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The purpose of this study is to investigate reactions to the divine proportion (a ratio of 1: 1.618) in logo design across different cultures.

The approach is a survey in three different countries: Australia, Singapore and South Africa.

Results showed there is universal preference for the divine proportion across cultures. Logos based on forms found in nature that were expressed in the divine proportion were most preferred, but for artificially constructed logos, a 1:1 ratio was preferred.

A limited set of ratios were considered. Further research could investigate different ratios and different logos.

International brand managers should commission designs that use natural forms based on the divine proportion. Different national cultures react similarly to logo designs, in contrast to many other fields of business where strong cultural differences exist.

This paper is the first exploration of responses to the divine proportion in logo design across cultures.

The “brand community” concept believes that the meaning of the brand transcends national boundaries. However, such an assumption presents challenges arising out of several reasons including co‐existence of sub‐tribes within a given brand community that allocate different meanings to a particular brand. This plurality of meanings seems exacerbated for global brands where meanings are shaped by tremendously varying cultures. Aims to address the issues.

This text relies on a comparative study of the meanings attributed to one particular global brand, Warhammer, by the members of its brand community in France and the USA.

Findings highlight the elements of homogeneity and heterogeneity that reside in the cross‐border meanings of the brand. The authors also discuss the marketplace relevance arising out of this plurality that should be taken into account by global marketers.

The present text argues that community attached to a global brand constitutes a complex phenomenon, one that both integrates and ignores geographical considerations.

This paper's objectives are first to analyse the patterns of research on international brands and branding so far, secondly to provide a definition for international branding based on these previous studies in the field, and finally to suggest fruitful paths for future research in this area.

Content analysis of academic papers published in major marketing, advertising and international business journals.

The field of international branding is broad and has developed in the course of the last 30 years in different directions and with different understandings of what the term refers to. This paper gives an overview of these directions, of the different understandings of the term found in the literature, proposes a definition of international branding, and finally suggests paths for future research.

As with all literature reviews, this paper is limited to analysing works in a selection of the top academic journals in the field. However, a careful choice of the most important journals has been made, providing a good reflection of the knowledge in the area.

This appears to be the first literature review in the field of international branding and also the first to discuss the different interpretations of the term international branding that have developed over time. The authors also believe it is the first to offer a definition of the term in itself as well as in relation to international marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, in an emerging market, the simultaneous effects of country of design (COD), country of manufacture (COM), and brand image on consumers' perceptions of bi‐national products. A comprehensive model broadens country‐of‐origin literature by incorporating brand image and the concepts of fit and congruity borrowed from brand extension research. Perceptual (in) coherences that might exist among COD, COM, and the brand are incorporated.

Tunisia is the emerging market studied. A total of 389 respondents evaluated different product combinations (COD/COM/brand) in two categories. Relationships between constructs are tested using structural equation modelling.

Consumers are sensitive to the COD (more so for public than for private goods) and also value the COM of branded products. The transfer of the COD image to brand image is significant. It is very high for one product category (cars). Brand/COM congruity is also important since product evaluations decrease when consumers perceive incoherence in a manufacturing location.

The paper used limited informational cues for products' descriptions and concentrate on fairly complex durable goods. Research design should be expanded.

Perceived COD competencies can benefit brand image through strong COD‐brand associations. In emerging markets, COD (through brand image) and COM effects are important for understanding consumers' perceptions of publicly versus privately used branded products.

The major contribution consists of a simultaneous examination of the effects of COD, COM, brand, and of their inter‐relationships. Investigating bi‐national products and related consumer behaviour in emerging markets is of particular interest as it corresponds to the reality of these markets.

Draws upon Hofstede's cultural values and Rogers' diffusion of innovations to investigate relationships between search engine popularity and a company's preference for global versus local online branding.

Investigates the global versus local domain name selection strategies and web site popularity of multinational corporations based on their organizational characteristics and Hofstede's cultural values of their host countries.

Organizational size, industry and two cultural values – individualism and masculinity – relate to how companies adopt innovations, in this case selecting and promoting a global or local online identity. For their web presence, most Fortune Global 500 companies use the global.com domain rather than a local country domain. The results also suggest a virtual divide in online visibility, favoring.com companies over companies using country domains.

Limitations of this study include the lack of a longitudinal perspective and a possible Google bias – towards English content – in its proprietary PageRank metric. Future research could validate the results with other third‐party data and enrich the independent variables through automated web content analysis.

In countries with strong cultural values of masculinity and collectivism, international business managers should consider paying homage to local domain names for web site and employee email addresses.

Extending diffusion of innovations and cultural research to domain name selection and search engine popularity, this study underscores the importance of culture in international branding research.

This study aims to analyze Asian branding strategies at the regional level, and provide a map of opportunities and challenges for Asian regional branding.

The study takes, a multi‐sited interpretive approach and interview 22 brand managers throughout the Asian region. The length of interviews was approximately 1.5 hours/respondent. In‐depth case studies of two prominent pan‐Asian brands, Tiger Beer and Zuji, were also conducted. An interpretive analysis to this data set was applied and five themes were developed.

The two major challenges for regional Asian branding are negative country of origin perceptions and regional positioning being inherently fragile. Despite these key challenges, our respondents saw clear opportunities for regional branding initiatives. Brands can achieve a regional positioning by focusing on Asian modernity rather than on common cultural heritage. They can also capitalize on newfound Asian pride and confidence, and finally they can use a Western stamp of approval to signal to Asians the viability of the brand.

The paper extends previous work on the globalization of marketing activities by advancing the region as an important unit of analysis. It helps understand the development of brands in a part of the world that is becoming more important at the economic and political level. The study shows how marketers are shaping culture in the Asian context. Finally, the paper contributes a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with a regional positioning and the development of regional branding strategies.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the inter‐related relationships among various branding issues such as brand orientation, brand re‐positioning, brand performance and international marketing issues in terms of international marketing strategy, financial performance, control of international marketing activities, international commitment and macro‐marketing environment.

A mail survey with 315 useful samples drawn from the Austrade database was conducted. The steps suggested by Churchill, Cheng and Andersen and Gerbing were rigorously followed to purify the constructs and measurement models. Finally, structural equation modelling using partial disaggregation method was performed to test the whole structured model.

The results from structural equation modelling method confirm significant relationships between the constructs in the model. All major fit indices from structural equation modelling analysis show satisfactory results for both the measurement models and the structural model.

The findings provide insight to international marketers with regard to deploying resources, establishing strategy and adapting the strategy to the culture within overseas markets. Judicious investments in finance and personnel are required for overseas expansion. International branding strategy can be used to enhance a firm's brand and financial performances abroad.

The major values of this study are the establishment of the role of branding in international business. Both brand orientation and brand repositioning have significant impacts on international marketing strategy, which in turn positively affects a firm's performance. Developments of new constructs such as brand orientation, brand repositioning, brand performance and cultural aspects are statistically validated.

To examine how people from countries that vary in uncertainty avoidance (UA) use information about product uncertainty when evaluating products.

Two studies were conducted that vary in methodology, sampling and analysis. First, an experiment was designed to manipulate product uncertainty through the use of country of origin (COO) quality‐stereotypes. It was administered to university students from a diverse range of countries, all studying in the USA. Next, data from a large‐scale survey of consumers from ten countries was submitted to hierarchical binary regression analyses to include variables at the country and individual level.

The studies support an interaction between product uncertainty (PU) and cultural UA on quality perceptions and behavioural intentions. Consumers from high UA countries evaluated high PU offerings less positively and held weaker behavioural intentions than those from low UA countries, but for low PU offerings, no difference was found. The effect of UA was reduced for people with more experience and those who were younger.

Although we isolated the effects of UA from other cultural and individual level variables, it would be useful to directly cross individualism with UA in an experimental design, as these two variables are highly correlated.

This study suggests products with higher levels of PU will have more opportunity to prove themselves in low uncertainty cultures.

This study should be valuable for marketing managers devising rollout strategies for products with higher levels of PU or weaker quality stereotypes.

The globalisation of markets combined with the paradoxical rise of nationalism has created an increased concern about the importance of the interaction of global brands with other cues such as the country of origin (COO) of products and services. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the decision‐making processes of experts and novices with respect to international brand names, COO and intrinsic quality differences.

Within subject experimental design, quantitative study analysis of variance.

Results of a series of experiments with personal computers as a product with strong COO effects supported this argument. Experts or highly knowledgeable consumers were found to use COO in a circumspect manner or as a limited summary construct, only when such information was consistent with a linked brand name or a particular level of physical quality. Novices, for both products used COO as a halo regardless of brand name and physical quality.

International brand names are used in a more analytical manner by experts, with respect to quality, whilst novices based their decision‐making on extrinsic cues. This was a controlled experimental design and results could be evaluated further by more realistic design using actual products in a more market setting. Although the use of product description as used as experimental treatments in this study is not an unusual manner in which personal computers are purchased by consumers, especially when they are purchased online.

International marketers must carefully consider the quality, brand and COO information carefully when marketing to consumers of varying product knowledge as it appears different decision‐making styles are used by experts and novices.

This is one of the few studies to experimentally manipulate brand, quality and COO information amongst different groups of consumers with varying product knowledge (experts and novices). The experimental treatments were also carefully chosen so that differences due to the use of a global brand IBM could be evaluated against a lesser known local brand name.

The purpose of this paper is to broaden the external validity of the “brand alliance” theory, as it is set up by Simonin and Ruth, by analysing transnational brand alliances. It aims to discuss the significance of country of origin in this context.

Based on a broad literature review of the brand alliance and country of origin literature the authors conducted an empirical study that examined consumer attitudes towards cross‐national brand alliances.

The findings demonstrate the role that the relationship between country of origin fit and brand fit plays in predicting consumer attitude towards cross‐border brand alliances; and that when brand familiarity decreases, the positive influence of country of origin fit on attitudes towards the brand alliance increases, and is greater than that of brand fit.

The degree of importance that consumers place on each product in the brand alliance was not taken into account. Future research could also analyse product categories that have strong country of origin associations (e.g. German beer or French pastries) or that belong to the low involvement category.

An interesting result for managers when they set up a cross‐national brand alliance, as the study demonstrates the importance of brand familiarity and of country of origin fit.

The findings replicate those of Simonin and Ruth, which is a useful result because their findings might be attributed also to cross‐boarder alliances. The study represents a noteworthy extension of previous research by introducing a new variable, the “country of origin fit.”