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Case Study BRANDING BANGLADESH THROUGH KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM Submitted to Dr. Syed Ferhat Anwar Professor, IBA Submitted by Pathfinder Md. Iftakharul Alam Roll 62 Syed Najibullah Roll 66 Md. Ridwan Reza Roll 70 Institute of Business administration, Dhaka July 15, 2008 The case can be used or published for any academic purpose. Case Study BRANDING BANGLADESH THROUGH KAZI NAZRUL ISLAM
The world is going through a turbulent environment in this era of intense globalization with awful amount of competition for businesses, and of fierce struggle for nations in gaining attention for trade, tourism, investment and other issues. Nation branding can extend a significant helping hand in this regard, especially for disadvantageous country like Bangladesh. Bangladesh, regrettably, faces a reputation challenge which is popularly known as its “image problem”. This challenge of the image problem is of two folds.
One is some unfavorable realities which are to rectify over time while the other requires devising an effective communication strategy which will adequately transmit the primary strength of the country to the world at large. Country branding refers to the earning of image and reputation for a country by utilizing its inner talents and opportunities which are original and inspiring to the outer world. It is closely related to its identity, requires a lot of ‘soul-searches’ and ultimately coming up with some associations that is believed internally and appealing externally.
The sources for building a country brand can be some industries, personalities, natural landmarks and historical events that could provide a basis for strong branding and story telling. Along the perspective, a research is undertaken by a group of a business school graduate aiming to study the possibility of Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, in enhancing the image of the country globally as a personality brand.
Nazrul being one of the top personalities in the national history of Bangladesh (Azrof, 1994), the main sculptor of our national literature and culture (Hussain, 2006), a most gifted genius working in almost all the known genres of literature (Huda, 2001) and one of the most remarkable poets of all time (Langley, 2007) but yet a wide and deep evaluation of him is awaited to be realized (Azrof, 1994) offers an immense source of pride and accomplishment for Bangladesh.
The research being the first of its kind in the country in this topic, primarily focuses the unique characteristics of Nazrul, which if duly promoted can enhance the image of Bangladesh. In its process, a qualitative research and an extensive literature survey was conducted to explore the issues involved in a fine-tuned manner. After that, for quantitative analysis, a sample of 300 resident Bangladeshis, who know and practice about Nazrul, are being selected for questionnaire survey. Some 171 respondents replied from which 17 were rejected for incomplete response.
From the both literature and qualitative survey, the following model was developed. And based on this questionnaire was prepared. The questionnaire also included some other unique features and accomplishments of Bangladesh and asked the responded to rate their preferences in the context of branding Bangladesh. The objective was to appreciate a thematic position of Nazrul among these factors. Findings of the study In terms of Nazrul’s position among some selected issues, Factor analysis was performed. Table 1: Three dimensions of Branding Bangladesh
Colorful BangladeshExpressive BangladeshHarmonious Bangladesh ZamdaniBengali LiteratureDisaster Management Skill SweetmeatsKazi Nazrul IslamReligious Harmony Folklore SongsInternational Mother Language Day Nakshi KathaLiberation War Bengali New Year In the “Expressive Bangladesh” dimension Kazi Nazrul Islam’s explanatory power is the highest. Conceptual Model Fig 1: Conceptual model for branding Bangladesh through Kazi Nazrul Islam The following table shows the extracted variables of the unique characteristics of Nazrul into four dimensions. Table 2: Four Dimensions of Nazrul’s Characteristics
Rebel PoetCall for JusticeVoice for Social ReformLove and Openness Urge for human freedomView of multiculturalismCall for communal harmonyTalent in music Stance against dependenceVocal for peaceStance against religious bigotry, prejudiceAdmiration of love and joy Protest against exploitation of all kindAppeal for welfareProtest against imperialistic, colonial attitudeUniversalism Courage and boldnessScientific orientationLeading role in Bengali Muslims renaissanceReligious open mindedness Inspirational writingsUrge for social justiceAddressing to hunger, poverty, and illiteracyEqualitarian appeal Humanitarian voiceStance against class struggleVocal against gender discrimination Patriotism and nationalist viewPromotion of self-belief and self-powerVocal for freedom of speech Glorification of youthVoice for peasants and laborsVocal for freedom of Individual Call for unity The new extracted model as depicted above shows the relationship between newly developed independent and dependent variables. Findings of regression analysis shows all the four independent variables significantly influence the dependent variable. However, Nazrul’s uniqueness of love and openness and call for justice are proved to be more influential in promoting the image of Bangladesh. Fig 2: New model for branding Bangladesh through Kazi Nazrul Islam Major findings ???Nazrul posses a comparative strong position among the issues which can compete to be in a position to brand Bangladesh. No single variable has been excluded during factor extraction, implying that all the characteristics of Nazrul have contribution although not in equal manner to portray Nazrul as a brand ambassador of Bangladesh. ???Nazrul’s uniqueness of love and openness, call for justice, voice for social freedom, as a rebel poet are the new four dimensions through which Nazrul’s unique characteristics can be summarized. Among these, Nazrul’s love and openness and call for justice have been found to be the most influential, which if duly promoted can enhance the image of Bangladesh. ???Regardless of different age, gender, income, education, occupation, religion groups, all the variables have same level of acceptance.
Findings from the respondents’ behavioral and psychographic analysis As found through the survey, books, teachers, television, and newspapers are the main sources of information about Nazrul. The other important social agents like parents and friends play relatively trivial role of influence. Around 51 percent of the respondents shows positive feelings and thereby indicates a good opportunity to convert some of them to enthusiastic status regarding Nazrul. In total around 93 percent of the respondents showed either enthusiastic or positive feelings about Nazrul, which implies that Nazrul has wide acceptance among the people who know about him. Through there were found a strong positive feelings about Nazrul, the picture of practicing Nazrul is not that much enthusiastic.
Considering readiness stage of the respondents, it is found that most of them are interested (around 44%) about Nazrul. But only 6. 5 percent are interested to buy Nazrul’s work; whereas 10. 4 percent desire to buy. Among the Nazrul’s works, most of the respondents prefer poetry and songs. It was also found that in case of poetry, response varies significantly based on gender, where male prefers poetry higher than female. And a good number of the respondents have the habit of reading books, newspaper, magazines. Major findings ???Teachers’ role in creating awareness about Nazrul is found to be in upper tier; while Parents’ role is found much less, which can be utilized to enhance the awareness about Nazrul. The contribution of print (books & newspaper) and electronic media (Television) in creating awareness about Nazrul is found to be prominent. ???A good number of the respondents are enthusiastic about Nazrul in addition to a large pool being positive thereof. ???However, a great 37. 7 percent of respondents have reported to practice Nazrul not in less than a year; and even an additional 13. 6 percent reported that they never practiced Nazrul. ???Though around 44 percent of the respondents are interested in buyer readiness stage; a very few desire and actually intends to buy. Another large portion of the respondents are only aware and informed about Nazrul’s work thereof. ???Respondents prefer mostly poetry and songs among Nazrul’s works. And male prefers poetry more than females. A relatively major portion of the response reported to have the habit of reading newspapers, magazines, and books; while response regarding listening to music reported as lower as 12 percent. Respondents’ media habit Regarding relative usage of media, internet ranked first among all the media enlisted during office days and television during weekends. Office DayWeekend RankMediaMediaRank 1InternetTelevision1 2NewspaperInternet2 3TelevisionNewspaper3 4RadioMagazines4 5MagazinesRadio5 Major findings ???Most electronic media exposure is reported to fall in 7 pm to midnight slot; while newspaper is read in 6 to 10 am. ???Television is proved to be the most used media during weekends. Internet topped media preference in office days and also ranked second in weekends but as the behavioral and psychological analysis shows that internet contributed to create awareness about Nazrul is the least, it indicates that the internet is seriously unutilized to enhance the awareness about Nazrul in local context. The primary purpose of the study, as mentioned before, was to identify the most unique characteristics of Nazrul, which if duly promoted might enhance the image of Bangladesh. At this stage of study, by incorporating all these survey findings, the researchers got confused about what to do to accomplish the stated objectives. Which factors to promote most and in which way? How sustained it would be if Nazrul is promoted? What strategy should be taken to make Nazrul’s uniqueness promoting the image of Bangladesh? Section B: Instructors’ Manual Significance of the Case Study
The significance of the case study lies primarily in evaluating the research findings, validating the research process and the conclusion drawn, and ultimately giving the strategy as to how Bangladesh can be branded through Kazi Nazrul Islam. The analysis of the case would also require the participant to think ‘out of the box’ considering the environmental factors both internal and external in formulating the strategy. Intended Audience The individuals who have gone through the details of the research process, familiar with the analysis techniques like regression and factor analysis are most suitable as the audience of the case. It would help enhance their skill of evaluation of a research findings and to formulate strategies from the findings. Solutions for the Case: 1. PEST Analysis Political ???Absence of copyright act ???Inconsistent Govt. olicies across terms ???Govt. fund, grant and scholarship to facilitate research on Nazrul ???Govt. emphasis on Nazrul in designing academic curriculum Economic ???Inflationary pressure reducing purchasing power of consumers ???Price hike of paper and printing materials Social ???Influence of western culture ???More inclined to internet usage ???Muslim majority country ???Increasing pervasiveness of English in every sphere of life ???Lower participation of parents in creating awareness about Nazrul ???Increasing buying access (super mall, chain stores) ???Lack of advertising and publicity ???Lack of Translation of Nazrul’s workTechnological ???Development of electronic media Lack of adoption of internet to increase access to Nazul’s work 2. SWOT Analysis Strengths ???Little chance, the World will see frequent rebel poets of this height ???Brand identity of Nazrul ???geographical coverage ???Stronger position among the different themes Weaknesses ???Less practice of Nazrul in Bangladesh ???Difficulty in translation of Nazrul’s work in appropriate spirit ???The literary worth of Nazrul’s work is not well evaluated ??? The collective form of Nazrul’s work is rare Opportunities ???Govt. fund, grant and scholarship to facilitate research on Nazrul ???Govt. emphasis on Nazrul in designing academic curriculum ???More inclined to internet usage ???Muslim majority country Lower participation of parents in creating awareness about Nazrul ???Increasing buying access (super mall, chain stores) ???Lack of Translation of Nazrul’s work ???A good number of the respondents are enthusiastic about Nazrul in addition to a large pool being positive thereof. Threats ???Absence of copyright act ???Inflationary pressure reducing purchasing power of consumers ???Price hike of paper and printing materials ???Development of electronic media ???Lack of adoption of internet to increase access to Nazul’s work ???Inconsistent Govt. policies across terms ???Influence of western culture ???Increasing pervasiveness of English in every sphere of life ???buyer choice of different literary works