Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

OMNI-BRAND: THE PARADOX OF GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE AND LOCAL AUTHENTICITY

Schmidt-Devlin, Ellen M

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Management.
The traditional distinction between global and local brands is losing salience driven by globalization and digital technology. Using the paradox theory, this dissertation investigates a third option: brands that are both global and local—something paradoxical. The space is currently called glocal or hybrid, but it has not been investigated to the extent of its adjoining areas of global and local, remaining a gap in the literature. There is a need to address this gap as the internet changes the interaction between cultures, which reduces the traditional distinction between global and local brands and breeds new forms of hybridization (Edelman, 2010). The question I initially sought to answer was in this context: “What is driving success for global and local brand leaders?” The first study included interviews with 50 global and local brand leaders and analyses using the Grounded Theory Method. The study found leaders struggling with a brand paradox—attempting to become both globally accepted and locally authentic. I named this construct Omni-brand. The next question I sought to answer was: “What antecedents identified in Study 1 have significant effects on global acceptance and local authenticity?” In Study 2, 259 professionals representing 96 brands were surveyed, and I used structural equation modeling to validate the antecedents of Omni-brand. In Study 3, I asked the question: “How is Omni-brand measured as perceived by consumers?” To this end, a quantitative study was conducted which evaluated 33 well-known brands with 729 survey respondents to formulate a third-order Omni-brand construct for customer perception. The model was constructed using second-order construct global acceptance with components of innovation, product performance quality and perceived brand globalness, and second-order construct local authenticity with components of brand authenticity, local insights, local iconness and originality. The study gives each of the 33 brands an overall score for both global acceptance and local authenticity and factors the brands into either a high or low Omni-brand category. Finally, because the sequence of three studies demonstrates how to conduct a mixed-methods design to discover, validate, and measure a new construct, I integrate the findings of three studies guided by the question: “What benefit does Omni-brand offer?” The research finds that high Omni-brands have significantly more brand power than low Omni-brands. In aggregate, the dissertation fills a current gap in the literature on how paradoxical global and local brands interact, as well as provides invaluable guidance to brand managers in their quest to successfully navigate brands in the global and digital marketplace.
Casey Newmeyer, PhD (Committee Chair)
253 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Schmidt-Devlin, E. M. (2020). OMNI-BRAND: THE PARADOX OF GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE AND LOCAL AUTHENTICITY [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1584618669205106

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Schmidt-Devlin, Ellen. OMNI-BRAND: THE PARADOX OF GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE AND LOCAL AUTHENTICITY . 2020. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1584618669205106.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Schmidt-Devlin, Ellen. "OMNI-BRAND: THE PARADOX OF GLOBAL ACCEPTANCE AND LOCAL AUTHENTICITY ." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1584618669205106

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)