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Drawing on the six-dimensional framework of the Anholt-GfK Nation Brands Index (NBI), the purpose of this paper takes a government-to-business (G2B) perspective of international marketing by shedding light on how governments (as sellers) can harness their nations’ brand image to attract businesses (as buyers) to invest in the country.

Using Korea as context, this study interviewed Korea-based foreign multinational companies (MNCs) to elucidate how nation brand had influenced their FDI decisions to establish R&D centres in Korea. Purposive sampling identified 36 MNCs from diverse countries and industries that had set up R&D centres within the last decade. Individual in-depth interviews probed the MNCs’ views of Korea’s nation brand in regards to their FDI decisions. Recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed for common themes.

Five key thematic attributes of Korea’s nation brand emerged: rigid labour market, pro-FDI government, Chaebols’ dominance, strong nationalism and rapid industrialisation. These attributes relate to NBI’s dimensions of people, governance, investment/immigration, culture/heritage and exports, respectively. The dimensions impacted Korea’s nation brand differently.

This study contributes to nation branding research by applying the Anholt-GfK NBI to empirically investigate nation brand’s influence on attracting business investments at a macro-G2B level. The findings are particularly useful in guiding government policy-makers and trade organisations on running nation-brand promotions and marketing campaigns for FDIs. The findings will also benefit foreign businesses who are considering injecting capital investments into a country.

This study focuses on country branding indices. The main purpose of this study is to build an objective country brand strength index using secondary data. The new index, the Modified Country Brand Strength Index (MCBSI), builds on Fetscherin's (2010) Country Brand Strength Index (CBSI) but uses more rigorous methods and design to create a complementary index to be used together with the survey-based Anholt–GfK Nation Brands Index (NBI). The MCBSI also utilized human development, which is an important dimension of country brands not captured by CBSI.

The MCBSI addresses three significant limitations of the CBSI by using an alternative methodology in constructing the index: specifically, it uses weights for the dimensions, longitudinal data, and relative values by dividing each factor by its cross-country maximum.

Our index ranks 131 countries based on the strength of their country brand. A stronger correlation was found between the MCBSI and NBI than between the CBSI and NBI.

Our contribution has strong implications for both policymakers and academic researchers as it provides a tool for assessing the strength of country brands through accurate but less costly data compared to primary data collected by consultancies for country brand strength indices. The MCBSI informs country brand managers regarding how well their country brand performs across a range of critical dimensions, including export, tourism, foreign direct investments, immigration, government environment and human development.

This study contributes to the emerging academic literature on country brand indices. Currently, there is a lack of objective measurement instruments for assessing country brands. The MCBSI is designed for this purpose to complement the NBI by measuring country brands with objective secondary data. Viewed together, the NBI and our index overcome the obvious shortcomings inherent in each method by providing objective, factual data on country brand equity while providing insight into how people socially construct and evaluate nation brands.

The main objective of this study is to identify some of the variables that affect the perception of Brazil country brand, as well as the knowledge of the relationships between them.

The proposed model aims to find out the influence of the affective image, the cognitive image, the identity and the reputation on the country brand. Partial Least Squares (PLS) is the method used to test the proposed model.

According to the results obtained, it seems that both identity and reputation have a positive and significant effect on the country brand. On the other hand, the cognitive image is positively related to identity and the affective image, while it is surprising that the affective image itself shows no significant influence on identity.

The study is of particular interest to the policy makers of territories, explaining the factors they must influence in order to successfully enhance the country brand. It also contributes to theoretical development by proposing a conceptual model that highlights the importance of the cognitive image in the country brand, due to its effect on the affective image and identity.

El principal objetivo de este estudio es identificar algunas de las variables que inciden en la percepción de la marca país Brasil, así como el conocimiento de las relaciones entre ellos.

El modelo propuesto tiene como objetivo conocer la influencia de la imagen afectiva, la imagen cognitiva, la identidad y reputación en la marca país. El PLS (Partial Least Squares) es el método utilizado para probar el modelo propuesto.

Según los resultados obtenidos, parece que tanto la identidad como la reputación tienen un efecto positivo y significativo en la marca país. Por otro lado, la imagen cognitiva se relaciona positivamente con la identidad y la imagen afectiva, mientras que sorprende que la imagen afectiva en sí misma no muestra una influencia significativa sobre la identidad.

El estudio es de especial interés para los responsables políticos, ya que explica los factores que debe influir para potenciar con éxito la marca país. También contribuye al desarrollo teórico proponiendo un modelo conceptual que resalte la importancia de la imagen cognitiva en la marca país, por su efecto sobre la imagen e identidad afectiva.

Nation branding strategies are gaining priority as an area of research because of increasing market complexities and the rising importance of national competitiveness ranking. The sustainable development of a nation brand, when properly managed, will provide the economic incentive to attract investors, tourists and generate income for local communities. Therefore, this paper aims to focus on delineating the strategic imperatives for sustainable market competitiveness of nation brands.

The research adopts an eclectic approach in examining a wider range of factors such as sustainability and market competitiveness to develop a synergistic nation brand.

For nation brands to remain competitive, it is essential to understand the key determinants of market competitiveness. These determinants include sustainable tourism factors such as culture, heritage, environmental and integration of internal and external stakeholder groups from the public and private sectors.

This paper provides a framework for the analysis of sustainable market competitiveness factors of the nation brand. It also provides implications for nation branding and future research agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a new conceptual model for nation branding, rooted in the marketing literature, with associated tasks for the nation brand marketer.

The paper draws on the extant literatures on brand identity systems, cultural branding and brand equity to develop a conceptual model for nation branding. The author also identifies five key challenges faced by the nation brand marketer.

Nation branding has captured the attention of policy makers around the world, but has only received limited attention by international marketing scholars. Much of the work on nation branding is done by practitioners who regard nation branding as a separate field of inquiry. The author argues that nation branding is an important emerging new form of branding, and that we should use and adapt the rich branding literature to deepen our understanding of nation branding and develop plans for action. The author proposes a model for nation branding, which consists of six stages. Furthermore, the author identifies five issues that keep the nation brand marketer awake at night.

The paper integrates three streams of work on branding to develop a new, six-step model for building strong nation brands. For each stage, the key tasks for the nation-branding marketer are identified.

Literature on nation branding is heterogeneous and varies significantly, not only in terminological terms but also in theoretical approaches and practical application. This paper aims to conduct an extensive exploratory study that empirically develops a comprehensive nation brand framework for Palestine, with international applications as well.

Initially, a conceptual framework for developing a nation brand is theoretically designed. Subsequently, through a methodologically deductive–inductive approach and qualitative means, it tests, adapts and refines the framework based on empirical data collected from key stakeholders, such as government officials, politicians, business people and academics.

The theoretical part of the research uncovers the extant key models and core concepts, and it identifies several gaps, with the more prominent one being the lack of an integrated and widely adopted framework for developing a nation brand. The research, thus, conclusively builds a holistic strategic framework towards a distinct nation brand for Palestine, with generic/international application and value, also presenting the practical implications of the findings and identifying avenues for further research.

There are varying extant perspectives on the topic, with these different views often reflecting scholars’ and stakeholders’ methodological approaches, perspectives and even deeper ontological beliefs and convictions. This paper is original consequent to its multi-perspective approach, the strength of its theoretical foundation, the extent and methodological approach of its empirical research, the uniqueness of its focus and the comprehensiveness of the framework developed that can also be used as the conceptual cornerstone for testing in other nations branding studies as well.

A strong country brand can stimulate exports, attract tourism, investments, and immigration. The purpose of this paper is to construct and present a country brand strength index (CBSI) which assesses the strength of a country brand based on objective secondary data.

By applying a company‐based brand equity approach, we present a standardized CBSI.

The results show that the countries with the strongest country brand are smaller, developed countries in Europe. The proposed index leads to results similar to the widely‐used Anholt GfK Roper nation brand index (NBI), which measures perceptions of a country brand based on subjective survey data. Countries that are perceived positively (based on NBI) have a stronger country brand (CBSI) and countries perceived negatively (based on the NBI) have a weak country brand (CBSI). The two indexes are highly and significantly correlated, indicating they measure the same phenomena, although they use different approaches, methodologies, and data, suggesting that the indexes are complementary and inter‐dependent.

To stay competitive in the global economy, countries need to understand how to assess their country brand in order to manage it. With the proposed index, a country can identify its position compared to others. This can assist public and private organizations to develop a more powerful country brand strategy.

The proposed index is original in operationalizing the strength of a country brand based on objective secondary data. The proposed index represents an alternative measurement to the existing subjective survey‐based measurement indexes.

Nation branding efforts are carried out by means of communication. The element, which is the object of communication tools, must have an analogical connection with nation branding. The object of analogy should have attractive features that will strengthen the nation brand. Online tourism content, which has the quality to add value to nation branding, can produce a strong analogy. Online tourism content can easily be internalized in a positive way, as it creates attractive connotations such as memories, entertainment, holidays, etc. in the mind of the audience. In this direction, the research aims to reveal that the online tourism brand is a strategic transmission tool of nation branding.

The research study was carried out with the semiotics method. Content analysis has been made for the videos of GoTürkiye, Turkey's tourism brand, on YouTube.

Research findings show that content covering a large part of Turkey has been created. Messages to be given in the content; it is that Turkey has authentic and attractive elements and hosts international events. The content on GoTürkiye's YouTube has reached a significant number of views.

The research aims to reveal how to build an online nation brand through online tourism brands. In this respect, it is thought that the results can guide the politicians or marketers responsible for nation branding.

The idea of how to build an online nation branding through online tourism brands remains unclear. In this respect, the research demonstrates its original value in proposing a model that will contribute to online nation branding.

The paper's aim is to determine, by means of an extensive exploratory study and the metaphorical use of a molecule, the set of dimensions and facets that exist in people's minds in regards to a country brand, and at the same time to compare the results with the dimensions used by practitioner-led sources to measure the same construct.

A total of 532 graduate students living in 20 different countries freely reported the concepts they associate with different country names. The construction of the nation brand molecule was carried out in three steps: generating the inventory of all the associations made by participants in relation to country names; classifying the inventory; and mapping the molecule.

The nation brand molecule (NBM) which encompasses all the associated concepts that give shape to the overall molecule was developed. Seven dimensions, with their corresponding facets, were identified: economy, tourism, geography and nature, culture and heritage, society, science and technology, and government.

First, the sample was significantly biased towards graduate students. Second, the free elicitation process was requested mainly focused on nation brand personality, so there still may be some country facets not included in the NBM. Finally, this study does not have a hierarchy or relative weight of each of the molecule's dimensions.

The seven dimensions identified here match some of those used by private sources to measure country brand. However, this study uncovers two dimensions that are not considered by either of the private sources: geography and nature, and science and technology. This may demonstrate that what should be measured is not exactly what has been measured, and therefore indicates a potential content validity problem of the private measures currently in use.

This paper is the first to explore the dimensions comprising the nation brand construct at a multinational scope. Although practitioner-led indexes have been widely used for many country-branding projects, they only show what is being measured but not what should be measured in regards to the country brands, and therefore this paper fills the gap that exists in the current state-of-the-art.