Title

Author(s)

Hong Kong consumer attitudes to Japanese products

Chan, Sau-mui, Margaret.; .

Citation

Issued Date

URL

Rights

1984

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

The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights)

and the right to use in future works.

HONG KONG CONSUMER ATTITUDES

TO
J A P A N E S E PRODUCTS

Submitted by
M a r g a r e t CHAN S a u M u i
P a r t i a l F u l f i l l m e n t o f the Requirements
f o r the Degree o f
Master of B u s i n e s s Administration
o f T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Hong Kong

Page
PART - I N T R O D U C T I O N
CHAPTER 1

A MODEL OF COiMSUMER D E C I S I O N -

DEFINED
1o

2
3.

~^^

High-Involvement D e c i s i o n Making Process

A . Problem S o l v i n g
B . The S e a r c h P r o c e s s
C. Alternative Evaluation
D. Choice
E . T h e Outcome o f C h o i c e
Low-Involvement Decision Process
Attitude

CHAPTER 2 OBJECTIVES O F THE STUDY

10
11
12
13
15
2Q

Japanese Products in the Hong Kong Market

Infiltration of Japanese Culture
Historical Background
Purpose of the Study

20
21
22
25

LITERATURE REVIEWS

28

CHAPTER 3 THE MAGASHIMA STUDIES

30

CHAPTER 4 _ STUDY BY MUN KIN-CHOK

35

1.
2
3.
4
PART 11 -

PART I I I - THE STUDY

CHAPTER 5 _ METHODOLOGY
L
20

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

40
41
41
44

CHAPTER 6 ~

RESULTS

51

CHAPTER 7 -

DISCUSSION

52

1
2.
3
4

Mun s s Model
A. Rank-Order Analysis
Paired Comparison Analysis
Nagashima s s Model
Mean Average Weighted Score
Roiipho] d Tnnoirip

CHAPTER 8 - CONCLUSIONS
1.
2.
3
4.
5.
6.

Attitude Towards Japanese Products

Attitude Towards Hong Kong Products
Stereotype Image
Attitude, Behaviour and Dissonance Reduction
The Attitude Model
Summary

52
52
57
63
78
92
92
97
99
100
102
104

REFERENCES

iQg

L I S T OF T A B L E S
Table

1 - Hong Kong Maj o r E x p o r t P r o d u c t s 5 S h a r e

i n t h e J a p a n e s e I m p o r t M a r k e t , 1982

Table

2 - Hong Kong R e t a i n e d I m p o r t f r o m T o p
T e n S u p p l i e r s ? 1983

21

3 - US 0 Consumer s8 Attitudes towards

Products from Japan f PRC f Taiwan
and Hong Kong (Mun)

36

4 - A Paired Comparison of the Randing o f

the Products from PRC f Taiwan and
Hong Kong (Mun)

37

Table

5 - Statements related to "Quality" (Mun)

38

Table

6 - Statements related to "Style and

Product Design" (Mun)

38

7 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 Image
(Mun)

38

Table

8 - 1 9 8 3 Imports from S e l e c t e d C o u n t r i e s

46

Table

9 - H o n g Kong Consumer 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 Japan^ U S A r Germany
amd Hong K o n g

53

Table

Table

Table

T a b l e 10 - H o n g Kong C o n s u m e r A t t i t u d e s t o w a r d s
WATCHES 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 Hong K o n g

54

T a b l e 11 - H o n g Kong Consumer A t t i t u d e s t o w a r d s
GARMENTS f r o m J a p a n ? C h i n a f F r a n c e
a n d Hong K o n g

55

T a b l e 12 - A

P a i r e d Comparison o f the Ranking o f

TELEVISIOM from J a p a n , Germany USA
and Hong Kong

58

Table 13 - A Paried Comparison of the Ranking of

WATCH from Japan, Switzerland f Taiwan
and Hong Kong

59

Table 14 - A Paired Comparison of the Ranking of

GARMENT from Japan r China, France
and Hong Kong

60

Table 15 - Statements related to P r i c e " (Hong

Kong C o n s u m e r s )

61

T a b l e 16

Statements r e l a t e d t o " Q u a l i t y
(Kong K o n g C o n s u m e r s )

T a b l e 17 - S t a t e m e n t s r e l a t e d t o P r e s t i g e
(Hong Kong C o n s u m e r s )
T a b l e 18 - R a n k i n g s 3 b y u s i n g MAWS
T a b l e 19 - MMAWS
A W S By P l a c e o f O r i g i n o f P r o d u c t s
Owned
T a b l e 20 - MMAWS
A W S B y Age
T a b l e 2 1 MAWS B y H o u s e h o l d Income
T a b l e 22 - MM
AAW
WSS B y E d u c a t i o n L e v e l
T a b l e 23 - MM
AAW
WSS B y S e x
MAWS B y P r o d u c t o f G r e a t e s t V a l u e
T a b l e 24 - MAWS
L I S T OF FIGURES
Figure

1 -

Figure

2 - The L o w - I n v o l v e m e n t D e c i s i o n P r o c e s s
( E n g e l and B i a c k w e l l )

Figure

3 - P r o f i l e o f " M a d e - I n " P r o d u c t Images

o f J a p a n e s e B u s i n e s s m e n (Nagashima)

Figure

4 - P r o f i l e o f "Made-Inss P r o d u c t Images
T E L E V I S I O N (Hong Kong C o n s u m e r s )

Figure

5 - P r o f i l e o f " M a d e - I n " P r o d u c t Images

WATCH (Hong K o n g Consumers)

Figure

Figure

7 - P r o f i l e o f "Made-n 80 P r o d u c t I m a g e s
( C o n d e n s e d f r o m F i g u r e 3)

Figure

8 - A Compar i s o n o f t h e P r o f i l e A t t i t u d e s
o f Hong K o n g C o n s u m e r s a n d N a g a s h i m a
B u s i n e s s m e n - ^ M a d e - i n Japan 1 1

Figure

9 - A Comparison o f the P r o f i l e A t t i t u d e s
o f Hong K o n g C o n s u m e r s a n d N a g a s h i m a
B u s i n e s s m e n - " M a d e - i n USA81

High-Involvement D e c i s i o n Process
(Engel a n d B i a c k w e l l )

P r o f i l e o f " M a d e - I n " P r o d u c t Images

GARMENT (Hong K o n g Consumers)

F i g u r e 10 - A C o m p a r i s o n o f t h e P r o f i l e A t t i t u d e s
o f Hong K o n g C o n s u m e r s a n d N a g a s h i m a
Businessmen - " M a d e - i n Germany"

F i g u r e 11 - A Comparison o f t h e P r o f i l e A t t i t u d e s
o f Hong K o n g C o n s u m e r s a n d N a g a s h i m a s
Businessmen
L I S T OF A P P E N D I C E S
APPENDIX 1

P r o f i l e o f " M a d e - I n " P r o d u c t Images

B u s i n e s s m e n (Nagashima)

AP PENDI X I I

D i s t r i b u t i o n o f Questionnaire

APPENDIX I I I

The Questionnaire

APPENDIX IV

Demographics of Respondents

APPENDIX V

Mean Scores on Statements 1 to 34

APPENDIX VI

Place of Origin of Products Owned

APPENDIX V I I

Product of the Greatest Value

APPENDIX V I I I

Average Mean Scores of Japanese

Televisions f Watches and Garments.

APPENDIX I X

Breakdown of Household Incomes

HONG KONG CONSUMER ATTITUDES TO J A P A N E S E PRODUCTS

P A R T

INTRODUCTION

A t a r e c e n t seminar

on the "Japanese market-quality

r e q u i r e m e n t and consumer t a s t e s h e l d i n Hong Kong f t h e

g e n e r a l s e c r e t a r y o f t h e J a p a n e s e Consumer A s s o c i a t i o n f
M r s . M. Osami f s a i d t h a t many Hong Kong-made p r o d u c t s
w e re b e i n g s o l d i n J a p a n u n d e r c o n c e a l e d b r a n d names
a n d c o u n t r y - o f - o r i g i n b e c a u s e many J a p a n e s e d e a l e r s
b e l i e v e d our p r o d u c t s were o f i n f e r i o r : q u a l i t y , c h e a p r
o f t e n w i t h designs copied

I t should

and u n r e l i a b l e " ' " .

however f b e n o t e d t h a t

i n 1982, Japan

was t h e f i f t h l a r g e s t i m p o r t e r o f Hong K o n g J s d o m e s t i c
exports

Table 1 shows the importance of Hong Kong s

export products in the Japanese import market:

Hong Kong Export Product

% of Japanese Impoirt

Toys and Games

223

Jewellery

13 2

Non-fur Clothing
Fur Clothing

62
58.4

Table 1 - Hong Kong Major Export Products 1 Share in

the Japanese Import Market f 1982^
A s can be seen. Hong Kong 1 s performance in the
Japanese market which is shared by such strong
competitors as the U.S.A. f U.K. and other European

1.
2.

South China Morning Postf 10th December f 1983 # Business

News .
From "Hong Kong Trade Review 1982", Hong Kong Trade
Development Council.

countr i e s

i s q u i t e encouraging

q u a l i t y o f our products cannot

thus proving t h a t the

i n actual fact

be as

s t a t e d b y Mrs Osami, and yet many Hong Kong-made

products have to be sold under disguise because of the
IMAGE associated with the "made in Hong Kong11 label an
the consumer ^ s attitude towards such an image

This incident highlights the importance of

consumer attitude which accounts for the fact that
extensive marketing efforts are directed towards
effecting attitudinal change as a forerunner of
behavioral change

3
As defined by Akira Nagashima

i m a g e " means i d e a s r e m o t i o n a l b a c k g r o u n d f 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 a concept
Thuisf the
"made in" image is the picture f the reputation f
the stereotype that businessmen and consumers
attach to products of a specific country This
image is created by such variables as
representative products, national characteristics
economic and political background f history and
traditions. 8
1

This study f thereforer attempts to look at the

consumer attitudes in Hong Kong towards Japanese
products.

However f before we go any further f it is

appropriate first of all to look at how consumers make

purchasing decisions and we will do this in the
following Chapter 1, in which a model of consumer
behaviour is set out and the importance of "ATTITUDE11

Nagashima f Akira f "A Comparison of Japanese and U.S.

Attitudes Toward Foreign P r o d u c t s 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) s ppl~68-74

i n t h e p u r c h a s i n g d e c i s i o n c a n be seen9

Because o f

t h i s i m p o r t a n c e , t h e p r e s e n t s t u d y has been u n d e r t a k e n
and r e a s o n s f o r t h e s t u d y a s w e l l as i t s o b j e c t i v e s
w i l l b e g i v e n i n C h a p t e r 2

In Part 11, Chapters 3 and 4 ^ a literature review

will be undertaken of the three previous studies which
are relevant to this topic.

In part I, a 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 e n
Chapter 5 describes various aspects of the methodology,
including the sample, the products chosen and the
questionnaire used e

Chapter 6 gives the results of the

study, which are then analysed and discussed in Chapter

7.

A conclusion and summary of the findings will be

attempted in Chapter 8

CHAPTER 1
A MODEL OF CONSUMER DICISION-MAKING PROCESS
and "ATTITUDE" d e f i n e d

Over t h e y e a r s

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

s t u d i e d f r o m many d i f f e r e n t p o i n t s o f v i e w

A variety of

concepts drawn from such fields as economics r psychology,

social psychology f and cultural anthropology f have been
advanced to understand
c o n s u m e r s b e h a v e a s t h e y do a n d r s i n c e t h e t i m e o f J o h n
Dewey

who 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 b l e m

s o l v i n g t o understand the process the i n d i v i d u a l goes

through i n a r r i v i n g a t a d e c i s i o n
behaviour have been p u t forward

many m o d e l s o f c o n s u m e r
H e r e r we w i l l b e l o o k i n g

a t t h e m o d e l a d v a n c e d b y James E n g e l and Roger D ,

Biackwell^a

High-Involvement Decision Making Process

Figure 1 depicts the Engel and Biackwell decision

process in high involvement.

4
5

Dewey f John p "How We T h i n k N e w Y o r k H e a l t h f 1 9 1 0 .

Engel f James F~~and Biackwell f Roger D "Consumer
Behaviour" f The Dryden Pressf Fourth Edition ,~1982 9

Input

Information
Processing

Decision Process

D e c i s i o n P r o c e s s Variables

External
Influences

Problem
recognition

Search

Exposure

Attention
Stimuli
Marketer
dominated

Beliefs
Comprehension

Alternative
evaluation

Other

Attitude

Life-style

Intention

Normative
compliance
a n d informational i n f l u e n c e

Yi el d i ng /accep t ance

Choice
Retention

External
search

Evaluative
criteria

C u l t u r a l norm
a n d values

Reference
group/family

Unanticipated
circumstances

Outcomes

Dissonance

Satisf action

F i g u r e 1 - High-nvolvement D e c i s i o n P r o c e s s
(from E n g e l and B i a c k w e l l f 1 9 8 0 ,op.cit., p.492)
Following Petty and Capicoppo and others f
involvement

is defined here as the activation of

extended problem-solving behaviour when the act of

purchase or consumption is seen by the decision maker
as having high personal importance or relevance.

This

can take place when the product itself is perceived as

reflecting on one's self image f as might be the case

6.

Richard E. Petty and John T . Capicoppo, "Issue

Involvement as a Moderator of the Effects on Attitude
of Advertising Content and Context," in Kent B . Monroe f
(ed.)f Advances in Consumer Research, Vol 8 (Ann
Arbor f Mich. Association for Consumer Research ^ 1981),
pp. 20-24 and C l a r k L e a v i t t f Anthony G. G r e e n w a l d , and
C a r l O b e r m i l l e r f "What i s Low Involvement Low i n ? " i n
Monroe, p p , 15-19.

w i t h some c l o t h i n g
other times

jewelry^ or cosmetic items

At

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

b e i n g c o n s i d e r e d i s c o s t l y and t h e r i s k s o f a wrong
decision are highe

I t a l s o i s s e e n when t h e r e i s

s t r o n g o u t s i d e r e f e r e n c e - g r o u p i n f l u e n c e and m o t i v a t i o n
t o comply w i t h these pressures

Involvement is high

when the latitude of acceptance is low and the latitude

of rejection is large.

A.

Problem Recognition

It can be seen that in the Engel and

Biackwell model f the decision process starts with
problem recognition which is influenced by motives
and incoming information and experience stored in
memory.

Motives are enduring predispositions to

strive to attain specified goals and determine f to

a large extent r the ideal state for the individual
at any time new i n f o r m a t i o n

o n t h e o t h e r hand

o f t e n serves t o r e v e a l the extent t o which present

circumstances deviate from t h i s ideal

Once this

perceived deviation reaches a certain limit, the

individual then is aroused to restore the
disturbed balance

Motives may be aroused when a need or a

drive is activatedo

There is widespread agreement

in behavioral sciences that one 8 s entire

psychological make-up is organized around the

s e l f - c o n c e p t f which r e s u l t s i n c e r t a i n g o a l
o b j e c t s becoming internalized a s permanent
i n c e n t i v e s , a n d a c c o u n t s f o r t h e n e e d s which
Maslow

calls self-actualization

and b e l o n g i n g n e s s and l o v e

self-esteemr

The self-concept

integrates motives into a purposeful pattern that

is reflected in purchasing behaviour

in which a

product is purchased f whose image is consistent

with the consumer 5 s outlook on life and the use of
which represents highly self-approved behaviour

Problem recognition may also be brought

about by the normative function of reference group
when the per son is making a conscious effort to
emulate the behaviour of others in the group or to
be identified with the group 1 s behaviour
Reference groups influence behaviours through
their evaluative or informational function of
providing a reference point by which an individual
evaluates the self-concept and other aspects of
behaviour

The Search Process

Once a problem is recognized f the consumer

will proceed to the next step in high-involvement

Maslow, A.H.
Row, 1954,

'Motivation and Personality 8

Harper &

d e c i s i o n making

i . e . search

which i s governed by

t h e b a l a n c e between e x p e c t e d g a i n s and t h e c o s t o f
t i m e f e n e r g y , a n d f i n a n c i a l o u t l a y t h a t m u s t be
expended

Initially the consumer will resort to

internal search from memory

When a past solution

to the recognized problem is remembered and

implemented f this will lead to habitual response
behaviour and a choice is made.

Otherwise an

external search becomes necessary

Those with little prior experience with the

product category f i.e. when it is new^ may have to
learn the appropriate evaluative criteria to use
in the choice process

Sources of information include personal and

word-of-mouth influence f personal selling f the
general media f advertising and point-of-sale
influence

As consumers rarely rely on one

source ? the various media are complementary rather

than competitive

Because of greater credibility and clarity,

non-marketer-dominated sources f especially
word-of-mouth r are more important in influencing
decision making f especially so when the item to be
purchased is expensive.

In this connection, the

10

o p i n i o n leader brings about i n f o r m a t i o n a l

c o n f o r m i t y as d i s t i n c t from s i m p l y n o r m a t i v e
O
compliance0

Co

Alternative Evaluation

As i n f o r m a t i o n i s a c q u i r e d through s e a r c h
and p r o c e s s e d , t h e outcome i s f o r m a t i o n o f b e l i e f
which s p e c i f i e s the consequences o f p u r c h a s i n g a
p a r t i c u l a r make i n t e r m s o f e a c h e v a l u a t i v e
c r i t e r i o n which i s used

The sum total of all

these beliefs and evaluations represents an

attitude, either favourable or unfavourable ^
towards the product

Usually a positive attitude

will be accompanied by an intention to act f which

will culminate in an actual purchase

Alternative evaluation begins with

evaluative criteria which are specifications and
standards used by the consumer to evaluate
products and brands

They are the desired

outcomes from choice and use expressed in the form

of preferred product benefits

They may be

objective (e.g specific physical features) or

subjective (i.e. symbolic values or benefits)

Burnkrantp Robert, and Cousineau f Alain f "Information

and Normative Social Influence in Buyer Behaviour f 1
Journal of Consumer Research (December 1975)^ pp.
206-214.
^

11

E v a l u a t i v e c r i t e r i a a r e shaped b y m o t i v e s and
memory^ a n d w i l l u n d e r g o m o d i f i c a t i o n a n d c h a n g e
b a s e d o n new i n f o r m a t i o n a n d e x p e r i e n c e

The

number of criteria which enter into the decision

increases with the extent of involvement

Brand reputation frequently emerges as

determinant cr iter ion and ^ particularly where
quality cannot be judged easily f the brand name
serves as a surrogate indicator of product
quality.

The "made-in image to which 1 referred

in the introductory paragraph very often has the

same effect as brand differentiation^

Price can also be used as a surrogate

indicator of quality when there are no
quality-connoting criteria such as brand name or
store location

Choice

A s can be seen from Figure 1 f Choice is the

outcome of two determinants:

(1) intentions and

(2) unanticipated circumstances.

As mentioned in

the previous section r a positive attitude is

usually accompanied by an intention f but
intervening between the intention and the actual
act of purchase there are unanticipated

12

circumstances
effects"

which

o r w h a t Krugman t e r m s " a c c i d e n t a l
may b e t h e l a c k o f f u n d s a t t h e

moment w h i c h w o u l d c a u s e t h e p u r c h a s e t o b e
a b o r t e d o r l e a d t o b r a n d s u b s t i t u t i o n f o r may be
the i n f l u e n c e o f a normative r e f e r e n c e group

E.

The Outcomes of Choice

The outcomes of choice can be broadly

categorized as satisfaction f and dissonance f and
both can have a strong effect on future behaviour
since they then become part of long-term memory
and hence exert an effect on brand beliefs and
attitudes

Satisfaction is defined by Engel and

Biackwell (1980 r op. cit f p 501) as

an evaluation

that the chosen alternative is cons istent with

prior beliefs with respect to that alternative 0
Brand loyalty will develop and be strengthened as
long as there is positive reinforcement o f
beliefs.

Where there is brand loyalty, the choice

heuristic used in future decision will be

simplified .

9,

Krugman f E.E. "The Impact of Television Advertisings

Learning Without Involvement0, Public Opinion Quarterly
XXIX, 1965, pp. 349-356.
^

- 1 3

D i s s o n a n c e o c c u r s when two c o g n i t i o n s o r
b e l i e f s do n o t f i t t o g e t h e r r e8 g . when one
a l t e r n a t i v e was c h o s e n and i t was b e l i e v e d t h a t
t h e unchosen a l t e r n a t i v e s a l s o had d e s i r a b l e
a t t r i b u t e s , p a r t i c u l a r l y i f the purchase a c t i o n i s
irrevocable

When this happensf the person will

try to reduce dissonance by

(1)

reevaluating the desirability of the

unchosen alternatives in favour of the
choice he has made by increasing the
perceived attractiveness of the chosen
alternative and/or downgrading the
desirability of those not chosen,

(2)

searching for information to confirm his

choice

Low-Involvement Decision Process

What we have just seen is a model of highinvolvement decision.

However f most products which are

purchased and used have only modest relevance and

importance in life itself.
products
self-worth.

These are low-involvement

They do not reflect one 1 s ego or

Also the alternatives within the product

class are largely similar so that there is little

perceived risk if one brand is used rather than another

14

and l i t t l e a n x i e t y about the outcome.

The b u y i n g

d e c i s i o n , i n t u r n , i s much s i m p l e r and l e s s demanding.

P r o b a b l y o n l y one or

two a t t r i b u t e s a r e c o n s i d e r e d w i t h

a wide l a t i t u d e o f a c c e p t a n c e .

T h e r e w i l l be no

e x t e n s i v e p r o b l e m s o l v i n g i n v o l v i n g s e a r c h and
a l t e r n a t i v e e v a l u a t i o n f making use o f n o n - c o m p e n s a t o r y
evaluation styles

Brand shifts are c o m m o n p l a c e .

In low-involvement decision processes f problem

recognition leads directly to choice f which is
followed, not preceded f by alternative evaluation

The

process is depicted in Figure 2 below

Input

Information Processing

Exposure

Decision Process

Problem
recognition

Beliefs

Choice

Attitude

Alternative
evaluation

Intention

Stimuli

Marketer
dominated
Other

Attention

Comprehension

Retention

Figure 2 - The Low-Involvement D e c i s i o n P r o c e s s

(from Engel and B i a c k w e l lr " 1 9 8 0 t
op.cit. f p . 543)
T h e r e is little or no active search.

Rather

attention is involuntary for the most part and o c c u r s

as the individual is exposed to a medium for o t h e r
reasons .

15

P r o b l e m r e c o g n i t i o n more l i k e l y i s s t i m u l a t e d
w i t h i n t h e r e t a i l s t o r e when t h e product i s a c t u a l l y
seen or o b s e r v e d on d i s p l a y .

Purchase and use i s

s i m i l a r i n many ways t o h y p o t h e s i s t e s t i n g i n w h i c h t h e
consumer s e e s i f i t l i v e s up t o e x p e c t a t i o n s .
F u l l y ~ f o r m e d b e l i e f s , a t t i t u d e s and i n t e n t i o n s a r e t h e
outcomes o f purchase f n o t t h e cause

Once the product

has been used with positive outcome f future problem

recognition most likely takes the form of stock out

Attitude

A s has been seen in the previous section

attitude

is a major determinant in high-involvement decisions,

though only an outcome in low-involvement decisions
YoelllG defined "Attitude8 as:

An attitude is a predisposition which prepares

the consumer for responding (behaving) in a
particular way. This response is the result of
various cues or signals that are operating in
the environment The consumer has learned the
significance of these cues and signals and
either begins to make an approach or avoidance
response accordingly An attitude is learned^
It is conditioned by prior exper ience and
reinforced through behaviour o

10 Yoell f William
"Determination of Consumer
Attitudes and Concepts Through Behavoral Analyses" t
Attitude Research at Sea y Lee Adler and Irving
Crespir ( e d . ) f The Attitude Research Comnittee r
American Marketing Association r 1966.

16

A t t i t u d e r e s u l t s from the c u l m i n a t i o n o f
b e l i e f s formed from i n f o r m a t i o n a c q u i r e d and
p r o c e s s e d and i s i n f l u e n c e d b y p a s t e x p e r i e n c e o f
t h e i n d i v i d u a l f c u l t u r a l no r ms a n d v a l u e s a n d
r e f e r e n c e groups

There are three models of attitude expression cognition f affects and actions f i

8
1

how a person

views the product or product class s what he likes

and dislikes about specific product attributes f and
how he behaves in ways which are related to using
the product or product class

There have been considerable arguments as to

whether or not behaviour can be predicted from
knowledge of an individual s s attitude

Fishbein

concluded that a person tends to bring his attitude

into line with his behaviour rather than that
behaviour is a function of attitude.

L2

On the

other hand, there are a number of studies clearly

documenting that a change in attitude f usually
through some type of persuasive campaign f

is

11. Heller f Harry E. r "Defining Target Markets By Their

Attitude Profiles" f in Attitude Research on the
Rocks
A t t i t u d e Research Committeef American M a r k e t i n g
A s s o c i a t i o n , 1968.
1 2 . F i s h b e i n f 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 o f
Behaviour i n
F i s h b e i n (ed.) A t t i t u d e T h e o r y and
M e a s u r e m e n t (New Y o r k , J o h n Wiley& S o n s f""""1967) , p ,
TTT

17

f o l l o w e d b y b e h a v i o u r a l c h a n g e among l a r g e number o f
p e o p il e 13

As noted earlier f the more current view is that

in high involvement decision-making ? because of
extended problem solving^ new information does
affect the consumer s cognitive structure and leads
to a change in beliefs ^ attitudes f and intentionsf
followed by a change in behaviour.

In

low-involvement situations ^ on the other hand f often

a behavioral act is undertaken followed by a change
in beliefs and attitudesf so that a valid marketing
goal should be to aim at stimulating purchase or
trial in the hopes that satisfaction will lead to
reuse

However f a general principle of persuasion

theory is that attitudes are resistant to change to
the extent that the individual s s beliefs are
anchored in his or her conception of self-worth
Hansen

14

proposes to look at the whole attitude

structure, since

13

Sec Achenbaum f Alvin A. f 8SAdvertising Doesn s t

Manipulate Consumers^18 Journal of Advertising
Research 9 Vol 12 (Apr il 1972) f pp.3-14

14.

Hensen r Flemming t 81 An Attitude Model for Analysing

Consumer Behaviour" in Attitude Research on the
Rocks y (op. cit 0 ), p s 147

18
" A t t i t u d e s c l o s e l y t i e d i n w i t h the t o t a l a t t i t u d e
structure o f the i n d i v i d u a l are l e s s l i k e l y t o
c h a n g e t h a n more i s o l a t e d a t t i t u d e s .

W i t h i n t h e l a s t decade ? v a r i o u s m u l t i - a t t r i b u t e
a t t i t u d e models have been d e v e l o p e d
of:Rosenberg

15

and F i s h b e i n

16

notably those

The R o s e n b e r g m o d e l

c o n t a i n e d two v a r i a b l e s , i . e . v a l u e s ( e q u i v a l e n t t o
e v a l u a t i v e c r i t e r i a ) and p e r c e i v e d i n s t r i m e n t a l i t y
The Fishbein model was similar to Rosenberg 1 s ^ but
instead took account of belief

(the probability that an

object does or does not have a particular attribute)

and an affective term (specifying whether or not the
possession or failure of possession of the attribute is
positive or negative)

However f recently f most of the

marketing applications now make use of hybrid models f

one example of which is as follows:

Where:
=

attitude tov/ard a particular alternative b

weight or importance of evaluative

cr iter ion i

15. Rosenberg r Milton J " "Cognitive Structure and

Attitudinal Effects81 r in Journal of Abnormal and Social
Psychology y Vol 53 (1956)
"367-372
16. Fishbein, Martin r "The Relationships Between Beliefs f
Attitudes and Behaviour"^ in Shel Feldman (ed,)
Cognitive Consistency y New York: Academic Press, 1966 p
pp. 199-223

19
=

evaluative aspect or b e l i e f with respect

to u t i l i t y of alternative b to satisfy
evaluative c r i t e r ion i

number of evaluative criteria important

in selection of an alternative in
category under consideration.

A similar formula will be employed to analyse the

data from the present study to test the applicability
of the model

20

CHAPTER 2
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

T h i s s t u d y a t t e m p t s t o measure t h e c u r r e n t a t t i t u d e s o f
c o n s u m e r s t o w a r d s J a p a n e s e p r o d u c t s i n Hong Kong f a n d i s
i m p o r t a n t p r i m a r i l y b e c a u s e J a p a n e s e b r a n d s h a v e made
s i g n i f i c a n t i n r o a d s i n t o t h e d o m e s t i c m a r k e t a n d i n many
c a s e s have a c h i e v e d the p o s i t i o n o f brand l e a d e r s

The

success of the marketers of Japanese products is not only

demonstrated by the large quantities of Japanese imports
into Hong Kong f but also by the infiltration of the
Japanese culture into the local life-style, particularly in
that of the younger generation f thus ensuring continued
consumer support by affecting at the root the local
cultural norms and values

However f the success of marketers of Japanese products

must have been achieved with especial efforts because of
the peculiar historical background in Hong Kong in that a
large proportion of the population here have suffered badly
at the hands of the Japanese during the Second World War.
Have they now succeeded in wiping out completely the
earlier memories?

Or are those people who have suffered

still holding out against Japanese products?

Japanese Products in the Hong Kong Market

Table 2 shows the retained import values of the

21

top ten suppliers to Hong Kong in 1983

From this, it

can be seen that the total value of retained imports

from Japan is the highest among the top ten suppliersf
giving an indication of the importance of Japanese
products in the local market:

Table 2
Hong Kong Retained Importfem Top Ten Major
Suppliers f 1983-^^
Ranking of
Major Countr ies
of Or igin

% Share of
total imports
from country
418222156
148928321
756798778

Japan
China
U.S.A.
Taiwan
Singapore
U.K.
Rep. of Korea
FR. Germany
Australia
Switzerland

4522430125
0138557220
9339863322
22 1

1o
2
3e
4.
5.
6
78
8
9
10e

Retained
Import Value
HK$Mn

Infiltration of Japanese Culture

Evidences of the infiltration of the Japanese

culture in Hong Kong are numerous r as demonstrated by
the popularity of Japanese songs and singers in the Top
Hits Parade which is mainly patronized by youngsters
Within the past year ? there have been at least three
large scale concerts hosted by Japanese singers in Hong

17 From "Hong Kong Trade Review 198311 r Hong Kong Trade

Development Council

22

Kong and the popular s i n g i n g c o n t e s t every New Year

Eve h e l d i n J a p a n i s t e l e v i s e d l i v e on a l o c a l TV
s t a t i o n and immensely s u p p o r t e d .

Other examples o f the

i n f i l t r a t i o n o f the Japanese c u l t u r e i n Hong Kong are

the immense success o f the Japanese department s t o r e s ,
the i n c r e a s i n g number o f Japanese c u i s i n e r e s t a u r a n t s i
and 9 most o f a l l f the p o p u l a r i t y o f Japanese c a r t o o n
programmes and c h a r a c t e r s among the l o c a l c h i l d r e n .

In

f a c t t was r e c e n t l y recounted a s t o r y by a young

mother whose t h r e e - y e a r o l d son had i n s i s t e d on a
" M a c h i - c u t " a t the barbetsI

H i s t o r i c a l Background

F o r t y - t w o y e a r s ago f the P a c i f i c Wars erupted

One morning in early December, 1941, the Japanese
planes bombarded Kai Tak Airport and f after eighteen
days of war r Hong Kong surrendered

From then on until

August 1945 f three years and eight months later. Hong

Kong had the traumatic experience of the Japanese
Occupation.

Testimonies of the suffering of Hong Kong

residents during this period are plentiful and I quote

below an extract from "The Occupation of Hong
Kong"18:-

"John Stericker was shocked at the brutal

treatment meted out to the local population.
Birch f A. L. and Cole, M. "Captive Years, The
Occupation of Hong Kong 1941-45" f Heineman Educational
Books (Asia) Limited 1982, p.7.

I t v / a s r e a l l y r a t h e r a w f u l b e c a u s e when we w e n t
p a s t t h e l o w e r Peak Tram S t a t i o n - t h e r e were
some t r e e s t h e r e t h e n - t i e d t o e a c h t r e e w e r e
t h r e e s t r i n g s l i k e beads o f C h i n e s e .
suppose
t h e y h a d b e e n c a u g h t l o o t i n g e T h e r o p e was t i e d
t o t h e t r e e a t o n e e n d t h e n i t was l o o p e d a r o u n d
t h e neck o f a Chinese then w i t h another t h r e e
f e e t l o o p e d around t h e neck o f t h e n e x t one
r i g h t down t h e l i n e 0 I 8 i n a f r a i d we h a d t o g o
p a s t them a g a i n l a t e r a n d o f c o u r s e a s o n e
d r o p p e d f r o m e x h a u s t i o n h e p u l l e d a n o t h e r down
and t h e r e t h e y were l e f t t o d i e
I know a
f r i e n d o f m i n e saw a n o l d C h i n e s e woman a n d a
g i r l s c r a p p i n g up r i c e t h a t h a d f a l l e n o f f a
t r u c k and t h e J a p a n e s e i m m e d i a t e l y s h o t them and
p u s h e d them i n t o t h e w a t e r ?
The J a p a n e s e o f c o u r s e t o o k what t h e y wanted the r i g h t o f the c o n q u e r o r . Dr Li Shu-fan
describes the pillaging of Hong Kong:
s

Throughout the three-day celebration Japanese

soldiers strolled u p and down the streets of the
city f stopping cars and commanding the drivers
to take thera for joy rides. They seized
whatever they wanted from stores f especially
from the wine and clothing shops f sometimes
tossing a few military notes on the counter in
any quantity they liked
If a store was locked
they broke in and helped themselves freely On
the night after Christinas I looked into the Shan
Kwang hotel windows across the road from the
hospital and saw Japanese soldiers dining f
singing f drinking and dancing with one anothei:
Parties like this swelled to orgies throughout
Hong Kong. It seemed as though the soldiers had
been specifically given licence to commit any
act they wished. Their first thought was to put
wine in their bellies f then they set out for
excitement and mischief under the pretext of
searching for arms or suspects. They broke into
house after house at the point of a gun Once
in they slapped ^ kicked, murdered r stole and
raped Throughout the night we heard people cry
B
Save Life ! Save Life I 81
For people who were not in Hong Kong at that
time r the majority had had similar experience since
they had come from war inflicted China or other
south-east Asian countries*

24

Of t h e Hong Kong p o p u l a t i o n o f 1981 a n

o v e r v / h e l m i n g m a j o r i t y o f t h o s e o v e r 40 y e a r s o f a g e f
i o e . 29.81%

19

h a v e h a d impr i n t e d o n t h e i r memory

t h i s i n d e l i b l e e x p e r i e n c e , and i t w o u l d n o t b e
s u r p r i s i n g i f t h e y a r e s t i l l , up t o t h i s d a y f
f o r t y - t w o y e a r s l a t e r ^ h a r b o u r i n g some b i t t e r n e s s
towards the i n f l i c t o r o f the i n j u r y B

M o r e o v e r f one r e c e n t i n c i d e n t i s r e l e v a n t

In

early 1982, the Japanese Education Department

attempted to change their history textbooks to play
down the Japanese aggressiveness in the Second World
War e

This elicited an immense uproar throughout China

and Hong Kong On 18th September f 1982f it developed

into a very provocative scene with a massive
demonstration at Victoria Park and pressures to
boycott the Japanese stores3 ending in an emotional
ceremony of presenting to a Chinese official a letter
of protestation written in blood donated by 6,000
students

It is worthy of note that the incident was

initiated by students who had not been through the

Japanese Occupation

Another phenomenon that I would cite here is

that three of the most popular songs in the Chinese
Top Hits Parade in the last few months have been very

19 Census 1981 Main Report, Census and Statistics

Department.

- 2 5

i n c i t i n g p a t r i o t i c o n e s - " I am a C h i n e s e " M y
C h i n e s e H e a r t " a n d "The B r a v e C h i n e s e P e o p l e " - w h i c h
a l l have s t r o n g overtone o f t h e Chinese b r a v e r y i n the
Japanese intrusion

Purpose of the Study

From the statistics on retained imports shown in

Table 2 and the evidences of the infiltration of the
Japanese culture among the younger generation in Hong
Kong r it would appear that the Japanese marketing
efforts have not been impaired by the unfavourable
historical factor recounted earlier
Heller

20

However f

argues that behavioral measures such as

market share tell only what happened in the past and

not what will happen

in the future f that the work of

marketing research must be futur is tic and that it is

possible to alter market performance by understanding
the attitude lying behind purchase decisions.

This

then is what the present study hopes to achieve

The

objectives of this study therefore are;

A.

To examine the overall attitude of the Hong Kong

consumers towards the Japanese origin of a
product

It should be noted that it is the

20 Heller, Harry E " 181 Attitude Share of Market 8 Predicts

Better Than Behavioral Measures 8 Marketing News (May
16, 1980) p.7

- 2 6

BELIEFS of the consumers culminating in their

attitudes that is the subject of the study and
that we are not concerned here with the accuracy
or otherwise of these beliefs.

Within the overall attitude f to examine the

consumers 8 beliefs towards Japanese products in
terms of:

(i)

Product Pr ice
Is it high cost f or inexpensive?
Is it reasonably priced?

(ii)

Product Quality
Is it meticulously made f or has it
careless or poor workmanship?
Is it durable?
Is it inventive or imitation?
Is it made of good material?
How is its performance?

(iii) Product Design

Has it got wide choice of size and model
Is the style good?

(iv)

Product Support
Is backup service satisfactory?
Is it well advertised?

As mentioned i n page 1 6 , a t t i t u d e r e s u l t s
f r o m t h e c u l m i n a t i o n ofbeliefs formed from
information aquired and gained

It is hoped

that by break ing down the overall attitude into

individual beliefsf it is possible to find out
whether any particular aspects within the
overall attitude profile are particularly weak r
or whether there are any particularly strong
aspects which have a halo effect on the over all
attitude

To see if the historical background in Hong Kong

has affected to any extent the consumer
attitudes towards Japanese products 0

To compare the consumer attitudes towards

Japanese products with those towards locally
made products so as to provide a strategic
direction for marketers of local products to
improve their image

By understanding the present attitudes f to

attempt to forecast the future trends of the
markets for Japanese and Hong Kong products.

- 2 8

P A R T

II

LITERATURE REVIEW

- 2 9

Three a r t i c l e s are o f p a r t i c u l a r relevance t o t h e

subject of

this project

two b y A k i r a N a g a s h i m i n 1 9 7 0

21

,22
a n d 1 9 7 7 , and a third by Mun Kin-chok 2 3 in 1980.

The studies of Nagashima will be discussed in the

following Chapter 3 and that of Mun in Chapter 4

21. See Note 3 on Page 3.

22 Nagashima p Akira, sfA Comparative 8 Made In 8 Product
Image Survey Among Japanese Business88 f Journal o f
Marketing y July 1977 f pp. 95-100
23 Mun, Kin-Chok p "Hong Kong Need Re-posit ion ing 18 f T h e
Hong K o n g M a n a g e r s , 1980 f T h e Hong K o n g M a n a g e m e n t ~
Association.

30

CHAPTER 3
THE NAGASHIMA STUDIES

A k i r a Nagashima c o n d u c t e d a s e r i e s o f s t u d i e s on
consumer a t t i t u d e s

The first survey r conducted in 1965

among 70 Minnesota businessmen f was aimed at measuring U S.

businessmen 1 s attitudes towards products made in the U.S. p
Japan f England f Germany and Italy,

The second study

conducted in 1967 ^ surveyed the attitudes of 100 prominent

Tokyo businessmen along the same dimensions for the same
countr iesf except that France replaced Italy.

The results

of these two studies were reported in Nagashima s s 1970

article

(op cit)

A further study was conducted by Nagashima eight years

later and his 1977 article

(op cit) reported the attitude

change of the Japanese over the eight-year period.

All three studies employed the semantic differential

method developed by Charles Osgood
Mindak

25

24

and modified by W.A #

A seven-point scale was used with each scale

position arbitrarily weighted from +3 to -3:

248

Osgood,
Suci f G . J and Tannenbaim, P. H,f
Measurement of Meaning r U n i v e r s i t y o f I l l i n o i s
1957 ? O s g o o d , C , E , , "The 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 4 9 (May
pp. 1 9 7 - 2 6 ^

"The
Press r
of
1952),

25

Mindak, W.A. r "Fitting the Semantic Differential to

the Marketing Problem11 f Journal of Marketing y Vol. 25,
Apr il 1961 f pp. 28-33.

Good :

Bad

The s u b j e c t s were a s k e d t o c o m p l e t e t h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e
a s r a p i d l y as p o s s i b l e
impression.

answer i n g a c c o r d i n g t o t h e i r f i r s t

A p r o f i l e was o b t a i n e d b y c a l c u l a t i n g

i n d i v i d u a l or g r o u p mean scores

The results of the most

recent study, i.e. the 1975 study, is shown in Figure 3

below and those of the earlier studies are at Appendix I.

Figure 3
Profile of "Made-In" Product Images
of Japanese Businessmen
(Results of N a g a s h i m a s 1975 S t u d y )

Price Value
Expensive
Reasonably
priced

Unreasonably
priced

Reliable

Unreliable

L u x u r y items

Necessary items

Heavy industry
product

Light m a n u f a c t u r e
product
Service and Engineering
Not s o careful a n d
meticulous
workmanships

Careful and
meticulous
workmanship

Technically
backward
Mass produced
Mostly d o m e s t i c
distribution
Imitative
Advertising snci Reputation
P r i d e of
ownership

Not m u c h pr i de of
ownership

M u c h advertising

Little advertising

Recognizable
b r a n d names

Unrecognizable
brand names

32

D e s i g n pnd Style
Large c h o i c e of
size & m o d e l

Limited c h o i c e of
size & mode!

More concerned
with outward
appearance

M o r e coC6red
with p e r f o r m a n c e

Clever use of
color

Not clever use of

color
C o n s u m e r s ' profile

M o r e for y o u n g
people

M o r e for o l d
people

M o r e for men

M o r e for w o m e n

U p p e r class

Lower class

" M a d e in U.S.A."

" M a d e in England
" M a d e jn France.

"Made in J a p a n "
' M a d e in Germany"'

In addition to the semantic differential method used

in the basic questionnaire f three additional questions were
administered to examine the associative effect of the
representative products of a country on the "made in1'
concept of that country as follows:

(A)

Please list the product names which come first to

your mind when you see the following "made in"
names - unaided recall question, to verify the
findings that representative products of a country
are associated with the "made-in" concept of that
country

(B)

Supposing that many countr ies had an item equal in

price, quality and styling, which country' s
product would you select?

- to establish the

stereotype images toward products of the various

countr ies.

- 3 3

(C)

W h i c h c o u n t r y do y o u t h i n k p r o d u c e s t h e p r o d u c t o f
t h e g r e a t e s t v a l u e when o n e c o n s i d e r s p r i c e ,
quality

d e s i g n , s e r v i c e s , e t c - to explore

concepts of the country which produces the best

product

It was found in these studies that the "made inSi image was
naturally affected by the familiarity and availability of
the country 5 s product and the stereotype of that country.
Some representative products of that country influenced the
total product image,

such products as Coca Cola f

Chevrolet f Ford f IBM and Sunkist were forming the image of

"Made in

f
8

11 S A.

and such prominent Japanese products as

Sony, Nikon? Toyoto f and Honda were the driving force in

forming the image of "Made in Japan56

In his 1967 study f Nagashima found that the Japanese

thought of their own products as "inexpensive11 f
"necessaryS8 and

Bi

imitativeSf.

58

commonfs f

They tended to associate the

label Made i n Japan 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 s h i p and

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 own p r o d u c t s

These

products however were believed to be as reasonably pr iced

as English and German products,

Advertising was considered

to be as heavy as for IKS. onesf but there were relatively

few recognizable Japanese brands.

In his subsequent study in 1975, Nagashima found that

the attitudes of Japanese businessmen towards the "made in

34

J a p a n " l a b e l h a d s i g n i f i c a n t l y improved

Japanese products

had become as expensive as 0,3 products and were

considered to be as reliable and as reasonably pr iced as
German products; they had moved ahead of U.S. products in
"careful and meticulous workmanship" f though still fell
below the products of Germany f England and France

Japan

was also considered next to the U.S.A. in technical

advancement, surpassing Germany # and it v/as ranked number
one in world-wide distribution over the ILSA and
Germany,

But the image of its imitativeness stayed the

same as in 1967 and the Japanese still felt little pride of

ownership of their own products

Since the 1975 study was more recentf its results will
be used to compare with the results of the present study.

CHAPTER 4
STUDY BY MUN KIN-CHOK

A f u r t h e r a r t i c l e o f r e l e v a n c e i n t h i s r e g a r d was t h a t
w r i t t e n b y Mun K i n - C h o k i n 1980 ( o p . c i t ) w h i c h made u s e o f
t h e d a t a f r o m a p a p e r b y James A Brumer and George M.
Taoka

26

on "Consumer Attitudes Toward Products from

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 Academy 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 December, 1979, i n H o n o l u l u
These data showed that in the U.S. consumers 1 perception f
Japanese products obviously occupied a much more favourable
position against those from Hong Kong f P.RC # and Taiwan
There was a significant difference betwen U.S. consumers 1
attitudes towards Japanese products and products from the
other three Far Eastern places,

However f the differences

in consumer attitudes toward the latter three were rather

small or non-existent

Mun then performed a rank-order analysis using the

percentages of the attitude statements f on the following
rules :

26

Brumer f James A. and Taoka, George M. f "Consumer

Attitudes Toward Products from People 1 s Republic of
China and Other Far Eastern Countr ies88 r Proceedings of
the Academy of International Businesss Asia-Pacific
Dimensions of International Business f December 18-20 f
1979 r Honolulu f Hawaii ,

36

Rank i n g f o r p o s i t i v e s t a t e m e n t s
The highest percentage = 1
The lowest percentage

= 4

Rank ing for negative statements

The highest percentage = 4
The lowest percentage

= 1

so that the lower the total score for a manufacturing

place 9 the more favourable the consumers' attitudes towards
its products and vice versa.

The results of the analysis

is shown in Table 3 below:

Table 3
U.S. Consumers' Attitudes toward Products f r o m
Japan, PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong
(From Mun, K . C . , 1980 o p . c i t . )
(Percent Who Strongly or Moderately Agree)

Country/Area

Japan

Statements
A.

PRC

Rank

Rank

Taiwan

Rank

Hong Kong

Rank

Positive Statements

1. Have high-grade style

58

34

36

34

2. Typically meet high quality

control standard

64

39

38

38

3. Are items of real craftsmanship

55

32

32

34

4 . Are very durable

54

28

29

28

5. Are among the world's best

45

17

16

19

6. Are superior in m o s t respects

38

16

16

14

B. Negative Statements
7. Are m a d e with cheap materials

43

64

61

68

8. Are cheap imitations of better

products

41

61

62

63

9. Lack polish and detail f o u n d

in really fine merchandise

41

55

58

56

10. Are of questionable material

& workmanship

39

59

62

62

11. Are t o be avoided if possible

39

55

57

51

36

55

57

54

13. Have low prestige, so I d o n ' t

tell others I t buy t h e m

29

47

46

46

14. Are usually unsatisfactory

29

54

51

51

30

48

49

49

12. Are t o b e bought only if you are

willing t o gamble o n quality

15. Are typically s h o d d y

Total score of ranking

(39

(39

(41

37

Based on t h i s e v a l u a t i o n r u l e , the Japanese p r o d u c t

o b t a i n e d the lowest s c o r e o f

15 among the f o u r a r e a s and

Hong Kong o b t a i n e d the h i g h e s t o f 41, though the d i f f e r e n c e

between Hong Kong and P , R . C . or Taiwan was r a t h e r s m a l l f
the s c o r e s f o r the l a t t e r

two b e i n g both 3 9

A paired compar ison of the rank ing score of each

attitude statement among Hong Kong f P . R . C a n d Taiwan was
carried out so that if the rank ing of Hong Kong products is
higher than that of Taiwan products for a particular
statement. Hong Kong obtained a plus' if the rank ing of
Hong Kong products was lower than that of Taiwan products f
a "minus i s a s s i g n e d to the former a " n i l " s c o r e was
g i v e n t o an e q u a l rank c a s e .

The r e s u l t o f t h i s a n a l y s i s

i s shown i n T a b l e 4 below

Table 4
A Paired Comparision of t h e Ranking of t h e Products
from PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong
(From Mun, K . C . , 1 9 8 0 o p . c i t . )
(Higher rank =Lower rank = E q u a l rank = 0)

Statements

Honp Kong Hong Kong

PRC
with Taiwan with P R C
with Taiwan

From T a b l e 4 f i t can be seen t h a t Hong Kong p r o d u c t s

were c o n s i d e r e d i d e n t i c a l w i t h those o f Taiwan and s l i g h t l y
u n f a v o u r a b l e when compared w i t h PRC p r o d u c t s , and t h a t PRC
p r o d u c t s had a " b e t t e r p o s i t i o n i n g " than those o f Taiwan
goods

The fifteen statements were then grouped into three

main "common factors" basedon their similiarity in nature
as follows

"Quality"

11

"Style and Product Design"

III.

"General Image".

The results of this analysis are shown in Tables 5 to 7

below:
Table 6
Statements related to S t y l e and Product Design
Statements

Table 5
Statements related to Quality
Hong Kong
S t a t e m e n t s with Taiwan

Hong Kong
with Taiwan

1 0

Hong Kong
PRC
with PRC with Taiwan

1 0

Hong Kong
PRC
with PRC with Taiwan

Table 7
S t a t e m e n t s related t o '"General mage
10

12

Statements

1
20

Hong Kong
with Taiwan

Hong Kong
PRC
with PRC
with Taiwan

F r o m t h i s l a s t a n a l y s i s , i t was f o u n d t h a t a s f a r a s
" Q u a l i t y " was c o n c e r n e d ? Hong K o n g p r o d u c t s a p p e a r e d t o b e
p o s i t i o n e d b e t t e r t h a n T a i w a n p r o d u c t s - b u t s l i g h t l y
" u n f a v o u r a b l e " c o m p a r e d w i t h PRC p r o d u c t s the "Style and
Product Design" of Hong Kong products were rated slightly
lower than that of PRC and Taiwan and products from all
three countr ies ranked equal regarding "General Image 8
although PRC appears to be viewed slightly better than
Taiwan

The data from the present study will be analysed in

the same manner for comparison purposes

- 4 0

P A R T

THE

I I I

STUDY

I n t h i s p a r t o f the r e p o r t

t h e s t u d y w i l l be

d e s c r i b e d i n d e t a i l s the Methodology i n Chapter 5, the

r e s u l t s i n C h a p t e r 6 f and some d i s c u s s i o n t h e r e o n i n
Chapter

7 l a s t l y r a c o n s l u s i o n i s a t t e m p t e d i n C h a p t e r 8

41

CHAPTER 5
METHODOLOGY

L.

The S u r v e y

The d a t a on w h i c h t h i s p r e s e n t s t u d y i s b a s e d w e r e
c o l l e c t e d f r o m a s u r v e y on a s a m p l e o f 108 C h i n e s e
consumer s i n Hong Kong

It was decided to exclude

consumers of other nationalities since: firstly, this

segment only constitutes a minor ity of about 1% of the
Hong Kong population and f secondly ^ most of them have
only very transient residence in Hong Kong so that
their attitudes are more representative of their native
countr ies than of Hong Kong.

Since the main objective of this study is to test

the consumer attitudes and what their beliefs are vis-avis Japanese productsf whether formed from personal
experience f i.e internal search in the search process
described in page 9 f or through testimonies of
reference groups, no differentiation is made as between
purchasers and non-purchasers of Japanese products a

By

the same token f this study is not concerned with

whether or not the subject s s beliefs are justified, so
that f for example r if a subject has had impleasant
experience with a German television receiver r but had
all the time mistaken it for a Japanese make r his
evaluation would nevertheless contribute to my study r
since we are only concerned with what he believes is

t r m

42

The u n i v e r s e o f my s u r v e y s a m p l e was t h e r e f o r e

d e f i n e d a s a l l C h i n e s e c o n s u m e r s i n Hong Kong f w h e t h e r
a c t u a l or prospective

The s u r v e y was c o n d u c t e d b y means o f a s t r u c t u r e d

q u e s t i o n n a i r e w h i c h was d i s t r i b u t e d t o f r l e n d s

r e l a t i v e s and c o l l e a g u e s o f t h e a u t h o r f a n d t h r o u g h
them t o o t h e r s t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n i s shown i n A p p e n d i x
II

A total of 145 questionnaires were distributed

together with stamp self-addressed envelopes for return

to the author f and 113 were received f out of which f 5
unfortunately were not usable because of Incomplete
answers f or the answers appear to be too consistent
across all variables to represent the respondents s
honest opinions

It is recognised that this method of sampling has

its shortcomings in that it cannot be held to be truly
representative of the Hong Kong consumers as all
samples were either directly or indirectly related to
the author, so that some bias was to be expected,
However r as can be seen from Appendix IIf care has been
taken to include people with diverse interests ranging
from artistic Chinese painting to sportive Kung Fu f and
also from different establishments f it is hoped that
the bias can be minimised.

A more satisfactory sampling method appropriate to

this study would be a purely random sampling, for

- 4 3

example by i n t e r v i e w i n g i n the s t r e e t

Or

alternatively f a purposive method by stratefied

sampling could be employed to obtain samples in
proportion to the income r or age distribution of the
Hong Kong populatioru

These methods would yield a more

representative sample but were not practicable in this

instance because of the following reasonsz

An

From a pilot survey conducted on five respondentsr

it was found that the average time taken to
complete the questionnaire was 20 minutes, so that
random sampling in the street became
impracticable

A survey by mail would give respondents ample time

to complete the questionnaire f but would not be
satisfactory either because of the low response
rateo

This is a particular problem with Chinese

respondents because Chinese is a particularly

selfish race and will not go out of their way to
help unless there is some tangible benefit to
themselves.

This is demonstrate from the ancient

saying: Sweep o n l y t h e snow i n f r o n t o f y o u r d o o r

and do n o t mind 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
roof

Moreover t h e n o t i o n o f s u r v e y and i t s

v a l u e a r e r a t h e r suspect t o the C h i n e s e mind

Even if it were possible to obtain sufficient

samples if a large number of questionnaires were

44

d i s t r i b u t e d , the sample would s t i l l be b i a s e d

because o f the non-responding s u b j e c t s

Morover

the cost in terms of time and effort would be

prohibitive 9

A random survey is not suitable for this study

also because the questionnaire is rather complex
and will not be easily comprehensible by the less
well-educated respondents.

It was found during

the survey that explanation was necessary when the

questionnaire was administered to certain elderly
or less well-educated subjects

A survey by

interview at the respondent 1 s home would overcome

this problem f but again the cost in terms of time
and efforts would be prohibitive

Moreover, in the current climate of social

disorder and distrust f access' would not be easily
granted for a home interview and, again f if this
were conducted^ the sample would be biased because
of the large proportion of people not willing to
be so interviewed.

The questionnaire

A copy of the structured questionnaire is a t

Appendix III.

This seeks to establish the consumer

attitudes on three product classes:

television f watch

and garment (referring to garments for going out and

45

worn on t h e o u t s i d e )

These products were chosen

primarily because of their high market penetration

From the survey by Laurent (1979)2

it was found

that 93% of all households owned a television set 3 and

this figure would have escalated by now because of the
steadily improving standards of living.

As regards

watch f it can be observed that almost every person owns

a watch f whether as a luxury item or an item of
necessity

The same applies to garment

For each product^ the respondent was asked to

compare the product made in Japan with those made in
three other countr ies along selected descriptions e

In

each casef Hong Kong was chosen as one of the countr ies
for compar ison since it will be recalled that one of
the objectives for this study is to compare the
attitudes towards Japanese products with those towards
locally made products so as to provide a strategic
direction for marketers of local products to improve
their image,

The other two countr ies chosen in each

case were2

27#

Television:

Germany and U.S.A.

Watch %

Switzerland and Taiwan

Garment:

France and China

Laurent, C.R.,

Eong Kong Market Facts", 1979.

46

T h e s e c o u n t r i e s were c h o s e n f o r c o m p a r a t i v e
p u r p o s e s i n c e t h e i r p r o d u c t s were t h e s u b j e c t s e i t h e r
i n N a g a s h i m a s studies or in MurZs article.

The following Table 8 compiled from figures

obtained from the Government Census and Statistics
Department shows the proportion of these countries 9
imports in the total import to Hong Kong within their
respective categories for

1983

TABLE 8
1983 Imports from Selected Countries

Value
HK$000
(a)

T e l e v i s i o n (SITC 761)
Total
Japan
UoS,,A .
Germany

(b)

690 f 0 9 2
493,361
1,246
30,325

00.00
71.49

34,068
07,054
70 f 436
53,341

00.00
41.89
5.78
20.33

0.18
4.39

W a t c h ( S I T C 885)
Total
Japan
Taiwan
Switzerland

(c)

%age o f
t o t a l Import

Garment (SITC
845)
o 5 5 7

,673
,671
97,735

o 5 3 1

3 6 5
7 2 5

Total
Japan
China
France

It is very difficult to obtain information on the

exact market shares without going into an extensive

47

m a r k e t s u r v e y w h i c h i s beyond t h e s c o p e o f t h e p r e s e n t
study

The figures in Table 8/ however 5 can be taken

as indicative of the market shares of these countries

in the respective categories, although it must be
remembered that import figures are not an accurate
proof since a proportion of the import is later
re-exported f and r unfortunatelyr the re-export figures
obtainable from the Census and Statistics Department
only relate to the gross values which include the
re-exporters1 mark-op so that exact figures for the
retained imports cannot be calculated by deduction

From Table 8f it can be seen that the Japanese has

a strong dominance in the markets for Television and
Watch and this is another reason for choosing these
products^

As regards garmentf China is the dominant

importer f but this product class is chosen primarily

because of its importance in Hong Kong 1 s exports f which
28
accounted for 24% of the total exports in 1983

The evaluative scale used was the same as

NagashimaS s (1970 and 1977 f op cit) r which was a
s e v en-point

scale weighted from +3 to -3

has been found by Haley and Case

29

However r it

that with this

2 8 H o n g Kong Trade Statisticsr Exports 1983 r Census and

Statistics Department29 Haley, Russell I and 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 Agreement a n d B r a n d
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 1979 r p p .
20-32

48

k i n d o f s c a l e t h e r e t e n d s t o be a r e s p o n d e n t p r e f e r e n c e
f o r t h e v e r b a l l a b e l s a t t a c h e d t o t h e e n d p o i n t s and. t h a t
r e s p o n d e n t s p r e f e r p o s i t i v e numbers t o n e g a t i v e
numbers .

I n o r d e r t o overcome t h i s b i a s rj a n d b e c a u s e

some o f my s a m p l e s m i g h t h a v e d i f f i c u l t y i n
c o n c e p t u a l i z i n g t h e N a g a s h i m a s c a l e w h i c h was u s e d o n
more k n o w l e d g e a b l e b u s i n e s s m e n f t h i s p r e s e n t
q u e s t i o n n a i r e i s s e t out i n the "Agree-with-statement11
f o r m f and t h e seven p o i n t s on t h e s c a l e were l a b e l l e d a s

agree completely
agree mostly

agree somewhat
don1 1 know

. . .

disagree somewhat
disagree mostly

disagree completely

The statements took the following form:

"That the products

(e .g television) made in Japan

(or one of the other countries) are inexpensive

(or some other descriptive nouns or phrases)

Haley and Case (1979, op cit, p.23) further found

that the- "Agreement-with-Statement 18 scale tended to
acciiioiila te many more favourable than on favour able
ratings and therefore was susceptible to yeasaying

49

r e s p o n s e s t y l e , p a r t i c u l a r l y when t h e s t a t e m e n t s w e r e
p o s i t i v e l y worded
questionnaire

For t h i s reason

i n the present

c a r e has been t a k e n t o i n t e r s p e r s e

n e g a t i v e s t a t e m e n t s among p o s i t i v e ones

For each product f the respondent was then asked to

give weightings ranging from 1 to 5 to indicate the
relative importance of various evaluative criteria in
his decision making process

The weightings were

categorized broadly into

Not important at all

(1)

Not so important

(2)

Important " "

3)

Quite Important

(4)

Extremely Important

(5)

In addition to the basic questionnaire f the

Nagashima study also administered three supplemental
questions which are set out on Pages 32-33

It was considered that Question

somewhat with Question

(A) over laps

(C) and that Question

(B) was

rather vague since it did not relate to any specific

product class it was therefore decided to omit these
two questions and Question

(C) was administered mutatis

mustandis to explore the overall attitude of the Hong

Kong consumers.

- 5 0

As a final part to the questionnaire r some

questions for classification and verification
purposes were askede

These included the respondents

agep sex, household income range and educational

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 these questions

was to establish if his attitudes had been affected by

ownership of these products8

CHAPTER 6
RESULTS

A s m e n t i o n e d e a r l i e r i n C h a p t e r 5 f a t o t a l o f 113
q u e s t i o n n a i r e s were r e t u r n e d by r e s p o n d e n t s and 10 8 h a v e b e e n
used.

The f o l l o w i n g A p p e n d i c e s a r e t a b u l a t i o n s o f t h e d a t a :

Appendix IV -

Demographics o f t h e respondents

Appendix V

Mean S c o r e s o f t h e t h r e e p r o d u c t s f r o m

t h e v a r i o u s c o u n t r i e s on S t a t e m e n t s i t o 34
Appendix VI -

Frequencies o f the places o f ori g i n o f the

t e l e v i s i o n owned r t h e w a t c h w o r n a n d t h e
garment l a s t bought

Appendix V I I - Frequencies o f t h e countr i e s cons i d e r e d t o

produce the product o f the g r e a t e s t v a l u e

- 5 2

CHAPTER 7
DISCUSSION

T h e d a t a f r o m t h i s s t u d y h a v e be e n a n a l y s e d i n
v a r i o u s w a y s : f i r s t l y b a s e d on t h e m o d e l u s e d b y Mun (1980
op cit) and then on that used by Nagashima (1970 and 1977 f
op. cit.) a

Further analyses were carried out and the results

discussed in this chapter

1o

M u n 1 s Model

Rank-Order Analysis

Tables 9 to 11 are replications of M u n 1 s

analysisf employing the cumulative percentages of
those giving 1 and 2 as replies

These percentages

were then converted into rank orders employing the

same rules as those used by Mun as follows

For positive statement:

The highest percentage = (1)
The lowest percentage = (4)

For negative statement

The highest percentage = (4)
The lowest percentage = (1)

M u n 1 s own analysis has been reproduced in Table 3 on

page 36

Table 9
Hong Kong Consumer A t t i t u d e s towards
T E L E V I S IONS from Japan, U.S.A.Germany a n d Hong K o n g
(P e r ce n t who agree c o m p l e t e l y or m o s t l y )

Country/Area
Statements

A.

Japan
Rank

U.S.A.
% Rank

Germany
% Rank

Hong K o n g
% Rank

P o s i t i v e Statements

1. a r e inexpensive
2. has good r e p a i r
service

64.8

63 .9

(1)

(1)

2,8

(4)

4-6

(3)

50.0

(2)

25.0

(3)

43.5

(2)

11-1

(4)

3 are reasonably
priced c o n s i d e r i n g
their quality

78.7

(1)

24.1

(4)

50-0

(2)

35-2

(3)

4 . have good s t y l e

82.4

(1)

25.9

(3)

54-6

(2)

20.4

(4)

5 are much advertised

97.2

(1)

15.7

(3)

38.0

(2)

7.4

(4)

6. are very durable

35.2

( 2)

21-3

(3)

52.8

(1)

3.7

(4)

7 h a v e large choice
o f size and model

93-5

(1)

19.4

(3)

39.8

(2)

17.6

(4)

8. are made of poor

material

0.9

(2)

(1)

0.9

(2)

16.7

(4)

9 . are of poor
workmanship

0.9

(1)

0.9

(1)

14.8

(4)

10. h a v e low pres tige

so I d o n 1 1 tell
others I buy them

0.0

(1)

0.9

8.3

(4)

11 give bad perforraance

1.9

( 2)

0.9

14-8

(4)

B.

Negative Statements

Total score o f ranking

(14)

(1)

(1)

(28)

2.8

(3)

(22)

(41)

Table IQ
Hong K o n g Consumer A t t i t u d e s t o w a r d s
WATCHES f r o m J a p a n Switzerland, Taiwan and Hong Kong
(Percent who agree completely or mostly)

Country/Area
Statements

A.

Japan
Rank

Switzerland
% Rank

Taiwan
i' Rank

Hong Kong
% Rank

Positive Statements

1 a r e inexpensive

55.6

(2)

2-8

(4)

52.8

(3)

86.1

(1)

2. has good repair

service

69.4

(2)

64.8

(1)

7.4

(4)

12.0

(3)

3 are reasonably
priced considering
their quality

75.9

(1)

47.2

(3)

35.2

(4)

70.4

(2)

4. have good style

81.5

(1)

80.6

(2)

11.1

(4)

43.5

(3)

5. a r e much advertised

94.4

(1)

76.9

(2)

0-9

(4)

6.5

(3)

6.

48.2

(2)

72-2

(1)

1.9

(4)

14-8

(3)

88.0

(1)

69-4

(2)

10.2

(4)

39.8

(3)

a r e made of poor
material

0-9

(2)

0.0

(1)

25-0

(4)

15.7

(3)

are of poor
workmanship

2.8

(1)

2.8

(1)

25.9

(4)

15-7

(3)

1.9

(1)

3.7

(2)

20.4

(4)

13.9

(3)

0.9

(1)

0.9

(1)

24.1

(4)

14-8

(3)

are v e r y durable

7. h a v e large choice
o f size and model
Negative Statements

10. h a v e low prestige

so I don't tell
others I buy them
11. give bad performance

Total score o f ranking

(15)

(20)

(43)

(30)

Table 1 1
Hong Kong Consumer A t t i t u d e s towards
GARMENTS from Japan China, France and Hong Kong
(Percent who agree completely or mostly)

Country/Area
Statements

k.

Japan
Rank

Ch ina
Rank

France
Rank

Hong Kong
% Rank

Pos itive Statements

7,4

(3)

60.2

(2)

2.8

(4)

61.1

(1)

2 are reasonably
priced c o n s i d e r i n g
their quality

24.1

(3)

67.6

(2)

18.5

(4)

68.5

(1)

3 have good style

78.7

(1)

0.9

(4)

71,3

(2)

46.3

(3)

4. are much advertised

45.4

(1)

8-3

(4)

37.0

(2)

14.8

(3)

5 are very durable

16.7

(4)

52-8

(1)

25,0

(2)

16-8

(3)

6 h a v e large choice
o f size and model

58.3

(2)

57.4

(3)

30.6

(4)

68-5

(1)

7 are made of poor

material

0.9

(1)

15.7

(4)

).9

(1)

9-3

(3)

8. are of poor
workmanship

0.9

(1)

15.7

(4)

0-9

(1)

7.4

(3)

9 h a v e low prestige
so I d o n 1 1 tell
others I buy them

1.9

(2)

15.7

(4)

0.9

(1)

7.4

(3)

1 are inexpensive

B.

Negative Statements

Total score of ranking

(18)

(28)

(21)

(21)

- 5 6

I t w i l l be r e c a l l e d t h a t i n Mun 8 s a n a l y s i s ^ t h e
t o t a l s c o r e o f r a n k i n g f o r t h e J a p a n e s e p r o d u c t was
1 5 f t h e l o w e s t among t h e f o u r a r e a s

and t h a t t h e

Hong K o n g p r o d u c t o b t a i n e d t h e h i g h e s t s c o r e
indicating its unfavourable 1 positioning compared
with the other three products in the U.S. consumers 1
mindsr though the difference between Plong Kong and
China or Taiwan was rather small

From my study f Tables 9 to 11 also showed that

Japanese products are the favourites with Hong Kong
consumers r achieving the lowest scores in all three
instances.

However f the position of Hong Kong

products vis-a-vis those from Taiwan and China has

evidently changed.

Although it is true that Hong

Kong televisions are considered inferior to those

from Germany and the U.S.Ao ^ and certainly to those
from Japan f Hong Kong watches are viewed much more
favourably than those from Taiwan f although by no
means as well as the Japanese and Swiss watches a
Surprisingly, Hong Kong garments achieved the same
ranking as that for French garmentsf though not as
high as that for the Japanese, but certainly higher
than those from China

It can be seen that, contrary

to MunS s finding, in the Hong Kong consumers s minds y

Hong Kong watches are superior to Taiwan onesr and
Hong Kong garments to those from China -

P a i r e d Comparison A n a l y s i s

Mun f u r t h e r a n a l y s e d t h e p o s i t i o n i n g o f t h e
p r o d u c t s o f Hong K o n g , PRC a n d T a i w a n b y means o f a
p a i r ed comparison o f t h e r a n k i n g s c o r e o f e a c h
a t t i t u d e s t a t e m e n t among t h e s e t h r e e a r e a s

The

statements were then grouped into three main "common

factors11 based on their similarity in nature

These

analyses have been described in detail on pages 37 to

39 and the results shown in Tables 4 to 7

The

results of a similar analysis carried out on the data

from this study are shown in the following Tables 12
to 14 :

(1)

Television (Table 12)

From Table 12, it is evident that the

Japanese television is considered most superior
among the four F scoring 8+ out of 11 against
U.S.A. and Germany and 11+ against Hong Kong
The U.S.A.. television is considered superior to
Hong Kongscoring 9+, but inferior to
Germany r having 7-.

The Hong Kong television is

evidently the loser in this comparison, since it

has no advantage at all against Japan, only one
against Germany and two against U.S.A. f all in
respect of price.

TABLE 1 2
A P a i r e d Comparison o f the Ranking o f TELEVISION f r o m
JapanGermany, U.S.A. and Hong Kong.
(Hong Kong Consumers)

t a t e m e n t S

t-u^nca

Wlt:h U S A

.faPan
Japan
with Germany with H.K.

USA
USA
with Germany with H.K.

8+

8+

2-

1-

2+
7-

10

20

20

(2)

Germany
with H.K.

9+

2-

1-

Watch (Table 13)

Table

13 s t i l l shows

the o t h e r t h r e e c o u n t r i e s
i n 11 a q a i n s t S w i t z e r l a n d ,
and 10+ against Hong Kong

t h a t Japan e x c e l s a l l
i n Watch, s c o r i n g

6+

11+ a g a i n s t Taiwan
Switzerland, though

b e h i n d Japan r i s ahead o f both Taiwan and Hong

Kong, g a i n i n g 10+ a g a i n s t the former and 9 +
a g a i n s t the l a t t e r

Between the losers in this

comparison, Taiwan is obviously the worst, since

it is considered to be inferior to Hong Kong on
all statements

In summary. Hong Kong

is

considered inferior to both Japan and

Switzerland f again having an advantage only

in

respect of price, but superior to Taiwan in all

respects
TABLE 13
A Paired Comparison of the Ranking of WATCH from
JapanSwitzerland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
(Hong Kong Consumers)

Statements

Jap an
with Swit

Japan
with Taiwan

Japan
with H.K.

Switzerland
with Taiwan

Switzer
with H.K.

Taiwan
with H

(3)

Garment (Table 14)

T a b l e 11, however, p r e s e n t s a more

i n t e r e s t i n g p i c t u r e and T a b l e

14 below shows

the r e s u l t o f a s i m i l a r p a i r e d compar i s o n w i t h
r e s p e c t t o Garment.

Table

14 shows t h a t , w h i l s t Japan i s

s t i l l c o n s i d e r e d the b e s t f the margins i n

TABLE 14
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 GARMENT f r o m
J a p a n , C h i n a , F r a n c e and Hong K o n g .
(Hong Kong C o n s u m e r s )

5tatements

Japan
w i t h China

Japan
w i t h France

Japan
with H.K.

China
w i t h France

China
with H.K.

France
with H.K.

- 6 1

r e l a t i o n t o the other t h r e e p l a c e s have

narrowed considerably against China, it
obtained 6+ out of 9, and against both France
and Hong Kong, only 5+

China only loses

marginally to F r a n c e h a v i n g 4+ but 5-, but

cons ider ably to Hong Kong, having only 1+ on
account of being more durable.

France gained

on Hong Kong by 6+.

Since the skewness towards the Japanese

which prevails in the other two product
classes is not evident in Garment, the
statements were then grouped into the three
main common factors of: price, quality, and
image.

(1)

We have Tables 15 to 17 following:-

Price (Table 15)

Table 15
Statements related to "Price"
(Hong Kong Consumers)

Statements

Japan
with China

Japan
with France

Japan
with H. K.

China
with France

China
with H. K.

France
with H. K,

We can see that, in respect of

price, Japan loses to both China and Hong
Kong, but is obviously positioned more

f a v o u r a b l y than F r a n c e , which i s
c o n s i d e r e d to be the most e x p e n s i v e i n
the four p l a c e s .

S u r p r i s i n g l y , Hong Kong

garments are c o n s i d e r e d more f a v o u r a b l y

than Chinese garments p r i c e - w i s e

(2)

Quality (Table 16)

Table 16
Statements related to "Quality11
(Hong Kong Consumers)

China

Statements

with China

with France

with H.K.

with France

C hi n a

with H. K.

with H.

20

Quality-wise, when China is

compared to Hong Kong, it obtains 1+, but
2-, so that it appears that Hong Kong is
considered superior to China

This

contrasts with M u n f s data in which as far

as "Quality" is concerned, Hong Kong
products appeared to be positioned
slightly "unfavourable" compared with
Chinese products.

(3)

P r e s t i q e ( T a b l e 17)
Table

17

S t a t e m e n t s r e l a t e d t o l ! P r e st i g e "
(Hong Kong C o n s u m e r s )

Statements

w i t h ' c h i n a w i t h T arnacn eC e wW li tt hhHT K,

^
- -

with France

with H.K.

with H.K,

Again, Japan excels both China and Hong

Kong in respect to Prestige, but having a draw
with France, and China is the all-loser.

As

between France and Hong Kong, France is the

better on both statements.

Nagashima's model

Following Nagashimas model, the mean s c o r e s on a l l

the statements were p l o t t e d i n F i g u r e s 4 t o 6, on
s c a l e s r a n g i n g from 1 to 7, on the l e f t being the
p o s i t i v e v a l u e s and on the r i g h t the negative

A, Television (Figure 4)

Figure 4 depicts the situation with regard to

inexpensive

Expensive

Good
Material

Poor
Material

Good Service

Poor S e r v i c e

Inventive

Imitative

Reasonably
Priced

Unreasonably
Priced

Good
Style

Bad
Style

Much
Advertised

Little
Advertised

Good
Workmanship

Poor
Workmanship

Durable

Not durable

igh

Low P r e s t i g e

Prestige

Large Choice

Limited Choice

Good
Performance

Bad
Performance

TELEVISION

Hong Kong Consumers

Japan
U.S.A.
Germany
Hong Kong

"*

- 6 5

television

This is quite a tidy picture with the

Japanese more evidently to the left, Hong Kong to

tne right f and the German and U a S products running
more or less parallel in between in that order

The widest differences between Japan and Hong

Kong are along the scales of mater ial f service r
style ? advertising and perhaps workmanship and
choice in which Japan excels to a great extent
Televisions from both countr ies are r however ^
similar in that they were both considered more or
less as inexpensive but both swing to the right of
televisions from German and the

S on the scale

of inventive/imitative, indicating that both still

carry the stigma of the "copy-cat image in spite
of all their efforts to shed it, althouqh Japan
seems to have succeeded better than Hong Kong
Furthermore f both are considered to be not very
durable, although again Japan is in a slightly
better position,.

A s mentioned earlier, Germany and U.S. seems

to be running parallel in the middle f with the U.S.
a little to the right in all respects with the
exception of being expensive

Japan leads all four countries in regard to

advertising and choice r and Hong Kong has only an

66

a d v a n t a g e o v e r t h e German and t h e US in be ing

inexpensive, and over the U S is be ing mor e
reasonably priced.

B.

WATCH (Figure 5)

The picture in the watch market shown in

Figure 5 is not as clear-cut as that of television r
but still quite tidy

The right of the figure is

more or less occupied by an interlocking pair made

up of Japan and Switzerlandr a n d t h e l e f t b y
a n o t h e r more o r l e s s p a r a l l e l p a i r made u p o f Ho ng
Kong and Taiwan, with Taiwan more to the r i g h t .

Looking a t the p a i r i n the l e f t f i r s t f

we can

see t h a t Japan beats S w i t z e r l a n d i n terms o f b e i n g

i n e x p e n s i v e (and b y a w i d e m a r g i n a t t h a t ) , much
a d v e r t i s e d and has a l a r g e r c h o i c e

whilst

S w i t z e r l a n d e x c e l s i n terms o f having good

m a t e r i a l , good workmanship and good p e r f o r m a n c e
a n d b e i n g more i n v e n t i v e a n d more d u r a b l e

It is

also slightly ahead of Japan on the scale of

performance, but slightly behind in terms of
choice

Both countries are almost on the par with

regard to service and style

Coming to the pair on the right, we see that

Taiwan is g0iiGrally v i0WGd. inf r ior to Hong Kong f

Inexpensive

Expensive

Good

Material

Poor
Material

Good Service

Poor Service

Inventive

Imitative

Reasonably
Priced

Unreasonably
Priced

,Sood S t y l e

Poor S t y l e

Much A d v e r t i s e d

Little

Good
Workmanship

Poor
Workmanship

Advertise

Not
Durable

Durable

I
gh
Prestige

Low
Prestige

Large Choice

Limited Choice

Good
Performance

Bad
Performance

Figure 5
Profile of "Made in Product" Images - WATCH
(Hong Kong Consumers)
Japan
Switzerland

wan
Hong Kong

except on the s c a l e o f inventiveness

on w h i c h t h e

" c o p y - c a t " image o f Hong Kong i s a g a i n more

evident.

A s i n t h e c a s e o f t e l e v i s i o n , Hong Kong

o n l y nidriaged t o come n e a r t o J a p a n i n t e r m s o f
b e i n g i n e x p e n s i v e and r e a s o n a b l y p r i c e d

GARMENT (Figure 6)

The picture of Garments in Figure 6 is a

little confusing

However f a main thread can be

extracted in that Japan and France appear to be

running more or less parallel to each other,
although intertwining with China and Hong Kong
Both French and Japanese garments excel in terms of
having good material, good style f much advertising f
good workmanship and high prestige f with the French
clearly overtaking the Japanese in material.
However f both, compared with Hong Kong and China f
are considered unreasonably pr iced s and compared
with China f not as durable.

Chinese garments are

considered as inexpensive and as reasonably priced

as Hong Kong garments f and both enjoy a favourable
position in the local consumers 8 minds

However f

the Chinese garments are viewed as having

considerably the worst style r but much less
imitative than Japanese and Hong Kong garments
the other hand, its garments are the most durable
in the four countries, but having the lowest
prestige

On

Inexpensive

Expensive

arH
i
r
de
o t
G H
c

Poor
Material
4

Inventive

Imitative

Reasonably
Priced

Unreasonably
Priced

Good S t y l e

Bad Style

Much
Advertised

Little
Advertised

Good
Workmanship

Poor
Workmanship

Durable

Not durable

Low
Prestige

)High
Prestige

Limited Choice

Large Choice

Figure 6
Profile of "Made in Product" Images - GARMENT
(Hong Kong Consumers)
Japan
China
France
Hong Kong

70

T h e Hong Kong gairmentSf a p a r t f r o m e x c e l l i n g

i n t e r m s o f b e i n g i n e x p e n s i v e and r e a s o n a b l y
p r i c e d . a r e c o n s i d e r e d a l m o s t t o come u p t o
J a p a n e s e a n d French g a r m e n t s o n t h e s c a l e o f s t y l e
and i s ahead o f the o t h e r t h r e e c o u n t r i e s i n terms
o f choice.

I t s w e a k e s t p o i n t r a g a i n

i s being

i m i t a t i v e t o a n enormous e x t e n t , a n d a l o n g w i t h t h e
Chinesef l i t t l e advertised^

General

Looking at the three figures together, it is

possible to detect similarities in the Japanese
curves for all three productsf especially for
television and watch r and also similarities in the
Hong Kong curves.

In general f Japanese products are considered

to have good material, good service, good
performance r quite reasonably priced f
well-advertised r have good style, fairly good
workmanship, are fairly prestigious and have
reasonable choice.

It is r however f not very

inventive and not very durable with respect to

television and watch, but quite expensive in
garment

The profile of the Hong Kong products, on the

other hand, can be generalized as having poor

mater i a l , p o o r s e r v i c e , p o o r w o r k m a n s h i p , a n d b e i n g
n o t d u r a b l e and d e f i n i t e l y v e r y " c o p y - c a t 1 8
Furthermore f

it is little advertised and enjoys not

very high prestige

It is f however F inexpensive

and reasonably priced.

Whilst it Is considered to

have bad style in respect to television, it has

reasonably good style in watch and almost as good
style as Japan and France in garments

The same is

also true in regard to choice

Coming back to Nagashima s s samplef Figure 7 is

a condensed version of the original Nagashima
results f which have been reproduced in Figure 3 on
Page 31

Figure 7 takes account of only those

descriptions and those countries dealt with in the

present study.

The curve for each country is then extracted

from Figure 7 and compared to the curve in Figures
4 to 6 for that country.
in Figures 8 to 11

The comparisons are shown

(In these figures, the corves

for Hong Kong consumers relate to the data from the

present study)

Only those sfcateroents coniinon to

both the present study and Nagashima ! s are taken.

Inexpensive

Expensive

Reasonably
Priced

Unreasonably
Priced

Reliable

Unreliable

Good

Workmanship

Bad
Workmanship

Inventive

Imitative

Pride of
Ownership

Not much pride

of ownership

Much
Advertising

Little
Advertising

Large Choice
of size etc.

Linrited Choice
of size etc.

Figure 7

P r o f i l e o f "Made i n Product Images

(Condensed from Figure 3 on. page 31
taking only those countries and
statements common to this study
and Nagashima 1 s studies)
Japan
U.S.A.

Germany
France

(1)

Japan (Figure 8)

Figure 8
A Comparison o f the P r o f i l e A t t i t u d e s o f Hong Kong
Consumers and Nagashima 1 s Bus inessmen
"Made-in Japan

Inexpensive

Expensive

Inventive

Imitative

Reasonably Priced*

Unreasonably priced

Much
Advertised

Little
Advertised

Good
Workmanship

Poor Workmanship

High Prestige

Low Prestige

Large Choice

Limited Choice

Hong Kong Consumers

Nagashima's Businessmen

In Figure 8f the curve for the Hong

Kong consumers 1 attitudes towards Japanese
products has been plotted by averaging the
mean scores of Japan for the three products,
as shown in Appendix VIII.

74

I t c a n be s e e n t h a t b o t h t h e Hong K o n g
c o n s u m e r s and N a g a s h i m a 1 s b u s i n e s s m e n
c o n s i d e r Japanese p r o d u c t s a r e i m i t a t i v e
( t h o u g h t h e l a t t e r t o a much g r e a t e r
degree)

b u t i n e x p e n s i v e and much

advertised

On the other hand, the Hong

Kong consumers have generally more

favourable attitudes towards Japanese
products than Nagashima 1 s businessmen, in
that the latter had considered them not
reasonably priced, certainly not as
reasonably pr iced as German products and the
least reliable as compared to products from
the

Germany and France a

Furthermore f the Hong Kong consumers

certainly look at Japanese products more
kindly in respect of workmanship, prestige
and choice

(2)

U.S.A.

(Figure 9)

The profile of 0S products is

basically the same for Hong Kong consumers
as for Nagashima 1 s businessmen!- in that they
are considered quite expensive and not so
reasonably priced, but quite inventive.
However, the Hong Kong consumers' view U.S.

- 7 5

t e l e v i s i o n s a s h a v i n g f a i r l y good
workmanship and p e r f o r m a n c e and f e e l p r i d e
i n o w n e r s h i p , whereas N a g a s h i m a
businessmen did not share this vlew
Moreover f U.S televisions are little
advertised

in Hong Kong f whereas Nagashima 1 s

U.S.A. products are well advertised.

Figure 9
A Comparison of the Profile Attitudes of Hong Kong
Consumers and Nagashima 1 s Businessmen
"Made-in U.S.A.

Inexpensive

Expensive

Inventive

Imitative

Reasonably
Priced

Unreasonably
Priced

Much
Advertised

Little
Advertised

Good
Workmanship

Poor
Workmanship

High Prestige

Low P r e s t i g e

Large Choice

L i t t l e Choice

Hong Kong C on s u me r s
Nagashima's Businessmen

Because Japanese t e l e v i s i o n s a r e s u c h
a f a v o u r i t e w i t h t h e Hong Kong c o n s u m e r s ,

the r e l a t i v e p o s i t i o n i n g of U.S. t e l e v i s i o n s
a p p e a r s t o have l a g g e d c o n s i d e r a b l y b e h i n d .

(3)

Germany

( F i g u r e 10)

F i g u r e 10
A Compar i s o n o f t h e P r o f i l e A t t i t u d e s o f Hong Kong
Consumers and N a g a s h i m a ' s B u s i n e s s m e n
" M a d e - i n Germany"

Inexpensive

Expensive

Inventive

Imitative

Reasonably
Priced

Unreasonably
Priced

Much
Advertised

Little
Advertised

Good
Workmanship

Poor
Workmanship

High Prestige

Low P r e s t i g e

Large

Limited Choice

Hong Kong Consumers

Nagashima1s Businessmen

W h i l s t Nagashima1s businessmen had t h e

h i g h e s t r e g a r d f o r German p r o d u c t s .
p a r t i c u l a r l y i n respect of t h e i r being

r e l i a b l e r good workmanship and b e i n g

i n v e n t i v e , the German t e l e v i s i o n s o n l y
occupy a p l a c e second t o the Japanese i n
Hong K o n g , a l t h o u g h t h e y a r e s t i l l r e g a r d e d
a s t h e most i n v e n t i v e compared t o t h o s e f r o m
the other t h r e e c o u n t r i e s

Specifically,

they are considered as the most expensive

and having the best workmanship.

However f

in terms of advertising and choice f they are

considered to be infer ior to Japanese
products, contrary to the Nagashima sample
Their prestige, while on a par with Japan in
Hong Kong ? was much ahead of the Japanese in
the minds of Nagashima 1 s businessmen.

France

(Figure 11)

The profile of French garment follows

very closely that of the French products in
Nagashima,s data r with the exception that
they are considered much more favourably in
Hong Kong-

In general, they are very

expensive and unreasonably priced but

inventive, much advertised f has good
workmanship and high prestige
reasonable choice

They have

- 7 8

F i g u r e 11
A C o m p a r i s o n o f t h e P r o f i l e A t t i t u d e s o f Hong K o n g
Consumers and N a g a s h i m a 1 s Businessmen
Made-in France"

Expensive

Inexpensive
Inventive

Imitative

Reasonably
Priced

Unreasonably
Priced

Much
Advertised

Little
Advertised

Poor
Workmanship

Good
Workmanship

Low P r e s t i g e

High Prestige
{

Large Choice

L i t t l e Choice
7

Hong Kong Consumers

Nagashima 1 s Businessmen

Mean Average Weighted Score

So far, we have gained a general idea of the Hong

Kong consumers' attitudes through their assessments of
various attributes of the three products, and seen
specifically what are considered to be fehe strong
points of the products from various places (such as the
low and reasonable price of Hong Kong products), and

t h e i r weak p o i n t s

79

(such as t h e i r i m i t a t i v e n e s s )

H o w e v e r f w e have no idea as y e t of the overall

assessment and the sum total of the consumers 1
attitudes towards the individual products
p a g e 10,

A s noted o n

8S

the sum total of all these beliefs and

evaluations represent an a t t i t u d e .

A n attempt has

now b e e n m a d e to quantify the "total" attitudes b y

m e a n s of a hybrid attitude m o d e l similar to that
outlined o n page 18.

The formula used is as follows

ib

where:

Overall attitude towards a product b from

a particular country (This will b e
referred

to as the Weighted Score in the

discussion following)
W.

Weight given to importance of evaluative

cr iter ion i (i.e- the answers g i v e n to
Question 35 of the questionnaire

ib

Belief as to the extent that product b c a n

satisfy evaluative criterion i (i-e. the
answers given to Questions 1 - 3 4 ,

However

a s some of the statements are in negative

- 8 0

f o r n i and some p o s i t i v e f t h e s c o r e s o f t h e
p o s i t i v e s t a t e m e n t s were c o n v e r t e d b y
deducting the scores g i v e n f o r the
s t a t e m e n t f r o m "8"^ s o t h a t
i f the score g i v e n i s

15

f o r example ^

5" f t h e c o n v e r t e d

s c o r e u s e d w o u l d be "3"
n

= number of evaluative cr iter ia

( = number

of statements for the particular product

class, i 0 e e 12 each for Television and
Watch, and 10 for Garment.)

The weighted scores given by each respondent o n

all statements for each country 1 s product are summed
and averaged to produce the average weighted score,
which represents his overall attitude to that c o u n t r y s s
product.

The average weighted scores of all the

respondents aire then summed and averaged to produce the

mean average weighted score^ representing the Hong Kong
consumers 8 overall assessment of that country s s product

The mean average weighted scores (MAWS) of all the

products are shown in Table 18 f which also shows the
rankings as computed using the MAWS and those computed
in Tables 9 to 11 based on the rules for the rank-order
analysis used by Mun.

81

Table 13
Rankings by using Mean Average Weighted Scores (MAWS)
MAWS

Ranking per
MAWS

Ranking per
rank-order

TELEVISION
Japan
Germany

U.S.A.

Hong Kong
S t a n d a r d Dev.

192
17.1
15.1
13-8

WATCH
19

18

4^3.

Japan
Switzerland
Hong Kong
Taiwan
S t a n d a r d Dev.
GARMENT

5 4 4

0 4 o

1 XX

Hong Kong
Japan
France
China
Standard Dev.

It can be seen that the rankings obtained from

using Mun's analysis and those from using the MAWS are
almost the same, the only difference being in respect
of garments where the attitude differentials between
the countries are in any case minimal^ as shown by the
Standard Deviation of only 0.6*

Tables 19 to 24 below show breakdowns of the MAWS

by various attributes of the respondents.

The scores

82

a r e ranked i n descending order so t h a t the h i g h e s t

s c o r e o b t a i n s Rank 1, the second h i g h e s t Rank 2 and so
on.

The r a n k i n g s are denoted as index n u m b e r s a g a i n s t

each score

A common feature of these tables is that,

irrespective of the independent variable used f the
rankings in Television and Watch align closely with
those set out in Table 18 based on the overall MAWS f
and also those based on Mun 8 s rank-order analysis.

The

rankings in Garments, however f are not so consistent

and these will be discussed in the following section

Another characteristic worthy of note is that the

Standard Deviations of the scores given for Television
and Watch are much bigger than those for Garment,
indicating that the consumers 1 attitudes

towards

Garments from the four places only differ marginally f

the Standard Deviations being not more than 1 compared
to those for Television and Watch of st least

1 9

By Place of Origin of Products Owned (Table 19)

TABLE 19
MAWS By P l a c e o f O r i g i n o f P r o d u c t s Owned
( F r e q u e n c i e s shown i n b r a c k e t s )
TELEVISION
T . V . owned made i n

MAWS

for Televisions Made In

Japan

S,

19

5.53

.24

19

84

.23

20

13

9.82

14.6 4

Hong Kong (2)

19

7-32

14.5 3

Others (5)

19

Germany

Hong Kong

3.0 4

A v e r a g e Standard Deviation
WATCH
W a t c h owned made i n
Watch

MAWS
Japan
Japan

ffor
or W
a t c h MMade
Watch
a d e In
In

Switzerland
Switzerland

Taiwan
Taiwan

Hong Kong

J a p a n ((46)
Japan
46)

1 9 . 2 11
19.2

18.4
1
8 . 4 22

12
12.64

1
4. 3
14.6

S w i t z e r l a n d ((35)
Switzerland
35)

2 0 . 5 11
20.5

. 2 22
20.2
20,

13
13.7 4

1 4 . 63

T a i w a n ((2)
Taiwan
2)

114.3
4 . 3 11

. 4 33
13.
13-4

13
. 34
13.

1 3 . 82

Hong K
Hong
Kong
o n g ((24)
24)

119-5
9 - 5 11

. 9 22
18,
18.9

4
14
13
13.1

16. 63

Others (1)

1
21.5
2L51

20.5
20.522

4
04
15
15.0

18. 03

2.6

Average Standard Deviation

GARMENT
Garment las t purchase d
Made in

MAWS
Japan

Japan (32)

6.11

China (11)

34

Hong Kong (56)

France (2)
O t h e r s (7)

for Garments Made

Made In
In

Ch ina

Hong Kong

France

14.9 3

5.62

17,8 2

I3

84

15.51

93

84

73

14.0 1

92

34

16.9 1

73

A v e r a g e Standard Deviation

"84

I n garmentf there i s a c l e a r c o r r e l a t i o n i n
t h a t t h e p l a c e o f o r i g i n o f the l a s t garment
bought i s i n most cases from the c o u n t r y w i t h the
h i g h e s t MAWS r a p a r t p e r h a p s f r o m F r a n c e

which

c o m e s a v e r y c l o s e second

It is 9 furthermoref interesting to note

that the Standard Deviations of the scores given
by people who own watches from Taiwan and garments
from Hong Kong (both considered to be the least
expensive - see Appendix V) are the lowest in the
respective product category and that those by
people owning watches from Switzerland and
garinents from France are the highest (both
considered the most expensive

This seems to

indicate that people who do not differentiate niuch

between products from the various places

to

buy inexpensive things f whereas those who d o are

more willing to spend more-

By Age (Table 20)

It can be seen that the younger people r

i#e

. those below 30, like Japanese garments m o r e

than those from any of the other countr ies.

perhaps this has something to do with the
infiltration of the Japanese culture into Hong
Kong particularly amidst the younger generation

d e s c r i b e d i n Chapter 2 on page 21 Those in the

middle ages, i.e. from 30 to 49, prefer Hong Kong
garments and

it can be seen that Japanese garments

only rank third with people over 40

TABLE 20
MAWS By Age
mcies in Brackets)
20-29

30-39

40-49

(57)

(26)

(12)

19.6 1

19-6 1

19.1 1

20.41

18.82

15.6 3

15.83

15.73

17.0 3

18.03

50-60
(5)

Over 60

(2)

Germany

18.7 2

17.2 2

17.8 2

17.8 2

18.3 2

19-2 1

H o n g Kong

13-7 4

14.2 4

13.7 4

15.5 4

15.6 4

13.34

2.8

2.3

2.5

1.7

19-81

19-6 1

19-6 1

19.4 1

20-21

19.02

2
19.0 2

18-9 2

19-1 2

19.1 2

22 00 .. 00 22

1
20.2
2
0.21

Taiwan

10.9 4

13.5 4

12.7 4

13.8 4

1 1 - 9 44

12.54

Hong Kong

13.8 3

15,8 3

13.7 3

15.7 3

13.5 33

15.73

4.3
3.5

2.8
2.8

3.6

2.7

4.3

3.5

Japan

1
15.6 1

15.6 1

15-4 2

14-8 3

13.6 3

19.91

China

14.6 2

14.1 4

14.44

15.12

13.8 2

17.6 2

France

14-233

14.9 3

15.1 3

14.4 4

13.91

16.24

Hong Kong

13-9 4

15.7 2

15-9 1

16.01

13-5 44

16.6 3

0.7

0.7

0.6

0.7

0.2

1.6

Standard Dev.
A v e r a g e S.D.

2.7

2.3

WATCH
Japan
Switzerland

Standard Dev.
A v e r a g e S.D.

GARMENT

Standard Dev.
A v e r a g e S.D.

0.8

c.

By Houshold Income (Table 21)

It appears from Table 21 that Japanese

garments are the favourite with those whose
household income is below $6,000 per month r and
for those over ^ Hong Kong

is the favour ite

TABLE 21
Household Income
MAWS
(Frequencies in Brackets)
$3,000-

LT

3,000

$5,999

(10)

(22)

$6,000

^9,999
(26)

10,000

$14,999
(20)

$15,000
^20,000

(U)

Over

2000C
(19)

TELEVISION
Japan

20.31

20.11

19.51

20.51

19.01

U . S . A-

16.13

15.93

15.84

15.73

15.43

17.92

17.12

17-82

18.92

17.42

04
0
3

13.94
2.7

14.44

15.93
.1.7

14.14
2.9

14,54
2.0

5:

20.71

18.8 1

20.01

20.11

19.31

Germany
Hong Kong
WATCH

S.D.
Ave

Japan
Switzerland

8.32

20-12

18-02

19-02

19.82

18.92

Taiwan

3.84

13.2 4

13-34

13.84

13.34

11.6 4

5.93
2.2
3.0

15.43
3.6

14.93
2.6

15.83
2.9

14.13

14.23
3.7

16.61

14.62

14-82

15.42

15-82

15.43

14-53

13.54

14-44

14.34

63

15.82

13.94

14.23

15.42

15-03

16.4:
OT1
O.i

15.14
0.7

15-11

15.31

15.71

16.61
1.0

Hong Kong

GARMENT

S.D.
Ave,

Japan
China
France
Hong Kong
S.D.
Avp

0.6

By Education Level (Table 22)

In garment f people with only primary

education seem to prefer Japanese garments whilst
those with higher education prefer Hong Kong ones.

TABLE 22
MAWS by Education Level
(Frequencies in Brackets)
Primary Education

Secondary Education

Post Secondary

(3)

(59)

(46)

20-81

19.31

20.01

16-23

15.5 2

16.13

Germany

17.82

15.52

17.62

Hong Kong

14.54

14.0 4

14.54

2.7

2.3

2.2

TELEVISION
Japan

WATCH

Standard D e v .
A v e . S.D.

2.4

Japan

22-51

19.31

19.81

Switzerland

21.12

18.62

19.42

Taiwan

13.64

13.4 4

12.84

Hong Kong

14.8 3

15.3 3

14.7 3

4.6
3-4

2.8

2.9

Japan

16.01

15.4 2

15.52

China

15-4 2

14.44

14.44

France

15.13

14.7 3

15.0 3

Hong Kong

11.94

15.51

16-01

Standard D e v .
GARMENT

A v e . S.D.

Standard D e v .
A v e SD

1.8
1.0

0.7

E,

By Sex (Table 23)

I t seems t h a t the female r e s p o n d e n t s p r e f e r

Japanese garments, w h i l s t the male p r e f e r Hong
Kong s s

TABLE 23
MAWS by Sex
(Frequencies in Brackets)
Male

Fema 1 e

(61)

(47)

Japan

19-61

19-71

U.S.A.

15.4 3

16.23

Germany

17.52

17.62

Hong Kong

14.24

14.34

2,4
2.4

2.3

Japan

19-91

19.21

Switzerland

19-22

18-72

Taiwan

13.04

13.34

Hong Kong

14.9 3

15-23

3.3
3.1

2.8

Japan

15.62

15.21

China

14.84

13.94

F ranee

15.23

14.5 3

Hong Kong

16.31

14.62

0.6
0.6

0.5

TELEVISION

WATCH

GARMENT

Standard Dev.
Ave. S.D,

Standard Dev.
A v e . S.D.

Standard Dev.
Ave. S.D.

B y P r o d u c t o f G r e a t e s t V a l u e ( T a b l e 24)

I n Garment^ t h e p a t t e r n o f c o r r e l a t i o n i n
T a b l e 19 r e a p p e a r s and we c a n s e e t h a t f o r p e o p l e
who c o n s i d e r J a p a n e s e p r o d u c t s a r e o f t h e g r e a t e s t
v a l u e ? t h e h i g h e s t s c o r e s a r e g i v e n t o Japan t h e
same a p p l i e s t o C h i n e s e and Hong Kong g a r m e n t s

It is, however p interesting to see that for

people who consider U-S,A, and German products to
be of greatest value, the highest scores are in
both cases still given to Japaru

This throws into

doubt the value of this particular question on the

product of the greatest value f since obviously
much depends on the product class being
considered r and worded vaguely as the question is,
the respondent would feel confused for lack of a
reference po int

For th is reason, it will be

recalled, the other two supplementary questions in

Nagashima 1 s questionnaire have been omitted

(see

page 49)

From thGS6 six tables, it seems that Japanese

garments particularly appeal to those who are:
- b e l o w 30 years of age
- w i t h household income less than $6,000
per month
- w i t h primary education
- o f female sex

In t h i s c o n n e c t i o n

if

i n F i g u r e 3 on page 32,

we r e f e r t o Nagashima s s f i n d i n g s
we w i l l see t h a t a t the bottom

o f the f i g u r e under Consumers5 P r o f i l e

Japanese

p r o d u c t s a r e shown to i n c l i n e towards "more f o r young

p e o p l e " and

1
8

lower c l a s s "

TABLE 24
MAWS By Product of Greatest Value
(Frequencies in Brackets)

Japan
(77)

People Choosing product of greatest value as from

U.S.A. France Germany Taiwan
H.K.
China Switzerland

(1)

(0)

(7)

(0)

(18)

(5)

(0)

TELEVISION
Japan

20 . 0 1

19.41

18.9 1

18.81

18-71

U.S.A.

16 .0 3

17.6 2

16-2 3

14.9 3

15.5 3

Germany

17 6 2

16.2 4

18.62

17.02

17.62

Hong K o n g

14 .0^

16.8 3

14.7 4

1.4

2.0

14.64
2.0

14.74
1.8

Ave.
WATCH

1.9
18.22

20,41

Switzerland

19.12

20,.71

18.5 2

18.61

19-62

Taiwan

13

15,.5^

12.44

13.34

13-94

Hong Kong

14 83

17,.33

13.9 3

2.2

3.2

16.23
2.4

15.43
3.2

9 .8 4

14.2 3

15.83

15.54

14.2 3

15-9 2

16.51

A v e . S.D.
GARMENT

18.7 1

18<.62

20 .0^

Japan

Japan

15.51

China

14.04

13 0

France

14.83

12 32

15.0 2

15.0 4

15.6 3

Hong Kong

15.42
0.7

11 .8 3

15.1 1
0.5

16-81
0.7

16.22
0.5

S.D.
Ave.

0.8

1.4

91

Household Income

Appendix IX is a breakdown of Household incomes by

various variables

Section

(i) shows the percentages of people giving

higher weightings

(4 and 5) to price in the various

income groups and f as can be expected^ a larger

proportion (over 40%) of those whose household income
is below $15 # 000 per month give the higher weightings
to pr ice.

However f it is perplexing to see that a very

low percentage

(23.3%) of those with household income

below $3,000 per month consider price as important

From Section (ii) which shows the relationship of

the country considered to produce the best value goods
with household income f we can see that people
preferring German products tend to be in the higher
income group while those preferring products from
Japan f Hong Kong and China tend to be in the middle
income range

Section (iii) substantially confirms the pattern

in section (ii) in that the largest percentage of
people own ing televisions and watches from Japan is in
the middle income range r whereas those baying German
televisions and Swiss watches are largely from the
higher income brackets*

92

CHAPTER 8
CONCLUSIONS

Attitude towards Japanese Products

From the results in Chapter 6 and the analysis in

Chapter 7f an impression can be gained that the Hong
Kong consumers 1 attitudes towards Japanese products are
in general favourable

In factf they are considered to

be superior to imports from the other countries studied

in this report.

Quality-wise, they are considered to

have good material f good workmanship and good

performacer and pr ice-wiser not too expensive

As

regards style, they are foremost in the products

studied and choice is large.

However f unfortunately

they are f up to this day f still carrying the image of

being imitative in the Hong Kong consuincrss minds and
not durable in spite of their recent efforts and
success technologically which, in the world market, has
already gained recognition.

The popularity of Japanese pr oducts appears to be

itiost pronounced among the lower to middle income group,
probably because their price is more affordable to this
group of people.

This is shown in Table 20 and

Appendix IX Sections (ii) and (iii) which have been

discussed in Chapter 1

T h i s s t u d y s u g g e s t s t h a t t h e image o f J a p a n e s e
p r o d u c t s h a s n o t been t a i n t e d t o a n y e x t e n t b y t h e
a t r o c i t i e s o f t h e c o u n t r y d u r i n g t h e S e c o n d W o r l d War
a s h y p o t h e s i z e d i n C h a p t e r 2 f s i n c e no v a r i a n c e h a s
shown up when the a t t i t u d e s f o r T e l e v i s i o n and Watch
w e r e a n a l y s e d by the ages o f t h e r e s p o n d e n t s .

Although

i t s e e m s t h a t p e o p l e o v e r 40 do n o t l i k e J a p a n e s e
g a r m e n t s a s much a s t h e y o u n g e r g e n e r a t i o n # I w o u l d
a t t r i b u t e t h i s t o the f a c t t h a t the s t y l e s o f Japanese
clothes

being extremely fashionable

a r e more s u i t a b l e

f o r t h e young than f o r t h e middle-aged

Another reason

for suggesting that the age bias is not political is

the fact that Nagashima has found the same inclination
with his sample of Japanese businessmen r referred to in
page 90

In this connection, I would recount here a short

story from a locally-produced television play which was
shown recently.

The story was about the immediate

post-war years

An elderly father and his two sons

were running a small grocery store selling local

products and were finding it harder and harder to make
ends m e e t , because their clientele seemed to have
dwindled

One of the sons who had been travelling

abroad then suggested that they should start selling

"Eastern Ocean8 products ("Eastern Ocean18 being a term
used in those days to refer to Japan)

The reasons he

cited were that E a s t e r n Ocean 85 p r o d u c t s w e r e b e c o m i n g

94

p o p u l a r because o f t h e i r range o f d e s i g n and " a l l t h e

o t h e r s h o p s w e r e s e l l i n g them" m o r e o v e r f t h e y c o u l d
o b t a i n extended c r e d i t t e r m s f which had n o t been h e a r d
o f so f a r w i t h l o c a l products,.

The f a t h e r and t h e

o t h e r s o n were d i e - h a r d p a t r i o t s and s t e a d f a s t l y
refused

In the end f however i after the creditors had

time and again hammered on the door f they gave in.

T h e play was very popular and no objection has

been raised concerning its factual correctness

It can

therefore be safely assumed that the story truthfully

reflects the conditions in those times

If,

immediately after the War when patriotic sentiments

were still running high f the Japanese had managed to
infiltrate into the Chinese market, it is not
surprising that now^ almost forty years later f people
who had suffered during the War have forgotten the old
sores

Moreover, the people in Hong Kong are said to

be m o s t practical and therefore f

if something is

considered to give them their mcmey 8 s worth, they would

have no qualms merely on account of events which
happened a long time ago

The story also serves to illustrate the Japanese

marketing techniques

In those days f

it must be

revolutionary to offer credit terms and this must have

been irresistible to shop runnerSo

Japanese marketing

is similarly successful in recent times and one chief

95

f a c t o r i s obvious from t h i s study

. i

e the ir heavy

advertising

T o digress a little r as an illustration of the

Japanese marketing ingenuity f

in the last two years

when the local construction industry is in its

histor ical low, one source of immense competition
pressure is felt from the Japanese because when bidding
for projects r they can not only quote near-suicidal
pr icesf but also offer comprehensive financial packages
which is irresistible to local developers who are
finding it more and more difficult to obtain finance
from bankers freshly scourged in several property deals

Respondents in the younger age groups are far from

demonstrating any deviance from the overall pattern of
Japanese patronism, notwithstanding their antiJapanese emotions exhibited in the incident of the
textbook demonstration and their favour itism towards
patriotic themes quoted in Chapter 2

However r the se

incidents in fact do not have any significance since ^

for one thing, they are not consistent with these young
persons 1 blind pursuit of Japanese culture, and,
secondly f they are but demonstrations of the
youngsters 1 susceptibility to conformity and love of
sensational activities

One other reason which may explain the popular ity

- 9 6

o f J a p a n e s e p r o d u c t s i n Hong Kong i s t h e f a c t t h a t t h e
J a p a n e s e c u l t u r e h i s t o r i c a l l y had i t s r o o t s i n C h i n a
a n d many o f h e r p h i l o s o p h i e s f s u c h a s Z e n r a r e a k i n t o
t h e C h i n e s e c l a s s i c a l thoughts

Because of this

proximity in the two cultures ? the Japanese are able to

appeal to the innermost subconscious affection of the
Chinese people in Hong Kong in their advertisements and
packaging^ and product design, thus meeting their
self-concept and fulfilling their need for selfactualization

Technologically, moreover f because of the

geographical closeness of Japan to Hong Kong f the
product designs of Japanese appliances can better
handle the special requirements of Hong Kong 8 s climatic
conditions.

There is, for example, common consensus

locally that the air-conditioning system of Japanese

cars is unrivalled by the air-conditioning systems of
cars from any other countries, even those from such
technically renowned countries such as Germany

And, furthermorei- the two peoples are similar in

build physically which accounts for the popularity of
Japanese garments in Hong Kong ? especially with
consumers of small sizes who find the European cuts
rather too roomy

The present Hong Kong consumers' attitude being

w h a t t h e y a r e , and b e c a u s e a t t i t u d e s a r e r e s i s t a n t t o
c h a n g e ( s e e C h a p t e r 1 f page 17) p a r t i c u l a r l y t h o s e
which a r e t i e d i n with the t o t a l a t t i t u d e s t r u c t u r e o f
. . .
30
.
t h e i n d i v i d u a l . , there i s no reason to suppose t h a t
t h e p r e s e n t t r e n d w i l l n o t c o n t i n u e f o r some y e a r s t o
come

Attitudes towards Hong Kong Products

In recent years r there have been several

"Buy-local" compaigns which have turned out to be
abortive in spite of the fact that Hong Kong exports
have succeeded to such an extent that quite a number of
foreign countries have to impose protective measures by
means of the quota system

To go into the reasons why,

we should look at the consumers 1 attitudes towards

locally-made products

From this study, we can see that the general image

of locally produced goods is that they are rather cheap
in terms of price and prestige.

The material is poor,

service poor, workmanship poor and performance

inf6rior

The choice is limited snd style {apsrt from

garments) bad
originality-

Moreover r their design lacks

In short, we can say that the image to

30. Burnkrant, Robert and Cousineau f Alain f "Informational

and Normative Social Influence in Buyer Behaviours .
Journal of Consumer Research, December 1975, pp.
206-215.
"

Hong Kong c o n s u m e r s o f l o c a l l y made p r o d u c t s i s n o t f a r

f r o m t h e i r image t o J a p a n e s e d e a l e r s a s d e s c r i b e d b y
M r s

- O s a m i i n t h e I n t r o d u c t i o n their image is the

stereotype of .the stuff "down the Lanes18 and is not

dissimilar to that of Japanese products in the minds of
Nagashima 1 s Japanese businessmen nine years ago b u t
t h e l a t t e r 1 s image h a s i m p r o v e d c o n s i d e r a b l y s i n c e h i s
s t u d y i n 1967 and, with some e f f o r t s , there i s no
r e a s o n why t h e image o f l o c a l l y - p r o d u c e d g o o d s c a n n o t
be improved

It appears from this study that the main problem

with locally produced goods is the lack of advertising f
and particularly f the lack of advertising under its own
brand names.

Many jeansf for example 9 which bear U. S

labels are in fact manufactured in Hong Kong t but

because of the foreign labels, are not regarded as
locally made products.

Moreover r because Hong Kong

manufacturers are quick to copy, designers and

inventors hesitate to bring their products out on the
local market for fear that there will be three thousand
cheap copies even before the original has established a
footing.

Therefore, as many local consumers are aware f

Hong Kong produced goods sold in foreign countr ies are

of much better quality than those obtainable in their
place of origin.

However, within the recent two years,

with the efforts of the Hong Kong Trade Development

Council, local fashion designers have been able

99

i n c r e a s i n g l y t o e s t a b l i s h t h ei r fames i n o t h e r
c o u n t r i e s , a n d have been more a d v e n t u r o u s i n o w n i n g up
t o t h ei r own d e s i g n s when r e t a i l i n g t h ei r f a s h i o n s i n
Hong K o n g u n d e r t h ei r own l a b e l s

instead o f g i v i n g the

c r e d i t t o Pierre Cardin or Christian Dior

This

accounts for the image of Hong Kong garEients being

better than those of television and watch in the
study

For the long-term interests of Hong Kong r

therefore it is imperative that Hong Kong made products

should be promoted as such and f what is moref to have
adequate legislation to protect the properties of
designers and encourage their originality.

3.

Stereotype Image

It will be noticed that, while both the Nagashima

and M u n 1 s studies dealt with unspecified products from
various countries, the present study singled out three
specific products to examine.

In the circumstances, it

might be expected that the results from the various

stud ies are not compar able r apart from the other
differencGs in variables such as the lapse of time
since the Nagashima study and the samples used.
However r surprisingly enoughg as mentioned in Chapter
7, the profiles of the products from the respective
countries are very similar and vary generally only in
degree rather than in substance-

I would postulate

here that this confirms the advocation of Nagashima

that s

" T h e 8 m a d e - i n 1 image i s n a t u r a l l y a f f e c t e d b y t h e
f a m i l i a r i t y and a v a i l a b i l i t y o f t h e c o u n t r y 1 s
p r o d u c t f and t h e s t e r e o t y p e o f t h a t c o u n t r y .
Some
representative products o f the country i n f l u e n c e
t h e t o t a l p r o d u c t image. Such p r o d u c t s a s
C o c a - C o l a , C h e v r o l e t ^ F o r d f IBM and S u n k i s t f a r e
f o r m i n g t h e J a p a n e s e image o f s Made i n U . S . A . 1
On t h e o t h e r h a n d f s u c h p r o m i n e n t J a p a n e s e

p r o d u c t s a s Sony^ N i k o n r T o y o t a f a n d Honda a r e t h e

d r i v i n g f o r c e i n c h a n g i n g t h e image o f "Made i n
J a p a n " i n t h e U . S . m a r k e t . (Nagashima 1 9 7 0 f o p

cit)

Attitude ? Behaviour and Dissonance Reduction

There are considerable arguments as to whether or

not behaviour can be predicted from knowledge of a n
i n d i v i d u a l 1 s attitude

The findings from this study is far from

conclusiv0 a

While it is true "that Table 19 indicates

t h a t t h e r e is a high correlation with respect to

garments between the MAWS and the place of or igin of

the garment last bought, and Table 24 between the MAWS
and the country considered to produce products of the
greatest valuer t h e r e a r e no s i m i l a r c o r r e l a t i o n s i n
t h e o t h e r two p r o d u c t c a t e g o r i e s .

I t may b e s u g g e s t e d

t h a t garment i s a h i g h - i n v o l v e m e n t p r o d u c t and t h a t
extended p r o b l e m - s o l v i n g behaviour has been a c t i v a t e d .
However f I w o u l d s u g g e s t t h a t p e o p l e who b o u g h t S w i s s
w a t c h e s w o u l d have r e g a r d e d t h a t a s a h i g h - m v o l v e m e n t
p r o d u c t t o o and y e t t h e same c o r r e l a t i o n c a n n o t b e
detected

One p o s s i b l e e x p l a n a t i o n f o r t h i s phenomenon c a n
b e t h a t some o f t h e r e s p o n d e n t s a r e n o t t h e d e c i s i o n
maker s i n p u r c h a s i n g t h ei r t e l e v i s i o n s and f p r o b a b l y
t h e i r w a t c h e s t o o f a s i t has been f o u n d i n an
u n p u b l i s h e d s t u d y by d

L a u r e n t two y e a r s ago t h a t

40 of the watches worn by people were gifts given to

them This then would account for the correlation in
garments which certainly would have been purchased by
the respondents themselves f

or at least with their

approval

It may be argued that as the attitude scores

portray the consumer attitudes at the present point in
time whereas the purchase decisions were made in some
time past, the present attitudes will not reflect the
past decisions

In that casef one would have expected

dissonance reduction to come into play and influence

those present attitudes into line with past purchase
decisions as put forward by behavioral theoristsf but
this also cannot be o b s e r v e d w o u l d r a t h e r s u g g e s t
l i e r e t h a t t h e l a c k o f c o r r e l a t i o n i n d i c a t i e s posfc*"
d e c i s i o n d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n and t h a t t h o s e d i s s a t i s f i e d
p u r c h a s e r s most p r o b a b l y w i l l n o t c h o o s e t h e same b r a n d
t h a t t h e y now havG i n t h ei r n e x t p u r c h a s e

b u t whetner

o r n o t t h e y w i l l choose t h e p r o d u c t o f t h e c o u n t r y t o
w h i c h t h e y have g i v e n t h e h i g h e s t s c o r e r e m a i n s t o be
s e e n , s i n c e , a s s t a t e d i n page 11, i n t e r v e n i n g b e t w e e n
t h e i n t e n t i o n and t h e a c t u a l a c t o f p u r c h a s e

t h e r e are

unanticipated circumstances."

I have q u o t e d Y o e l l 1 s

d e f i n i t i o n o f " A t t i t u d e i n C h a p t e r 1 ( s e e N o t e 10 o n
p a g e 15)

a n d t h e f o l l o w i n g s h o u l d be g i v e n s p e ci a l

emphasis :

"An a t t i t u d e i s learned^ I t i s c o n d i t i o n e d by
p r i o r e x p e r i e n c e and r e i n f o r c e d t h r o u g h b e h a v i o u r 1 1
and the "behaviour88 will be demonstrate when the
consumer next makes a purchase.

Furthermore, there is such thing as "The Cotton

C a n d y Concept"

31

such that the environment has an

influence on the attitude which may exhibit differences

in the same individual from one time to another or from

one place to another

Moreover r an individual when

actually deciding on a purchase may choose between

brands on the basis of factors which were not even
given consideration prior to the involvement in the
purchase decision and there may be other

5S

accidential

effects" as put forward by Krugman (see page 12)

The Attitude Model

While there may be valid explanations for the lack

of correlation with regard to Television and Watch
between the MAWS and the product owned, the fact that

31 Ravidge r Robert J l8The Cotton Candy Conceptt

intra-individual variability 81 . Attitude Research at
Sea, Adler f Lee and Crespi, Irving (Ed. ) (1986)f op.ext.

there i s a s i m i l a r lack o f c o r r e l a t i o n w i t h the country

c h o s e n a s p r o d u c i n g t h e b e s t v a l u e goods i s r a t h e r
p u z z l i n g s i n c e t h e two s h o u l d c o n c e p t u a l l y c o - a l i g n .
On t h e o t h e r h a n d , b e c a u s e t h e MAWS a r e c o m p u t e d w i t h
r e f e r e n c e t o s p e c i f i c p r o d u c t c a t e g o r i e s , whereas the
b e s t v a l u e p r o d u c t r e f e r r e d t o an u n s p e c i f i e d p r o d u c t

t h e r e i s a l s o r e a s o n f o r t h e two t e r m s n o t t o
c o - i n c i d e , s i n c e the number o f c r i t e r i a which e n t e r
i n t o t h e d e c i s i o n v a r i e s w i t h the e x t e n t o f i n v o l v e m e n t

t h e p u r c h a s e r f e e l s f o r t h e p r o d u c t ( s e e page 1 1 ) ,
T h i s would e x p l a i n the c o r r e l a t i o n w i t h r e s p e c t t o
Garment s i n c e t h i s i s a h i g h - i n v o l v e m e n t p r o d u c t

In any case r this brings into doubt the concept of

trying to quantify consumer attitudes by a formula

Consumers are not as rational as the theorists would

have them and when they are asked to give weightings to
evaluative criteria, it may be the first time they have
given consideration to the subject.

They therefore

arbitrarily assigned values, mainly on a relative

basis r but when actually confronted with a choice
decision, o thcr cr iter ia wh ich have been implicit
surfaced.

Moreover f consumers are fr ickle.

Kenneth

L o n g m a n 3 2 cited a survey on people who were asked

whether they would purchase a particular car, and found
that of the people who claimed they intend to buy

32. Longman f Kenneth A "Promises, Promises51, in Attitude

Research on the Rocks (op. cit.)

- 1 0 4

a car
c l a i m e d t h e y d i d n o t i n t e n d t o b u y ? one o u t o f s i x
wound up b u y i n g one

In any caser the list of evaluative cr iter ia used

in the present study are by no means exhaustive

One

important factor which has not been considered r for

example f is the normative function of reference
groups

Other factors may be the extent the product

image reflects the consumers s self concept and various

symbolic values9

However f when being asked to choose

between products from various countries ^ a complex

summation process of the all the explicit and implicit
cr iter ia were activated

Hence r quantitative attitude models are workable

only if affects can be measured and if the inner soul
of the consuimer can be reached to produce an exhaustive
list of evaluative criteria-

Summary

This study has succeeded in so far as it managed

to gauge the consumer attitudes towards Japanese
products, and incidentally also products from Hong Kong
and various other countries to the extent of their
stereotype "made-in11 images o

However r it has at the

same time highlighted certain thus far unravelled

- 1 0 5

c o n t r o v e r s i e s i n marketing research which await

v a l i d a t i o n i n t i m e t o come

- 1 0 6

REFERENCES
B e t t m a n ^ ^ James R . and K a k k a r , Piradeep, " E f f e c t s o f
I n f o r m a t i o n P r e s e n t a t i o n F o r m a t on Consumer I n f o r m a t i o n
A c q u i s i t i o n dt r a t e g i e s s i # J o u r r i a l o f Consuirier R e s e a r c h .<
V o l . 3 ( M a r c h 1977)
^

and.Cole, M, "Captive Years. The Occupation

of Hong Kong 1941-45", Heineman Educational Books(Asia)
Limited 1982
Blackwe11 f Roger D and Engel f James F 9 F "Consumer
Behaviour", The Dryden Press, Fourth Edition, 1982.
Boyd, Harper W"

Jr.f

and Massy f William F., "Marketing

M a n a g e m e n t " , Karcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. r N . Y . , 1972

Burnkrant, Robert, and Coiisineaiif Alain, "Information and

N o r m a t i v e Social Influence in Buyer Behaviour, 11 J o u r n a l o f

Consumer Research (December 1975)

Census 1981 Main Report, Census and Statistics Department

Dewey
F e s t i n g e r , L. r et al, "Conflict f Decision and Dissonance"^
S t a n d f o r d f Calif., Standford University Press,"1964
F i s h b e i n r Martin, "The Relationships Between B e l i e f s ,
, A t t i t u d e s and Behaviour" t in Shel Feldman (Ed.) r C o g n i t i v e

Consistencyf New York: Academic Presss 1966 .

Fishbein

"

M. " A t t i t u d e and t h e P r e d i c t i o n o f B e h a v i o u r

i n M. F i s h b e i n (ed.) A t t i t u d e T h e o r y and Measurement

11
1

(New

Y o r k f J o h n W i l e y & S o n s , 1967)

Green, Paul E " and Tull, Donald S, , ifResearch for

Marketing D e c i s i o n s P r e n t i c e - H a l l f Inc F 1980
Haley, Russell I, and Case, Peter B "Testing Thirteen
Attitude Scales for Agreement and Brand Discr iminationfS r
Journal of Marketingf Fall 1979
Halpern, Richard S 18Some Observations about Attitudes,
Attitude Measurement and Behaviourss r in Attitude Research
on the Rocks, Adler, Lee and Crespi, Irving (Ed.)f The
Attitude Research Committeef American Marketing
Association f 1968.
Hansen r Flemming r ssAn Attitude Model for analysing
Consumer Behaviour11 in Attitude Research on the Rocksf
(op. cit)
Heller r Harry E., s "Attitude Share of Market 1 Predicts
Better Than Behavioral Measures81 r Marketing News (May
16,1980)

- 1 0 7

H e l l e r f H a r r y . E "Defining Target Markets By Their

Attitude Profiles f in Attitude Research on the Rocks (od
cit
"
*

Hong K o n g T r a d e R e v i e w 1982 and 1 9 8 3 , Hong Kong T r a d e

Development C o u n c i l :
Hong K o n g T r a d e S t a t i s t i c s 1982 and 1983 f C e n s u s and
S t a t i s t i c s Department

Katona, George,

8a

The P o w e r f u l Consumer 1 1 , M c G r a w - H i l l

I960.

K o t l e r f P h i l i p f " M a r k e t i n g Management^ A n a l y s i s f P l a n n i n g
a n d C o n t r o l " y P r e n t i c e - H a l T ^ o f I n d i a P r i v a t e L t d . , 1980.
Krugman, H . E . "The Impact o f T e l e v i s i o n A d v e r t i s i n g :
L e a r n i n g Without Involvement", P u b l i c Opinion Q u a r t e r l y
XXIX r 1965.
"
^
^
Laurentr d

"Hong Kong M a r k e t F a c t s " f 1979

Longman, Kenneth A . f "Promises, Promises . " , i n A t t i t u d e

Research on the Rocks y (op. c i t )
M a s l o w , A . H . , " M o t i v a t i o n and Personality", Harper & R o w ,
1954.
Monroe f Kent B. f "The Influence of Price Differences and
Brand Familiarity on Brand Preferences" f Journal of
Consumer Research f Vol 3 (June 1976)
Mun, Kin-Chok r "Hong Kong Need Re-positioning"r The Hong
Kong Managers f 1980 f The Hong Kong Management Association.
Nagashima, Akira, 81A Comparison of Japanese and ELS
Attitudes Toward Foreign Products" f Journal of Marketing,
Vol 34 (January 1970)
Nagashinia, Akira, 88A Comparative sMa<3e In8 Product Image
Survey Among Japanese Businessmen" r Journal of Marketing y
July 1977
Ravidge, Robert J. "The Cotton Candy Concept:
intra-individual variability88. Attitude Research at Sea,
Adler, Lee and Crespi, Irving (Ed.) ^The Attitude Research
Cororoitteef Aroerican Marketing Association, 1966
Richard E, Petty and John T Capicoppo, "Issue Involvement
as a Moderator of the Effects on Attitude of Advertising
Content and Context/' in Kent B. Monroe, (Ed.) f Advances
in Consumer Research ^ vol. 8 (Ann Arbor f Mich:
Association for Consumer Research, 1981).
Rosenberg, Milton J., "Cognitive Structure and Attitudinal
Effects 18 , in Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology r
vol. 53 (1956).

108 -

S e c Achenbauxn f A l v i n A f A d v e r t i s i n g Doesn s t M a n i p u l a t e
C o n s u m e r s / 8 J o u r n a l o f A d v e r t i s i n a R e s e a r c h V o l . 12 f A n r i l
1972) .

S h e r i f , C . M . f S h e r i f , M and Neberzall, R.E. "Attitude and

Attitude Change" (New Haven^ Conns Yale University Pressf
T M T T
South China Morning Post
Y o e l l , W i l l i a m A , "Determination of Consumer A t t i t u d e s and

concepts through Behavoral A n a l y s e s A t t i t u d e R e s e a r c h a t

Sea

L e e A d l e r and I r v i n g C r e s p i , E d i t o r s , ( o p . c i t . )

APPENDIX I
Page 1

P r o f i l e o f "Made I n P r o d u c t Images
f US Businessmen
( R e s u l t s o f Nagashima 1 s 1965 Study)
6,

|Vlade in U.S.A."

"Made Irt Japarl

"Made in England'

^ 'M i

"Made in Italy"

''Made in Germahy"

iphicK'l VALUE

Ihexpehsive

Expensive

ReaSdhably priced

Unreasonably priced

Reliablfe

Unreliable

Luxul^ items

Necessary items

ExclllSive

Comiiion

Heavy ihdustry

Light manufactured product

SERviiiE ANb kNGiNEERlfJG

C^refiil'& meticulous
Woricitiknship

.'V

Technically backward

T^ciiiiically advanced
. .

N o t so careful and meticulous

workmanship

"!*

M a ^ prtidiiced

Hand m a d e

Wofld w i d e distributioil

Mostly domestic distribution

InV-eji..^:V
ille .
: , d '

Imitative

ADVEFiftfelfSlG
M S

Ptidi Slo^hershit

rIpUtation

Little advertising

Miicil^ivertisiiig
U

'

Unrecdgnizable brand names

Recdi|||zafeie bi-and tiafinfes

:

:v
, L a r g ^ c lo ic e o f size &

r^

H o t clever use o f color

Qever Use of color

# 4'

Mor6 f o r y o u n g people

More f o r itien
Upjber class

l i m i t e d choice o f size &

model
Mote concerned with
performance

Mol:^ cdnderned w i t h outward

appeirincb
1 ' r
.<

Not m u c h pride o f ownership

CONSUMlEftS' PftOFlLE

More f o r old people

More for women

Lower class

APPENDIX I
Page 2
P r o f i l e o f "Made In" P r o d u c t Images
o f Japanese Businessmen
( R e s u l t s o f N a g a s h i m a 1 9 6 7 Study)
"Made in U.S.A."

"Made in Japan"

"Made in England"

"Made in Germany"

"Made in France"

Inexpensive

PRICE & VALUE

Expensive

Reasonably priced

Unreasonably price4

Reliable

Unreliable

L u x u r y items

Necessary items

Exclusive

Cominpn

Heavy industry p r o d u c t

U g h t manufactured procfuct

Careful a n d meticulous
workmanship

SERVICE A N
-PENGINEERING

N o t so careful and
meticvilous workmanship

Technically advanced

Tephnically backw^rcl

Mass produced

Hand m a d e

World w i d e distribution

Mostly domestic di$|iibution

Inventive

Imitative
.

ADVERTISING AMD REPUTATION

Pride o f ownership

N o t xnmlx
p _

Much advertising

Little gujvprtising

Recognizable b r a n d names

Unre.Qpgnizable
b r a n d names
:
,
. * ' V' ' ^
:

Large choice o f size &

model

P E S I P D STYLE

More concerned wjl}}

performance

N o t clever usp o f co}Qr

Clever u s e o f color
CONSUMERS' PROFILE

More f o r m e n

U p p e r class

l i m i t e d choice o f size &

model

More concerned w i t h outward

appearance

More f o r y o u n g people

o f ownership

-t

More f p r oldp 1

More for women"

Lower class

Appendix

DISTRIBUTION OF QUESTIONNAIRE

10

t o employees o f s m a l l p r i n t i n g company

10

t o teachers i n a kindergarten

10

t o n u r s e s a t a Government h e a l t h c l i n i c

10

t o members o f a C h i n e s e b o x i n g ( k u n g - f u ) s o c i e t y

10

t o students o f a Chinese p a i n t i n g c l a s s

20

t o employees o f a l a r g e B r i t i s h c o n g l o m e r a t e

20

t o employees o f a l a r g e Government d e p a r t m e n t

10

to relatives

20

t o members o f t h e M , B 0 A . c l a s s

15

t h r o u g h c o l l e a g u e s , f r i e n d s and r e l a t i v e s t o
t h e i r f r i e n d s and r e l a t i v e s a t t h e i r c h o i c e

10

d r o p p e d i n t o l e t t e r box o f b u i l d i n g o f a u t h o r ' s
residence

145

iviLiUKiN jb^irUKh

MARCH 984
3

4 ] i \ 3

T H I S I S A SURVEY IN CONNECTION WITH A PROJECT FOR A MASTER'S DEGREE

PROGRAMME AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG.
ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THIS SURVEY WILL BE KEPT ABSOLUTELY
CONFIDENTIAL AND WILL ONLY BE USED IN THIS PROJECT. YOU ARE NOT REQUIRED
TO DISCLOSE YOUR NAME.
YOUR CO-OPERATION WILL BE VERY SINCERELY APPRECIATED.

b 11
I

&
- I f .
1 _
f 4 t _ T f

^-o

f u T

i i

Below a r e some statements d e s c r i b i n g three products from d i f f e r e n t

c o u n t r i e s . P l e a s e i n d i c a t e the extent of your agreement by u s i n g the
following figures :

\i T

9 ^ , 1 l

A T

1 ^

1 1

Agree Completely

Agree Mostly -lis

..

Agree Somewhat B.:^ m .

Don't Know ?t

'I

Disagree Somewhat

. I J

the right

.%

1.

are inexpensive

2,

a r e made o f poor m a t e r i a l

to

<

Televis ions made in the countries listed

iB

jii

Hong Kong

1(

Japan

TELEVISIONS

IE}

Disagree Completely

Germany

Disagree Mostlyf d

Agree
Agree
Agree
Don't

Completely
Mostly
Somewhat
Know

1
2
.. 3
4

w .

Disagree Somewhat
Disagree Mostly
Disagree Completely

rw
,
iF]^ .

c
C
O
P.
3
T
C
h-j
3.

has good r e p a i r s e r v i c e

4.

a r e cheap i m i t a t i o n s of b e t t e r t e l e v i s i o n s

3 C

r
i
e
h
t

.s

i
s
n
o
c

r
l

d
e
c

5.

n f
o
n
s
w
n.
a y
e t
rit
e a IX
r u 1
a q

6f x

bO
a
o
^ 7^"

/!

>

6.

have good style

7.

a r e much a d v e r t i s e d

8.

a r e o f poor workmanship

9.

a r e v e r y durable

A
kt

10. have low p r e s t i g e , so I don't t e l l others I

buy t h e m ] ^
tbfc / ^

11. have large choice of size and model

d

fa ( 1 % I t K

12. g i v e bad p e r f orraance 4-

WATCHES
Watches made i n the countries l i s ted to the

right

0 j1 I

11t

13. are inexpensive

14. are made of poor material

15. has good r e p a i r s e r v i c e

g |

16 are cheap imitations of better watches

Z-^1

17 are reasonably priced, considering thei^

quality

18, have

W M

good s t y l e

J ^

dd
c
a
d
c
h"5

nd
a
cJt
i-1
M
d)
N
J
4

H
c
n

bQ
Q
O
C
J "
oj .
*H
{
i
!
G O
H
m

Agree C o m p l e t e l y ,
.V/
1
Agr 00 Mos 11 y Z : \ * 2
A g r e e Somewhat . I W
. 3
Don11 Know

are much a d v e r t i s e d

are o f poor workmanship

a r ev e r

y doable

i L

Taiwan

Switzerland

D
O
a
o ,.

have low p r e s t i g e s o I don 1 1 tell others I

buyt h e m

- A

Hi

Japan

Disagree Somewhat
5
Disagree Mostly . .'if^
. . 6
Disagree Completely z-o 7

have l a r g e choice o f s i z e and model

g i v e bad performance

t%

25. are inexpens ive

26 are made of poor material

27. are cheap i m i t a t i o n s o f b e t t e r garments

6

4 / 1 1 1f

&

28. are reasonably priced, consJ.dering their

quality W t -

29. have

good s t y l e

30. are much a d v e r t i s e d

31 are of poor workmanship

32, a r e v e r y durable

ffTJ^

33. have low p r e s t i g e , so I don't tell others I

buy them t fo^
^
^

t
i A
U
A

j k

34. have l a r g e choice of s i z e

Mi

France

Garments made i n the countries l i s t e d to

the r i g h t

China

Japan

Hong Kong

GARMENTS ( d e f i n e d as clothes worn on he

o u t s i d e , f o r going o u t , NOT tailor-made)

35 Before you bought these products, you have considered some

points, Flease indicate the importance of the following p o i n t s
in your dec is ion by us ing these numbers

5 1 t

/ f

I I t i i ^ 1 1 ^

%f t .

Not important at a l l

XI)

Not so important

(2)

Important

(3)

Quite important

(4)

Extremely important

(5)

Television
Price

Watches

Garments

Q u a l i t y ( M a t e r i a l and D u r a b i l i t y )
-

Performance
Workmanship

Advertising

Design

Whether the brand i s

prestigious

%x

Choice o f model/size

,
N/A

Service

36. Your age i s

1 Below 20
I

)A
U

[ 40-49

= 3 20-29
C U

C = l 30-39

50-60

C Z l O v e r 60

37. Your t o t a l monthly household income i s

r-j

Below $3,000

K TCZ3

t = 3 $10,000^14,999

No formal education
\ Post secondary

$3 3 000^5,999

CZl $15,000^20,000

38. Your education l e v e l i s

7V

N/A

h
5
.

E = 3 $6,000-^9,999
C=3Over $20000

^ ^

Primary education S e c o n d a r y e d u c a t i o n

39. Your sex i s :

(/f

H H l Hale

] F e m a l e

40. Your t e l e v i s i o n i s made

Japan

Hong Kong

'U.S.A.

( Germany

1.

Other (Please specify)

I f you don t know, please indicate the brand

k A

4 L The watch you are wearing now is made in

jf

.Jk ^
Japan

Hong Kong

1 Switzerland

Taiwan

Other (Please s p e c i f y )

If you don 1 t know, please indicate the brand

1-1 , 4

The garment you have l a s t bought i s made i n

Japan

China

Hong Kong

France
t

8 Other (Please s p e c i f y ) ^

j!

I f you don 1 t know, please i n d i c a t e the brand

43. which c o u n t r y do you think produces the product o f the g r e a t e s t value_

when one c o n s i d e r s p r i c e } q u a l i t y d e s i g n , s e r v i c e s

%> (/%
I=J

jfpan^ Q

i f 4
^

C Z D Germany . 1
i

1 C h i n a

it

^ = 1U . S . A . _
1 = 3 Taiwan

= 1 Switzerland

1 = 1 France

,
: _

Hong Kong

APPENDIX l y

DEMOGRAPHICS OF RESPONDENTS

Monthly Household Income

LT
$3000

$3,000$5,999

$6,0009,999

$10,000$14,999

$15,000- Over
$20,000 $20,000

Total

Below 20

20 - 29

28

29

30 - 39

16

10

40 - 49

50 - 60

Over 60

Total

14

12

15

10

14

60

48

Education Level

Post Secondary

Secondary

Primary

Total

Below 20

20 - 29

10

22

17

28

29

30 - 39

11

16

10

40 - 4 9

50 - 60

Over 60

Total

26

33

32

14

60

48

Appendix

.V

MEAN SCORES o n Stateirients 1 - 3 4

TELEVISIONS
T e l e v i s i o n s made i n t h e c o u n t r i e s
l i s ted to the r i g h t

Japan

A.

Germany

1.

a r e inexpensi v e

2.

a r e made o f p o o r m a t e r i a l

have good repair service

are cheap imitations of better

televis ions

5o

are reasonably priced , considering

their quality

h a v e good style

7.

are much advertised

8o

are o f poor workmanship

9-

are v e r y durable

Hong Kong

10. have low prestigeso I don 1 1

t e l l o t h e r s b u y them
11 h a v e large choice of size and model
12, give bad performance
WATCHES
Watches made in the countries listed
to the right

Japan

Switzerland

Ta iwan

Hong Kong

13 a r e inexpensive

2-8

5.6

2.7

1.8

14. are made of poor material

5.6

6-3

3.5

4.0

15 h a v e good repair service

2.3

2.4

4.6

4-5

16 are cheap imitations of

better watches

4.5

5.6

3.5

3.2

Appendix

17 are reasonably priced, considering

their quality
18 have good style

2.2

L 9

2,0

19. are much advertised

1,4

2.0

20 are of poor workmanship

5.7

6.2

21. are very durable

2.8

2.1

22. have low prestige, so d o n ' t

t e l l o t h e r s I buy them
23o h a v e l a r g e c h o i c e o f s i z e a n d m o d e l
24. g i v e bad performance

V - 2

5.9

1,8

6.1

2.3

5.8

6!

Japan

Ch ina

GARMENTS
Garments made i n t h e c o u n t r i e s l i s ted
to the r i g h t
25 are inexpensive

2-5

26o are made of poor material

5.5

4.6

27 are cheap imitations of better garments

4e6

4.8

28. are reasonably priced, considering

their quality

2.4

29, have good style

5-5

30 are much advertised

4.6

31. are o f poor workmanship

5.6

4.3

32. are very durable

3,9

2.8

3 3 . h a v e low pres tige, so I d o n 1 1 tell

others I buy them

4-7

34. have large choice of size

France

Hong Kong

APPENDIX V I

P l a c e Of Ori g i n Of P r o d u c t s Owned
^
( Q u e s t i o n s 40-42)"""""^
Televisions
Japan

Number
77

US A
Germany

1
23

Hong Kong
Others

2
_ 5

7130
0a 9 3
21.30
L85
4,63

108

100

Watch
Japan

46

42.59

Switzerland

35

32^41

Taiwan
Hong Kong
Others

L85

24

22 22

0,93

108

100

Garments
Japan

32

2963

China

11

10.19

Hong Kong

56

51.85

France

Others

L85
6 48

APPENDIX V I I

Product of the Greatest Value

( Q u e s t i o n 43)
Number
Japan

77

71.30

U.S.A.

0.93

France

Germany

6o48

Taiwan

Hong Kong

18

China

16-67
4.63

Switzerland

108

100

APPENDIX V I I !

AVERAGE MEAN SCORES OF

JAPANESE T E L E V I S I O N S , WATCHES AND GARMENTS

Statements

A v e r a g e Mean S c o r e s

1 inexpens ive

3-4

4. poor material

4.5

5 reasonably priced

2.1

7 much advertised

1,9

8o poor workmanship

5.6

LO. low pres tige

5-9

11 large choice

2,0

APPENDIX I X
BREAKDOWN OF HOUSEHOLD INCOMES
(Frequencies i n brackets)
( i ) By W e i g h t i n g s g i v e n t o P r i c e
( P e r c e n t a g e g i v i n g 4 and 5 - P e r c e n t a g e )
LT
$3 3 000
(10)

$3,000$5,999
(22)

$6000
9,999
(27)

$10,000
14,999
(19)

$15,000
$20,000
(11)

Over
20,000
(19)

Television

20.0

54^6

51.3

52.6

45.5

305

Watch

20.0

36.4

48 1

63,,4

27.3

42 1

Garment

30.0

36,3

29.6

31.6

9.1

42.1

23.3

424

43.2

49.2

27.3

38,2

Average Percentage

(ii) By Best Product Country (Percentage)

Japan (77)

LT
$3000

$3000$5,999

10.4

22.

$6,000
9,999
26 e 0

16 e 7

Germany (6)

China (6)

156

HJ

100.0

U.S.A. (1)

Hong Kong (18)

$10,000 T I S T O O O
$14,999
$20,000

11.1

11.1

50.0

389

Over
20,000
14.3

0
33^3

50.0

16.1

22.2

333

16^7

APPENDIX I X
Page 2
( i i i ) By P l a c e o f O r i g i n o f P r o d u c t s Owned ( P e r c e n t a g e )

_ -

..

$3000
^3,000

$6,000
$5,999

$107000$15,000
$9999
$14,999

OveT"
$20,000

"
20,000

TELEVISION
Japan (78)

10.3

U-S.A. (1)
Germany (23)

20.5

100
8.7

Hong Kong (1)

Others (5)

130

28.2-

19.2

7.7

0
17,4

14.1

0
17 A

21.7*

21.7

100

40.0

20.0

40.0

WATCH

Japan (45)

4^4

22.2

Switzerland (36)

56

25.0

Taiwan (2)

long Kong (24)

Others (1)

25.0

12.5

11.8

3.9

15.6

139

13.9

13.9

27a 8*

50.0

50.0

25.0

42

29.2^

100 0

GARMENTS
Japan (31)

12.9

16 A

355*

16.1

605

12.9

China (12)

83

25.0

16 0 7

25

25.0

Hong Kong (56)

8 ,9

25.0^

23.2

17,9

12-5

12.5

France (3)

33,3

33,3

33.3

Others (6)

^"Highest percentage

16.7

83a 3