Public image of the Nigerian branded exports.
Odia, Edith Onowe ; Agbonifoh, Barnabas Aigbojie
Abstract
This study sought to determine the public image of the Nigerian
branded exports by Nigerians and non-Nigerians. A stratified random
sampling method was adopted in selecting a sample of 930 respondents.
Data were analyzed using T-Test, ANOVA and regression statistics. The
results obtained depicted negative image for the Nigerian branded
exports, with no significant difference between Nigerians and non-
Nigerians in their perceptions. To effectively reposition the image of
the Nigeria via branded exports, plans should be made by the government
and organizations to enhance infrastructure by funding a 'Brand
Academy' to train specialist on brand management, design and
industrial packaging.
Keywords: Branding, Branded exports, Country-of-Origin, Image,
Made-in-Nigeria
INTRODUCTION
Branded exports play an important role in establishing a
country's reputation abroad. Branded exports have the special power
to accelerate and cause changes in public perceptions of countries.
Brands are increasingly vital vectors of national image and reputation.
According to Anholt (2007), branded exports is one of the commercial
sub-brands of a nation brand that generate funds rather than cost money.
To him, products are tangible and they make far more effective
ambassadors for national image than promotional campaigns; people keep
products but avoid advertisements or propaganda. Commercial brands are
increasingly performing the role of transmitting national culture; they
have become one of the primary vectors of national image, and are more
and more often the means by which people form their views about national
identity. Chilean wines are examples of successful quality brands that
have changeda nation's economy. Chilean wine producers now export
more than 50% of their products to ninety countries in five continents
around the world (Dinnie, 2008).
The names of some countries' products/services connote superb
quality, reliability, durability, attractive price, excellent service,
high technical standard, refined taste and design. For example,
countriessuch as Germany and Japan are often associated with high
technology and durable goods. By contrast, some countries are associated
with poor quality goods. Every country should therefore be interested in
how its products are perceived.
If Nigeria as a nation is to be branded effectively and if she is
to compete favourably in the global market in terms of its
products/services, the starting point of its efforts to rebrand should
be to ascertain the current image of its products and services. Nigeria
and, in fact any country, cannot be branded effectively through mere
propaganda and promotional campaigns. It requires, among other things,
quality products that will create lasting positive impressions in the
minds of customers. Previous re-branding efforts by Nigeria such as the
'Heart of Africa' project of 2004 and the 'Good People,
Great Nation' approach of 2009 appeared to have failed because of
what Fasure (2009) described as 'Good Salesman with Bad
Products'.
A number of related studies have been done in this area. First,
some studies have measured the attitudes of Nigerians toward locally
made goods (Agbonifoh, 1986; Okechuku & Onyemah, 1999). Second, some
others have focused on the level of consumer preference for imported
goods/services (Adjeba 1982; Oyegunle, 1982; Agbonifoh, 1985; Jaffe
& Nebenzahl, 2001). Most of these works were done over thirty years
ago. Given the fact that change is constant and consumer perceptions and
attitudes change overtime, it would be necessary to carry out further
research to determine the current image of Nigerian branded exports. In
addition to the above quest, the current study seeks to determine if
there is a significant difference between Nigerians and non-Nigerians in
their perceptions of Made-in Nigeria products.
The perception of made-in-Nigeria products by Nigerians and
non-Nigerians is not only significant in terms of the potential effects
on the individual firm, but also in terms of its possible implications
for the government and the nation's citizens. Poor or negative
perceptions of locally-made products generally leads to loss of demand
and patronage, low turnovers, plant utilization, profit and growth for
domestic industries which in turn results in unemployment problems.
According to Agbonifoh (1985), Nigerians' preference for foreign
products has adverse implications for the survival of locally made ones;
the country's gross domestic product can result in balance of
payments problems except actual outflows of local products match inflow
of foreign ones. An example of an industry that suffers from the effects
of negative attitudes to locally made goods is the Nigerian automobile
industry: Nigerians' preference for imported consumer products
"resulted in reduction in sales of the domestically assembled
Peugeot 504 car from about 100,000 units in 1986 to about 4,500 in 1996,
when import restrictions were eased" (Jaffe & Nebenzahl, 2001:
3). Nigerians' attitudes toward made-in-Nigeria goods is, to say
the least, not encouraging because citizens possess whetted appetites
for foreign goods, which drain the Nigeria's foreign exchange
reserves. It also contributes immensely towards the rapid industrial
growth of the countries where the goods are imported from while hurting
the Nigerian economy in terms of employment.
In view of the foregoing, this study sought to achieve the
following objectives. The main objective of the study is to determine
the public image of Nigerian branded exports in the eyes of both
Nigerians and non-Nigerians. Other objectives of the study are to:
1. Ascertain if there is significant difference in the perceptions
of Nigerian branded exports by Nigerians and Non-Nigerians.
2. Identify the demographic and socio-cultural factors that
influence perception of made-in-Nigerian products. Variables of interest
here are age, sex, education, income, religion, and international
exposure.
3. Determine if there are significant differences in the relative
images of the following countries: China, Ghana, Italy, Nigeria, South
Africa, UK and USA in terms of branded exports and;
4. To examine the implications of the research findings for
Nigerian business organizations and the government with a view to
repositioning the Nigeria brand internally and externally by means
superb quality products.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Concept of Branding
Branding is a management tool traditionally used by managers to
create meaningful differentiation to achieve competitive advantage in
the market place. A brand is a promise of value to consumers; for
example, a guarantee of value, of quality, of performance, of service
delivery or of after cares (Allan, 2007). Jaffe and Nebenzahl (2001)
defined country image as the impact that generalizations and perceptions
about a country have on a person's evaluation of the country's
products and/or brand. Following Riezebos (2003), a nation's brand
image is a subjective mental picture shared by a group of people about
the country. Brand equity is a "set of brand assets and liabilities
linked to a brand, its name and symbol that adds or subtract from the
value provided by a product or service" (Aakar, 1991:15).
Brand-equity helps to build a relationship, a strong bond between the
brand and the consumer; trust and emotional connections are established
over time (Van Auken, 2002).
Country of Origin (COO) Effects
COO effect refers to the impact that a product or service's
origin has on consumer attitude and behaviour towards that product or
service (Dinnie, 2008). The image of a country can be enhanced when the
product brand's COO is explicit; but if nobody knows where a
product comes from, then it can not affect consumers' feelings
about that country. Despite the benefits that can accrue to a nation
brand from branded exports, the difficulty often lies in getting the
owners of powerful commercial brands to employ their COO in their
marketing or packaging (Anholt, 2007). A case in point is that of Nokia
brand and Finland brand. Nokia being a bigger and stronger brand than
Finland brand, Finland was scared that if the two brands were closely
attached to each other, the brand equity would all flow from the
stronger to the weaker, and benefit the brand image of Finland as a
nation at the expense of Nokia brand image. According to Anholt (2007),
this appears to be a common misconception on the part of Nokia and other
brands that underestimate the power of their brands. He argues that if
consumers are brand loyal, it seems unlikely that they would change
their minds about the brand if they eventually discover that the brand
originated from a small, poor or exotic country.
The direction of association and perceptions flow between the
product and its COO is uncertain for some types of products. For
example, does a prestigious brand such as Sony enhance the nation brand
image of Japan or does the high credibility of Japan as a source country
for high technology products enhance the sale of Sony brand? For Jaffe
and Nebenzahl (2001), there are two-way interactions between the images
of countries and of brands. It suffices to say that there is a
symbiotic relationship between a nation brand and product, service and
corporate (PSC) brand that highlight or down play their COO. This
suggests the need for collaboration between the nation's public and
the private sector to improve the economic welfare of the nation and its
commercial organizations.
In an attempt to minimize negative COO effects against their place
of origin, some international service brands have resorted to the use of
acronyms as their brand names. For example, in 1997, British Airways
caught in the web of globalization, decided to graduate from mere
national carrier to global travel brand by changing its name to BA. To
dissociate itself from the explicit reference to its COO and the union
flag, it branded its airplanes with images from many different nations.
Other such examples are: HSBC in place of Hong- Kong and Shanghai
Banking Corporation; RBS previously Royal Bank of Scotland; UBS for
Union Bank of Switzerland; and BP for British Petroleum (Dinnie, 2008).
Anholt (2007), notes that global brands are not brands from nowhere;
they are in fact, brands that can be sold everywhere, but somewhere
quite definite.
The matching of product category and country image perceptions has
been widely researched (Papadopoulos & Heslop, 1993; Kim &
Chung, 1997; Schaefer, 1997 & Verlegh, Steenkamp & Meulenberg,
2005). Roth and Romeo (1992) assert that product-country match
information should be used by managers to assess their consumers'
purchase intentions and to assist in managing their product's COO.
On the issue of product-country fit, the Reyka brand is a
win-win-scenario. The successes enjoyed by Reyka brand could be
associated with the positive Iceland COO effect. Symbiotically, the
Iceland brand also leverages the Reyka brand equity of high quality
(Dinnie, 2008).
The dilemma faced by companies in the developing nations in the
explicit use of COO information in the marketing of their products often
stems from the poor negative image of the nation and the low
ethnocentric nature of its citizens. This is the case of the Nigeria
brand. For example, Aire's (1974) study found that 58.3 percent of
the respondents opined that Made-in-Nigeria goods were of low quality.
Other similar studies corroborating Aire's (1974) findings
emphasized Nigerian consumer's preference for foreign shoes
(Odiase, 1984) and for textiles (Adjeba 1982, Oyegunle, 1982). According
to Jaffe and Nebenzahl (2001), a survey indicated that Nigerian
consumers expressed preference for foreign, high-technology television
products of Dutch, Japanese and South Korean origin over local brands.
This was ostensibly because of the perceived technological advancement,
reliability and workmanship of the foreign brands. In reaction to the
overtly demonstrated preference for imports by Nigerian consumers, some
manufacturers in Nigeria have allegedly resorted to the use of foreign
'Made-in- ...' labels like 'Made-in-Italy' and
'Made-in-England' (Afejuku, 1983; Agbonifoh, 1986).
Apart from the ingrained belief about the low quality of Nigerian
products, the hangover effects of colonial rule is still taking its toll
on Nigerians' psyche and exacerbating their western taste and
values. Agbonifoh (1986) also argued that most Nigerians prefer foreign
goods to locally-made goods, even when the Nigerian products have the
same quality or even possess better quality than the foreign goods. The
preference in favour of foreign goods is more of old prejudices against
made-in-Nigeria goods. Made-in-Nigeria goods tend to be perceived as
inferior for many reasons. Agbonifoh (1985) identified the following
factors as possible reasons why Nigerians prefer foreign goods:
economical factor, historical factors, psychological forces, poor
marketing and poor government control.
Determinants of the Image of Branded Exports
It is widely acknowledged that country of origin has an impact on
consumer product evaluations (Ehigie & Babalola 1995; Karunaratna
2003). Gurhan-Canli and Maheswara (2000) suggest that the nature of
information and the processing goal of the perceiver would determine
whether country of origin will be used for product evaluation. Though
the study of Gurhan-Canli and Maheswara (2000) found that products from
Japan elicit favourable perceptions of high quality, Klein, Ettenson and
Morns (1998) discovered that some Chinese consumers may not consume
Japanese products because of high animosity developed against Japan
during the war. This shows that consumers' emotions have a
significant impact on the country of origin evaluation.
Consumers in less developed countries may favour products and
brands from developed countries. Ehigie and Babalola (1995) observed
that Nigerians possess high preference for imported products, especially
products from advanced western countries. Consumers' attitude
towards Western culture especially countries that were colonized are
ameliorated (Klein et al. 1998) and they often value Western goods more
than locally made goods (Ahmed & d'Astons, 2004). It is also
possible that foreign brands their appeals as locally made goods
increase in quality and attractiveness (Zhou & Hui, 2003). In the
case of Nigeria, preference for imported goods of the colonial country
could be due to the attitudes of colonial masters and early missionaries
who indoctrinated them with the belief of low self-worth, inferiority
complex hence whites were then used as reference groups in buying
habits. This age-long lingering negative attitude is what Agbonifoh
(1985) described as 'colonial mentality'.
Consumer's country of residence has also been noted as one of
the key determinants of images of a country and its products/services
(Jaffe & Nebenzahl, 2001). The study of Harrison-Walker (1995) on
the effects of national stereotypes and advertising information on the
selection of a service provider in the ophthalmology sector showed that
there existed a same-nationality bias in the selection of service
provider. The researcher therefore, enjoined different-nationality
service providers to provide adequate information in their advertising
to overcome such biases.
Another interesting dimension on the studies of products COO is the
influence of the consumers' characteristics. Schooler (1971) found
that consumers with a high level of education were more favourably
disposed toward foreign products than consumers with lower level of
education; female consumers were found to have rated foreign products
more highly than their male counterparts; and younger consumers
considered imports more highly than older consumers. In a similar study,
Dornoff, Tankersley and White (1974) discovered that the higher the
level of a person's education, the more disposed they are to
foreign products; there was no indication of any correlation between
perception of foreign products and consumer's sex. The work of
Agbonifoh (1986) on the attitudes of Nigerian consumers toward foreign
products suggests that more educated people generally tend to be more
skeptical of products irrespective of COO. In addition, Agbonifoh (1986)
found a significant positive correlation between age and attitudes of
Nigerian consumers toward British products, suggesting that the older
people tend to rate British products higher partly because they have
been brainwashed by the then colonial masters.
In South Africa, the study of Burges and Harris (1999) suggests a
relationship between social identity and brand preference as well as
'within-country diversity' (ethnicity and religion affinity)
influences on brand selection. It has been argued that most
cross-cultural studies on COO effects have erroneously assumed that
national markets are composed of homogeneous consumers and such studies
are more of cross-national rather than cross-cultural (Laroche,
Papadopoulos & Heslop, 2003). In a study of ethnic diversities in
the importance of a product's country-of-manufacture relative to
other attributes in Nigerian consumers, Okechukwu and Onyemah (2000)
found that the country-of-manufacture was more important to the Yoruba,
than the Hausa respondents, and that prestige was important to the
Yoruba respondents in the preference for foreign cars and also to Igbo
and Hausa respondents in the choice of foreign TV sets.
The study on American Express to ascertain the possible prejudice
against its brand because of the US-centric name during the 2003 war in
Iraq; revealed that people mainly associate the brand with global
business rather than being American (Mortimer, 2007). The conclusion
from this study is that, service brands are hardly influenced by
COO's political or foreign events.
Odia's (2012) conceptual framework summarizes the factors that
influence brand image as: brand attributes (product quality, made-in
information, and quality of advertising campaign); personal factors
(age, sex, education, income, physiological and psychological variables)
and environmental, socio-cultural variables such as social class,
reference groups, religion, ethnicity, and media and situational
variables like time and place of purchase..
Market Positioning Strategy for a Nation's Branded Export
Four marketing strategy scenarios that account for country and
brand images as suggested by Jaffe and Nebenzahl (2001) are as follows:
The first scenario: Strong Country Image--Strong Brand Image. In this
case, the made-in country cue should be emphasized as well as the brand.
A good example is Sony Made-in-Japan. The second scenario: Weak Country
Image--Strong Brand Image. Under this situation, emphasis should be
placed on the brand name, while de-emphasizing as much as possible the
country of manufacture/assembly. Alternatively, the associated country
should be emphasized, while decomposing the country image or both. Third
scenario: Strong Country Image--Weak Brand Image. The brands in this
situation should try to piggy back on a strong country image by
emphasizing the made-in cue. The fourth and last scenario: Weak Country
Image--Weak Brand Image. The recommended strategy here is to sacrifice
short-term profits for long-term market penetration. Weak brands should
piggyback on a strong local brand just as Samsung gained entry into the
US for its microwave ovens by having them distributed by General
Electric under the GE label. Yet another strategy is to sell products
through reputable retailers in the target market. Additionally, price
discounting strategy can also be employed by the manufacturer of the
weak brand. Lastly, under this scenario, is the use of strong
advertising campaign to enhance country image as well as brand image.
Niss (1996) evaluated COO marketing effects over the PLC, and
discovered that the stage of the product in its PLC determines the usage
of the COO references, and that managers tend to use more of COO
references at the introduction stage than at any other stage because
awareness can only possibly be created for the new product through the
existing Nation-brand equity COO reference. Nevertheless, Lampert and
Jaffe (1986) and Beverland and Lindgreen (2002) are of the view that COO
halo effects and the use of COO reference is highly contextual and
changes over the phases of the PLC.
Ethnocentrism is an important aspect of COO studies which marketers
need to understand to be able to enter into foreign markets
successfully. Shimp and Sharma (1987:20) defined ethnocentrism as
"the home-country bias portion of COO effect". A research
study by Jaffe and Nebenzahl (2001) found that consumer demographics
such as education, income, and social class had implications on the
individual's ethnocentrism. This area of COO has received implicit
research attention; the question of interest is: do consumers generally
rate products made in their own countries higher than those made
elsewhere? Many researchers as cited in Agbonifoh (1986) responded in
affirmation to this assertion. Some studies involving American
respondents found that American products were consistently rated higher
than others (Nagashima, 1970; Gaedeke, 1973; Chasin & Jaffe, 1979;
Narayana, 1981). In another study, Finnish consumers, like the American
respondents, demonstrated high ethnocentric behaviour in rating products
made in Finland higher than those made in other countries (Darling,
1981). Yet in another related research, Japanese consumers considered
products made in Japan to be of higher quality than their counterparts
of United State of America origin.
Nevertheless, some contradictory research findings on the issue of
ethnocentrism exist. For example, White (1979) asserted that industrial
products from United States were rated inferior to those made in West
Germany and England by American purchasing managers. A similar report
was made of United Kingdom consumers who considered products made in
West Germany to be better than those manufactured in their country
(Bannister & Saunders, 1978). In conclusion, ethnocentrism can be
seen to be product-specific.
For governments to benefit from 'buy domestic' campaign,
there is need to ascertain the overall level of its population's
ethnocentrism. Countries like Indonesia might benefit from such
campaigns since, a study of Indonesian consumers' ethnocentrism
suggested that its citizens possess a relatively high ethnocentrism
level (Hamin & Elliott, 2006). On the basis of this understanding,
Dinnie (2008) suggests that a country with low ethnocentrism level can
channel its resources into improving the quality of its domestic brands
through increased investment in research and development, executive
development, and design training rather than frittering its limited
resources away on 'buy domestics' campaign.
It should be noted that position on brand perceptual ladder is not
fixed. For example, in the 2004 Interbrand/Business Week survey of the
world's top 100 global brands, no less than 57 are American owned
(Anholt, 2005). In the same survey, Germany maintained a second place
with a mere nine-billion dollar global brand followed by France, Japan
and the United Kingdom in that order. Surprisingly, in the Anholt's
(2005) Nation Brand Index (NBI) quarter 2, Germany was rated higher than
America, despite the fact that American brands outnumbered German brands
in the global marketplace by more than six to one. This implies that no
matter how low a nation's branded export is on the perceptual
ladder, the prospect of moving into the fore position in the global
'brandscape' is very high. In the view of Jaffe and Nebenzahl
(2001), the effect of a nation's image on consumer behavior is
product specific since a country may be perceived as a good producer of
consumer products, but not necessarily of automobiles. In this case, it
will be logical for a nation's export promotion council to
determine which of its products can excel in the global market.
METHODS
Selection of Countries
For us to conduct a comparative study, we needed to make a choice
or selection of objects to be studied. By purposive sampling, a choice
of seven countries was made for this study. The countries selected are
China, Ghana, Italy, Nigeria, South Africa (SA) United Kingdom (UK), and
United States of America (USA). The main reason for the selection of
these countries is that many Nigerians are familiar with the goods and
services from the chosen countries. By way of international exposure to
internet facilities and other international media, most respondents are
capable of ranking the selected countries with reference to the chosen
index. Three of the selected countries (Italy, USA and UK) were meant to
represent the more technologically advanced cluster; while the other
three countries represented the less technologically advanced cluster,
with Ghana and South Africa as Nigeria's sister African countries.
Research Design and Sampling Method
A combination of the descriptive and explanatory (correlational)
research designs was adopted for this study. A sample of 930 respondents
(720 Nigerians and 210 Non-Nigerians) between the ages of 18 years and
65 years was selected for the study. Abuja, Calabar, Edo, Lagos, Jos and
Port Harcourt were randomly chosen from the following three geopolitical
zones; North-Central, South-West and South-South. A total of 120
respondents were selected from each capital city making a total of 720
Nigerian respondents. The 210 foreigners were selected from the same
capital cities by means of convenience sampling.
The data for this research were collected with the aid of a
questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed to capture the
respondents' demographics and eleven questions measuring the image
of Nigerian branded exports on a five-point Likert-type scale. To
measure the perception of Made-in-Nigeria products both aggregated and
disaggregated product quality were scaled. Disaggregated product quality
considered durability, value for money (price) fashionableness,
reliability and workmanship. Past experience with made-in-Nigeria
products and made-in-Nigeria labels were also included as indicators of
branded exports.
PNE = (D + V + F + R + W + Q + PrNp + Pexp + Mlab + SW + Alt)/N 1
where PNE is the Perceptions of the Nigerian Exports.
D is Product durability, V is Value for money,
F is Fashionableness, R is Reliability,
W is Workmanship, PrNp is Preference for Nigerian
products,
Q is Quality of the branded exports, Pexp is Past experience with
Nigerian products,
SW is Self Worth, Mlab is Satisfaction with
Made-in-Nigeria label,
Alt is Alternative to Nigerian N is number of components
brand. in the sub products
In the ranking question, respondents were requested to rank country
brands on product/ service brand vector using 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 in a
non-repeated order, 7 for the most reputable country brand and 1 for the
least reputable country brand. Both descriptive and inferential
statistical techniques such as: percentages, means, analysis of variance
(ANOVA), Tukey-Kramer multiple range procedure, independent T-test and
multiple regression analysis were applied to the data. For reliability
of the research instrument, the Split-Half, odd and even numbers
approach with a reliability coefficient (roe) was used. The coefficient
of equivalence for the entire scale was computed by means of Spearman
Brown Prophecy formula [r.sub.xx1] = [2r.sub.o.sup.e]/1+[r.sub.o.sup.e]
for [r.sub.o.sub.e] = 0.591, we obtained [r.sub.xx1] = 0.74.
The demographic characteristics of respondents showed that of the
930 questionnaires distributed, 610 (66 per cent) were retrieved for
both Nigerians and Non Nigerians respondents; 497 (53 per cent) were
found usable. The following demographic profile emerged from the sample:
respondents' average age and income are 35 years and N85,413.30 per
month respectively. Two-third, that is 329 (66.6 per cent) of the
respondents are male. On educational qualification, about half (47.6 per
cent) of the respondents are B.Sc holders, followed by M.Sc/Ph.D (26.8
per cent), OND (14.8 per cent), SSCE (8.0 per cent) and lastly, FSLC
(2.7 per cent). On the level of exposure, 277 (56.5 per cent) agreed
that they had never traveled abroad out of the shores of Nigeria. 120
(24.5 per cent) affirmed that they rarely travel abroad, while 54 (11
per cent) often travel abroad and yet another 23 (4.7 per cent) said
they travel abroad very often. Only 16(3.3) per cent travel abroad
always. Data on religion showed that 362 (73.1 per cent) of the
respondents were Christians, while 21.2 per cent were Moslems, only one
traditionalist was involved and the remaining 5.5 per cent belong to
other religion outside the first three religion groups mentioned above.
All statistical tests were performed with the aid of SPSS and Excel at
the 0.05 level of significance.
Data Analysis and Results
In this section, the analysis of data was done starting with the
determination of the image of the Nigerian branded exports using
averages. A low average score represents a weak level of satisfaction
with made-in-Nigeria products. Next, a comparison between Nigerians and
non-Nigerians in their perception of branded exports was performed. The
analysis of variance was conducted to estimate if significant
differences exist among the seven countries in terms of product/service.
Lastly, the impact of a set of presumably influential factors on the
perception of branded exports was measured using multiple regression
statistics.
Image of the Nigerian Branded Exports
Of the five disaggregated components of product/service quality,
fashionableness was ranked top with a mean score of 3.36 followed
closely by workmanship with an average score of 3.17. The average score
of 2.55 computed for the aggregated quality lies within the same region
as the disaggregated quality score of 2.9. Interpreting the two
near-average indices, the quality of made-in-Nigeria products can be
seen as slightly poor or fair.
The weak mean score of 2.31 on preference for made-in-Nigeria
products is an indication that foreign products are preferred to local
ones. The brand value of 2.49 associated with made-in-Nigeria label as
evident in Table 1 shows a weak reputation which can have negative
influence on consumer's choice for Nigerian product. Invariably, it
may also lead to their avoidance of made-in-Nigeria labels.
Past experiences with made-in-Nigeria products also indicated
dissatisfaction with a mean score of 2.43. In conclusion, the
below-average score of 2.76 for exports sub-brand indicates a fairly
poor image which places Nigeria at a disadvantaged competitive position
in the global market.
Worthy of note is the 39.3 per cent of the respondents who affirmed
that they would select made-in-Nigeria product first irrespective of
other alternatives or competing brands; 42.1 per cent of the respondents
expressed their preference for foreign products. The remaining 18.7 per
cent said they would select any first.
A Comparative Analysis of the Perceptions of the Nigerian Branded
Exports by Nigerians and Non-Nigerians
This segment presents the mean perception indices of Nigerians and
non-Nigerians on the image of the Nigerian branded exports.
From the results presented in Table 2 it appears that Nigerians
have tendency to rate the Nigerian branded exports more favourably than
their foreign counterparts. The t-test result showed no significant
difference between Nigerians and Non-Nigerians in the perception of the
Nigerian branded exports.
Comparison of Perceptions of Product/Service Made in Seven
Different Countries
Further test was conducted to decipher if significant differences
exist among the seven countries. The outcome of this test can be found
in Table 3 &4.
The result of the analysis in respect of product/service from the
seven different countries again revealed that the three African
countries: South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana were most poorly and
negatively rated with the following mean scores of 3.24, 2.17 and 2.15
respectively. US as usual, came first with an average score of 6.15,
followed by UK, the runner up with 5.65, Italy with 4.60 and China with
4.15 (See Table 3).
The F-value of 564.06 strongly indicates that differences exist
among the various mean scores of the countries compared in the test.
Based on this evidence, we concluded that public perceptions of
products/services from the seven countries are statistically
significantly different at 0.05 level of significance.
The details of the pair-wise comparison test can be seen in Table
4. The emerging pattern of grouping from Tukey Kramer procedure ranked
US, UK and Italy in the first, second and third position respectively.
But, Nigeria though better perceived than Ghana was paired with Ghana in
the sixth and last group.
The multiple regression analysis results in Table 5 exports
indicate that none of the independent variables could statistically
explain the variation in the image of the Nigerian branded exports.
Overall F (0.70) is less than Fa(k, n-k-1) = F0.05 (6,337) = 2.10 and
probability 0.65 greater than 0.05, thus, we conclude that the net
regression coefficient are not statistically different from zero and
hence no impact whatsoever on the image of exports. Similarly, all the
partial [F.sub.s] were all less than F = Fa(1, n-k-1) = F0.05(l, 337) =
3.84, hence, none of Coefficient of Partial Determination [(CPD).sub.s]
for the independent variables significantly contributed to the variation
in the image of exports brand.
THE DISCUSSION OF RESEARCH FINDINGS
The Nigerian branded exports was poorly and negatively rated.
Findings indicated that more than half (64.2 per cent) of the
respondents overtly expressed preference for foreign-made products over
the locally-made products. This result appears to be similar to the one
obtained by Agbonifoh (1986) who found that foreign made-ins
irrespective of their country of origin were preferred by Nigerians to
their local counterparts. In a related study, Aire(1974) found that 38.2
per cent of the respondents would select made-in-Nigeria products first
before the foreign made-ins. Thirty-eight years later, the present study
showed that only 39.3 per cent prefer made-in-Nigeria products to their
foreign counterparts. Our result showed low ethnocentrism on the part of
Nigerian consumers, if only 39.3 per cent agreed that they would
continue to buy made-in Nigeria products in the presence of other
competing brands. Furtherresults revealed that only 17.1 per cent
acknowledged that made-in-Nigeria labels represent satisfaction. In
addition, our findings indicated that respondent's past experiences
with made-in-Nigeria products were not satisfactory. The reasons for the
observed negative attitudes toward Nigerian products may be related to
marketing problems: product quality, pricing, promotion and poor
governmental regulations. Worse still, it could be psychological
emanating from consumer behaviour. Whatever the reason, the absence of
patriotic consumption on the part of the Nigerian consumers, definitely
have debilitating effect on the survival of local economy.
The result of the present study appears to confirm Agbonifoh's
(1986) finding on the fashionableness of Nigerian products. Albeit the
poor image of Nigerian branded exports, a greater percentage of the
respondents feel that locally-made products are fashionable. To a great
extent, this finding represents consistency and stability in the
attitudes of Nigerians towards made-in-Nigeria products. An area that
seemed difficult for us to interpret in our research relates to the
neutral response on the suitability of the locally-made products for our
respondent's personality.
Regarding the comparative analysis of countries in terms of product
images, our result tends to support the submission of Jaffe and
Nebenzahl(2001) that significant differences exist in the relative
images of countries. A survey conducted in 1999 for the British Council
in 13 countries show that the UK's image is less positive than that
of the US and Japan (Jaffe and Nebenzahl, 2001). Our results on country
comparison which positioned Nigeria in the 6th group appears to
corroborate Aire's(1974) finding that Nigeria did not rank as
first, second and third for all the eight products considered except for
alcoholic drinks for which Nigeria ranked third.
Our result which shows that Nigerian products are better perceived
than that of the Ghanaian products tends to support Shenge's
(2010)survey that was conducted to determine if there was significant
difference in the choice of Nigeria, Englandand Ghana on their assessed
capability to produce high quality insecticide. Findings from this
survey indicated a significant difference among the three countries.
There after the multiple comparison test showed a significant t-value of
2.84 with England emerging as the most favourably perceived country,
followed by Nigeria and Ghana in that order.
Our result appears to support Ahmed and d'Astous(2004)evidence
that highly industrialized nations such as Japan, USA, UK or Germany are
highly evaluated in terms of product quality than newly industrialized
nations such as China, Korea or Indonesia. In our findings, the US, UK,
and Italy were rate ahead of China in terms of branded exports.
Lastly, our analysis showed that none of the independent variable
was helpful in determining the image of the Nigerian branded exports.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS FOR BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS AND THE GOVERNMENT
As suggested by findings of this research, a number of problems
seem to bedevil the Nigerian entrepreneurs and manufacturers and their
efforts to be competitive. Some of these problems range from poor
product quality in the area of durability, reliability and pricing to
the entrenched negative attitudes of Nigerians toward locally-made
products.
Given the poor image of the Nigeria made-ins, it would be necessary
to answer the following questions. Why are made-in-Nigeria products
still less preferred to their foreign counterparts given that almost all
the locally-made products bear NAFDAC and SON certification numbers?
Could the reason be that the required standard for certifications lesser
in value than their foreign counterparts, or that the officials of the
Nigerian monitoring bodies are into some mischievous and unpatriotic
games, allowing a pass for a product that has not actually met the
stipulated standards? The neglect of marketing concept by Nigerian
manufacturers in sensing and satisfying the needs of consumers has been
blamed on the seller-market status prevalence in Nigeria. However, the
Manufacturer Association of Nigeria and other related agencies have to
evolve means of conducting a comparative test of local and foreign
products to establish the underlying problems.
One key idea the market-oriented companies need to grasp is that, a
brand only exists in a buyer's mind and it is the buyer who has the
power to begin, sustain or terminate the relationship with it. As
players in the global market, the Nigerian business operators do not
necessarily have a choice other than to embrace the result-driven
philosophy in product designing, pricing, promotion and distribution of
products. Borrowing a leaf from South Korea's experience, the
Nigerian government can set up multi-billion naira ventures to help
exporters improve the designs of their products. Additionally,
industrial design renovation centres can be set in major cities
nation-wide to help SMEs in the design of their products. Efforts should
be made to enhance infrastructure by funding a 'Brand Academy'
to train reasonable number of specialists every year on brand
management, character design and industrial packaging. Government should
endeavour to sponsor entrepreneurs to advanced countries like Germany,
Japan, US, UK and South Korea to understudy their production system.
Having enhanced the quality of our local brands, a well-designed
advertising campaign will then be helpful in repositioning and reviving
the poor image of our domestic products particularly in the eye of the
non-Nigerians. An effective advertising campaign should seek to improve
consumer's knowledge of the benefit inherent in the product being
advertised.
For branded exports to benefit from the helpful dose of COO halo
effect, the product should chime with its COO in a creative logic manner
in the minds of the consumers. When developing export promotion
campaigns as one component of overall nation-brand strategy,
governments, trade councils and export promotion agencies therefore need
to carefully evaluate which of the countries' brands will most
significantly benefit from initiatives of highlighting the
product's COO. In conformity with the product life curve, it is
useful to link national symbols with company products, or to choose a
name that bears national connotations. In summary, a coordinated
nation-branding campaign must be founded on healthy public-private
sector collaboration.
A critical step in enhancing the image of Nigeriahome-made products
internally is to overcome the age-old colonial mentality of seeing local
products as inferior to foreign made-ins. In support of Yusuf (2009)
submission, there should be joint efforts on the part of the Nigerian
business operators and government to sensitize and instil in the Nigeria
citizenry the spirit of nationalism and pride in consuming their
cultural and local products. Nigeria Export Promotion council (NEPC)
should be revitalized to take up their responsibility of projecting the
image of made-in-Nigeria products to the external market audience.
Additionally, imports should be restricted through import duties and
tight security at the Nigeria borders to check smuggling
CONCLUSION
The objective of this study was to determine the public image of
the Nigerian branded exports and to investigate if there was significant
difference between Nigerians and non-Nigerians in perception of the
Nigerian branded exports. In addition, to identify the demographic and
socio-cultural variables that influence perceivers' image of
branded exports. Also, to establish the relative image of Nigeria in
terms of the branded exports among seven selected countries. Outside the
demographic data, eleven items were drawn to elicit data on the image of
branded exports. Data were analysed and results depicted negative image
for the Nigerian branded exports. There was no significant difference
between Nigerians and non-Nigerians in their perceptions of the
Made-in-Nigeria products. The image of branded exports was not related
to any of the independent variables. The comparative analysis result
placed Nigeria in the 6th position among the seven countries. On the
basis of our findings, we recommend that plans should be made by the
government to set up multi-billion naira ventures to help exporters
improve the designs of their products. Efforts should be made to enhance
infrastructure by funding a 'Brand Academy' to train
reasonable number of specialists every year on brand management,
character design and industrial packaging. Additionally, the
entrepreneurs and manufacturers should embrace market-oriented approach
and also network with their counterparts from developed countries to
effectively employ the latest technology. While targeting the external
communities, efforts should also be made to market Made-in-Nigeria
products internally by mitigating the effects of the age-old colonial
mentality and to instil in the Nigeria citizenry the spirit of
nationalism and pride in consuming their cultural and local products.
Further studies can be done to evaluate the image of specific products
made in Nigeria.
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EDITH ONOWE ODIA * & BARNABAS AIGBOJIE AGBONIFOH
* Department of Business Administration, University of Benin, Benin
City, Nigeria, E-mail: edyy2002ng@yahoo.com, agbonifoh@yahoo.com
Table 1
Perception of Nigerian Branded Exports
SD (1) D (2) N (3)
Exports Indices Freq % Freq % Freq %
Made in Nigeria products are:
1 Durable 73 14.7 193 38.8 127 25.6
2 Value for money (Fairness 55 11.1 144 29 150 30.2
3 Fashionable 21 4.2 94 18.9 108 21.7
4 Reliable 53 10.7 197 39.6 144 29
5 Of good workmanship/ 25 5 106 21.3 167 33.6
craftsmanship
6 Of standard quality 74 14.9 191 38.4 128 25.8
7 I prefer Made-in- 136 27.4 183 36.8 92 18.5
Nigeria products to
their foreign
counterparts)
8 My past experience 89 17.9 203 40.8 118 23.7
with Made in Nigeria
products was
satisfactory
9 Made in Nigeria labels 80 16.1 191 38.4 141 28.4
represent satisfaction
10 The quality of 51 10.3 107 21.5 128 25.8
Made-in-Nigeria
products is high
enough for my
personality
11 I buy Made in Nigeria 73 14.7 136 27.4 93 18.7
products even when
there are alternatives
TOTAL 730 13.4 1745 31.9 1396 25.5
A (4) SA (5) Index
Exports Indices Freq % Freq %
Made in Nigeria products are:
1 Durable 94 18.9 10 2 2.55
2 Value for money (Fairness 139 28 9 1.8 2.8
3 Fashionable 233 46.9 41 8.2 3.36
4 Reliable 88 17.7 15 3 2.63
5 Of good workmanship/ 157 31.6 42 8.5 3.17
craftsmanship
6 Of standard quality 94 18.9 10 2 2.55
7 I prefer Made-in- 61 12.3 25 5 2.31
Nigeria products to
their foreign
counterparts)
8 My past experience 76 15.3 11 2.2 2.43
with Made in Nigeria
products was
satisfactory
9 Made in Nigeria labels 70 14.1 15 3 2.49
represent satisfaction
10 The quality of 161 32.4 50 10.1 3.1
Made-in-Nigeria
products is high
enough for my
personality
11 I buy Made in Nigeria 140 28.2 55 11.1 2.94
products even when
there are alternatives
TOTAL 1313 24 283 5.2 2.76
SD = Strongly Disagree, D = Disagree, N = Neither Agree nor
Disagree, A = Agree, SA = Strongly Disagree
Source: Authors' field work
Table 2
T-Test for Equality of Mean Perceptions of Culture
on the Basis of Nationality
Nationality N Mean Standard
Deviation
Nigeria 379 2.76 0.596
Non-Nigeria 118 2.69 0.533
t-value d.f Sig Decision
2 tailed
Equal variance 1.008 495 0.314 Not
assumed Significant
Equal variance 1.075 218.29 0.283 Not
not assumed Significant
Source: Authors' field work
Table 3
Comparison of the Images of SevenDifferent Countries
Using ANOVA
Country
Index China Ghana Italy Nigeria
Product/Service 4.15 2.15 4.6 2.17
Ordinary Ranking 4TH 7TH 3RD 6TH
Country
Index S. Africa UK USA F Value
Product/Service 3.24 5.65 6.15 564.06
Ordinary Ranking 5TH 2ND 1ST
Source: Authors' field work
Table 4
Perception of Branded Exports: Multiple Range Tests Based
on Turkey-Kramer Procedure
Most
Reputable
Image
Index Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
Product/Service US UK Italy China
Least
Reputable
Image
Index Group 5 Group 6
Product/Service S. Africa Nigeria
Ghana
Source: Authors' field work
Table 5
Regression Model on Influences on Nigerian Branded Exports
Overall F Sig F R Square Durbin-W
0.7 0.65 0.01 1.79
Coefficients t Stat P-value CPD Partial F
Intercept 2.71 11.45 7.42E-26
INCOME 1.95E-07 0.38 0.71 0 0.14
Exposure -0.06 -1.69 0.09 0.01 2.87
SEX 0.02 0.21 0.83 0 0.04
AGE 0 -0.11 0.91 0 0.01
EduQ 0.01 0.33 0.74 0 0.11
Religion 0.06 1.15 0.25 0 1.32
Source: Authors' field work
