Book review
‘National Image and Competitive
Advantage: The Theory and Practice
of Country-of-Origin Effect’
by Eugene D. Jaffe and Israel D. Nebenzahl
Copenhagen Business School Press, Copenhagen; 2001; ISBN 87-16-13516-4;
186pp; hardback; £19
Eugene D. Jaffe, professor at the
Graduate School of Business Ad-
ministration, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
and Israel D. Nebenzahl, associate
professor at the same institution, have
both written widely on the country-of-
origin effect. Their motivation to write
‘National Image and Competitive Ad-
vantage: The Theory and Practice of
Country-of-Origin Effect’ was their
belief that the time had come to
integrate the vast literature relating to
country image in order to place more
emphasis on strategy. The proper
management of a nation’s image can,
they believe, give its business institu-
tions a competitive advantage in world
markets; however, the tools that deci-
sion makers can use to manage it are
still needed. This book will therefore
appeal, the authors hope, to three
audiences: first to students of interna-
tional marketing and business courses as
a supplement to global product and
advertising strategy; secondly to in-
ternational marketing managers; and
thirdly to those industry and govern-
ment officials who must deal with the
problems of creating and maintaining a
country’s national image.
396 䉷 HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1350-231X BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 9, NO. 4–5, 396–398 APRIL 2002
In true academic fashion, the book
commences with a number of defini-
tions. In discussing what is meant by
product, brand and country image, the
authors define image as comprising
the subjective perceptions of a person
about an object, with the important
observation that such beliefs, ideas and
impressions are mental images that may
or may not be congruent with objec-
tively defined attributes of the ob-
ject. Parallels are drawn between brand
names and country names, both being
seen as abstract symbols that generate
common perceptions and images that
join together a broad range of products
and services which, despite their diver-
sity, have some common desirable or
undesirable attributes.
The accommodation of such diver-
sity is a major challenge for countries
seeking to brand themselves effectively,
and this issue is covered in a chapter
devoted to managing country image by
industry and government. Relevant
industry groups involved in the effort
to maintain or improve a country’s
image are said to include chambers of
commerce, councils, tourist boards and
government agencies. Four cases of

country branding are given to illustrate
the pitfalls and potential benefits of
conscious campaigns to manipulate
country image: the countries examined
are the UK, Scotland, Germany, and
New Zealand. In the case of the latter
country, the authors highlight the
dilemma faced by a country attempting
to develop and implement a national
brand which can be sufficiently en-
compassing to promote strong primary
industries (sheep, rugby and trees in the
case of New Zealand) and at the
same time successfully promote phar-
maceutical and high-tech industries.
The reference to rugby in the case
of New Zealand is an interesting
one, given that the existing academic
country-of-origin literature almost to-
tally neglects sport as a possible
determinant of country image. Another
contributing factor to country image
perceptions which has been generally
overlooked in the country-of-origin
literature, but which Jaffe and Neben-
zahl pick up on, is the extent to which
a consumer’s foreign travel experience
affects their perceptions of a country’s
products. It is through issues such as
these that the authors identify one of
the most glaring weaknesses in much
of the academic approach to the
country-of-origin effect, namely that
there is a need for ratings questions and
country image scales that are based on
consumers’ rather than researchers’
frame of reference.
Through the example of the ‘Scot-
land the Brand’ campaign, a brief
account is given of how one country
has conducted a government-spon-
sored campaign to raise awareness
abroad of the country and its products
and services. Established in 1994,
Scotland the Brand is a joint venture
of industry and government for the
䉷 HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1350-231X BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 9, NO. 4–5, 396–398 APRIL 2002
BOOK REVIEW
promotion of Scottish trade, tourism
and culture. Member companies are
drawn from a wide range of industry
sectors including arts and culture, food
and drink, finance, manufacturing,
sport, transport and utilities. A national
logo is used on exported products to
encourage cohesion in image and
marketing.
However, as in the case of New
Zealand, the major challenge for Scot-
land the Brand is to forge a national
brand that promotes not only the tradi-
tional sectors for which the country is
known, but also the high-tech sec-
tor for which the established image
of Scotland has little resonance. The
authors describe how the Scots are
associated with having little or no tech-
nology or business infrastructure, even
though Scotland provides 36 per cent
of Europe’s branded PCs, 80 per cent
of its workstations and 13 per cent of
ATM machines. For many throughout
the world, as Jaffe and Nebenzahl sum-
marise it, Scotland represents a likeable,
somewhat idealised country which is in
theory capable of joining the 21st cen-
tury but has yet to demonstrate its
capacity to do so.
Country image may also be
managed (but not controlled) at the
firm or industry level. In a chapter on
managing of country-of-origin effects
by the firm, an example is given of
how one company, British Telecom,
changed its name to BT on the basis
of research that demonstrated the
negative stereotype images held by
many people with regard to Great
Britain. The unfortunate images
thrown up by the research cast Great
Britain as strike-prone, old-fashioned
and out of touch: clearly a detrimental
national image to a high-tech
company operating in a global market,
397
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and hence the abbreviation of the
company name to the placeless BT.
As the authors state in their conclusion
to the chapter, images of countries are
given as perceived by consumers, and
the challenge faced by the firm is how
to define a strategy congruent with
these images in knowledge of the fact
that rarely can a single firm affect
country image.
By providing numerous theoretical
models to facilitate future research in
the field and presenting descriptions
of various country image campaigns,
‘National Image and Competitive Ad-
398 䉷 HENRY STEWART PUBLICATIONS 1350-231X BRAND MANAGEMENT VOL. 9, NO. 4–5, 396–398 APRIL 2002
vantage: The Theory and Practice of
Country-of-Origin Effect’ largely suc-
ceeds in doing what it sets out to do —
that is, to integrate the country-of-
origin literature and place more em-
phasis on the strategic implications of
the country-of-origin effect. With this
lucid and insightful book, Jaffe and
Nebenzahl begin to wrench country of
origin out of its academic straitjacket
and into the realm of international
branding, where it belongs.
Keith Dinnie
Book Review Editor