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Introduction
The product images of American branded jeans, German automobiles, and Japanese electronics in the global market are proven and prevalent (Nagashima, 1970). However, what are the current images of recently developed countries and their “less-known” products, such as South Korea and Korean apparel, in the American market? Many countries in the Far East, except for Japan, have yet to develop a clear image and position in the western market. Although they have recently gained sufficient industrial capabilities and infrastructure for internationalization through national economic development, it is still unclear what would be an effective way for them to introduce their “unknown” products to western consumers and where to start.
This study suggests utilizing the two levels of halo constructs – the country’s general image among consumers and a well-known product category from the country – in marketing a less-known product category from a recently developed country, and examines whether utilizing those two levels is effective through empirical testing. For the first level of halo effect, utilizing the halo effect of country image in product marketing is not a new notion. Over the past 50 years, country image researchers have found that early-developed countries’ well-known products (e.g. American jeans and German automobiles aforementioned) were significantly benefited by their competitive country images (Erickson et al., 1984; Johansson et al., 1985; Nagashima, 1970). For these countries, expansion of foreign market entries is not as challenging as their first foreign market entry as most global consumers already have positive prior experiences, knowledge, and favoritism toward their products, thus readily welcoming their new products. However, what about the case of recently developed and emerging countries that have no competitive country images among consumers? Is it also beneficial for them to leverage their new products with their yet-to-be-developed country images? Departing from the past research that predominantly focused on the contexts of developed countries’ well-known products, this study focuses on utilizing halo effect of general country image in the context of a recently developed country’s less-known product that currently has a low competitive image among foreign consumers, such as Korean apparel among American consumers.
Further, this study examines if those recently developed countries can utilize the image of their relatively more known product category in improving consumer expectations...