Words: 9169
The ancient name of Ethiopia Amharic: One of the local languages of Ethiopia and the working language of the Government of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Brand: Product or service plus value that differentiates it from the competition Country:In this research wherever it is not clearly mentioned, Country is meant to be the country in the case study; i. e. Ethiopia Gilada Baboun:A species of monkey, endemic to Ethiopia only Walia Ibex:A highland goat like animal, only found in Ethiopia and under the threat of extinction (believed to be below 400 in population) Pan-African:Related with Pan-Africanism which is a sociopolitical world view philosophy and movement which seeks to unify native Africans and those of African heritage into a “global African community” Rastafarians:Followers of the Rastafarian movement which is a way of life that arose in a Christian like culture in Jamaica and worship former Emperor of Ethiopia (Emperor Haile-Selassie I) which spread in the world through the reggae music Rebranding: Reborn of a brand Sabean:related to the land of Sheba used in same way as “Queen of Sheba”, the ancient land of Ethiopia used to be known as Saba. ABBREVIATIONS
AU:African Union asl: above sea level CB: Country Branding CIA: Central Intelligence Agency COMESA:Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa COO: Country-of-Origin ECA:Economic Commission for Africa FDI: Foreign Direct Investment GDP: Gross Domestic Product GNI: Gross National Income IGAD:Inter-Governmental Authority on Development LDC:Least Developed Countries MW: Mega Watt NEPAD:New Partnership for African Development RP: Research Problem UN:United Nations CHAPTER ONE 1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1. 1. Introduction “… the Ethiopians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world by whom they were forgotten” -Gibbon, quoted by Greenfield (1968)
The above quotation is taken from the famous phrase made by Edward Gibbon in his book entitled “The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire” published in London in the year 1788 and quoted by many history books written about Ethiopia. One might be curious and ask “how far the Country has changed to reverse the above situation after nearly 222 years have passed? ” The saddening and surprising but truthful answer is “not much” which supports the claim for the necessity and importance of the study topic undertaken by this research; i. e. , “Branding Ethiopia”. 1. 2. The Ethiopian Contextual Background As described by an article on the website of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ethiopia entitled “Ethiopia a Tourist Paradise” (www. tourismethiopia. com), Ethiopia is a Country with the ancient “Abyssinian” civilization of 3000 years of age.
Despite its ancient civilization, its untapped natural resources and diversity of culture, Ethiopia is still unknown to the majority of the world population and is one of the poorest nations on the face of the earth. Ethiopia’s per capita income amounts to $280 which makes it one of the lowest in the world which is only better than that of Guinea-Bissau ($250), Liberia ($170), Democratic Republic of Congo ($ 150), and Burundi ($150) (World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2008). According to the above report, Ethiopia’s Gross National Income (GNI) amounting $22. 424 billion is standing at the rank of 89 among 216 countries. As per the World Fact Book of CIA (www. cia. gov), out of Ethiopia’s total population of 88 million, 38. 7% live below the poverty line which is set as to be below $1 per day income.
This situation could significantly be reduced if the country is properly branded to convey its true image and show the potentials of natural resources, culture and heritage. Ethiopia is found in the eastern part of Africa (to be specific in the Horn of Africa) between latitudes of 3? and 18?. Despite its location of being in the tropics, the climate of Ethiopia is pleasant and agreeable (year-round usually ranging between 15? C and 25? C in many places), owing to its highlands, unlike other countries in the tropics. The Capital city of Ethiopia- Addis Ababa and many other cities in Ethiopia are located at an altitude of above 2000m asl making them one of the few cities situated on highlands as high as above 2000m asl.
This makes them very attractive sites of training for sports requiring stamina and endurance since training in highland areas is scientifically believed to increase the hemoglobin which is part of red blood cells responsible for carrying oxygen to the cells. Of course, Ethiopia is the land of record breaking long distance athletes such as Haile Gebresellassie, Abebe Bikila and Kenenisa Bekele. Ethiopia is found in a favorable time zone for financial markets as it is situated at GMT+3:00, 8:00 Hrs. ahead of New York and 6:00 Hrs. behind Tokyo. The archeological findings of the ancient Homo-Sapiens (the skeletons named “Lucy” and “Ardi”) have made Ethiopia to be considered as the origin of mankind. In fact, Ethiopia is mentioned more than 50 times in the Holy Bible.
It is believed by Ethiopians and suspected by many others that the lost Ark of the Covenant (upon which the Ten Commandments of God are written according to the Christian religion) is in Ethiopia at Axum in the church of St. Mary of Zion as mentioned in the controversial international bestseller book entitled “The SIGN and The SEAL” by Graham Hancock (1993). It is also claimed that part of the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified is found at Ambassel in the Church of St. Mary. It is also stated in the Holy Bible that the Garden of Eden used to be watered by four rivers one of which is the river Nile originating from Ethiopia. Ethiopia is termed as “the water tower of Africa” for it is endowed with many rivers. Many tributaries of the Nile originate from Ethiopia and 86% of the water of the Nile is supplied by the rivers originating from Ethiopia.
Many of these rivers have magnificent water falls which makes them a good tourist attraction sites and hold a good potential (estimated to be capable of generating 45,000MW) for a “green” source of electric power generation. The “13 months of Sunshine” in Ethiopia is also another source of green energy along with the available geothermal energy sources and abundant wind. Ethiopia’s unique continual usage of the Coptic “Julian calendar” also known as “Ethiopics Calendar or Enochian Calendar” with its 13 months (12 months of 30 days and 1month of 5 or 6 days) and being the only African Country with its own Alphabet holds an interesting situation to be studied if promoted to people interested in human culture and history.
Owing to its being not colonized (except the five years “occupation” by the Italians) and its support for the freedom of many countries, Ethiopia is perceived as the “Symbol of Black Freedom”. As a result, its tri-colour flag of Green-Yellow-Red have been adopted by many African countries to be taken as their new flag (with rearrangements, identifying symbols and marks) and the colors have been termed as the “pan-African colors”. It is interesting to note here that the “Ras-Tafarians” of Jamaica who use these pan-African colors during their famous reggae music shows have based their belief on and named after Ras Tafari Mekonen (later crowned as Emperor Haile Selassie) of Ethiopia (www. wikipedia. org). The Rastas, as some times nick-named, have been given vast area of land to live in Ethiopia.
As a result, there is a “Ras-Tafarian” community living some 250kms south of the Capital- Addis Ababa in a place known as Kuyera just before the town of Shashamane. This shows the welcoming nature of Ethiopians who have accommodated the Jamaicans as far from the Caribbean like they have done in the past for the Jews and the first Muslim refugees. Ethiopia is also considered as the origin place of Coffee (though some say it is Yemen), as the word coffee itself is derived from one of the regions of Ethiopia – Kaffa found South west of Addis Ababa (www. wikipedia. org/wiki/coffee). The Country is ranking fifth among the world exporters of coffee and produces one of the preferred variety–”Coffee Arabica” which fetches huge sums of profit for Starbucks which used and exploited the concept of branding. Yirgachefe coffee” (Yirgachefe being one place of coffee Arabica source in Ethiopia) is one of the brands which is used by Starbucks which had taken the company into series of negotiations with the Ethiopian government. Despite these resources and heritages which could have helped in boosting the country’s image in the world arena, and which could have made it one of the preferred tourist destinations and attractive place for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), it still remains paradoxically one of the poorest nations on the face of the earth. Lack of Country Branding exercise might have contributed its fair share for this paradoxical poverty while the country is endowed with many natural & cultural resources and historical & archeological heritages.
From what popularity has been achieved by about one million followers of the Rastafarians in promoting their ideology or “way of life”, the traditional flag of Ethiopia, and Amharic (the working language of Ethiopian government) without the backing of any government, it is motivating and encouraging that Branding Ethiopia could achieve much higher objectives with the backing of the Ethiopian population and the Ethiopian government. This paper tries to deal with the research problem directed to “assess and evaluate the potential role that Country Branding could play in increasing the Country’s economic development and income”. It is believed that the research will help the Government of Ethiopia, Ethiopian Tourism Commission, Tour Operators, Ethiopian Investment Commission and the People of Ethiopia by increasing the inflow of tourists, FDI, expatriates and immigrants, and demands for the products exported from Ethiopia. 1. 3. Research Objectives
Despite its long history of independence, having its major inhabitants practicing the world’s three religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and historical heritages of many more uniquely differentiating characteristics like its own calendar and its own clock system, Ethiopia is unknown by many people of the globe. If anyone has a glimpse of Ethiopia, it is usually for the poverty stricken population it has. In fact, poverty has been labeled, by the Government of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, as the Country’s formidable enemy number one. Being labeled as “The Water tower of Africa”, Ethiopia should have a lot of irrigated agriculture and ought to have secured the once envisaged plan of becoming “the bread basket of Africa”. But, Ethiopia’s irrigated agriculture output is at a very low level out of the total agricultural output while most of the agricultural produce is produced by rain-fed agriculture. This as contributed a lot to its overpublicized negative image of famine and drought (which happens when there is shortage of rain) and made Ethiopia dependent on Aid. According to the World Bank Report (2008), the Foreign Direct Investment to the Country amounts to a mere $109 million in the year 2008 and is one of the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa compared to Uganda ($788), Congo ($1000), and Mozambique ($587). The Countries which are believed to be getting low FDI such as Somalia and Zimbabwe are getting $87 and $52 respectively while Egypt got $9,495 which shows how low the level of FDI coming to Ethiopia is. The research will try to assess ways in which Branding Ethiopia will increase FDI which will play a great role in reducing the poverty in the Country.
The Country has a lot of tourist attractions which could be cited as endemic animals (Walia Ibex, Red Fox, Gilada Baboun, and other many endemic birds). The Country is using the now unique “Julian Calendar” with its 13 months as its official calendar and its Sabean Alphabet makes it the only country in Africa with its own Alphabet. The all the year pleasant weather of many places in the country (usually ranging 15- 25 ? C) makes it “naturally- air conditioned” and could be an ideal place to build retirement homes for wealthy people in the world. From what has been observed and from the preliminary literature survey conducted so far, the researcher believes that little is done to show to the world what the country has.
While so many other Countries are competing for the world’s mobile and scarce resources (such as Capital and people in the form of FDI, tourists and export incomes) by improving and communicating their country image and appeal; like many African countries, Ethiopia is still unawake (if not ignorant) about the Country Branding activity which has now become ubiquitous in the world. This is proved by the fact that so far only one news-paper article (The Reporter, May 2010) is found to discuss about “Branding Ethiopia”. When travelling out of the Country, the citizens of Ethiopia will learn the hard fact (to their dismay) that many people do not know even where Ethiopia is located let alone know what the country is endowed with. If by chance hey find some people who know Ethiopia, it is mainly for the famine which frequently is over-publicized by the international media and aid agencies. Thus it is believed that by properly branding the Country and communicating to the world the real image of the Country, the Country’s economic structure will change for good. The research will try to assess the opportunities unutilized and missed to foster the positive brand image of the Country and propose the necessary strategy to be implemented by all stakeholders to contribute their fair share in alleviating the Country’s poverty. This research seeks to answer the question- “How Country Branding can be used to assist the poverty reduction effort in Ethiopia? ” 1. 4. Statement of the Problem and Sub- problems
The research problem for this research is to “assess the Country Branding potential contributions to reduce the poverty in Ethiopia”. Thus the research will have the following sub-problems: * investigate what benefits Country Branding (CB) has brought to other countries, * assess the current level of standing of Country Brand image of Ethiopia, * evaluate the potential of Country Branding to facilitate poverty reduction effort in Ethiopia. 1. 5. Research Propositions The research will attempt to test the following propositions: RP1. Country Branding plays a positive role in increasing economic benefits of a Country (Gilmore, 2002); RP2.
The current Country Brand image of Ethiopia is based on stereotypical images of the past and the geographic region (Wanjiru, 2006); RP3. Country Branding holds a potential to facilitate the poverty reduction scheme in Ethiopia; RP4. Media and aid-agencies affect the Country Brand of Ethiopia. RP5. Citizens of Ethiopia affect the positioning of the Ethiopia Brand. 1. 6. Delimitation of the Study The research is a focused assessment of what CB effort will play on reducing the poverty of the country by using the perceptions of people (local & foreign) living in the capital-Addis Ababa and literature assessment of impacts of CB efforts of other countries. This research will be delimited by the following points: Sampling frame will be taken as the residents of the city of Addis Ababa only, which will have a limitation on the generalizability of the finding to the whole Country’s respondents; * Regarding embassies, media and aid agencies, convenience sampling will be used since some of them might not be willing to give information; * The time frame is very limited which limits in-depth treatment of the research topic which could have been done by increasing the number of samples (interviewees & respondents); * There is also limitation of resource especially with respect to finance to travel to the regional states to find more balanced view. 1. 7. Importance Of The Study And Potential Benefits
The research will be carried out as an exploratory study and will concentrate and expected to elucidate on the following important points: a) the impacts and benefits of Country Branding efforts conducted by other countries; b) the current perception and brand image of Ethiopia from the perspectives of Citizens, foreigners residing in the country, embassy officials, Investors (local & foreign), tour operators, Government bodies, and media; c) evaluate the legitimacy and adequacy of the reasons supporting the Country Branding effort; d) check the relationship of the brand image and brand equity on the one hand and impacts on the economy on the other hand; ) evaluate the impact and extent of influence of the outside and internal factors affecting Country Branding; f) Find out the influence of the country’s level of development, political situation, Culture, etc. on the acceptance of the Country Branding effort; The research study is expected to give the following benefits: I. show the relationship between Country Brand image and economic benefit in the Ethiopian market context; II. explore (in the context of the Ethiopian market environment) the significant factors affecting Country Branding efforts; III. create awareness of Country Branding roles on the country’s economy; IV. identify and provoke various stakeholders by showing the roles to be played by them in Country Branding; V. nitiate the Ethiopian government to embark on Country Branding Project; VI. serve as a spring board for further researches on the topic; and VII. recommend strategies to implement Country Branding Project in Ethiopia. CHAPTER TWO 1. THEORETICAL CONCEPTS AND FRAMEWORKS 2. 1. Theoretical Concepts Underpinning the Study The research is intended to utilize the potentials of Country Branding (CB) to increase Ethiopia’s income and economic development and reduce the prevailing poverty in the Country. Thus branding could only be done after evaluating and deciding what is going to be branded, defining to whom the branding messages shall be targeted, in what way it is going to be branded and what its appeal look like.
Thus selecting the Country’s target audience, knowing the target groups’ needs, likes and dislikes and promoting what is available within the reaches of the Country needs to be evaluated and identified based on the theories, frameworks and models of marketing, destination branding and strategy formulation drafts by many academicians, practitioners and authors. Countries are in competition for the mobile capital, people and companies in the form of tourism and attracting FDI and retaining existing ones (Kavaratzis, 2005). Thus Countries shall develop appropriate strategies to utilize opportunities and to maintain the existing businesses and resources they have by formulating appropriate strategies. In this research, appropriate country branding strategies to exploit the available opportunities will be recommended with relevance to the context of Ethiopia. In dealing with the topic, the following concepts are underpinning the study:
View Point One: SWOT Analysis View Point Two:Porter’s Diamond: Determinants of National Competitive Advantage (Hill, 2007) View Point Three: Resource Based View of Strategy Formulation (Grant, 2008) View Point Four: The CAGE model (Ghemawat, 2001) View Point Five: Country Branding Framework (Gilmore, 2002) View Point Six: Positioning Diamond (Gilmore, 2002) View Point Seven: De Chernatony’s The Brand Box Model (Caldwell & Frere, 2004) View Point Eight: The Nation Brand Hexagon (Anholt, 2000) 2. 2. Relevance of Conceptual Frameworks The conceptual frameworks relevance to the study is explained hereunder. 2. 3. 1. View Point One: SWOT Matrix Analysis
SWOT analysis could be taken as the starting point to analyze and focus what the Country’s potential are and what the available opportunities are available. This will serve as a basis for formulating the country branding strategy. 2. 3. 2. View Point Two: Porter’s Diamond- Determinants of National Competitive Advantage (Hill, 2007) Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry Firm Strategy, Structure and Rivalry Factor Endowments Factor Endowments Demand Conditions Demand Conditions Related and Supporting Industries Related and Supporting Industries The above diagram is known as Porter’s diamond and theorizes that the four attributes promote or impede the competitive advantage of nations in international competition.
These four factors are at the corners of the diamond and are namely: * factor endowments: a nation’s position in factors of production such as skilled labour and infrastructures; * demand conditions: the nature of demand in home country for the service or product; * related and supporting industries: presence/absence of related supplier industries which are internationally competitive; * firm strategy, structure and rivalry: the conditions which govern how companies are created and managed the state of rivalry in the country. Porter’s diamond will be used to evaluate and show the Country’s competitive advantage. 2. 3. 3. View Point Three: Resource Based View of Strategy Formulation
This approach will be employed to identify the resources and the capabilities the Country have and hence focus the branding efforts around those attributes which will give the Country a competitive advantage. 2. 3. 4. View Point Four:The CAGE model (Ghemawat, 2001) The Country Branding effort cannot be wildly thrown to the world without evaluating and selecting its potential users and target audience. One of the models used to select the target audience is “the CAGE distance framework” developed by Professor Pankaj Ghemawat. The CAGE model argues that there are four distances – Cultural, Administrative, Geographic, Economic- which affect Countries’ business with foreign countries Ghemawat, 2001).
Thus, in their Country Branding effort countries shall evaluate their internally available favorable situations/features and their corresponding “distance” and focus on those features which shall give them a competitive advantage and target their promotion towards the favorable target audience. In its framework, Ghemawat (2001), discussion of the four distances mentioned in the CAGE model is briefly treated as follows. * Cultural Distance determines the interaction of people with each other and with companies and institutions. The cultural distance evaluates the impact of differences in language, religion, social norms, race, etc. on the economic interaction between Countries. In this aspect, Ethiopia’s culture has similarity with the Arab world, Jew traditions (there are Jew Communities- known as “the Felasha” in Amharic meaning the exiled), India, Japan and China. Administrative/Political Distance is involved with the historical and political associations or differences between Countries. For example colonial ties, common currency and political union increase business and interaction between countries in the magnitude of 300%, the model asserts. Ethiopia’s membership of regional organizations like COMESA, AU, NEPAD and IGAD will be helpful in this regard. * Geographic Distance deals with not only the physical distance but also other infrastructural facilities such as transportation, telecommunications, access to the sea/waterways, topography, etc. which in one way or another affect the time to communicate with one another. * Economic Distance is concerned with the wealth of onsumers and is the most important economic attributes among the four attributes. In light with the theory of the CAGE model, the potentials and the negative aspects existing in Ethiopia are evaluated and presented in the next table. From the table we can understand that, the Cultural distance and the geographic distances though they have some areas to be improved are mainly in favorable position to be promoted and to base the tagline. On the other hand, the Administrative/political distance needs to improve so that it will not be a hindrance to the branding effort. This model will be used extensively during the research and data will be collected to test its application. CulturalDistance| AdministrativeDistance| GeographicalDistance| EconomicDistance| Potentials| * Diverse Culture * Long History * Innocent & Honest people * Respect for self and others * Proud of being independent * God-fearing people * Holy land and basis of belief for “Ras-Tafarians”| * Democratic state * One-stop shopping for investors * High level of security * Dependable military force * Stable political environment| * At the centre of the world map * Favourable time zone * Central hub to many airlines * Archeological findings abound * Pleasant Climate| * High economic growth rate * Heavy infrastructure development & construction underway| Challenges| * Conservative society * Suspicious mentality| * Uneven playing field of tax enforcement * Moderate level of corruption * Low level of communication technology penetration| * Inaccessible by sea- land locked| * Low per capita income * Some areas of investment are reserved for natives only| 2. 3. 5.
View Point Five: Country Branding Framework (Gilmore, 2002) As shown in the diagram below, Gilmore (2002) asserts that the spirit of the people is the core of the Country Brand for it is deeply connected with the place. Because it is related with the long lasting value system and beliefs of the people and is affected by the environment, the history, the culture, the resources, the economy and the experiences of the people. RETIREES RETIREES VISITORS VISITORS STUDENTS STUDENTS The Positioning The Positioning THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE RESIDENTS (PRESENT & FUTURE) RESIDENTS (PRESENT & FUTURE) MEDIA and Opinion Formers MEDIA and Opinion Formers INVESTORS (INTERAL & EXTERNAL) INVESTORS (INTERAL & EXTERNAL)
The positioning of the Country (shown on the second layer) emanates from the spirit of the people and needs to be aspirational, inspirational, challenging and differentiated. And the positioning message shall be sufficiently rich and deep and translatable to the diverse stakeholders on the outer layer. There has to be meaningful sub-positioning which is derived from the positioning. Among the stakeholders, the residents’ belief and information affects the image of the country, their loyalty and their level of migration. This Country Brand framework is a very helpful mechanism which is in agreement with the other models to design a proper Country Brand. 2. 3. 6.
View Point Six: Positioning Diamond (Gilmore, 2002) The Positioning diamond of Springpoint (a branding consultancy) as stated in Gilmore (2002) is helpful in making easier the difficult task of developing positioning. As shown below, the four corners of the positioning diamond show the essential factors to be considered during country branding. Macro-trends StakeholdersCompetitors Core Competencies Macro-trends: are trends which highlight the future situations that the country might face. They include trends such as socio-economic trends, population trends, political and legal situations, lifestyle trends, etc. Evaluation of the macro-trends helps to analyze the current and future situations of the Country. It is similar to PESTLE analysis of strategy formulation.
Stakeholders/ Target Audiences: the stakeholders of a Country are many and include its present and future residents, retirees, students, tourists, media and opinion formers, foreign governments and foreign economic development bodies, export purchasers, etc. Selecting and focusing the target audience is very critical to determine the scope of the Country Branding project and decide on the message to be conveyed. Competitors: selection of the target audience will define which other countries will be the competitor and it will be critical to find information about the competing countries which could easily be found from publicly available statistics and information. Core Competencies: the assets (mainly physical and human, but could be many too) which could be taken as the differentiator and the substantiator factors shall be identified and strengthened by stories.
Examples could be taken as the mineral wealth of a Country as Physical assets and Human assets (such as the long distance runners of Ethiopia). Proper analysis and evaluation of the macro-trends, core competences, stakeholders and competitors will help to decide where and how to work the Country Branding exercise to get the sought position in the mind of the target group. The above two models found from Gilmore (2002) will be a direct application of the marketing strategy analysis, segmentation, targeting and positioning. Thus, it will be used in place of the marketing strategy formulation template which could have been used otherwise. 2. 3. 7. View Point Seven: De Chernatony’s The Brand Box Model (Caldwell & Frere, 2004)
The strength of the brand could be analyzed and managed using “The brand box model”. The brand box model helps to analyze and clarify the strength of the brand using two factor grids. The two factors are representionality (which shows the expressive value of the brand about the consumers) and functionality (which shows the utilitarian values of the product defined by the product). The four cells of the matrix created by the two factors of the brand box model are shown below. This model will be used to check the strength of the brand. Representationality * High Representationality- High Representationality * Low Functionality- High Functionality Functionality Low Representationality- Low Representationality * Low Functionality- High Functionality 2. 3. 8. View Point Eight:The Nation Brand Hexagon (Anholt, 2000) TOURISM TOURISM EXPORTS EXPORTS NATION BRAND NATION BRAND PEOPLE PEOPLE GOVERNANCEEXPORTS GOVERNANCEEXPORTS INVESTMNET AND IMMIGRATION IIIIIIIGOVERNANCEEXPORTS INVESTMNET AND IMMIGRATION IIIIIIIGOVERNANCEEXPORTS CULTURE AND HERITAGE CULTURE AND HERITAGE The National Brand Hexagon model of Simon Anholt depicted above will be used (if necessary and feasible) to analyze where the Country Brand of Ethiopia is standing compared to other Countries. CHAPTER THREE 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 3. 1. Country Branding Concepts
Brand and branding are widely used by many but with different meanings: from a simple one to all inclusive. Thus, before discussing Country Branding, it is appropriate and relevant to define what is meant by brand and Country Branding in particular. The meaning of brand holds different meaning for various speakers of the term. Some associate it with a logo and a name and sometimes including tag line/slogan. But, a brand is much more than a logo, a name and a tag line and a brand shall have meaning to all external and internal stakeholders alike (Daly & Maloney, 2004). A simple definition of brand goes like “brand equals product plus values” (Bernstein, 2003: 1134).
In a more elaborated form, a brand is defined as referenced by Rooney (1995) to O’Malley (1991: 107), “a name, symbol, design, or some combination which identifies the product of a particular organization as having a substantial, differentiated advantage. ” But this definition is attached and limited to product only which will not accommodate the branding concepts related to intangible ones like service and personality which are the main issues in branding of places/Countries. The American Association of Marketing defines a brand as “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler, 2006: 274).
Thus taking the above definition, brands make the product or service stand out of the crowd and be perceived differently in its own and unique way. As stated by Kotler & Gertner (2002: 249) “brands differentiate and represent a promise or value. Brands incite beliefs, evoke emotions and prompt behaviours. ” As explained by an article entitled “Branding A Country” on the website of a consulting firm-Interbrand (www. interbrand. com), Countries with poor image will be left marginalized from businesses circulating around the world and even those countries which do not manage their image/reputation will be at the edge/bottom on the sphere of influence.
Thus it is at the discretion of Countries to get involved or not in the competition to make them known and appealing to utilize the opportunities looming around them. As cited by Papadopoulos (2004), Country Branding campaigns are aimed at enocouraging domestic buyers to buy local products; influencing the decision of tourists; marketing agricultural produces like wine, coffee, etc. ; attracting FDI; promoting exports; attracting highly qualified foreign students at the college and university level; attraction of new immigrants with skills in new technologies such as biotechnology, telecommunications and computer technology. To this effect, branding is the most powerful weapon that could be used to promote what Countries’ have.
Branding will also play a significant role to outshine and downplay the negative perceptions held about the Countries’ image which are sometimes based on stereotypes and are overemphasized by the international media. The success and popularity of marketing and branding, not only in product branding but also in corporate branding, has created a wide interest in the concept of place branding (Kavaratzis, 2005). With globalization, countries have become competing with one another for the footloose resources such as capital, immigrant labour & skill, investment and markets for exportable products. Thus in government circles around the world, place/Country Branding is becoming a commonplace (Papadopoulos, 2004; Hankinson, 2009).
Place branding as defined by Simon Anholt (2004) and quoted by Kerr (2005) is stated as: “the practice of applying brand strategy and other marketing techniques and disciplines to the economic, social, political and cultural development of cities, regions and countries. ” There are many people and scholars alike who question whether branding/rebranding could really be appropriate for a country (Gilmore, 2002; Olins, 2002). But, there are many success stories (even though there are failures too like Branding Ontario-in Canada) which motivated many countries to embark on Country Branding projects. The success stories of Spain (Gilmore, 2002) and New Zealand (Lodge, 2002) are one of the few which fuelled the interests of countries vying for resources across their borders. Olins (2002: 246) goes further to warn that “the nation that makes itself the most attractive wins the prizes-others suffer. ”
In fact, Country Branding is more relevant for developing countries which are fighting hard to come out of poverty and sell themselves by redefining their social, political and economic roles (Florek & Conejo, 2007; Lebedenko, 2004). 3. 2. Country and Destination Branding Trends Recently, place branding has become increasingly important (Florek and Conejo, 2007, Hemingway, 2007). Even though Countries have long established images, many countries are currently competing to attract the mobile resources of the world; viz. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and tourists. Besides, the Country Branding (CB) efforts undertaken by Countries are trying to increase the acceptance of Country-Of-Origin (COO) effects and attraction of skill.
As cited by Olins (2001), some scholars such as Michel Girard has opposed to the concept of re-branding a nation stating that a nation is not like a corporation or a product and extending the concept of branding to states is not acceptable. But Olins (2002) argues that almost every nation has reinvented itself as the circumstances and the governments have changed. Examples are Kemal Ataturk’s branding operation of the Ottoman Empire to change it to modern Turkey, and others being the liberated independent Countries that even went to the extent of changing their names such as Ceylon to Sri Lanka, Gold Coast to Ghana, Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, Congo to Zaire and again to Congo, etc.
This argument shows that whether we are using the term “Country Branding” (which is coined by Simon Anholt in 1998) or not, Countries are making these changes including name changes which is exactly alike with the corporate efforts and practices to acquire a new image and hence new brand. The Country Branding motives are also strengthened by Papadopoulos (2004) which states that there are four objectives of Country Branding: * Enhance exports, * Protect local businesses from foreign competition, * Attract/retain factors of development, and * Position the place for advantage domestically and internationally in socio-economic and political terms. Balakrishnan (2008) has cited that more than $ 2 billion is earned daily from international tourism.
A nation’s economic destiny becomes difficult to control unless the country takes a proactive role in branding itself as there are so many competing countries which are in the process of branding themselves to grab the opportunities (Gilmore, 2002). Morgan, Pritchard & Piggott (2001), claim only 10 countries are visited by 70% of the international tourists. As pointed out by Florek et al (2007), the image of countries often determines their success in attracting Foreign Direct Investment, inflow of tourists and acceptance of their export products. Florek et al (2007) add that Country Branding is especially important for developing countries to define their political, economic and social roles.
Among the developing nations, this is mainly true for African Countries as peoples’ perception of African countries is full of stereotypes created by the media and billboards with malnourished child seeking aid (Wanjiru, 2006). Thus all the authors agree and highlight that Country Branding is important to promote the Country and except in few cases (like Ontario city of Canada) in most cases the Country Branding effort have been found very rewarding. In conclusion, to use David Aaker words (Aaker, 2004: 35) ” The next branding arena will involve places- countries, in particular, need to understand branding as they establish their positions in a world that is increasingly interdependent. ” 3. 3. Other Countries’ Country Branding Experience
Caldwell & Freire (2004) have pointed out that many countries such as Australia, Croatia, Greece, Malaysia, and Spain (to mention the few) have adopted the country/destination brand building concept. Countries use slogans/ tag lines to highlight their differentiating feature and attract their target group. As mentioned by Baker and Cameron (2008), some of the tag lines used by countries are as follows: * New Zealand100% Pure New Zealand * AustraliaAustralia: a different light * SpainEverything Under The Sun * IndiaIncredible India * ScotlandSilicon Glen * SingaporeLive it up in Singapore * CyprusThe Island for All Seasons * MalaysiaMalaysia Truly Asia.
Currently, it is becoming a common practice among countries of the world to engage in the country branding effort. This effort is witnessed both in the developed and least developed countries (LDCs). Even African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria have established Nation Branding offices and it is high time for Ethiopia to evaluate its potential benefits. In Country Branding practice, as there are many countries with success stories, there are also some failures. For example, Kenya has started CB in 2007 but it was interrupted, allegedly for lack of fund and for lack of a supporting champion in the government though it has restarted again.
Thus it is important to engage in the task of CB after making a thorough analysis of the requirements and after getting the commitment of the key stakeholders (such as the Government) to be involved. 3. 4. Best Practices Among Countries engaged in Country Branding effort some are successful and some have failed. Out of the successful ones, the experience of Spain and New Zealand could be cited as best practices. As well explained by Gilmore (2002), Spain has engaged in Country Branding to bring itself out of the shattered image imposed upon it by the dictatorial regime of General Franco. By engaging in Country Branding effort, Spain is able to reach to the level of a well-developed nation from its previous quagmire situation. In its ation branding effort, Spain has rebuilt the city of Bilbao, managed to successfully host one World Cup tournament and Barcelona Olympic which has in return helped to enhance its brand image and of course its economic benefit. Spain’s GDP grew by 23. 3% during the period of 1991-2000. This growth was more than 5% ahead of France and 4% more than the Eurozone average (Gilmore, 2002). As to New Zealand with its 100% Pure New Zealand slogan, it managed to increase its tourist influx by as high as 53% while its wine exports have become seven times higher (Dong-Hun, 2010). At this point it is worth to invite the readers of this proposal to successful Branding of Dubai which has brought tremendous change in positioning of Dubai from a simple fishing village to a world trading hub (Balakrishnan, 2008).
In the African continent too, even though it is premature to conclude, the Country Branding effort of South Africa could be taken as one of the successful ones as it has got a positive remark from FIFA and celebrities who have attended the 19th world cup. 3. 5. The Ethiopian Case: Opportunities and Challenges Despite its challenges, developing countries (where Ethiopia is one of them) can’t afford to ignore Country Branding in their struggle to come out of poverty (Florek & Conejo, 2006). Florek et al. have given a concluding remark that since consumers around the world tend to have images of countries based on perceptions and stereotypes it gives developing countries an area to start their branding effort. Travel and Tourism is the largest industry in the world in terms of employment. It created nearly 200 million jobs and generated 11. 7% of the world’s GDP in the year 2000.
It ranks first becoming ahead of petroleum or any other export commodities such as motor vehicles in terms of export (Caldwell & Freire, 2004). The results from Wanjiru (2006) interview has pointed out that while branding African countries the following potential challenges are stressed: * Corruption and similar negative images * Limited resources * Unnecessary competition among African nations The Continent brand defect is also one of the challenges mentioned by Wanjiru (2006) for African Countries which creates a “band-wagon effect”. “The Ethiopian Millennium” celebration (celebrated in September 11′ 2007, owing to the Country’s different calendar) have neither been widely promoted to the international community nor properly and professionally handled.
Like the millennium celebration, many opportunities are still lingering without being effectively utilized. Thus, creating an attractive image for Ethiopia could be said as challenging while there are opportunities which make the branding Ethiopia endeavor very easy. Few of the opportunities and potentials of Ethiopia could be cited as follows: * The availability of African Union (AU) headquarter, many embassies and international organizations in the country; * The all-the-year sunny and comfortable climate in many parts of the country; * English speaking people are abundantly found almost in every cities (English could be taken as the Country’s 2nd or 3rd language); * Source of many rivers and endowed with waterfalls; Untapped mineral resources and unexploited potential of natural gas; * History of independence and support for the struggle of independence of many African countries; * Icon of Black’s freedom reflected by the adoption of its tri-colour flag of Green-Yellow-Red as the pan-African colours; * Basis of Belief for the Ras-Tafarians of the Jamaica people (Ras Tafari is the name of the late Emperor Haile Selassie which was perceived by the Jamaicans to be holy and who had given a place to live for the Jamaican Community in Ethiopia); * The hospitality of its people; * The age-old democratic tradition of power transfer cultural practice among the largest ethnic population of the “Oromo” ethnic group in Ethiopia whereby clan leadership power is ceremonially transferred every eight years; * The high population of the country; * Being in the suitable and central geographical location where Asia, Africa, & Europe meet; * Located in a favorable time zone (GMT+3:00) for financial markets where it is 8:00 Hrs. ahead of New York and 6:00 Hrs. ehind Tokyo; * Peaceful (whereby Churches and Mosques share the same neighbourhood and their followers are friends) and dependable security; * Diverse culture; * Diverse landscape of highlands and lowlands; * Land of ancient churches, obelisks, mosques and mysteries; But this is not without its challenges which could be cited as follows: Papadopoulos (2004) identified that developing countries face a multitude of challenges in their effort of Country Branding. These are lack of expertise in branding and marketing of this sort, limited range of resources which require to focus on niche segment requiring a higher expertise of marketing, they are given less time by the media and get much smaller attention by investors, tourists and buyers and lack political stability.
In addition to the above mentioned universal challenges for LDC’s the following are additional challenges to the Ethiopian case of Country Branding. * Policies tend towards control rather than favoring investors; * animosity with some of bordering countries (Eritrea & Somalia); * citizens’ unrealistic knowledge about the country’s level of popularity in the world (many doesn’t know that Ethiopia is unknown by the majority of the world population); * conservative people. Incidentally, Ethiopia is similar in many aspects with the European country of Switzerland and it could be worthwhile to check if it could follow in the footsteps of the latter.
Their similarity goes like * Both are situated on highlands, Ethiopia is also nick-named as “the Switzerland of Africa”; * Both are landlocked countries; * Like Switzerland is the seat of many UN organizations, Ethiopia is its African equivalent where AU and other affiliated organizations like ECA are located; * Their citizens are conservative. This might show a potential to follow in the footsteps of Switzerland and become a financial hub, a centre of secret banks, a centre for international organizations and multinational companies, and home for retirees, and focus areas for luxury products and high class entertainment. In the past, Ethiopia’s Country Brand is overemphasized to convey a negative image.
A country which wants to change the negative perceptions attached to it shall help investors, tourists and other target groups discover that image (Gertner and Kotler, 2004). Thus evaluating the importance of CB in its effort to reduce poverty is a task which Ethiopia can’t afford to ignore. As the saying goes, “it is not enough to be in possession of the truth, the truth has to be told. ” CHAPTER FOUR 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 4. 6. Research Methodology The methodology to be used in this research will be “mixed” method making use of qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative method employed will be limited to the descriptive statistics part.
Thus the research methodology is mainly of qualitative nature because the nature of the research problem deals with evaluation of the effectiveness of country branding to the Ethiopian situation with reference to its impact on the Country’s poverty reduction programme. Thus it is found feasible and suitable to use qualitative methodology with the descriptive statistics part of quantitative methodology. Hence, mixed methodology is used. 4. 7. Research Design The research design used in this research is based on a case study of an exploratory nature. Case study research design is selected because the research deals with analyzing the variables in country branding with a specific case of country branding in the Ethiopian context.
The research approach employed in many of the studies involved around Country Branding are based on Case Study approach which deals with branding theories taken from product and corporate branding and some of the theories available. The research mainly focuses in understanding and evaluating the country branding variables in the Ethiopian context. Thus case study is found suitable. The data collection mechanism involves interviews, questionnaire and focus groups. It also involves secondary data from local and international organizations. 4. 8. Population and Sampling The population to be taken for sampling is limited to the geographical location of Addis Ababa due to time limitation, convenience and resource constraints.
The sampling to be used will be convenience sampling from a sampling frame of residents (locals & foreigners) of the capital (Addis Ababa) and others residing abroad which are to be contacted and interviewed through e-mail. 4. 9. Measuring Instruments and their validity The research will use interviews, questionnaires and focus group discussions as measuring instruments which are relevant to the case study approach. The reliability and validity of the qualitative research is ascertained by triangulation. This is achieved by using multiple data sources (citizens, government bodies, media, etc. ) and multiple data collection mechanisms (interviews, questionnaires, discussion with focus groups) as mentioned above. 4. 10. Data Analysis Techniques
The data analysis technique to be employed involves organizing the details about the case, categorizing the data into meaningful clusters, looking for and identifying patterns. This will be followed by making logical analysis, applying descriptive statistics techniques and grouping and summarization of Lickert scale data and finally reaching at conclusions by evaluating the implications of the data which either verify or nullify the research propositions. 4. 11. Ethical Considerations To maintain ethical considerations, the case of informed consent will be used while conducting interviews and codes will be used to maintain anonymity of respondents as some of the responses might have political implications.
Besides, taking into consideration of the Ethiopian culture, no recording of whatsoever sort will be used as it will offend and invite suspicion of respondents. REFERENCES Aaker, D. 2004. ” Opinion Pieces ‘Where is place branding heading? ‘, 1(1): 12-35 Anholt, S. 2000. The Nation Brand Hexagon, Anholt-GfK Baker, M. and Cameron, E. 2008. “Critical success factors in destination marketing”, Tourism and Hospitality Research. 8(2): 79-97 Balakrishnan, M. S. 2008. “Dubai – a star in the east”, Journal of Place Management and Development. 1(1), 62-91 Bernstein, D. 2003. “Corporate branding – back to basics”, European Journal of Marketing. 37(7/8): 1133-1141 Branding A Country. < www. nterbrand. com > [Accessed on 25/06/2010] Caldwell, N. and Freire, J. R. 2004. “The differences between branding a country, a region and a city: Applying the Brand Box Model”. Brand Management. 12(1): 50-61 Coffee. [Accessed on 12/07/2010] Daly, A. and Moloney, D. 2004. “Managing Corporate Rebranding”. Irish Marketing Review. 17 (1/2): 30-37 Dong-Hun, L. 2010. ‘Nation Branding Korea’, SERI Quarterly, Ethiopia a Tourist Paradise. [Accessed on 02/06/2010] Florek, M. and Conejo, F. 2007. “Export flagships in branding small developing countries: The cases of Costa Rica and Moldova”, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. 3(1): 53-72 Ghemawat, P. 2001. Distance Still Matters: The Hard Reality of Global Expansion”, Harvard Business Review. 79(8): 137-147 Gilmore, F. 2002. “A country – can it be repositioned? Spain – the success story of country branding”. Journal of Brand Management. 9(4/5): 281-293 Grant, W. 2008. Contemporary Strategy Analysis. 6th ed. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons Greenfield, R. 1968. ETHIOPIA: A New Political History. Frederick A. Praeger: New York Hankinson, G. 2009. “Managing destination brands: establishing a theoretical foundation”. Journal of Marketing Management. 25(1/2): 97-115 Hancock, G. 1993. The SIGN And The SEAL- A Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. Mandarin: London Hemingway, W. 2007. Placemaking – cultural branding”, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy. 3(4): 332-336 Hill, C. 2007. International Business. New York: McGraw Hill Kavaratzis, M. 2005. “Place Branding: A Review of Trends and Conceptual Models”, The Marketing Review. (5): 329-342 Kerr, G. 2005. “From destination brand to location brand”, Brand Management. 13(4/5): 276-283 Kotler, P. & Gertner, D. 2002. “Country as brand, product, and beyond: A place marketing and brand management perspective”. Brand Management. 9(4/5): 249-261 Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. 2006. Marketing Management. 12 th ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Lebedenko, V. 2004. Opinion Pieces ‘Where is place branding heading? ‘ Place Branding. 1(1): 12-35 Lodge, C. 2002. Success and failure: The brand stories of two countries”, Brand Management. 9(4/5): 372-384 Morgan, N. Pritchard, A. & Piggott, R. 2001. New Zealand, 100% Pure. The creation of a powerful niche destination brand. Brand Management. Vol. 9, no. 4/5, pp. 335-354 Olins, W. 2002. “Branding the nation-the historical context”, Brand Management. 9(4/5): 241-248 Papadopoulos, N. 2004. “Place Branding: Evolution, meaning and implications”, Place Branding. 1(1): 36-49 Rastafari movement. [Accessed on 10/07/2010] Rooney, J. A. 1995. “Branding: a trend for today and tomorrow”, Journal of Product & Brand Management. 4(4): 48-55 The World Fact Book 2010 of CIA [Accessed on 29/05/2010] Wanjiru, E. 2006. Branding African Countries: A prospect for the future”, Place Branding. 2(1): 84-95 World Bank, World Development Indicators, 2008 [Accessed on 02/06/2010] APPENDICES Annex 1)Timeline of the Research Proposal S/N| Activity Description| Week Number| | | 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 1| Post the research topic on the EDS (Posted on 30/03/2010)| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2| Get approval for the research topic and assignment of the study leader| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3| Conduct library search for the necessary reading material| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 4| Conduct Literature Review| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5| Summarize the findings of the iterature review and availability of data| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6| Adjust the research topic if necessary| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 7| Conduct the write-up| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 8| Submission of the Draft Research Proposal| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 9| Get the comment on the draft research proposal from the study leader | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10| Make corrections according to the comment by the study leader| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 11| Submit the final research proposal (Post it on EDS)| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Annex 2) Time line of the Research Study S/N| Activity Description| Week Number| | 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 1| Get the Comments about the research proposal by July 22’2010| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2| Make the necessary adjustments| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 3| Get approval of the research proposal| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 4| Conduct in- depth Literature Review| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5| Finalize write-up of chapter 1 & 2| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 6| Collect data| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 7| Conduct interviews | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 8| Conduct Focus Group Discussions| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 9| Summarize the findings of the literature review and availability of data| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10| Finalize write-up of Chapter 3 & 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 11| Finalize write-up of Chapter 5 & 6| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 12| Submission of the Draft Research Report to the study leader| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 13| Get the comment on the draft from the study leader | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 14| Make corrections according to the comment by the study leader| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 15| Submit the 1st Draft Research Report (Post it on the EDS)| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | S/N| Activity Description| Week Number| | 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| 6| 7| 8| 9| 10| 11| 12| 13| 14| 15| 16| Get Comments on the 1st Draft Research Report| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 17| Make adjustments as per the comments given | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 18| Submit 2nd Draft to the Study Leader| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 19| Get Comments from the study leader| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 20| Make adjustments and Submit Final Research Report for Examination| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Annex 3) Proposed Outline of the Final Research Report 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 2. 1. Introduction 2. 2. The Ethiopian Contextual Background 2. 3. Research Objectives, importance and Potential Benefits 2. 4. Statement of the Problem 2. 5. Sub- Problems 2. 6. Research Proposals 2. 7. Delimitation of the Study 2. THEORETICAL CONCEPTS AND FRAMEWOEKS 3. 8.
Theoretical Concepts Underpinning the Study 3. 9. Relevance of Conceptual Frameworks 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 4. 10. Country Branding Concepts 4. 11. Country and Destination Branding Trends 4. 12. Other Countries Country Branding Experience 4. 13. Best Practices 4. 14. The Ethiopian Context: Opportunities and Challenges 4. RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODOLOGY 5. 15. Research Methodology 5. 16. Research Design 5. 17. Sampling 5. 18. Measuring Instruments 5. 19. Data Analysis Techniques 5. RESEARCH RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 6. DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 7. ARTICLE FOR PUBLICATION REFERENCES APPENDICES Annex 4)Measuring Instruments to be Used
The following measuring instruments are to be used in the future: I. Foreigners (in Embassies and International Organizations/ aid agencies) – Interview Guideline 1; I. For Ethiopians residing in the Country and in Diaspora (to be sent by e-mail) – Questionnaire 1; II. For Media and Opinion Leaders – Questionnaire 2; III. Focus Group – Discussion Guideline 1; IV. For Government Officials – Interview Guideline 2. With the consent of respondents, all necessary data regarding the background information of respondents (such as gender, race, age group, etc. ) will be collected to be used in grouping/clustering of responses using descriptive statistics.
Interview Guideline 1) For Foreigners (in Embassies and International Organizations/ aid agencies) Each for 2:00 Hrs. 1. What comes first to your mind when one, when one mentions about the Country Brazil? And what about Congo? In like manner, what is the first thing that crosses your mind when the Country Ethiopia is mentioned? Why? 2. Where did you first get the images about Ethiopia? By Whom? Do you still think the image you have is correct? 3. For how long did your Country have the relationship with Ethiopia? Were there any controversies/misunderstandings in the past? How is your Country’s relationship with Ethiopia? Is there anything to be improved? What significant opportunities are there? 4. How long have you been in Ethiopia?
How do you classify the Collective character of Ethiopians? What are the good things about Ethiopia and the people? What do you want to see changed? 5. What do you think are the reasons for the low amount of FDI coming into Ethiopia? What measures shall the Ethiopian government take to attract FDI from your Country? 6. Are there any tourists coming from your Country to Ethiopia? What shall be done to increase the tourist visitors inflow to Ethiopia? 7. Does your Country import items from Ethiopia? Which ones? How is the trend, increasing/ decreasing? What shall be done to increase the outflow of Ethiopian exportable items? 8. Are there any expatriates from your Country who are working in Ethiopia?
In what professions they are working currently? What attracted them to Ethiopia? What is their contribution to Ethiopia? What shall be done to attract more expatriates? 9. Some argue that aid-agencies are creating a bad image of Ethiopia. What is your opinion about this proposition? 10. Some call aid-agencies as “Lords of Poverty” stating that aid –agencies are consuming much of the aid money they are getting. What is your opinion? 11. What do you think about the impact of the recent “Charities and Societies Proclamation” on Ethiopia’s image? In what way will it affect the Country Brand? Why? Questionnaire 1) For Ethiopians residing in the Country and in Diaspora ) Country Branding could play significant role in poverty reduction of Ethiopia 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 2) My perception is that “Ethiopia is well known in the world”. 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 3) As a citizen of Ethiopia, I can change the image of Ethiopia 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 4) I am proud of being Ethiopian 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 5) If I get the Chance I will change my citizenship 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | | Strongly Disagree| | 6) The image of Ethiopia in the world is negative 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 7) My individual perception about Ethiopia influences the Country’s image 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 8) Ethiopia has the necessary assets both physical and human to be one of the best destinations in the world 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 9) Media and aid agencies had influenced Ethiopia’s image negatively 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | | Strongly Disagree| | 10) Ethiopia has the capacity to change its image 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 11) Government participation in Branding Ethiopia will be helpful 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 12) The internal politics have an influence on the country’s brand 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | Questionnaire 2) For the media 1) The media can make or break the Brand image of the Country? 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | ) The Media negatively affected Ethiopia’s image unknowingly? 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 3) The media focuses on negative news 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 4) The story/news portrayed by the media is fairly balanced? 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Disagree| | 5| Strongly Disagree| | 5) Ethiopia doesn’t have enough positive activities and situations to be told on the media 1| Strongly Agree| | 2| Agree| | 3| Indifferent| | 4| Dis