Globalization research using python (Thesis Sample)

ABSTRACT In the context of globalization, understanding how global brands adapt their marketing strategies to local markets—termed glocalized marketing—has become essential. This thesis investigates KFC's marketing strategies in China and El Salvador, focusing on product adaptation, localized promotion, pricing strategies, and the influence of the Country-of-Origin effect on consumer brand preference. The objective is to assess how these glocalized strategies impact brand preference in these culturally and economically diverse countries. The research adopts a quantitative approach, analyzing survey data from 271 participants across China and El Salvador using Python for statistical analysis, including regression analyses. This method facilitated a detailed examination of the relationship between glocalized marketing strategies and consumer brand preference, allowing for a precise evaluation of how these strategies are received by consumers in different markets. Findings reveal that glocalized marketing strategies, particularly product adaptation and localized promotions, have a more significant impact on brand preference in China than in El Salvador. This suggests that cultural alignment in marketing strategies is crucial. Moreover, the Country-of-Origin effect was found to be a more decisive factor for Chinese consumers, pointing to a stronger nationalistic influence on brand preference. In El Salvador, responses to these strategies were more mixed, indicating a variety of factors at play, including economic conditions. This thesis contributes to the international marketing field by providing empirical evidence on the effectiveness of glocalized marketing strategies in different market environments. It offers insights for global brands like KFC on tailoring their marketing strategies to better align with local consumer preferences, thereby enhancing their brand preference and competitiveness globally. Keywords: brand preference, marketing mix, glocalization, country of origin, China, El Salvador 内容摘要 在全球化背景下，理解全球品牌如何将其营销策略适应于本地市场——这过程被称为全球本地化营销——已变得至关重要。本论文调查了肯德基在中国和萨尔瓦多的营销策略，重点关注产品适应、本地化推广、定价策略以及原产国效应对消费者品牌偏好的影响。本研究的目标是评估这些全球本地化策略如何影响这些在文化和经济上具有多样性的国家中的品牌偏好。 本研究采用定量方法，使用Python进行统计分析，包括回归分析，分析来自中国和萨尔瓦多的271位参与者的调查数据。这种方法促进了对全球本地化营销策略与消费者品牌偏好之间关系的详细检查，允许准确评估不同市场中消费者对这些策略的接受程度。 研究发现，特别是产品适应和本地化推广等全球本地化营销策略，在中国对品牌偏好的影响比在萨尔瓦多更为显著。这表明，营销策略中的文化对齐至关重要。此外，对中国消费者而言，原产国效应被发现是一个更为决定性的因素，这表明品牌偏好受到更强烈的民族主义影响。在萨尔瓦多，对这些策略的反应更为复杂，表明有多种因素在起作用，包括经济条件。 本论文通过提供全球本地化营销策略在不同市场环境中的有效性的实证证据，为国际营销领域做出了贡献。它为像肯德基这样的全球品牌提供了洞察，关于如何调整其营销策略以更好地与本地消费者偏好对齐，从而增强其品牌偏好和全球竞争力。 关键词: 品牌偏好、营销组合、全球本地化、原产国, 中国, 萨尔瓦多 Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \u 硕士学位论文答辩委员会成员名单 PAGEREF _Toc161907628 \h 4ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PAGEREF _Toc161907629 \h 5ABSTRACT PAGEREF _Toc161907630 \h 6内容摘要 PAGEREF _Toc161907631 \h 7Table of Contents PAGEREF _Toc161907632 \h 8LIST OF TABLES PAGEREF _Toc161907633 \h 10LIST OF FIGURES PAGEREF _Toc161907634 \h 11SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc161907635 \h 121.2 Research Question PAGEREF _Toc161907636 \h 161.3 Objectives of the Research PAGEREF _Toc161907637 \h 171.4 Significance of the Research PAGEREF _Toc161907638 \h 17SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW PAGEREF _Toc161907639 \h 182.1 Marketing Mix & the 4 P’s of Marketing PAGEREF _Toc161907640 \h 182.2 Brand Preference PAGEREF _Toc161907641 \h 192.3 Glocalization PAGEREF _Toc161907642 \h 202.4 Country of Origin (CoO) PAGEREF _Toc161907643 \h 222.5 Consumer Preferences in Different Cultural and Economic Contexts PAGEREF _Toc161907644 \h 23SECTION 3: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK PAGEREF _Toc161907645 \h 243.1 Hypothesis 1: The Effect of Product Glocalization on Brand Preference PAGEREF _Toc161907646 \h 253.2 Hypothesis 2: The Effect of Glocalized Promotional Strategies on Brand Preference PAGEREF _Toc161907647 \h 253.3 Hypothesis 3: The Effect of Glocalized Pricing Strategies on Brand Preference PAGEREF _Toc161907648 \h 253.4 Hypothesis 4: The Effect of Promotion Glocalization on Brand Preference PAGEREF _Toc161907649 \h 263.5 Hypothesis 5: The Country-of-Origin effect on Brand Preference PAGEREF _Toc161907650 \h 26SECTION 4: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY PAGEREF _Toc161907651 \h 264.1 Sample and Data Collection PAGEREF _Toc161907652 \h 264.2 Research instrument PAGEREF _Toc161907653 \h 274.3 Measurement PAGEREF _Toc161907654 \h 294.3.1 Dependent variable PAGEREF _Toc161907655 \h 294.3.2 Independent variables PAGEREF _Toc161907656 \h 30SECTION 5: ANALYSIS AND RESULTS PAGEREF _Toc161907657 \h 315.1 Summary of Demographic Data PAGEREF _Toc161907658 \h 315.2 Demographic Analysis of Chinese Respondents PAGEREF _Toc161907659 \h 325.3 Demographic Analysis of Salvadoran Respondents PAGEREF _Toc161907660 \h 34SECTION 6: ANALYSIS AND RESULT PAGEREF _Toc161907661 \h 356.1. Reliability Test PAGEREF _Toc161907662 \h 356.2. Comparative Analysis of Reliability Tests PAGEREF _Toc161907663 \h 366.3. Chi-Square Test PAGEREF _Toc161907664 \h 376.4. Regression Analysis PAGEREF _Toc161907665 \h 386.4.1 Ordinal Logistic Regression for the Chinese Survey PAGEREF _Toc161907666 \h 386.4.2 Ordinal Logistic Regression for the Salvadoran Survey PAGEREF _Toc161907667 \h 40SECTION 7: DISCUSSION PAGEREF _Toc161907668 \h 417.1 Theoretical implications PAGEREF _Toc161907669 \h 417.2 Practical implications PAGEREF _Toc161907670 \h 437.3 Limitations and Future Research PAGEREF _Toc161907671 \h 44SECTION 8: CONCLUSION PAGEREF _Toc161907672 \h 44REFERENCES PAGEREF _Toc161907673 \h 47ANNEXES PAGEREF _Toc161907674 \h 53 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.2 Sample characteristics 28 Table 4.3.2 Reliability and validity of independent variables 30 Table 6.3 Chi-Square Test 37 Table 6.4.1 Ordinal logistic regression for Chinese Survey 38 Table 6.4.2 Ordinal logistic regression for Salvadoran Survey 40 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Research Model 16 Figure 3.1 Hypothesis Figure 24 Figure 5.2: Chinese Respondents Results 33 Figure 5.3: Salvadoran Respondents Results 34 SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background To this day, every day there are billions of people around the world eating and consuming nearly 14.5 million tons of food (National Geographic, 2011), therefore, a growing population and the never-ending need to ensure food security worldwide have made the Food and Beverage (F&B) industry one of the most important ones to supply the basic need for the daily lives of people across the globe (Janakiraman, 2021); but what, when, where and how we eat still varies significantly by country and by consumer. The global F&B industry reached a value of nearly $5,943.6 billion USD in 2019 (Research and Markets, 2021). In the wake of COVID 19, the food ecosystem the world is accustomed to was forced to undergo dramatic changes and developments. The consumer and entire countries faced different types of lockdowns, restaurant closures for undefined periods of time, trade restrictions, lack of local supply, etc., which pushed many consumers all around the globe into unfamiliar digital territories (Orendorff, 2022). All these changes impacted the notoriously fragmented F&B global market that has a very wide range of competitors in the business, continuously innovating to keep their place in the race and expand their market share. While deeply exploring the data of the top ten competitors in the F&B industry, these ten competitors represent 8.0% of the total market, being some of them: Nestle, PepsiCo, Unilever, Coca Cola (Research and Markets, 2021), which own well known brands in every continent, including fast food chains that have taken a very important role in many different cultures and societies. This surge in the global fast food industry, marked by a leap from a $647.7 billion valuation in 2019 to an anticipated $931.7 billion by 2027, underscores the sector's robust growth trajectory (Research and Markets, 2020). The industry's expansion is attributed to factors such as urbanization, increased disposable income, and shifts in consumer preferences towards more convenient dining options. Such trends highlight the significant impact of fast food on contemporary dietary habits and the broader food and beverage industry's evolution. The Latin American market and the Asian market, being the Chinese market on the top of the Asian list, are two of the largest markets for fast food consumption in the world. For instance, China’s F&B industry has dramatically evolved over the past decades, reaching 172 billion RMB market value in 2019 (Cheng, 2022) which is approximately equal to 25.5 billion USD, while in Latin America, according to a report from Mordor Intelligence, the F&B industry has been growing, reaching a market value of 445.3 billion USD in 2022. Both region’s growing m...