Country of origin, branding strategy and internationalisation: the case of Chinese piano companies

This paper studies the internationalisation of Chinese piano firms from a branding perspective. The purpose of the paper is twofold. First, it examines the interplay between the country of origin (COO) effect and international branding, and how COO affects the choice of branding strategies in international markets. Second, it explores the possible link between international branding decisions and international expansion of the firm. A model is introduced that illustrates the relationships between COO, branding options and internationalisation. Corresponding to its progress in internationalisation, a firm's branding development in international markets may follow certain stages. As the firm moves to advanced stages, it increases its international brand equity; the impact from negative COO will decrease and eventually become irrelevant. The literature on internationalisation is largely based on the experience of MNEs from Western developed countries. Multinational firms from developing countries such as China possess some unique characteristics that make it very difficult to apply Western theories to them. The emergence of MNEs from developing countries calls for the development of new theories.