The value of Country Reputation in Emerging Countries. A survey on Turkish Consumers

The concept of reputation assumes an important meaning also for the emerging countries. As a properly mark, reputation assures that each country is recognized for a particular aspect, which is impressed in stakeholders’ mind and that it is difficult to modify in the short time.
Once created, reputation makes sure that stakeholders attribute to the country a specific quality, which then determines the types of relations in the international market. For example, when they think about a country people attribute to it a category of products, like it is the best place where to produce them. And as more those characteristics are recognized as critical success factors of that country, as more the product gains value. This does not happen for the countries where those skills are not attributed.
Thus it can determine the choice of whether to purchase products from a country or another one, rather than the decision to take in consideration a country where to spend the holidays, just because there is a common certain idea about it.
Reputation makes foreign consumers attribute to Japan the highest technology level in the world and to America the freedom and the multi-ethnic culture. It makes them seeing China as a backward culture where to use the cheapest labour force in the world, or Brazil as the one with the best football players.
History, and thus culture, are the most important variables which contribute to create this asset, because those are the preconditions to build up a certain stereotype.
Past events are the main points on which foreigners base their opinion, especially if they do not have personal direct relations with the country, and this is what Turkish government has experienced in recent years. They have been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to promote Turkey’s image abroad, but they have been unable to overcome the cultural prejudices.
As an emerging economy, Turkey did not have a lot of visibility in Western countries, and its image has never been really helpful for its growth. Mostly because of the mix between its history and the very remote government, the idea about this country is still not so positive, and by adding the message that its professed religion transmits abroad the result is even worst.
The problem is that, as already affirmed in the enterprises field, marketing strategies are not sufficient when policy actions are missing (Anholt, 2008).
All this justifies the complete change in its politics, which has been trying to modify the general negative opinion by getting closer to the European culture, bringing several reforms. In fact, if there is something that creates a properly hedge in the image construction are the differences among the considered cultures. When something is far from what people are used, there are higher possibilities of rejection.
EU countries usually see Turkey as a backward nation, where extremist religion plays one of the main important roles in constructing the bad opinion. But, especially in the most western countries of EU, people do not generally have any idea about what Turkish culture really is.
Because of the very large perimeter this country also presents much undeveloped places, but nothing so far from the general situation it can be found in other countries.
Perhaps, what do not help are their traditions. Turkey, in fact, is recognised as to be a manufacturing country, where technologies and innovation are not even considered. And if it is added the repressive image it has abroad, mostly due to its past politics actions and the internal conflicts, the general impression cannot be different than a negative one.
Nevertheless, according to the Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan, Turkey’s reputation has reached a desirable level over the last decade with its rapidly growing economy. But the real fact is that they have not been able to create a complete positive global impression.
Paradoxically, despite the country is having a consistent development and it even has an important role in the international exchanges, this negative idea about Turkey seems really difficult to disappear. If the Turkish government does not understand this point, they will not be able to restore the CR, and as reflex they will reduce the possibility to be accepted in the EU.
Probably, as a more reliable strategy, Turkey should understand if it is better to consolidate its links with the Asian countries, since it obviously has much more similarities with them. Even with China for example, the country shares a lot of things – justified by its origins – while with Europe this concordance is not the same at all.
When people trust, admire and have a good feeling about a country, not only they are more likely to recommend key supportive behaviours to others, but they are also more likely to give a nation the benefit of the doubt in a time of crisis (Trad N., 2010). But when the feeling is not that good, rather because they either do not share the same value or they think to have nothing in common, people tends to generalize the negative perception too.
This does not mean that Turkey should not try to modify its perception in the global market. But for sure such relationships with countries like Iran, Iraq, Russia and China, especially if referred at particular topics (i.e. the control of the pipelines supply or the nuclear power projects), which easily recall international conflicts, are not of any help for the European conquest.
As for the most developed, even the emerging countries are then recognized for one or a few characteristics, which give them an identity. Hence, reputation is an important asset also for them.