hong kong consumer attitudes to japanese products.pdf

8/18/2019 Hong Kong consumer attitudes to Japanese products.pdf

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Title Hong Kong consumer attitudes to Japanese products

Author(s) Chan, Sau-mui, Margaret.;– yÀ …

.

Citation

Issued Date 1984

URL http://hdl.handle.net/10722/37429

RightsThe author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights)and the right to use in future works.


2/130


3/130

»

Low-InvolvementDecisionProcess

3. Attitude

1„ M u n

sModel

A.

Rank-OrderAnalysis

PairedComparisonAnalysis

2. Nagashima

sModel

3« MeanAverageWeightedScore

4» Roii«pho]d Tnnoirip

1. JapaneseProducts in theHongKongMarket

2 Infiltrationo fJapaneseCulture

3. HistoricalBackground

40

Purpose

of the

Study

CHAPTER 8 -CONCLUSIONS 92

1. AttitudeTowardsJapaneseProducts 92

2. AttitudeTowardsHongKongProducts 97

3• StereotypeImage 99

4.

Attitude,Behaviour

and

DissonanceReduction

100

5. T h eAttitudeModel 102

6.

Summary

104

PART 11 - LITERATUREREVIEWS 28

CHAPTER 3 • S T U D I E S

C H A P T E R B Y K I N - C H O K

I I I T H E

C H A P T E R

T h e

S u r v e y

T h e

Q u e s t i o n n a i r e

C H A P T E R

R E S U L T S

C H A P T E R D I S C U S S I O N

C H A P T E R —OBJECTIVESOFTHESTUDY 2Q

PART ] å - I N T R O D U C T I O N

C H A P T E R D E C I S I O N -

̂

— N — b y ‰ • ‘ M Ü 0 N = — b ˆ L € €

D E FI N E D ~ ^ ^

5 2

5 2

5 7

6 3

78

2 0

2 1

2 2

2 5

7

11

1 2

1 3

1 5


4/130

«S

0

Consumer

s

Attitudestowards

ProductsfromJapan

PRC

f

Taiwan

andHongKong (Mun)

Table 4 -APairedComparison of theRandingof

theProductsfromPRC

f

Taiwanand

HongKong (Mun)

Table

5 -

Statementsrelated

to

"Quality"

(Mun)

Table 6 -Statementsrelated to "Styleand

ProductDesign" (Mun)

Table 7 N S t a t e m e n t s r e l a t e d t o G e n e r a l I m a g e

T a b l e

T a b l e

T a b l e

T a b l e 1 1

T a b l e

- 1 9 8 3 I m p o r t s f r o m S e l e c t e d C o u n t r i e s

- H o n g K o n g C o n s u m e r A t t i t u d e s t o w a r d s

T E L E V I S I O N S f r o m J a p a n ̂ U S A r G e r m a n y

H o n g K o n g


f r o m J a p a n , S w i t z e r l a n d T a i w a n

a n d H o n g K o n g


f r o m J a p a n

C h i n a

F r a n c e

a n d H o n g K o n g

- A P a i r e d C o m p a r i s o n o f t h e R a n k i n g o f

f r o m J a p a n ,

U S A

andHongKong

Table13 -APariedComparisonoftheRankingof

WATCHfromJapan,Switzerland

Taiwan

and

HongKong

Table14-APairedComparison oftheRankingof

GARMENTfromJapan

China,France

andHongKong

21

36

37

38

38

38

46

53

54

55

58

59

60

Table 1 5 -

Statementsrelated

to

P r i c e " ( H o n g

K o n g C o n s u m e r s )


5/130


6/130

TheQuestionnaire

Demographics ofRespondents

MeanScoresonStatements 1 to 34

Place

of

Origin

of

ProductsOwned

Product

ofthe

GreatestValue

AverageMeanScores

of

Japanese

Televisions

f

WatchesandGarments.

Breakdown

of

HouseholdIncomes


7/130


8/130

« Table 1shows the importanceo fHongKong®s

exportproducts in theJapaneseimportmarket:

HongKongExportProduct

%of

Japanese Impoirt

Toys

and

Games

Jewellery

Non-furClothing

FurClothing

Table

1 -

HongKongMajorExportProducts

1

Share

in

the

JapaneseImportMarket

f

1982^

Ascanbe

seen.HongKong

1

sperformance

in the

Japanesemarketwhich is shared bysuchstrong

competitors

asthe

U.S.A.

f

U.K.and

otherEuropean

1.

SouthChinaMorningPost

10th

December

f

1983

#

Business

News

.

2.

From "HongKongTradeReview1982",HongKongTrade

DevelopmentCouncil.

on the "Japanesemarket-quality

22»3

132

6 « 2

5 8 . 4


9/130

Osami,andyetmanyHongKong-made

productshave to besoldunderdisguisebecause of the

IMAGEassociatedwiththe "made inHong Kong

11

labelan

theconsumer̂ sattitudetowardssuch an image«

Thisincidenthighlights

the

importance

of

consumer

attitudewhichaccounts for the fact that

extensivemarketingefforts

are

directedtowards

effectingattitudinalchange a s aforerunner o f

3

behavioralchange0

As

defined

by

AkiraNagashima

ÿ

1

i m a g e " m e a n s i d e a s

e m o t i o n a l b a c k g r o u n d

a n d

c o n n o t a t i o n a s s o c i a t e d w i t h

c o n c e p t0 Thuis

f

the

"made in" image is thepicture

thereputation

thestereotypethatbusinessmen andconsumers

attach

to

products

ofa

specificcountry This

image iscreated bysuchvariablesas

representativeproducts,nationalcharacteristics

economicandpoliticalbackground

historyand

traditions.

Thisstudy

therefore

attempts to look atthe

consumerattitudes inHongKongtowardsJapanese

products. However

f

beforewegoanyfurther

f

it is

appropriatefirst

of all to

look

athow

consumersmake

purchasingdecisionsandwewilldothis in the

followingChapter1,inwhich amodelo fconsumer

behaviour is setoutand the importanceof "ATTITUDE

11

Nagashima

f

Akira

f

"AComparison ofJapaneseandU.S.

AttitudesTowardForeignProducts

f

J o u r n a l

o f

M a r k e t i n g

f

V o l

34

(January

1970)

ppl~68-74


10/130

In

Part

11,

Chapters

3 and 4̂ a

literaturereview

willbeundertakenofthethreepreviousstudieswhich

are

relevant

to

thistopic.

Inpart ]åå r e p o r t o n t h e s t u d y w i l l b e g i v

Chapter 5describesvariousaspectsofthemethodology,

including

the

sample,

the

productschosen

and the

questionnaireused

e

Chapter 6givestheresultsofthe

study,which

are

thenanalysedanddiscussed inChapter

7.

Aconclusionandsummaryof the findingswillbe

attempted

in

Chapter

8«


11/130

«

A

variety

of

conceptsdrawn fromsuchfields aseconomics

r

psychology,

socialpsychology

and

culturalanthropology

havebeen

advanced tounderstand

c o n s u m e r s b e h a v e a s t h e y d o a n d

r

s i n c e t h e t i m e o f

D e w e y i t e m i z e d w h a t h e t e r m e d t h e s t e p s i n p r o

s o l v i n g t o u n d e r s t a n d t h e p r o c e s s t h e i n d i v i d u a

t h r o u g h i n a r r i v i n g a t d e c i s i o n

m o d e l s o

b e h a v i o u r h a v e b e e n

p u t

f o r w a r d

H e r e

w i l l

a t t h e m o d e l a d v a n c e d b y J a m e s E n g e l a n d R o g e r D ,

B i a c k w e l l ̂

a

1 • High-InvolvementDecisionMakingProcess

Figure 1depictstheEngelandBiackwelldecision

process in highinvolvement.

4« Dewey

f

John

p

"HowWe T hi n k0 N e w Y o r k H e a l t h

1 9 1 0 .

Engel

f

JamesF~~andBiackwell

f

RogerD ” "Consumer

Behaviour"

f

T h e

DrydenPress

FourthEdition,~1982

9


12/130

—1980,—op.cit.,p.492)

6

FollowingPettyandCapicoppoandothers

involvement is definedhereas theactivationof

extendedproblem-solvingbehaviourwhen theact of

purchase or consumption is seenbythedecisionmaker

ashavinghighpersonalimportance or relevance. This

can

takeplacewhen

the

productitself

is

perceived

a s

reflecting

on

one'sself image

as

might

bethe

case

6. Richard E.PettyandJohnT . Capicoppo,"Issue

Involvement

a s a

Moderator

o f t he

Effects

on

Attitude

ofAdvertisingContentandContext," inKentB . Monroe

(ed.)

f

Advances

in

ConsumerResearch,Vol

8 (An n

Arbor

f

Mich.ÿAssociationforConsumerResearcĥ 1981),

pp.20-24ÿ C l a r k L e a v i t t

f

A n t h o n y G . G r e e n w a l d ,

C a r l O b e r m i l l e r

i s I n v o l v e m e n t i n ? " i n

M o n r o e , p p , 1 5 - 1 9 .


13/130

« Involvement ishigh

when

the

latitude

of

acceptance

islow and the

latitude

of

rejection

is

large.

A.

ProblemRecognition

It can be

seenthat

in the

Engel

and

Biackwellmodel

f

the

decisionprocessstartswith

problemrecognitionwhich

is

influenced

by

motives

and

incominginformation

and

experiencestored

in

memory. Motives

are

enduringpredispositions

to

strive toattainspecifiedgoals anddetermine

t o

a

largeextent

r

the

idealstate

for the

individual

atany timeÿ i n f o r m a t i o n

o n t h e o t h e r h a n d

o f t e n s e r v e s

t o

r e v e a l

t h e

e x t e n t

t o

w h i c h

c i r c u m s t a n c e s d e v i a t e f r o m t h i s i d e a l0 Oncet

perceiveddeviationreaches

a

certainlimit,

the

individualthen

is

aroused

to

restore

the

disturbedbalance

Motivesmaybearousedwhen aneed or a

drive

is

activatedo There

is

widespreadagreement

in

behavioralsciencesthatone

8

s

entire

psychologicalmake-up

is

organizedaround

the


14/130

»

T he

self-concept

integratesmotivesinto

a

purposefulpatternthat

isreflected in purchasingbehaviour inwhich a

product ispurchased

f

whoseimage isconsistent

with

the

consumer

5

s

outlook

on

life

and theuseof

whichrepresentshighlyself-approvedbehaviour»

Problemrecognition

may

also

be

brought

aboutbythenormativefunction ofreferencegroup

when

the person is

making

a

consciouseffort

to

emulatethebehaviour ofothers in thegroupor to

be

identifiedwith

the

group

1

sbehaviour

«

Referencegroupsinfluencebehavioursthrough

their

evaluative or informationalfunctionof

providing

a

referencepoint

by

which

an

individual

evaluatestheself-conceptandotheraspectsof

behaviour

The

SearchProcess

Once

a

problem

is

recognized

t h e

consumer

willproceed

to the

nextstep

in

high-involvement

Maslow,

A.H.

Row,1954,

'Motivation

and

Personality

§8

Harper

&


15/130

Initially

the

consumerwillresort

to

internalsearchfrommemory» When

a

pastsolution

to the

recognizedproblem

is

remembered

and

implemented

thiswilllead

to

habitualresponse

behaviour and achoice ismade. Otherwisean

externalsearchbecomesnecessary«

Thosewithlittle

priorexper

iencewith

the

productcategory

f

i .e .

when

it isnew^may

have

to

learntheappropriateevaluativecriteria to use

in the

choiceprocess«

Sourcesofinformationincludepersonaland

word-of-mouthinfluence

personalselling

the

generalmedia

f

advertisingandpoint-of-sale

influence„

As

consumersrarelyrely

onone

source

th e

variousmedia

are

complementaryrather

thancompetitive

Because

of

greatercredibility

and

clarity,

non-marketer-dominatedsources

f

especially

word-of-mouth

r

a r emoreimportant in influencing

decisionmaking

f

especially

so

when

the

item

tobe

purchased

is

expensive.

In

thisconnection,

the


16/130

The sumtotalofall

thesebeliefsand evaluationsrepresentsan

attitude,eitherfavourable

or

unfavourable

̂

towards

the

product» Usually

a

positiveattitude

will

be

accompanied

byan

intention

to

act

f

which

willculminate in anactualpurchase

Alternativeevaluationbeginswith

evaluativecriteriawhich

are

specifications

and

standardsusedbytheconsumer toevaluate

products

and

brands« They

arethe

desired

outcomesfromchoice

anduse

expressed

in t he

form

of

preferredproductbenefits0 They

maybe

objective

(e.g»

specificphysicalfeatures)

or

subjective (i.e.symbolicvalues orbenefits)

80

BurnkrantpRobert,

and

Cousineau

f

Alain

f

"Information

and

NormativeSocialInfluence

in

BuyerBehaviour

1

Journal

of

ConsumerResearch (December 1975)^

p p .

206-214. ^


17/130

Th e

number ofcriteriawhichenterintothedecision

increaseswith

the

extent

o f

involvement«

Brandreputationfrequentlyemergesas

determinant criterion and̂ particularlywhere

qualitycannot

be

judgedeasily

f

the

brandname

serves

asa

surrogateindicator

of

product

quality.

T he

"made-in”image

to

which

1

referred

in the introductory

paragraph

veryoftenhas the

sameeffect asbranddifferentiation^

Price

can

also

be

used

asa

surrogate

indicator

of

qualitywhenthere

areno

quality-connotingcriteriasuch a sbrandnameor

storelocation«

Choice

Ascanbe

seenfromFigure

1

f

Choice

is the

outcome

of two

determinants:

(1)

intentions

and

(2)

unanticipatedcircumstances.

A s

mentioned

in

theprevioussection

r

apositiveattitudeis

usuallyaccompanied

byan

intention

b u t

interveningbetween

the

intention

and the

actual

actof

purchasethere

are

unanticipated


18/130

E. T h e

Outcomes

of

Choice

T h e

outcomes

of

choice

canbe

broadly

categorized assatisfaction

f

anddissonance

and

both

can

have

a

strongeffect

on

futurebehaviour

sincetheythenbecomepart

of

long-termmemory

andhenceexert aneffectonbrandbeliefsand

attitudes

Satisfaction isdefined byEngeland

Biackwell

(1980

op.cit

p«501 ) as

1

an

evaluation

that

the

chosenalternative

is

consistentwith

priorbeliefswithrespecttothatalternative

0

0

Brandloyaltywilldevelop

andbe

strengthened

as

long

as

there

is

positivereinforcement

of

beliefs. Wherethere

is

brandloyalty,

the

choice

heuristicused

in

futuredecisionwill

be

simplified.

9,

Krugman

E.E. "The

Impact

of

TelevisionAdvertisings

LearningWithoutInvolvement®

0

,PublicOpinionQuarterly

XXIX,

1965,pp.

349-356.

^


19/130

Whenthishappens

thepersonwill

try to

reducedissonance

byÿ

(1)

reevaluating

the

desirability

ofthe

unchosenalternatives

in

favour

of the

choice

hehas

made

by

increasing

the

perceivedattractiveness

of the

chosen

alternativeand/ordowngrading

the

desirabilityof thosenotchosen,

(2) searching for information to confirmhis

choice«

2 Low-InvolvementDecisionProcess

What

we

havejustseen

is a

model

o f

high-

involvementdecision. However

mostproductswhich

are

purchased

and

usedhaveonlymodestrelevance

and

importance in lifeitself. Thesearelow-involvement

products Theydonotreflectone

1

sego or

self-worth. Alsothealternativeswithintheproduct

class

are

largelysimilar

so

thatthere

is

little

perceivedrisk

if one

brand

is

usedrather thananother


20/130

Brandshifts

are

commonplace.

In

low-involvementdecisionprocesses

problem

recognitionleadsdirectly

to

choice

f

which

is

followed,

not

preceded

f

b y

alternativeevaluation

T h e

process isdepicted inFigure 2belowÿ

Exposure

Retention

Attention

Comprehension

Problem

recognit ion

Beliefs

Choice

Alternative

evaluation

Att i tude

Intent ion

Input

Stimuli

Other

Marketer

dominated

Information Processing Decision Process

Figure

2 -T h e

Low-InvolvementDecisionProcess

(fromEngel

and

Biackwell

"1980

op.cit.

f

p . 5 4 3 )

There islittle or n oactivesearch. Rather

attention

is

involuntary

f or t he

mostpart

and

occurs

a s t he

individual

is

exposed

to a

medium

for

other

reasons

.


21/130

Once

the

product

has

beenusedwithpositiveoutcome

futureproblem

recognitionmost

likelytakes

the form ofstock out•

3• Attitude

Ashas

beenseen

in t he

previoussection attitude

is amajordeterminant inhigh-involvementdecisions,

thoughonly

an

outcome

in

low-involvementdecisions

YoelllGdefined "Attitude

8

®

a s:

1

A n

attitude

i s a

predispositionwhichprepares

the

consumer

for

responding (behaving)

in a

particularway. Thisresponse is theresultof

variouscues

or

signalsthat

are

operating

in

theenvironment« T h econsumerhaslearnedthe

significance

of

thesecues

and

signals

and

eitherbegins

to

make

an

approach

or

avoidance

responseaccordingly0

A n

attitude

is

learned^

It is

conditioned

by

priorexperience

and

reinforcedthroughbehaviour

o

1 0

Yoell

f

William "Determination

of

Consumer

AttitudesandConceptsThroughBehavoralAnalyses"

t

AttitudeResearch

at

Sea

y

L e e

Adler

and

Irving

Crespi

( e d . )

f

The

AttitudeResearchComnittee

AmericanMarketingAssociation

1966.


22/130

»

Therearethreemodelsofattitudeexpression -

cognition

affectsandactions

i .

8

ho w aperson

views

the

product

or

productclass

s

what

h e

likes

anddislikesaboutspecificproductattributes

f

and

howhebehaves inwayswhicharerelated to using

the

product

or

productclass

m

Therehavebeenconsiderableargumentsasto

whether

or n o t

behaviour

canbe

predictedfrom

knowledge

ofan

individual

s

s

attitude

»

Fishbein

concludedthat apersontends to bringhisattitude

intolinewithhisbehaviourrather thanthat

L2

behaviour

is a

function

of

attitude.

On the

otherhand,thereareanumber ofstudiesclearly

documentingthat achange inattitude

usually

throughsometypeofpersuasivecampaign

f

is

11.Heller

HarryE .

r

"DefiningTargetMarketsByTheir

AttitudeProfiles"

f

inAttitudeResearchonthe

Rocks

A t t i t u d e R e s e a r c h C o m m i t t e e

f

A m e r i c a n M a r k e t i n g

A s s o c i a t i o n , 1 9 6 8 .

1 2 .

F i s h b e i n

M .

" A t t i t u d e

a n d t h e

P r e d i c t i o n

B e h a v i o u r^• i n F i s h b e i n ( e d . ) A t t i t u d e T h e o r y

M e a s u r e m e n t Y o r k , J o h n W i l e yN & S o n s

p ,

ÿ


23/130

«

Asnotedearlier

f

themorecurrentview is that

inhighinvolvementdecision-making

becauseof

extendedproblemsolving^newinformationdoes

affecttheconsumer®scognitivestructureandleads

to achange in beliefŝ attitudes

and intentions

followedbyachange inbehaviour. In

low-involvementsituations ̂ on theotherhand

f

often

abehavioralact is undertakenfollowedbyachange

in beliefsandattitudes

sothat avalidmarketing

goalshouldbe to aimatstimulatingpurchase or

trial in thehopesthatsatisfactionwilllead to

reuse«

However

a

generalprinciple

of

persuasion

theory is thatattitudesareresistant to change to

theextentthat the individual

s

sbeliefsare

anchored inhis or herconceptionofself-worth»

14

Hansen proposes to lookatthewholeattitude

structure,sinceÿ

13 SecAchenbaum

f

AlvinA.

8S

AdvertisingDoesn

t

ManipulateConsumers^

18

Journal

o f

Advertising

Research

9

Vol 12 (April1972)

f

pp.—3-14

14. Hensen

r

Flemming

t

8

AnAttitudeModelforAnalysing

ConsumerBehaviour" inAttitudeResearch on the

Rocks

y

(op.cit

0

),p

s

147


24/130

»

T heFishbeinmodelwassimilar toRosenberg

1

s ̂ bu t

insteadtook accountofbelief (theprobabilitythatan

objectdoes or doesnothave aparticularattribute)

and anaffectiveterm (specifyingwhether or not the

possession or failureofpossessionof theattributeis

positive

or

negative)« However

recently

most

ofthe

marketingapplications

now

make

useof

hybridmodels

f

oneexample ofwhich is asfollows:

Where:

= attitude tov/ard aparticularalternative b

= weightor importanceofevaluative

criterion i

15.Rosenberg

r

Milton " "CognitiveStructureand

AttitudinalEffects

81

r

inJournalo fAbnormalandSocial

Psychology

Vol« 53 (1956) "367-372

16.Fishbein,Martin

r

"TheRelationshipsBetweenBeliefs

f

Attitudes

and

Behaviour"^

in

ShelFeldman

(ed,)

CognitiveConsistency

y

N e wYork:AcademicPress,1966

pp. 199-223«


25/130

•

n =

number

of

evaluativecriteriaimportant

in

selection

ofan

alternative

in

categoryunderconsideration.

A

similarformulawill

be

employed

to

analyse

the

datafrom

t he

presentstudy

to

test

the

applicability

ofthe

model«


26/130

« The

successof themarketersofJapaneseproducts is notonly

demonstrated

by the

largequantities

of

Japaneseimports

intoHong Kong

butalsoby the infiltrationof the

Japanesecultureinto thelocallife-style,particularly in

thatof theyoungergeneration

f

thusensuringcontinued

consumersupport byaffectingattherootthelocal

culturalnormsandvalues«

However

f

thesuccess ofmarketersofJapaneseproducts

musthavebeenachievedwithespecialeffortsbecauseof

thepeculiarhistoricalbackground inHongKong in that a

largeproportionof thepopulationherehavesufferedbadly

atthehandsof theJapaneseduringtheSecondWorldWar.

Havetheynowsucceeded inwipingoutcompletelythe

earliermemories? Or arethosepeoplewhohavesuffered

stillholdingoutagainstJapaneseproducts?

1

JapaneseProducts

in the

HongKongMarket

Table2showstheretainedimportvaluesof the


27/130

China

3

e

U.S.A.

4. Taiwan

5. Singapore

6„ U.K.

7

8

Rep.ofKorea

80 F0R.Germany

9» Australia

10

Switzerland

2•

Infiltration

ofJapaneseCulture

EvidencesoftheinfiltrationoftheJapanese

culture

in

HongKong

are

numerous

r

as

demonstrated

by

thepopularityofJapanesesongsandsingers in theTop

HitsParadewhich

is

mainlypatronized

b y

youngsters

Withinthepastyear

therehavebeenatleastthree

largescaleconcertshosted

by

Japanesesingers

in

Hong

21

toptensupplierstoHongKong in 1983» Fromthis, it

canbeseenthatthe totalvalueofretained imports

fromJapan is thehighestamong thetoptensuppliers

giving

an

indication

of the

importance

of

Japanese

products in thelocalmarket:

Table 2

HongKongRetainedImportfemT op Ten Major

Suppliers

f

1983-^̂

Ranking of Retained %Shareof

MajorCountries ImportValue totalimports

of

Or

igin HK$Mn fromcountry

17

From "HongKongTradeReview1983

11

r

HongKongTrade

DevelopmentCouncil0


28/130

Onemorning in earlyDecember,1941,theJapanese

planesbombardedKaiTakAirportand

f

after eighteen

daysofwar

r

Hong Kongsurrendered Fromthen onuntil

August1945

f

threeyearsandeightmonthslater.Hong

Konghad the traumaticexperienceof theJapanese

Occupation. Testimonies

of the

suffering

of

HongKong

residentsduring thisperiod a r eplentiful an d Iquote

below

an

extractfrom

"The

Occupation

of

Hong

Kong"18:-

"JohnStericker

w a s

shocked

at the

brutal

treatmentmeted out to thelocalpopulation.

Birch

A. L. andCole,M ."CaptiveYears, T he

Occupation

of

Hong Kong 1941-45"

f

HeinemanEducational

Books (Asia)Limited 1982,p.7.


29/130

• LiShu-fan

describes

the

pillaging

of

HongKong:

s

Throughout

the

three-daycelebrationJapanese

soldiersstrolledupanddownthestreetsofthe

city

f

stoppingcars

and

commanding

the

drivers

to

take thera

for jo y

rides. Theyseized

whatevertheywantedfromstores

especially

from

th e

wine

and

clothingshops

sometimes

tossing

afew

militarynotes

on the

counter

in

any

quantitytheyliked«

If a

store

was

locked

theybroke in andhelpedthemselvesfreely» O n

the

nightafterChristinas

I

lookedinto

the

Shan

Kwanghotelwindowsacrosstheroadfromthe

hospital

and saw

Japanesesoldiersdining

singing

f

drinking

and

dancingwith

one

anothei:

Partieslikethisswelled

to

orgiesthroughout

HongKong. Itseemed asthoughthesoldiershad

beenspecificallygivenlicence tocommitany

act

theywished. Theirfirstthought

wastoput

wine

in

theirbellies

f

thenthey

setoutfor

excitement

and

mischiefunder

t h e

pretext

of

searching for arms or suspects. Theybrokeinto

houseafterhouseatthepointofagun Once

in

theyslapped

̂

kicked,murdered

stole

and

raped0 Throughout

the

night

w e

heardpeople

cry

B

SaveLife!SaveLifeI®»

81

ForpeoplewhowerenotinHongKonga tthat

time

t h e

majority

hadhad

similarexperiencesince

they

had

comefrom

war

inflictedChina

or

other

south-eastAsiancountries*


30/130

«

In

early1982,theJapaneseEducationDepartment

attempted

to

changetheirhistorytextbooks

to

play

down

the

Japaneseaggressiveness

in the

SecondWorld

War

e

Thiselicited

an

immenseuproar throughoutChina

and

HongKong

On18th

September

f

1982

it

developed

into averyprovocativescenewith amassive

demonstration

at

VictoriaPark

and

pressures

to

boycott

the

Japanesestores

ending

in an

emotional

ceremonyofpresenting to aChineseofficialaletter

of

protestationwritten

in

blooddonated

by

6,000

students«

It is

worthy

of

notethat

the

incident

was

initiated

by

students

whohadnot

beenthrough

the

JapaneseOccupation

Anotherphenomenonthat

I

wouldcitehere

is

thatthreeof themostpopularsongs in theChinese

Top

HitsParade

in the

last

few

monthshavebeenvery

19

Census

1981

MainReport,Census

and

Statistics

Department.


31/130

«

40

Purpose

of the

Study

Fromthestatistics on retainedimportsshown in

Table 2and theevidencesof the infiltrationof the

Japanesecultureamongtheyoungergeneration inHong

Kong

r

it

wouldappearthat

the

Japanesemarketing

effortshave

not

beenimpaired

by the

unfavourable

historicalfactorrecountedearlier However

f

20

Heller arguesthatbehavioralmeasuressuchas

marketsharetellonlywhathappened

in t he

past

and

not

whatwillhappen

in the

future

f

that

the

work

of

marketingresearchmustbe futuristic an d that it is

possible

to

altermarketperformance

by

understanding

the

attitudelyingbehindpurchasedecisions. This

then

is

what

the

presentstudyhopes

to

achieve

T h e

objectiveso fthisstudythereforeare;

A. To

examine

the

overallattitude

ofthe

HongKong

consumerstowards

the

Japaneseorigin

ofa

product« Itshould benotedthat it is the

20

Heller,Harry

"

181

AttitudeShare

of

Market

8

Predicts

BetterThanBehavioralMeasures

8

0

MarketingNews

(May

16,1980)p.7


32/130

—

BELIEFS

of theconsumersculminating in their

attitudesthat is thesubjectof thestudyand

that

wearenot

concernedherewith

the

accuracy

or

otherwise

of

thesebeliefs.

Withintheoverallattitude

toexaminethe

consumers

8

beliefstowardsJapaneseproducts

in

terms

of:

(i)

Product

Price

Is it

highcost

or

inexpensive?

Is it

reasonablypriced?

(ii)

ProductQuality

Is it

meticulouslymade

or has it

careless

or

poorworkmanship?

Is itdurable?

Is it inventive or imitation?

Is it

made

o f

goodmaterial?

How is its

performance?

(iii)

ProductDesign

Has itgot

widechoice

of

size

and

model

Is the

stylegood?

(iv) ProductSupport

Isbackupservicesatisfactory?

Is it

welladvertised?


33/130


34/130


35/130

, and athird byMunKin-chok

2 3

in 1980.

Thestudies ofNagashimawillbediscussed in t he

followingChapter 3and that ofMun in

Chapter

4

21.See

Note

3on

Page

3.

22

Nagashima

Akira,

sf

A

Comparative

8

Made

In

8

Product

ImageSurveyAmongJapaneseBusiness

88

Journal

of

Marketing

y

July

1977

pp.

95-100

23« Mun ,

Kin-Chok

"HongKongNeedRe-posit

ioning ÿ

T h e

H o n g K o n g M a n a g e r s , 1 9 8 0

T h e H o n g K o n g M a n a g e m e n

A s s o c i a t i o n .


36/130

The

firstsurvey

r

conducted

in 1965

among

70

Minnesotabusinessmen

was

aimed

at

measuring

U»S.

businessmen

1

sattitudestowardsproductsmade

in theU.S.

Japan

England

Germanyand Italy, Thesecondstudy

conducted

in 1967̂

surveyed

the

attitudes

of 100

prominent

Tokyobusinessmenalong thesamedimensions for thesame

countr

ies

exceptthatFrancereplacedItaly.

The

results

of

these

two

studieswerereported

in

Nagashima

s

s 1970

article

(op0

cit)

Afurtherstudywasconducted byNagashimaeightyears

later andhis1977article (op« cit)reported theattitude

change

of the

Japaneseover

the

eight-yearperiod.

All

threestudiesemployed

the

semanticdifferential

24

methoddeveloped

by

CharlesOsgood

and

modified

byW.A

#

25

Mindak

A

seven-pointscale

was

usedwitheachscale

positionarbitrarilyweightedfrom+3 to -3:

24

Osgood, Suci

G . J ” and

Tannenbaim,

P.H,

"The

Measurement

of

Meaning

r

U n i v e r s i t y

o f

I l l i n o i s P

1 9 5 7

O s g o o d ,

C , E , , " T h e

N a t u r e

a n d

M e a s u r e m e n t

M e a n i n g "

r

P s y c h o l o g i c a l B u l l e t i n

f

V o l

49 (May

pp.

197-26^

25

Mindak,

W.A.

r

"Fitting

the

SemanticDifferential

to

the

MarketingProblem

11

f

Journal

o f

Marketing

Vol.25,

April 19 61

f

pp .

28-33.


37/130

The

results

of the

most

recentstudy,i.e.the 1975study, is shown inFigure 3

belowand thoseof theearlierstudiesareatAppendix I.

Figure

3

Profile

o f

"Made-In"ProductImages

of

JapaneseBusinessmen

(Results

of

Nagashima s

1 9 7 5

S t u d y )

P r i c e

W(

V a l u e

E x p e n s i v e

R e a s o n a b l y

p r i c e d

R e l i a b l e

U n r e a s o n a b l y

p r i c e d

U n r e l i a b l e

L u x u r y

N e c e s s a r y

L i g h t m a n u f a c t u r e

p r o d u c t

p r o d u c t

s o

c a r e f u l

a n d

m e t i c u l o u s

w o r k m a n s h i p s

C a r e f u l

a n d

m e t i c u l o u s

w o r k m a n s h i p

T e c h n i c a l l y

b a c k w a r d

M a s s p r o d u c e d

M o s t l y d o m e s t i c

d i s t r i b u t i o n

m u c h p r i d e

o w n e r s h i p

P r i d e

o w n e r s h i p

a d v e r t i s i n gM u c h

U n r e c o g n i z a b l e

b r a n d n a m e s

R e c o g n i z a b l e

b r a n d n a m e s


38/130


39/130

«

-to

explore

concepts

of the

countrywhichproduces

the

best

product„

Itwas

found

in

thesestudiesthat

the

"made in

Si

image

was

naturallyaffected

by the

familiarity

and

availability

of

the

country

5

s

product

and the

stereotype

of

thatcountry.

Somerepresentativeproducts

of

thatcountryinfluenced

the

totalproductimage, suchproducts

as

CocaCola

Chevrolet

f

Ford

f

IBMand

Sunkistwereforming

the

image

of

"Made

in 11«S„A.

f

and

suchprominentJapaneseproducts

as

Sony,Nikon

Toyoto

and

Hondawere

the

drivingforce

in

forming

the

image

of

"Made

in

Japan

56

«

Inhis1967

study

f

Nagashimafoundthat

the

Japanese

thought

of

their

own

products

as

"inexpensive

11

f

58

common

fs

f

"necessary

S8

and

Bi

imitative

Sf

. Theytended

to

associate

the

label

i n

J a p a n

1 0

w i t h c a r e l e s s

o r

p o o r w o r k m a n

t o o k l i t t l e p r i d e

i n

o w n i n g t h e i r

p r o d u c t s«

productshoweverwerebelieved

to beas

reasonably

pr

iced

as

English

and

Germanproducts, Advertising

was

considered

to beas

heavy

as for IKS.

ones

but

therewererelatively

fewrecognizableJapanesebrands.

In his

subsequentstudy

in 1975,

Nagashimafoundthat

the

attitudes

of

Japanesebusinessmentowards

the

"made

in


40/130

„ Japaneseproducts

had

become

as

expensive

as 0,3«

products

and

were

considered

to be as

reliable

and as

reasonably

pr

iced

as

Germanproducts;they

had

movedahead

ofU.S.

products

in

"carefulandmeticulousworkmanship"

f

thoughstillfell

below

the

products

of

Germany

England

and

France

®

Japan

was

alsoconsiderednext

to the

U.S.A.

in

technical

advancement,surpassingGermany

#

and it v/as

rankednumber

one in

world-widedistributionover

the

ILS0»

and

Germany, But the image of itsimitativenessstayed the

same

as in 1967 and the

Japanesestillfeltlittlepride

of

ownershipof their ownproducts«

Since

the 1975

study

was

morerecent

its

resultswill

be

used

to

comparewith

the

results

of the

presentstudy.


41/130

„

Brumer

and

George

M.

26

Taoka

on

"ConsumerAttitudesTowardProductsfrom

People

8

s

Republic

of

China

and

Other

Far

Eastern

Countr

ies

f

p r e s e n t e d a t t h e C o n f e r e n c e o f t h e A c a d e m y o f

I n t e r n a t i o n a l B u s i n e s s i n D e c e m b e r , 1 9 7 9 , i n H o n o l u l u

Thesedatashowedthat

in theU.S.

consumers

1

perception

Japaneseproductsobviouslyoccupied

a

muchmorefavourable

positionagainstthosefromHongKong

P.R«C

#

and

Taiwan«

There

wasa

significantdifferencebetwen

U.S.

consumers

1

attitudestowardsJapaneseproductsandproductsfromthe

other three

Far

Easternplaces, However

f

t h e

differences

in

consumerattitudestoward

t h e

latterthreewererather

small

or

non-existent

Munthenperformed arank-orderanalysisusingthe

percentages

of the

attitudestatements

f

onthe

following

rules

:

26 Brumer

JamesA.andTaoka,GeorgeM .

f

"Consumer

AttitudesTowardProductsfromPeople

1

sRepublic

of

ChinaandOtherFarEasternCountries

88

r

Proceedingsof

the

Academy

of

InternationalBusinesssAsia-Pacific

Dimensions

of

InternationalBusiness

f

December

18-20

1979

Honolulu

Hawaii,


42/130

Thehighestpercentage=1

Thelowestpercentage = 4

Ranking for negativestatementsÿ

Thehighestpercentage=4

Thelowestpercentage = 1

so that the lower thetotalscore for amanufacturing

place

the

morefavourable

the

consumers'attitudestowards

itsproductsandviceversa. Theresultsof theanalysis

is

shown

in

Table

3

below:

Table 3

U . S . Consumers'Attitud estowardProductsfrom

Japan, P R C , Taiwan a n d HongKong

( F r o m M u n , K . C . , 19 8 0ÿo p . c i t . )

(Percent

W h o

Strongly

o r

ModeratelyAgree)

Country/Area

Statements

Japan

Rank

P R C

Rank

Taiwan

I Rank

HongKong

% Rank

A . Posit iveStatements

1. Havehigh-gradestyle 5 8

2 . Typicallymeethighquality 6 4

controlstandard

3 . A r e items o frealcraftsmanship 5 5

4 . A r e verydurable 5 4

5 . A r e among t h e world'sbest 5

6 . A r e superior i n mostrespects 3 8

B Neg at iv eStatements

7 . A r e madewithcheapmaterials 4 3

8 . A r e cheapimitations o f better 4 1

products

9 .

Lackpolish

a n d

detailfound

4 1

in reallyfinemerchandise

10 . A re o fquestionablematerial 3 9

& workmanship

1 1 . A r e t o b e avoided if possible 3 9

1 2. A r e t o b e boughtonly if y o u a r e 3 6

willing t o gamble o n quality

13 . Have l o w prestige, s o Idon ' t 2 9

tellothersI

t

buythem

1 4 . Ar e usuallyunsatisfactory 2 9

15 . Are typicallyshoddy 3 0

Totalscore o f ranking

3 4

3 9

3 2

28

17

1 6

6 4

6 1

5 5

5 9

5 5

5 5

4 7

5 4

4 8

( 3 9

3 6

3 8

3 2

2 9

16

16

6 1

62

5 8

62

5 7

5 7

4 6

5 1

4 9

( 3 9

3 4

3 8

3 4

2 8

19

14

68

6 3

5 6

62

51

5 4

4 6

5 1

4 9

( 4 1


43/130


44/130

T h efifteenstatementswerethengrouped into three

main "commonfactors"basedon theirsimiliarity

in

nature

as followsÿ

!•

"Quality"

11• "StyleandProductDesign"

III. "GeneralImage".

T h e

results

of

thisanalysis

are

shown

in

Tables

5to 7

below:

Table 5

Statementsrelated to “Qualityÿ

HongKong HongKong P R C

S t at em en t s w it hT ai wan wi th P R C w it hT ai wa n

1 0

2

1 N

2 0

T a b e 6

S a e m e n s r e a e d o“Style a n d ProductDesign”

HongKong HongKong

P R C

S ta te me nt s w it hT ai wa n w it h P R C w ith T ai wa n

10

10

Table

7

Statementsrelated t o '"General ÿmÿ

HongKong HongKong P R C

S ta te me nt s w it hT ai wa n w it h P R C wi th T ai wa n


45/130

the

"Style

and

ProductDesign"

of

HongKongproductswereratedslightly

lower thanthat

ofPRCand

Taiwan”

and

productsfrom

all

threecountr

ies

rankedequalregarding"GeneralImage

8

0

althoughPRCappears to beviewedslightlybetterthan

Taiwan

T h e

datafrom

the

presentstudywill

be

analysed

in

the

samemanner

for

comparisonpurposes«


46/130


47/130

«

It was

decided

to

exclude

consumersofothernationalitiessince:firstly,this

segmentonlyconstitutes

a

minor

ity of

about

1%ofthe

HongKongpopulationÿ

and

f

secondly

̂

most

of

themhave

onlyverytransientresidence in HongKong sothat

theirattitudes

are

morerepresentative

of

theirnative

countr

ies

than

of

HongKong.

Since

the

mainobjective

of

thisstudy

is to

test

the

consumerattitudes

and

whattheirbeliefs

are

vis-a-

vis

Japaneseproducts

whether formedfrompersonal

experience

i.e internalsearch in thesearchprocess

described

in

page

9

f

or

throughtestimonies

of

referencegroups,

no

differentiation

is

made

as

between

purchasers

and

non-purchasers

of

Japaneseproducts

a

By

the

sametoken

f

thisstudy

is not

concernedwith

whether or not thesubject

s

sbeliefsarejustified,so

that

f

for

example

if a

subject

hashad

impleasant

experiencewith

a

Germantelevisionreceiver

r

buthad

all thetimemistaken it for aJapanesemake

r

his

evaluationwouldneverthelesscontribute

tomy

study

r

since

weare

onlyconcernedwithwhat

he

believes

is


48/130

A

total

of 145

questionnairesweredistributed

togetherwithstampself-addressedenvelopes for return

to theauthor

f

and 113werereceived

f

outofwhich

5

unfortunatelywerenotusablebecauseof Incomplete

answers

f

or the

answersappear

to betoo

consistent

across

all

variables

to

represent

the

respondents

s

honestopinions

It is

recognisedthatthismethod

of

sampling

has

its

shortcomings

in

that

it

cannot

be

held

tobe

truly

representative

of the

HongKongconsumers

asall

sampleswereeitherdirectly

or

indirectlyrelated

to

the

author,

so

thatsomebias

was to be

expected,

However

ascanbe

seenfromAppendix

II

f

care

has

been

taken to includepeoplewithdiverseinterestsranging

fromartisticChinesepainting to sportiveKung Fu

f

and

alsofromdifferentestablishments

it is

hopedthat

the

bias

canbe

minimised.

A

moresatisfactorysamplingmethodappropriate

to

thisstudywould

bea

purelyrandomsampling,

for


49/130

«

Or

alternatively

f

a

purposivemethod

by

stratefied

samplingcould

be

employed

to

obtainsamples

in

proportion to the income

or agedistribution of the

Hong Kongpopulatioru Thesemethodswouldyield amore

representativesampleÿbutwerenotpracticable in this

instancebecause

of the

followingreasonsz

An

From

a

pilotsurveyconducted

on

fiverespondents

itwas

found that

the

averagetimetaken

to

completethequestionnairewas 20minutes,sothat

randomsampling

in the

streetbecame

impracticable

A

survey

by

mailwouldgiverespondentsampletime

tocompletethequestionnaire

butwouldnotbe

satisfactoryeitherbecause

of the low

response

rateo This

is a

particularproblemwithChinese

respondentsbecauseChinese is aparticularly

selfishrace

and

will

notgooutof

their

wayto

helpunlessthere

is

sometangiblebenefit

to

themselves. This

is

demonstratefrom

the

ancient

saying: S w e e p o n l y

t h e

i n

f r o n t

o f

y o u r d o

a n d d o n o t

m i n d

t h e

f r o s t

o n

y o u r n e i g h b o u r

1

s

r o o f " M o r e o v e r t h e n o t i o n o f s u r v e y a n d i

v a l u e

a r e

r a t h e r s u s p e c t

t o t h e

C h i n e s e m i n d

Even

if it

werepossible

to

obtainsufficient

samples

if a

largenumber

of

questionnaireswere


50/130

«

Morover

the

cost

in

terms

of

time

and

effortwould

be

prohibitive

9

C« A

randomsurvey

is not

suitable

for

thisstudy

alsobecause

the

questionnaire

is

rathercomplex

andwillnotbeeasilycomprehensiblebytheless

well-educatedrespondents.

Itwas

foundduring

the

surveythatexplanation

was

necessarywhen

the

questionnaire

was

administered

to

certainelderly

or lesswell-educatedsubjects» Asurveyby

interview

at the

respondent

1

shome

wouldovercome

thisproblem

f

but

again

the

cost

in

terms

of

time

andeffortswould beprohibitive«

Moreover, in thecurrentclimate ofsocial

disorder

and

distrust

f

access' would

notbe

easily

granted

for a

homeinterview

and,

again

if

this

wereconducted^ thesamplewouldb ebiasedbecause

ofthe

largeproportion

of

people

not

willing

to

beso

interviewed.

2„ Th equestionnaire

A

copy

ofthe

structuredquestionnaire

isat

AppendixIII. Thisseeks toestablishtheconsumer

attitudes

on

threeproductclasses: television

watch

and

garment (referring

to

garments

for

going

outand


51/130

Theseproductswerechosen

primarilybecause

of

theirhighmarketpenetration«

From

the

survey

by

Laurent (1979)

7

f

itwas

found

that93%ofallhouseholdsowned atelevisionset

3

a nd

thisfigurewouldhaveescalatedbynowbecauseofthe

steadilyimprovingstandards

o f

living.

As

regards

watch

f

it canbe

observedthatalmosteverypersonowns

a

watch

f

whether

a s a

luxuryitem

or an

item

of

necessity0

The

sameapplies

to

garment»

For

eachproduct^

the

respondent

was

asked

to

compare

the

productmade

in

Japanwiththosemade

in

threeothercountriesalongselecteddescriptions

e

In

eachcase

HongKong

was

chosen

asoneofthe

countr

ies

for

comparisonsince

it

will

b e

recalledthat

oneof

the

objectives

for

thisstudy

is to

compare

the

attitudestowardsJapaneseproductswiththosetowards

locallymadeproducts so as to provide astrategic

direction

for

marketers

o f

localproducts

to

improve

theirimage,

The

other

two

countr

ies

chosen

in

each

casewere2

Television:

Watch%

Garment:

Germany

and

U.S.A.

Switzerland

and

Taiwan

France

and

China

27

Laurent,C.R.,

n

Eong KongMarketFacts",1979.


52/130


53/130

Thefigures in Table 8/ however

5

canbetaken

as indicativeof themarketsharesof thesecountries

in therespectivecategories,although itmustbe

remembered thatimportfigures arenotanaccurate

proofsince aproportion of the import is later

re-exported

f

and

r

unfortunately

r

there-exportfigures

obtainablefrom

the

Census

and

StatisticsDepartment

onlyrelate to thegrossvalueswhichinclude the

re-exporters

1

mark-op so thatexactfigures for the

retained importscannot

be

calculated

by

deduction„

FromTable

8

it canbe

seenthat

the

Japanese

has

a

strongdominance

in the

markets

for

Television

and

Watchand this is anotherreason for choosingthese

products^ Asregardsgarment

f

China is thedominant

importer

f

but

thisproductclass

is

chosenprimarily

becauseof its importance inHongKong

1

sexports

which

28

accounted for 24%of thetotalexports in 1983

Theevaluativescaleusedwas the sameas

Nagashima

s (1970 and 1977

f

opcit)

r

whichwasa

sev

en-pointscaleweighted from +3 to -3« However

r

it

29

hasbeenfound byHaleyandCase thatwiththis

280HongKongTradeStatistics

Exports1983

Censusand

StatisticsDepartment-

290 Haley,RussellI a n d C a s e , P e t e r B . , " T e s t i n g

T h i r t e e n A t t i t u d e S c a l e s f o r A g r e e m e n t a n d B r a

D i s c r i m i n a t i o n

1 8

, J o u r n a l

o f

M a r k e t i n g , F a l l

2 0 - 3 2«


54/130

«

agreesomewhat

don

1 know .. .

disagreesomewhat

disagreemostly

0

, ‘

disagreecompletely

T hestatementstook the followingform:

"Thattheproducts (e .gtelevision)made inJapan

(or one of theothercountries)are inexpensive

(or someotherdescriptivenouns or phrases)

8

HaleyandCase (1979,opcit,p.23)further found

that the-"Agreement-with-Statement

18

scaletended to

acciiioiila

te

manymorefavourablethan onfavourable

ratingsandthereforewassusceptible toyeasaying


55/130

«

For

eachproduct

f

the

respondent

was

thenasked

to

giveweightingsrangingfrom

1 to 5 to

indicate

the

relativeimportance

of

variousevaluativecriteria

in

his

decisionmakingprocess

The

weightingswere

categorizedbroadlyinto

N o timportantatall (1)

Notso

important

(2)

Important

" " ÿ)

QuiteImportant

(4)

ExtremelyImportant (5)

Inaddition to thebasicquestionnaire

t he

Nagashimastudyalsoadministeredthreesupplemental

questionswhich

aresetouton

Pages32-33

Itwas

consideredthatQuestion

(A)

overlaps

somewhat

withQuestion

(C) and

that

Question

(B)was

rathervaguesince itdidnotrelate to anyspecific

productclassÿ

itwas

thereforedecided

to

omitthese

two

questions

and

Question

(C) was

administeredmutatis

mustandis toexploretheoverallattitudeof theHong

Kong

consumer

s

.


56/130

»

Asa

finalpart

to the

questionnaire

some

questions for classificationandverification

purposeswereasked

e

Theseincluded

the

respondents

agep s ex ,householdincomerangeandeducational

level

In

addition

f

the

respondent

was

asked

the

country

of or

igin

of his

television,watch

and the

last

garment

he

purchased«

The

purpose

of

thesequestions

was to

establish

if his

attitudes

had

beenaffected

by

ownership

o f

theseproducts


57/130


58/130

» cit)and then on thatused byNagashima (1970 and 1977

op . cit.)

a

Furtheranalyseswerecarriedout and theresults

discussed

in

thischapter

1o

Mun

1

sModel

A Rank-OrderAnalysis

Tables

9 to 11 are

replications

of

Mun

1

s

analysis

employing thecumulativepercentagesof

thosegiving 1and 2asreplies Thesepercentages

werethenconvertedintorankordersemployingthe

samerules

as

thoseused

byMunas

followsÿ

For positivestatement:

The

highestpercentage

= (1)

Thelowestpercentage = (4)

Fornegativestatementÿ

Th ehighestpercentage= (4)

Thelowestpercentage = (1)

Mun

1

s

own

analysis

has

beenreproduced

in

Table

3on

page 36


59/130

arereasonably

pricedÿ c o n s i d e r i n g

t h e i r q u a l i t y ( 1 )

4 . s t y l e 8 2 . 4

•ar emuchadvertised 97.2 (1)

6.areverydurable 35.2 (2)

7•havelargechoice

o f sizeandmodel

B.

NegativeStatements

8.aremade ofpoor

material

0.9 (2)

9.areofpoor

workmanship 0.9 (1)

10.havelowprestige

soIdo n

1

1 tell

othersIbuythem 0.0 (1)

11•givebad perforraance 1.9 (2)

4-6 (3)

25.0 (3) 43.5 (2)

24.1

25.9

15.7

21-3

(4)

(3)

(3)

(3)

•9 ( 1 )

50-0

54-6

38.0

52.8

(2)

(2)

(2)

(1)

93-5 (1) 19.4 (3) 39.8 (2)

•0 (1 ) 0.9 (2)

0.9 (1)

0.9

0.9 (1) 2.8 (3)

50.0

11-1

35-2

20.4

7.4

3.7

(2)

(4)

(3)

(4)

(4)

(4)

17.6 (4)

16.7

14.8

8.3

14-8

(4)

(4)

(4)

(4)

Totalscoreo f ranking

(14)

(28)

(22)

(41)


60/130

Switzerland,Taiwan

and

HongKong

(Percent

who

agreecompletelyormostly)

Country/Area

Statements

Japan

% Rank

Switzerland

% Rank

Taiwan

' Rank

HongKong

%

Rank

A. PositiveStatements

1are inexpensive

2.has goodrepair

service

3• arereasonably

pricedÿconsidering

theirquality

4.havegoodstyle

a r e

muchadvertised

a r everydurable

5.

6.

7.

10.

havelargechoice

o f

size

and

model

NegativeStatements

a r e made ofpoor

material

areof

poor

workmanship

havelowprestige

s o I

don't tell

others

Ibuy

them

55.6

(2)

2-8

(4)

52.8

(3)

86.1

(1)

69.4

(2)

64.8

(1)

7.4

(4)

12.0

(3)

75.9

(1)

47.2

(3)

35.2

(4)

70.4

(2)

81.5

(1)

80.6

( 2 )

11.1

(4)

4 3 . 5

(3)

94.4

(1)

76.9

(2)

0-9

(4)

6.5

(3)

4 8 . 2

(2)

72-2

(1)

1.9

( 4 )

14-8

(3)

88.0

(1)

69-4

(2)

10.2

(4)

39.8

(3)

0 - 9

(2)

0.0

( 1 )

25-0

(4)

15.7

(3)

2.8

(1)

2.8

( 1 )

25.9

(4)

15-7

(3)

1.9

( 1 )

3.7

(2)

20.4

(4)

13.9

(3)

11.givebad performance 0.9 (1)

0.9 (1) 24.1 ( 4 ) 14-8 ( 3)

Totalscore

o f

ranking

(15) (20) (43) (3 0)


61/130

China,FranceandHongKong

(Percent

who

agreecompletely

or

mostly)

Country/Area

Statements

Japan

Rank

China

%

Rank

France

Rank

HongKong

% Rank

k. PositiveStatements

1•are inexpensive

2• arereasonably

pricedÿ c o n s i d e r i n g

t h e i r q u a l i t y

•

havegoodstyle

4.are

muchadvertised

5• areverydurable

6•havelargechoice

o f sizeandmodel

B. NegativeStatements

7•ar e

made

o f

poor

material

8.areofpoor

workmanship

9•havelowprestige

so Ido n

1

1 tell

othersIbuythem

7, 4 (3)

24.1

78.7

4 5 . 4

16.7

(3)

(1)

(1)

(4)

58.3 (2)

0.9

0.9

( 1 )

(1)

60.2 (2)

67.6

0.9

8-3

52-8

(2)

(4)

(4)

(1)

15.7 (4)

2.8 (4)

18.5

71,3

37.0

25,0

(4)

(2)

(2)

(2)

57.4 (3) 30.6 (4)

).9 ( 1)

15.7 (4) 0-9 ( 1 )

1.9 (2) 15.7 (4) 0.9 (1)

61.1 (1)

68.5

46.3

14.8

16-8

(1)

( 3 )

(3)

(3)

68-5 ( 1)

9- 3 (3)

7.4 (3)

7.4 (3)

Totalscoreo franking

(18)

(28)

(21)

(21)


62/130

indicating

its ®

unfavourable

positioningcompared

with

theother threeproducts in the U.S.

consumers

1

minds

though thedifferencebetweenPlong Kongand

China

or

Taiwan

was

rather small

From

my

study

f

Tables

9 to 11

alsoshowedthat

Japaneseproducts

are the

favouriteswithHongKong

consumers

achieving

the

lowestscores

inall

three

instances. However

f

theposition ofHongKong

productsvis-a-visthosefromTaiwan andChinahas

evidentlychanged. Although it is truethatHong

Kongtelevisions

are

considered inferior

to

those

fromGermany

and the

U.S.Ao

^and

certainly

to

those

fromJapan

f

HongKongwatches

are

viewedmuchmore

favourablythanthosefromTaiwan

f

although

byno

means

as

well

as the

Japanese

and

Swisswatches

a

Surprisingly,HongKonggarmentsachieved

the

same

ranking

as

that

for

Frenchgarments

though

notas

high

as

that

for the

Japanese,

but

certainlyhigher

thanthosefromChina«

It canbe

seenthat,contrary

toMun

sfinding, in theHongKongconsumers

s

minds

HongKongwatchesaresuperior toTaiwanones

and

HongKonggarments

to

thosefromChina

-


63/130

T h e

statementswerethengrouped intothreemain "common

factors

11

based ontheirsimilarity innature These

analyseshavebeendescribed

in

detail

on

pages

37to

39 and the

resultsshown

in

Tables

4 to 7• T he

results

ofa

similaranalysiscarried

outonthe

data

from

thisstudyareshown in the

following

Tables12

to 14:

(1)

Television

(Table

12)

FromTable12, it is evidentthat the

Japanesetelevision

is

consideredmostsuperior

among

the

four

F

scoring

8+outof11

against

U.S.A.

and

Germany

and 11+

againstHongKong«

T heU.S.A..television isconsideredsuperiorto

HongKong0 ÿscoring

9+,but

inferior

to

Germany

r

having 7- . TheHongKongtelevisionis

evidently

the

loser

in

thiscomparison,since

it

hasno

advantage

atall

againstJapan,only

one

againstGermany

and two

againstU.S.A.

f

allin

respect

o f

price.


64/130

Germany,U.S.A.

and

HongKong.

(HongKongConsumers)

t-u^nca .f

a

P

a n

Japan USA USA Germany

t a t e m e n t S W l t : h S A

withGermanywith

H.K.

withGermanywith

H.K.

with

H.K.

1-

9+

2-

2 +

7-

20

8 +

1-

20

8 +

2-

10

and 10+againstHongKong Switzerland,though


65/130

Between the losers in this

comparison,Taiwan is obviously theworst,since

it is

considered

to be

inferior

to

HongKong

on

allstatements In summary.HongKong is

considered inferior to bothJapanand

Switzerland

f

againhaving anadvantageonly in

respect

of

price,

but

superior

to

Taiwan

in all

respects

TABLE13

APairedComparisonof theRankingofWATCHfrom

Japanÿ witzerland,Taiwan andHongKong.

(HongKongConsumers)

Japan Japan Japan Switzerland Switzer Taiwan

Statements withSwit withTaiwan withH.K. withTaiwan withH.K. withH


66/130


67/130

againstChina,

it

obtained

6+out of 9, and

againstbothFrance

and HongKong,only 5+• Chinaonlyloses

marginally

to

Francehaving

4+ but5-,but

considerably to HongKong,havingonly1+on

account

of

beingmoredurable. Francegained

on

HongKong

by 6+.

Since

the

skewnesstowards

the

Japanese

whichprevails

in the

other

two

product

classes is not evident inGarment,the

statementswere thengrouped into

the

three

maincommonfactorsof:price,quality,and

image.

We

haveTables

15 to 17

following:-

(1)

Price (Table

15)

Table

15

Statementsrelated to "Price"

(HongKongConsumers)

Japan Japan Japan China China France

Statements withChina withFrance withH .K. withFrance withH .K. withH.K,

Wecansee

that,

in

respect

of

price,Japanloses

to

bothChina

and

Hong

Kong,

but is

obviouslypositionedmore


68/130

(2) Quality (Table 16)

Table

16

Statementsrelated to "Quality

11

(HongKongConsumers)

C h i n a

C h n a

Statements withChina withFrance with

H.K.

withFrance with H .

K .

with

H.

20

Quality-wise,whenChina

is

compared

to

HongKong,

it

obtains

1+,but

2-,so that it appearsthatHongKong is

consideredsuperior toChina • This

contrastswithMun

f

sdata inwhichasfar

as"Quality" isconcerned,HongKong

productsappeared

to b e

positioned

slightly"unfavourable"comparedwith

Chineseproducts.


69/130

—

^

r a n C e W l t h

H

-

K

- with France with H.K. with H.K,

Again,JapanexcelsbothChinaand Hong

Kong

in

respect

to

Prestige,

but

having

a

draw

withFrance,andChina is theall-loser. As

betweenFrance and Hong Kong,France is the

better on bothstatements.

2• Nagashima'smodel

FollowingNagashima s s c o r e s a l l

t h e s t a t e m e n t s p l o t t e d i n F i g u r e s t o 6 ,

s c a l e s r a n g i n g 7 , l e f t b e i n g t h e

p o s i t i v e v a l u e s

r i g h t

n e g a t i v e

A,Television (Figure 4)

Figure 4depicts thesituationwithregard to


70/130

Poor

Workmanship

inexpensive

Good

Material

Good Service

Inventive

Reasonably

Priced

Good

Style

Much

Advertised

Good

Workmanship

Durable

\

P r e s t i g e

C h o i c e

P e r f o r m a n c e

z1

N o t d u r a b l e

P r e s t i g e

L i m i t e d C h o i c e

B a d

P e r f o r m a n c e

T E L E V I S I O N

N

K o n g C o n s u m e r s

J a p a n

U . S . A .

K o n g


71/130

„ This

is

quite

a

tidypicturewith

the

Japanesemoreevidently to the

left,

Hong

Kong

to

tne

right

f

and the

German

and

U

a

Sproductsrunning

more

or

lessparallel

in

between

in

thatorder«

T he

widestdifferencesbetweenJapan

and

Hong

Kong

are

along

the

scales

of

material

f

service

style

?

advertisingandperhapsworkmanshipand

choice inwhichJapanexcels to agreatextent»

Televisionsfrombothcountr

ies are

r

however

̂

similar

in

thattheywerebothconsideredmore

or

less asinexpensivebutbothswing to the

right

of

televisionsfromGerman

of inventive/imitative,

carry

the

stigma

of the

ofall theirefforts to

and the S on the

scale

indicating thatbothstill

"copy-cat”image

in

spite

shed i t,althouqhJapan

seems

to

havesucceededbetterthanHongKong«

Furthermore

bothareconsidered tobenotvery

durable,althoughagainJapan

is in a

slightly

betterposition,.

A s

mentionedearlier,Germany

andU.S.

seems

tobe

runningparallel

inthe

middle

with

theU.S.

a

little

to the

right

in all

respectswith

the

exception

o f

beingexpensive

Japanleads

all

fourcountr

ies in

regard

to

advertising

and

choice

and

HongKong

has

only

an


72/130

S« in being

inexpensive,

and

over

the U®S®is being mo re

reasonablypriced.

B.

WATCH (Figure

5)

Th epicture in thewatchmarketshown in

Figure5 is not as

clear-cut

as

that

of

television

r

butstillquitetidy Theright of thefigure is

more

or

lessoccupied

byan

interlockingpairmade

upof

Japan

and

Switzerlandÿ

a n d t h e

l e f t

b y

a n o t h e r m o r e o r l e s s p a r a l l e l p a i r u p o f

T a i w a n , w i t h m o r e

t o t h e

r i g h t .

L o o k i n g a t p a i r i n l e f t f i r s t

f

s e e

t h a t J a p a n b e a t s S w i t z e r l a n d

i n

t e r m s

o f

i n e x p e n s i v e ( a n d b y w i d e m a r g i n a t t h a t ) m

a d v e r t i s e d

a n d h a s

l a r g e r c h o i c e

w h i l s t

S w i t z e r l a n d e x c e l s

i n

t e r m s

o f

h a v i n g g o o d

m a t e r i a l , g o o d w o r k m a n s h i p a n d g o o d p e r f o r m a n c e

a n d

b e i n g m o r e i n v e n t i v e

a n d

m o r e d u r a b l e

It is

alsoslightlyahead

of

Japan

on the

scale

of

performance,butslightlybehind intermsof

choice Bothcountries

are

almost

onthepar

with

regard

to

service

and

style

Coming

to the

pair

onthe

right,

wesee

that

Taiwan

is

g0iiGrally

v

i0WGd.

inf©rior to

HongKong

f


73/130

¥gh

Prestige

LargeChoice

Good

Performance

Not

Durable

Low

Prestige

LimitedChoice

Bad

Performance

Figure5

Profileof"Made inProduct"Images -WATCH

(HongKongConsumers)

Japan

Switzerland

wan

Inexpensive

ÿG o o d

Material

Good Service

Expensive

Poor

Material

PoorService

HongKong


74/130

GARMENT (Figure

6)

T h e

picture

of

Garments

in

Figure

6 is a

littleconfusing« However

f

a

mainthread

canbe

extracted in thatJapanandFranceappear to be

runningmore

or

lessparallel

to

eachother,

although intertwiningwithChina

and

HongKong

BothFrench

and

Japanesegarmentsexcel

in

terms

of

havinggoodmaterial,goodstyle

f

muchadvertising

f

goodworkmanship

and

highprestige

with

the

French

clearlyovertakingtheJapanese inmaterial.

However

both,comparedwithHongKongandChina

are

consideredunreasonably

pr

iced

s

and

compared

withChina

f

notas

durable. Chinesegarments

are

considered asinexpensiveandasreasonablypriced

as

HongKonggarments

f

an d

bothenjoy

a

favourable

position

in the

localconsumers

8

minds However

the

Chinesegarments

are

viewed

as

having

considerably

the

worststyle

r

b u t

muchless

imitativethanJapanese andHongKonggarments O n

the

otherhand,

its

garments

arethe

mostdurable

in the

fourcountries,

but

having

the

lowest

prestige


75/130

—

Expensive

Poor

Material

Imitative

Unreasonably

Priced

Bad Style

Little

Advertised

Poor

Workmanship

Not

durable

Low

Prestige

LimitedChoice

Figure

6

Profileof"Made inProduct"Images-GARMENT

(HongKongConsumers)

Japan

China

France

HongKong


76/130

General

Looking

atthe

threefigurestogether,

it is

possible

to

detectsimilarities

in the

Japanese

curves

forall

threeproducts

especially

for

television

and

watch

r

and

alsosimilarities

in the

HongKongcurves.

In

general

f

Japaneseproducts

are

considered

to

havegoodmaterial,goodservice,good

performance

quitereasonablypriced

f

well-advertised

r

havegoodstyle,fairlygood

workmanship,arefairlyprestigiousandhave

reasonablechoice. It is

r

however

f

notvery

inventive and notverydurablewithrespect to

television

and

watch,

but

quiteexpensive

in

garment

The

profile

of the

HongKongproducts,

on the

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8/18/2019 Hong Kong consumer attitudes to Japan

hong kong consumer attitudes to japanese products.pdf

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