,rather than without, the popularity component in a market.Popularity appears to provide value to customers by enhancing theirconfidence in forming purchasing decisions. Popularity can provideassurance to buyers, particularly when consumers evaluate productsof which the product features are not easily compared amongalternatives (e.g. automobiles). In general, everything else beingequal, consumers reduce risk by purchasing popular models ratherthan unpopular ones. More importantly, the perceived qualityassociated with popularity can enhance customer satisfaction withregard to the usage experience.

Like brand names, a country name has a set of associations whichsignificantly influence consumers’ attitude toward productsoriginating from particular countries in a multinational productmarket. Products sourced from industrialized countries generallytend to have favourable associations, and hence tend to be evaluatedfavourably compared with those from developing countries (Hooley etal., 1988). Country images or associations have been mostly shown tooperate as a summary construct which influences consumers’ product-specific beliefs and directly affects their attitudes, particularlywhen consumers are familiar with the products from a country (Han,1989). A country is said to have positive (or negative) countryequity if consumers react more (or less) favourably to productsoriginating from a particular country, than they would to theproduct without the country name (Shimp et al., 1994). There is agroup of studies which seems to provide evidence of the presence ofcountry-related intangible assets (Chung et al., 1994; Johansson &Nebenzahl, 1986; Johansson & Thorelli, 1985). Overall, because ofits positive associations, a country name of high equity can have apositive effect on a consumer’s product evaluations at theindividual level and on the brand sales at the market level.

A challenging issue in relation to country of origin consists of thefact that several foreign brands (e.g. Accord, Camry, Civic) arecurrently made in the USA. An interesting question to pose iswhether the effects of country of origin are elevated or suppressedby the country where the product is manufactured (foreign directinvestment or FDI). It is not clear how FDI would relate to marketshare. On one hand, the aftermath of FDIs might elevate the effectof an international product by offsetting “anti-foreign” sentimentswhich prevail in certain segments of the market. On the other hand,however, since the effects of country of origin arise from acustomer’s beliefs that there is something “special” about thelabour, technology, or manufacturing processes given a particular

country, one could argue that FDI will offset any favourable effectsof country of origin (Kim, 1995).

Long-term intangible assets (generated from the popularity image andcountry associated image) generally have a positive effect on brandperformance. More specifically, the long-term intangible assets haveimplications for the brand, both at long-term and short-term levels(Aaker, 1991). Generally, the long-run variables are defined as thevariables which cannot be changed in the short run (e.g. productquality, image position, survival time, etc.), while the short-runvariables are defined as the variables which can be manipulated inthe short run (e.g. weekly or monthly sales events, newspaperadvertising, etc.).

Brand’s Country of Origin Image and Brand EquityBrand equity refers to the tremendous value inherent in a well knownbrand name. It appears when consumers willingly pay more for thesame level of quality due to the attractiveness of the name attachedto the product (Bello & Holbrook, 1995). In the marketingliterature, brand equity is referred to the intangible brandproperties. Brand equity arose from customer brand-name awareness,brand loyalty, perceived brand quality and favourable brandsymbolisms and associations that provide a platform for acompetitive advantage and future earning streams (Aaker, 1991). Theequity that the strong brand possesses can give the company a loyalconsumer franchise that could bring substantial returns to the firm.

Information-processing theory posits that consumers use product cuesto form beliefs and evaluations about a product, which in turninfluence their purchase behaviours. Generally, the country-of-origin is considered as an extrinsic product cue (Bilkey & Nes,1982; Cordell, 1992; Hong & Wyer, 1989, 1990). Consumers are knownto develop stereotypical beliefs about products from particularcountries and the attributes of those products. Therefore thecountry of origin image has the power to arouse importers’ andconsumers’ belief about product attributes and to influenceevaluations of products and brands (Srikatanyoo & Gnoth, 2002). Thecountry of origin denotes the home country for a company or thecountry that consumers infer from brand name (Han & Terpstra, 1988).

Most of the previous studies suggest that country of origininformation which is indicated by the “Made in . . .” label servesseveral purposes in consumer decision-making. It act as a salientattribute in consumer product evaluation (Johansson, 1989),stimulates consumer’s interest in the product, affect behaviouralintentions through social norms (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and

influences buyer behaviour through affective processes as in thecase of consumer’s patriotic feelings about their own country. Theoverall evaluation of products is influenced by countrystereotyping, that is, the image that consumers have about a certaincountry will influence their perceptions of products from thatcountry (Bilkey & Nes, 1982). Since consumers’ perception of aparticular country-of-origin influence their evaluation of productsfrom that country, this will influence their preference, purchaseintention and choice of a particular brand. Obviously, this hasimplications on the brand’s equity.

The IKEA SagaInvar Kamprad, IKEA’s founder, retired as chief executive in 1986but remains closely associated with the business. From an early age,Invar Kamprad who lived in as small in a small rural community inthe Smaland region of southern Sweden wanted to run his ownbusiness. In 1943, when Ingvar was 17, his father rewarded his son’ssuccess in his studies by establishing a company for him. The nameof IKEA thus stands for Ingvar Kamprad, the founder, Elmtaryd, hishome farm and Agunnaryd, his home village. The young Kamprad, whohad already been selling matches bought in bulk from Stockholm, nowstarted selling and delivering fish, Christmas tree decorations andseeds – all by bicycle. It is from these small beginning that thepresent furniture and furnishings retail giant has grown(Kippenberger, 1997).

When IKEA started to sell furniture at factory prices by mail orderin the early 1950’s, it met with firm resistance from theestablished furniture trade. Suppliers were threatened with boycottsand IKEA was literally thrown out of the bid furniture trade fair inStockholm. But customers poured in. And the corporate spirit fromSmåland could not be broken. Problems were turned intoopportunities. That’s the story behind what forms the foundation ofour operations today. With its own catalogue, its own stores,enthusiastic employees, suppliers all over the world, self-assemblyfurniture in flat packages, Möbelfakta and motivated customers whocan save themselves money through their own efforts (Moberg &Kamprad).

Kamprad’s idea with IKEA is to offer a wide range of homefurnishings of good design and functionality at a price low enoughto be affordable to most people. This is a “democratic idea” thathad originated from IKEA’s roots in the poor farming communities ofthe County of Smaland in Sweden. The three dimensions of “democraticdesign” are form, functionality, and low price. No other furnituremanufacturer is producing designed home furnishings that featured

all three of these elements. With respect to the third dimension –low price – IKEA designers are always asked to use design todecrease prices, not increase them. In effect, the price tag is“designed” first, beginning with a decision on what price themajority of people can afford to pay. A production line is thendesigned to produce furnishings that satisfied the other twodimensions. To achieve this, designers work on the factory floorwith production staff, rather than in a prestigious office in adistant city (Edvardsson, Enquist & Hay, 2006).

The ‘success story’ of IKEA is based on producing and co-producingcollective meanings (Salzer, 1994; Salzer-Mörling, 1998), which verymuch is about ‘the power of identity’ (Castell, 1997). A way ofdoing this is the use of ‘sense-making in organizations’’ (Weick,1995), a topic which is well developed in the leadership of IKEA,especially by its founder Ingvar Kamprad and his successors as topexecutives, based upon a strong service culture in form of cultureexpressions (Edvardsson & Enquist, 2002).

Service leaders like Ingvar Kamprad in IKEA sit between a past ofcorporate capabilities and a future of market opportunities andthreats (Berry, 1995).

Merriam-Salzer, who wrote her doctoral thesis about IKEA culture,says about her IKEA saga: The corporate saga about IKEA is the storyabout how the company started and evolved over the years. But it isnot only a vivid and heroic story of how IKEA got started and grewinto a successful international group, it is also a story thatreflects how the top organization at IKEA looks at itself and itsrole in the world. It reflects its special language, its myths andits heroes. To me it stands out as an important symbol that bothreflects and constructs the organization’s identity (Salzer, 1994).

Theoretical FrameworkCountry image can be defined as “the total of all descriptive,inferential, and informational belief about a particular country”(Martin and Eroglu, 1993). Even though country image can be formedfrom past experience of using a product in a given country, countryimage is different from product image or attitude toward theproduct. Only when the product is evaluated as derivation of countryimage, it is counted as country image. Evaluating the effect ofcountry image on a specific brand becomes complex in this context.

One attribute particularly important to international marketing isthe significant influence that the image of a product’s country of

origin or the country that people believe it comes from – has onconsumer’s perception of the product. The fact that Coca Cola, Pepsiand Nike are known to come from America is a fundamental part oftheir success, because there is little doubt that the US is theworld’s most powerful country brand. This may well be connected withthe fact that Brand USA has the world’s most advanced one. That iswhy their advertising messages have often stressed their sheer“Americanness” (Anholt, 2000).

Country image can play a big part in the overall success or failureof the product. Country image is an external cue to the buyer, whichis used in the final purchase decision. The correlation of theproduct and the country can be dealt with in two ways, usingknowledge about a country as a halo or a summary construct (Han,1989). Consumers may use country image as a halo, or sort ofgeneralization, to evaluate the products if little is known aboutthem. Han also noted that consumers might use a summary construct inproduct evaluations, meaning that a consumer would store the brandinformation as “chunks” and retrieve them later when needed toprocess information about other products.

The country-of-origin cue is manipulated through a “made in”indication on a description or mock ad, with the made in informationgiven equal billing to the few other cues included. This is in theface of marketplace reality, as Liefeld (1993) notes: “An afternoonat the supermarket and department store reveals that for manyproducts one has to be an amateur detective to find country-of-origin information”. This is especially true when products are madein poorly regarded countries, since manufacturers concerned aboutadverse consumer reaction may attempt to cover up the actual originin these cases ("German engineering"). For example, one study foundthat only 8 per cent of people knew where the Volkswagen Fox wasactually manufactured – Brazil – while more than 66 per cent thoughtit was made in Germany (Ratliff, 1989). On the other hand, academicresearch has been content to conduct studies where an unfavourablecountry-of-origin information cue is given the same prominence as afavourable one. Similarly, casual inspection reveals that the “made-in” label (the mainstay of country-of-origin research) is nowherenear as salient, on most products in stores, as brand, or price, orfeature information. In contrast, academic studies allow this cue aweight equal to other cues. Despite this, brand name and price arestill found to have considerable impact on consumer perceptions(D’Astous & Ahmed, 1994).

Global alliances and foreign sourcing trends among companies indifferent nations have resulted in the manufacture of many famous

brands outside the country that originally manufactured the brand(Lee & Ganesh, 1999).

Proliferation of binational brands in the global market has focusedattention on the role played by brand image and country of origin inconsumer evaluations of these brands. This has become a majorconcern for many multinational companies (Ettenson & Gaeth, 1991).Although several studies have explored the area by employing brandnames in their research design, the relative impact of brand imageand country of origin remains unclear (Bilkey & Nes, 1982). Whilesome researchers (Han & Terpstra, 1988) reported that country oforigin effect is stronger than brand image, a study by Cordell(1992) found mixed results, with effect of brand name becomingstronger or weaker than country of origin, depending on producttype.Another issue in the country of origin research relates to thedefinition of country image. Researchers in country of originstudies have typically defined country image at the product classlevel (Chao, 1993; Cordell, 1992; Han, 1989; Han & Terpstra, 1988;Nagashima, 1970, 1977; Roth & Romeo, 1992). For example, Roth andRomeo (1992) defined country image as the consumers' overall view ofproducts from a particular country, based primarily on their priorperceptions of that country's strengths and weaknesses in productionand marketing.

The effect of country of origin on consumer evaluation of binationalproducts can be better understood through the division of country oforigin into the two sub-constructs of country of manufacture overallimage and country of manufacture product-specific image. Consumerscan have a positive image about a country's products while they havenegative overall image about that country. For example, mostAmericans may evaluate Iranian or Iraqi carpets highly but not thosecountries. Also, it is possible that many Israelis may have positiveevaluations about the German automobiles but not about Germanyitself.

HypothesesThere are various strategies used by brands for creating an imageand reflecting positive images of their countries on their brands.IKEA brand promotes Swedish values and Scandinavian culture and itdoes so by avoiding conflict with other cultures. In order that thecountry image can be reflected onto brand image, brand consumersmust perceive the country that the brand belongs to as well as itsreflections. This research studies the awareness of customersshopping the IKEA brand or any element of the Swedish culture in

IKEA store. Five criteria have been established to measure theawareness levels of shopping customers:

Customer awareness of the Swedish flag in IKEA store, Customer awareness of the Swedish writings in IKEA store, Customer awareness of the Swedish food in IKEA store, Customer awareness of the Swedish books on IKEA store shelves, Customer awareness of the Swedish scenery photographs in IKEA

store

The foregoing criteria established in the study are compared againstthree independent variables. These variables are gender, number ofIKEA store visits and knowledge of country of origin of IKEA. Whenstudying perception differences between male and female subjects,analysis is conducted in three categories, which are first visit,2nd-4th visits and more than 4th visit. As regards knowledge of thecountry of origin of IKEA, those who gave the right answer and thosewho named other countries (or those who could not name any country)were categorised into two groups. Accordingly, hypotheses arecreated as follows:

H1: “Awareness by the subjects taking part in the study of anyelement of the Swedish culture in IKEA store” shows a significantgender-based difference.H2: “Awareness by the subjects taking part in the study of anyelement of the Swedish culture in IKEA store” shows a significantdifference based on number of IKEA visits. H3: “Awareness by the subjects taking part in the study of anyelement of the Swedish culture in IKEA store” shows a significantdifference based on knowledge of the country of origin of thebrand.

Sub-hypotheses were established based on five criteria for each ofthese hypotheses which were established according to threeindependent variables (that makes 15 sub-hypotheses). All hypothesesand sub-hypotheses were tested on an individual basis.

Methodology Methods employed by awareness studies can be examined in two groups:(i) qualitative and (ii) quantitative. Although quantitative studiesare preferred more, qualitative studies can also be conducted.Quantitative studies are generally made by means of questionnaires.Face-to-face interviews give more objective results in quantitativeresearches.

Our study employed face-to-face interview technique. The interviewquestionnaire was applied in Istanbul (Umraniye) IKEA store, the

first IKEA store in Turkey. The questionnaire was appliedimmediately after the customers finished shopping and left thestore. Customers need to know the IKEA store and certain features ofthe store in order to be able to reply questionnaire questions.Therefore, consumers of the IKEA brand (study universe), which isthe target group of the study, consisted of customers shopping atIKEA stores. The sampling frame consists of all shoppers at Istanbul(Umraniye) IKEA store. Istanbul IKEA store has an average annualnumber of 324.000 customers, which corresponds to a daily average of887 customers. Of the 1.000 face-to-face questionnaires applied to asample group of customers shopping at IKEA store, 907 turned out tobe valid. Customers who would participate in the questionnaire werechosen by systematic sampling, which is a probability sampling type.One out of every five persons who shopped from IKEA and left thestore after paying at the cashier was chosen and a questionnaire wasapplied systematically. No restrictions were made as to the personswho were given the questionnaire. All customers were given equalchance for responding the questionnaire.

Answers given by customers responding to the questionnaire wereexamined against dependent and independent variables, andstatistical tests were applied. Frequency analyses were made andcrosstabulation was established using SPSS software. Sub-hypotheseswere established based on five criteria for each of the hypothesesestablished according to three independent variables; thus, 15 sub-hypotheses were created. Hypotheses were tested using t-test(independent samples t-test) and Anova (One-way Anova – Scheffe)tests and findings were interpreted.

As there were two groups (male and female), t-test (independentsamples t-test) was applied to the hypothesis established accordingto gender variable (H1) and its five sub-hypotheses. Anova (Analysisof Variance) test was applied to the hypothesis establishedaccording to number of IKEA visits variable (H2) and its five sub-hypotheses as there were three independent groups (first visit, 2nd-4th visits and more than 4th visit). Scheffe test, one of the One-wayAnova tests, was used in order to be able to understand the group(s)from which the group that caused the difference resulted. T-test(independent samples t-test) was applied to the hypothesisestablished based on the knowledge of the country of origin of IKEA(H3) and its five sub-hypotheses as there were two independentgroups: (i) I know, it is Sweden, and (ii) I don’t know.

MeasuresQuestionnaire of this study consisted of three independentvariables. Besides, there were 8 questions, five of which were

dependent variables. Questionnaires of persons who replied allquestions in a consistent manner were accepted as valid (907 validquestionnaires). 3-grade likert scales were used in five dependentvariables. This scale was divided into three sections: 1-I am surethat I did not see any elements of Swedish culture in the store, 2-Iam not sure, 3- I am sure that I saw some elements of Swedishculture in the store. As a result, customer awareness of elements ofthe Swedish culture in IKEA store was measured. Analysis wasconducted in order to understand whether or not any element of theSwedish culture, i.e. Swedish flag, Swedish writings, Swedish food,Swedish books on shelves, and Swedish scenery photographs in thestore were perceived. The usual co-visitor to IKEA store, from whomthe idea of going to IKEA came, and motives for buying IKEA productswere other research topics of the study.

As a result of the frequency analysis of 907 persons who shopped atIstanbul (Umraniye) IKEA store and who were given questionnaires,48,8% were found to be females (443 persons) and 51,2% males (464persons). While 21,7% of customers were first visitors of IKEAstore, 36,3% visited IKEA store 2 -4 times and the remaining 42%visited the store more than 4 times. 60,2% of customers knew thatcountry of origin of IKEA brand was Sweden, whereas 39,8% did notknow the country of origin or thought it was not Sweden.

ResultsWhile 51,3% of customers shopping at IKEA said that the idea ofvisiting IKEA came from them, 20,7% said it was his/her spouse’s,17,6% said it was their children’s, 6,9% said it was their friends’,and 3,4% said it was somebody else’s idea. Depending on the personform whom the idea of visiting the IKEA store comes, and the cross-tabulation made among the genders, 55,1% of male participants saidgoing to IKEA was their idea, while the remaining 44.9% said it washis/her spouse’s, children’s, friends’ and somebody else’s idea. Thepercentage women who said that going to IKEA was their idea was47,1%.

Responses to the question asking the usual co-visitor to IKEA storewere scattered as 32,7% indicating family, 24,1% indicating spouse,19,5% indicating friends, 16,1% replied alone, and 7,5% indicatedothers.

25,4% of customers told that no delivery period (the practice oftaking the purchased product home and using it on the same day) wasthe basic reason for preferring IKEA products. 20,9% showedavailability of high quality goods at low prices, 20,6% gave productvariety, 17,2% showed abundance of facilities and comfort offered by

IKEA store, and 15,9% indicated ease of assembly of the product.According to the cross tabulation made for IKEA brand preference andgender, the reasons for which men prefer IKEA turned out to be (1)no delivery period, (2) ease of assembly, (3) availability of highquality goods at low prices, (4) product variety, and (5) abundanceof facilities and comfort offered by the store. The reasons forwhich women prefer IKEA were (1) abundance of facilities and comfortoffered by the store, (2) product variety, (3) availability of highquality goods at low prices, (4) no delivery period and (5) ease ofassembly. The ranking of the reasons behind female preference isalmost fully the opposite of the reasons behind male preference.

Frequency analyses according to three-grade likert scale of fivedependent variables (criteria) used in this study is given below:

Majority (50,3%) of customers answering the questionnaire saidthat they “Definitely saw” Swedish flags in an IKEA store. Themean of is 2,19.

Majority (49,9%) of customers answering the questionnaire saidthat they “Definitely did not see” Swedish writings in an IKEAstore. The mean is 1,94.

Majority (69,3%) of customers answering the questionnaire saidthat they “Definitely saw” Swedish food in an IKEA store. Themean is 2,53.

Majority (54,4%) of customers answering the questionnaire saidthat they “Definitely did not see” Swedish books on shelves inan IKEA store. The mean is 1,69.

Majority (55,9%) of customers answering the questionnaire saidthat they “Definitely saw” scenery photographs taken in variousSwedish cities in an IKEA store. The mean is 2,37.

Hypotheses TestsThe significance level for all test was set up p = .05. In addition,data showed normal distribution.

H1: “Awareness of any element of the Swedish culture in an IKEAstore” by customers answering the questionnaire displays asignificant gender-based disparity.

Awareness of Swedish flag in IKEA store (H11), awareness of Swedishwritings (H12), awareness of Swedish food (H13), awareness of Swedishbooks on shelves (H14) and awareness of Swedish scenery photographs(H15) were tested against gender variable by means of the five sub-hypotheses established under this main hypothesis (Independentsamples t-test).

As Sig. 0.00 < .05 according to the Levene’s Test in (H11)hypothesis, variances of the two groups are dissimilar. As Sig. (2-

tailed) corresponding to t = -6,979 value was 0.00 < .05, when welook at the answers given by participants, we can see that awarenessof Swedish flag in an IKEA store shows a significant gender-baseddisparity. Hypothesis (H11) was thus accepted (p<0.05). The level ofawareness by females of Swedish flags in the store (mean = 2,39) wasfound to be higher compared to that of males (mean = 1,99).

As Sig. 0.00 < .05 according to the Levene’s Test in (H12)hypothesis, variances of the two groups are dissimilar. As the Sig.(2-tailed) corresponding to t = -25,888 value was 0.00 < .05, whenwe look at the answers given by participants, we can see thatawareness of Swedish writings in an IKEA store shows a significantgender-based disparity. Hypothesis (H12) was thus accepted (p<0.05).The level of awareness by females of Swedish writings in the store(mean = 2,53) was found to be higher compared to that of males (mean= 1,35).



As Sig. 0.00 < .05 according to the Levene’s Test in (H15)hypothesis, variances of the two groups are dissimilar. As the Sig.(2-tailed) corresponding to t = -6,730 value was 0.00 < .05, when welook at the answers given by participants, we can see that awarenessof Swedish writings in an IKEA store shows a significant gender-based disparity. Hypothesis (H15) was thus accepted (p<0.05). Thelevel of awareness by females of Swedish writings in the store (mean= 2,54) was found to be higher compared to that of males (mean =2,20).

H2: “Awareness of any element of the Swedish culture in an IKEAstore” by customers answering the questionnaire displays asignificant disparity based on the number of visits to an IKEAstore.

Awareness of Swedish flag in IKEA store (H11), awareness of Swedishwritings (H12), awareness of Swedish food (H13), awareness of Swedishbooks on shelves (H14) and awareness of Swedish scenery photographs(H15) were tested against “IKEA store visit” variable by means of thefive sub-hypotheses established under this main hypothesis. One-wayAnova Test was applied for this hypothesis and its sub-hypothesesbecause this test had three groups. At the end of a One-way AnovaTest, dual comparisons of groups are made in addition to Anova testresults. If there is disparity among groups, information is providedas to the source of this disparity.

As the significance level corresponding to 290,67, which is the Fvalue according to Anova Test in hypothesis (H21), is Sig. 0.00< .05, when we look at the answers given by participants, we can seethat awareness of Swedish flag in an IKEA store shows a significancedisparity based on number of store visits. Hypothesis (H21) was thusaccepted (p<0.05). One-way Anova Test was applied in order to findout the group(s) to which this disparity could be attributed. It canbe said that awareness of Swedish flags in an IKEA store causes asignificant disparity among those visiting IKEA store (1) for thefirst time, (2) for 2nd-4th times, and (3) for more than 4th time(among all three groups). According to Scheffe test, while theawareness of Swedish flags in the store by people coming to thestore for shopping for more than 4th time was the highest; 2nd-4th timevisitors and first-time visitors followed respectively.





H3: “Awareness of any element of the Swedish culture in an IKEAstore” by customers answering the questionnaire displays asignificant disparity based on knowledge of the country of origin ofIKEA brand.

Awareness of Swedish flag in IKEA store (H11), awareness of Swedishwritings (H12), awareness of Swedish food (H13), awareness of Swedishbooks on shelves (H14) and awareness of Swedish scenery photographs(H15) were tested against “knowledge of country of origin (Sweden)”variable by means of the five sub-hypotheses established under thismain hypothesis (Independent samples t-test).

As Sig. 0.00 < .05 according to the Levene’s Test in (H31)hypothesis, variances of the two groups are dissimilar. As the Sig.(2-tailed) corresponding to t = -21,867 value was 0.00 < .05, whenwe look at the answers given by participants, we can see thatawareness of a Swedish flag in an IKEA store shows a significantdisparity based on knowledge of the country of origin. Hypothesis(H31) was thus accepted (p<0.05). The level of awareness by customerswho knew that the country of origin is Sweden (mean = 2,78) wasfound to be higher compared to the level of awareness of people whodid not (mean = 1,78).





DiscussionSwedish brand IKEA was the study-topic of this study, which measuredthe extent to which country of origin is reflected on brand imageand how this is perceived by customers. One of the basic objectivesof the study was to find out whether IKEA is identified with Swedishculture. Other research objectives were to determine if the countryof origin of IKEA is known, and if any element of the Swedishculture (Swedish flag, Swedish writings, Swedish food, Swedish bookson shelves, Swedish scenery photographs) are seen in the store.

When we look at the general evaluation of frequency analyses, we cansee that an overwhelming majority of customers shopping at IKEA saythat shopping at IKEA was their idea, which shows that customers arewillingly buying IKEA products. Spouses, children and friends areother sources of idea for shopping at IKEA. According to the gender-based cross-tabulation, 55,1% of male customers said that going toIKEA was their idea. These results, which show that the commonopinion that men dislike shopping is not true for IKEA consumers,are affected by inclusion by this brand of men into the shopping

ritual. The percentage of women who said that going to IKEA wastheir idea remained at 47,1%.

The study focusing on with whom the IKEA store is generally visitedrevealed that all-family visitors represented the highestpercentage. The reason of making more all-family visits than visitswith spouse, alone or with friends could be the fact that the branddoes not appeal to women only; there are areas within the storewhich appeal to men and even children.

Results of crosstabulation established between IKEA brand preferenceand gender reflect that shopping ritual is not specific only towomen and that this brand could be an attraction for men as well. Itwas found out that the most effective factors regarding men’spreference of the brand are (i) no delivery period and (ii) ease ofassembly. Requirement of assembly is one reason to include men intoshopping culture, who therefore become part of the shopping process.Thanks to this, men are included in the shopping ritual. Theresearch on reasons underlying women’s preference of IKEA brandreveals a very much different ranking than that of men. The firstreason is the abundance of facilities and comfort offered by thestore; others are product variety and availability of high qualitygoods at low prices.

As regards hypothesis tests, noticing an element of Swedish culturein IKEA store was tested according to three variables (gender,number of visits to IKEA and knowledge of country of origin).Awareness of Swedish flag, Swedish writings, Swedish food, Swedishbooks on shelves and scenery photographs taken in various Swedishcities, which are elements of the Swedish culture, revealed asignificant gender-based disparity. Awareness of such elements ofthe Swedish culture also shows a significant disparity based onnumber of IKEA visits and knowledge of country of origin of thebrand by customers.

Practical Applications and ImplicationsIn the past, scholars have made several attempts to devise anintegrative theory of how consumers incorporate product countryimage information in forming their attitudes and expressing theirpurchase intentions (Johanson et al., 1985; Papadopoulos et al.,1988; Johanson, 1989; Han, 1989; Hong & Wyer, 1989; Nebenzahl etal., 1997; Knight & Calantone, 2000). Although an overall picture ofthe structure of country image and the cognitive process associatedwith it seems to be slowly emerging, it still needs furtherrefinement.

Brand origin, while it has received little attention, may be a veryimportant element of many brands’ images. While research usingcountries has sought to demonstrate that consumers’ responses toproducts are markedly different depending on their perceptions ofits origin, the role played by brand image has not been appreciatedcompletely. Hence, the results obtained by researchers may notextend readily to the many product categories where brand origin maybe an influential determinant of consumers’ quality perceptions.Park et al. (1991) discuss how some brands distinguish themselves interms of functional attributes, such as Coleman and camping gear,while others distinguish themselves with respect to conceptualattributes such as Rolex and Gucci with luxury. It is clear that we cannot afford to disregard the potential effectsof brand origin on consumers’ perceptions of brand image. We alsoneed to manage origin information actively in the context ofdeveloping a brand image.

Multinational corporations produce and assemble products bearingidentical brand names (IBM, Pierre Cardin, General Foods, Henkel,Vicks, Black & Decker) in both developed and developing countries,little research has been carried out to measure the effect of hostcountry location on brand image. The lack of research in this regardis all the more surprising because of findings that consumerevaluation of products is influenced by a country’s stage ofdevelopment, consumers hold more negative perceptions of productsmade in developing countries (Wang & Lamb, 1983) and that thesourcing country (Han & Terpstra, 1988) and country of origin (Tse &Gorn, 1992) have greater effects on consumer evaluations of productquality than does brand name. Moreover, researches of brand imageand brand equity management (Aaker & Keller, 1990; Keller, 1993;Park et al., 1991) have shown that brand image strategies should bedetermined before other elements of the marketing mix. Finally,there is some evidence that country of origin has been concealed inorder to prevent loss of sales. For example, many Chrysler dealersin the South-West USA were either refusing delivery of Dodge andPlymouth K cars made in Mexico, or were tearing off stickers thatindicated country of origin. Many Israeli consumers refused to buyVolkswagen cars made in Brazil when it was known that identicalmodels were available from Germany, albeit at a higher price(Nebenzahl & Jaffe, 1996).

Findings of this study are important for understanding thesignificance of country of origin for researches focusing on brandimage creation and its integration into the literature. Whenpositioning their brands in the global market, marketing experts,communication experts and brand managers have to pay attention to

the perception of the country of origin of the product global.Consumers are inevitably influenced by country image and reflectback this influence on brand image. This critical point is addressedfor practitioners.

Based on the theory that country image affects brand perception, astudy is conducted in order to find out whether or not the customersnotice the elements located in the store belonging to the country oforigin and its culture is studied and findings are interpretedaccording to the levels of awareness. How the positive images ofcountries can be reflected on the brand in the store and the case ofIKEA will be useful for practitioners. Elements that are influentialfor customers and consumers in noticing country of origin are alsoincluded in this study.

This research also suggests a new perspective for reflection ofcountry of origin on brand image. There are a number of strategiesused for brand-image creation and reflection of positive countryimages onto brands. IKEA brand manages Swedish values andScandinavian culture without any conflict with other cultures, whichprovides an advantage for its activities in other countries.Consumers in countries other than Sweden do not have any negativeattitude towards Swedish identity and culture, and they have no badfeelings towards IKEA and Swedish products. By the same token,products and designs of the brand, Swedish flag, Swedish writings,and Swedish photographs do not attract antipathy of Turkishconsumers, which is an indicator of the success of the brand inreflecting country image onto its own.

Consumers have to perceive the country of origin of the product andits reflections so that country image can be reflected onto brand.Therefore, a research was made to detect awareness by people buyingIKEA products of elements belonging to the Swedish culture in IKEAshopping mall. Findings of this study remind us that marketing andimage managers have to take into consideration country images whencreating brand image. If the mage of the country of origin is apositive one, transferring this image to the brand must become oneof the objectives of practitioners.

In addition, these findings can be used by future internationalcompanies in the market. New markets mean introducing products todifferent countries, nations and cultures. Research is needed inorder to detect attitudes of the prospective market towards thecountry of origin of the brand and the culture of that country.Research findings will affect the decision to make investment inthat country.

This research is important for researchers as well, as culturalcodes of countries have to be well-studied before marketing a newdesign or product. Designs that do not fit well to culturalstructures, attitudes, beliefs, traditions and customs of theconsumers of any given country will not be well-sold in the market.Besides brand image, countries can affect image and sales ofproducts. Any drawbacks related to the designs, products and hencebrands of a country can have implications for the country image.This is a longer process, and, getting rid of that negative imagerequires efforts which can take as long. Therefore, strategies thatthe brand follows must not be limited to transferring positivecountry image to the brand; efforts for improving or reinforcingbrand image are also needed.

Study Limitations and Future ResearchThis study had some limitations. Based on the theory that thecountry of origin and brand perception could be best evaluated bycustomers of this brand, the study was only conducted with face-to-face interview technique with customers buying IKEA products. It wasbelieved that the awareness level of customers who pay at thecashiers and leave the store is higher.

According to the picture drawn by the results of this study, furtherresearch is necessary in order to understand how the country oforigin is reflected on brand. Studies can be conducted at differenttimes on customers shopping at IKEA store, and comparative analysescan be performed. Perceptions about the country of origin, Swedenand IKEA brand of people who are not IKEA consumers can also betested and compared with the findings of this study. The same studycan be conducted in different countries and in Sweden, andcomparative analyses can be produced. In addition, similar researchcan be performed and more information can be obtained on otherSwedish brands. Further research on brands on which countriesreflect their origins and cultural values can prove to be a valuablecontribution to the literature.

ConclusionAccording to the results of this study, as the number of peoplecoming to IKEA for shopping increases, Swedishness of the brand isbetter perceived, and, this perception does not create any drawbacksfor Swedish goods or Swedish culture. Consumers who come forshopping somehow perceive the elements belonging to the Swedishculture as the promotion of the Swedish origin and culture insteadof nationalist elements. In other words, consumers make buyingdecisions by reflecting Swedish country origin on IKEA brand image.

Another factor which contributes to the positive perception of thebrand is the fact that Turkish citizens usually have no negativefeelings for the Swedish culture. Sweden’s positive image in Turkey,and in other countries, is one of the biggest advantages of IKEAbrand in the national markets as well as in the global market.Officially named as Swedish Kingdom, and being a Scandinaviancountry, Sweden is known with its non-participation in all wars forthe last two centuries, its impartiality, and its support for peaceoperations. As the number of visits to IKEA store increases,awareness of country of origin of the brand improves. This awarenessis added to the positive image for country of origin, which is thenreflected back on the brand.

All elements in the hypotheses are perceived better by womencompared to men. In other words, awareness of elements of theSwedish culture among customers shopping at IKEA store andresponding to the questionnaire is higher among women compared tomen. In addition, integration of men into the consumption phenomenonby IKEA brand and, as a result, male voluntary visits to the storeis a striking element which improves brand loyalty and customerpotential.

Awareness of elements of the Swedish culture in IKEA store improvesproportionately to knowledge of country of origin of the brand.Because these elements reflect country culture, it can be said thatthe number of people who notice the country of origin will increaseand the brand image will improve accordingly in line with theincrease of the number of shopping visits.

We can conclude that, reflecting Swedish country values and the newSwedishness concept on its brand, IKEA transports its own cultureand values to all countries where it operates. While introducingSwedish culture to the consumers of the country in newly-penetratedmarkets, IKEA is also affected by the culture of the country itoperates in; it can also accommodate elements of that country aswell. While making local consumers adopt Swedish designs, it blendsthe culture of the country it operates in with Swedish culture.IKEA, which became a symbol that represents Sweden on a globalscale, is a brand that consciously reflects country image on brandimage. While reflecting Scandinavian and Swedishness values uponbrand image, it positions Swedishness elements as brand identity.

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Documents

Reflection of Country of Origin on Brand Image, A Case Study on IKEA Istanbul