Understanding and improving public attitudes in Japan towards corporate takeovers by Chinese firms

2022 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K01737
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
• Principal Investigator: バイセ・ゼー マリアン 立命館アジア太平洋大学, 国際経営学部, 教授 (50648615)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: Takeover / Rebranding / Foreign ownership / Country of origin effect / Foreign outsourcing

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

2022 was devoted to theory building. The theoretical framework is now fully developed. The hypotheses are refined and based on refined theoretical arguments. The model uses three change constructs: ownership, manufacturing site and brand name. The effects of manufacturing shifts abroad and the country of origin effect have been described in detail in literature. The effect of a change of a brand name on public attitude, however, has not been fully described and hypothesized before. This project is part of the effort to theoretically and empirically understand the effects of rebranding. For the effect of rebranding the model of public perception of company take overs is now centered on the change of a well known brand name into a new brand name, that does not exist, instead of using a Chinese brand.

Current Status of Research Progress

4: Progress in research has been delayed.

Reason

It was originally planned to conduct the data collection during AY2022. However, this was delayed. It now will be conducted during AY2023. The development of the theoretical model took more time than anticipated. The data collection was delayed because of the COVID19 pandemic.

Strategy for Future Research Activity

Another contribution is the conceptualization of interaction effects between rebranding after ownership changes and manufacturing shifts abroad. The next step is the development of an appropriate scenario for the data collection. The scenario includes a realistic situation in which a Japanese brand has been taken over by the Chinese company. The Japanese brand must be well known in order to elicit emotional responses. The degree to which the brand is liked, loved, used or not must be measured as covariates. The data will be collected in AY2023. The data collection will be conducted by a market research company in Japan. The data analysis should be conducted in a short time afterwards.

Causes of Carryover

There was a delay in the data collection which is a large part of the cost. The data collection is conducted by a market research agency. It will be conducted in AY2023.