In today's multinational marketplace, it is increasingly important to understand why some consumers prefer global brands to local brands. We delineate three pathways through which perceived brand globalness (PBG) influences the likelihood of brand purchase. Using consumer data from the U.S.A. and Korea, we find that PBG is positively related to both perceived brand quality and prestige and, through them, to purchase likelihood. The effect through perceived quality is strongest. PBG effects are weaker for more ethnocentric consumers. Journal of International Business Studies (2003) 34, 53–65. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400002

This study tested whether, among consumers in developing countries, brands perceived as having a nonlocal country of origin, especially from the West, are attitudinally preferred to brands seen as local, for reasons not only of perceived quality but also of social status. We found that this perceived brand nonlocalness effect was greater for consumers who have a greater admiration for lifestyles in economically developed countries, which is consistent with findings from the cultural anthropology literature. The effect was also found to be stronger for consumers who were high in susceptibility to normative influence and for product categories high in social signaling value. This effect was also moderated by product category familiarity, but not by consumer ethnocentrism. The results, thus, suggest that in developing countries, a brand's country of origin not only serves as a “quality halo” or summary of product quality (cf. Han, 1989), but also possesses a dimension of nonlocalness that, among some consumers and for some product categories, contributes to attitudinal liking for status‐enhancing reasons.

In this study, the authors examine the emergence of brand positioning strategies in advertising that parallel the growth of the global marketplace. A new construct, global consumer culture positioning (GCCP), is proposed, operationalized, and tested. This construct associates the brand with a widely understood and recognized set of symbols believed to constitute emerging global consumer culture. Study results support the validity of the new construct and indicate that meaningful percentages of advertisements employ GCCP, as opposed to positioning the brand as a member of a local consumer culture or a specific foreign consumer culture. Identification of GCCP as a positioning tool suggests one pathway through which certain brands come to be perceived by consumers as "global" and provides managers with strategic direction in the multinational marketplace.G lobalization is a relatively recent phenomenon that affords marketing managers new opportunities (Roth 1995a) as well as threats (Duncan and Ramaprasad 1995). One opportunity is the growth of global consumer segments (Dawar and Parker 1994; Hassan and Katsanis 1994) that associate similar meanings with certain places, people, and things (Caudle 1994). Paralleling the growth of global segments is the emergence of global consumer cultures, shared sets of consumption-related symbols (product categories, brands, consumption activities, and so forth) that are meaningful to segment members (Terpstra and David 1991). Mass media programming, flowing primarily from the United States, has played a major role in the creation, learning, and sharing of such consumption symbols (Appadurai 1990;Walker 1996).Building on the emergence of globally shared meanings, this study presents a new brand positioning strategy designed to assist intemational managers who seek to strengthen their brand's equity in an increasingly competitive marketplace (Aaker 1991;Kapferer 1992). We label this strategy "global consumer culture positioning" (GCCP) and hypothesize that GCCP can be contrasted with two other types of consumer culture positioning: local consumer culture positioning (LCCP), in which the brand is associated with the local consumer culture (e.g., Budweiser's associa-