Read the report writing unit before attempting the report question

This part of the assignment assesses your understanding of texts and your knowledge and application of

academic reading skills and strategies. Read the Academic Reading Unit (Unit 3) before attempting the

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate impacts of counterfeit branded products (CBP) ownership on branded products (BP) and to explore determinants of CBP purchase intention of both CBP owners and CBP non-owners.

Design/methodology/approach – Following four focus group discussions, a quantitative survey of 430 adults in Glasgow, UK was conducted measuring consumers’ brand perceptions of CBP and BP, CBP non-deceptive ownership, and CBP purchase intention. Findings – Consumers were found to have more favourable perceptions of BP than CBP, with exceptions of financial risk and security concerns. Significant perception differences concerning CBP were identified between CBP owners and non-owners. In contrast, CBP ownership had no significant effect on consumers’ evaluations of BP. Several perception dimensions appeared to

Originality/value – This study is one of the few which have examined the impact of CBP on its counterpart BP from both brand and product perspectives. Insights into how CBP as a brand

and also a product are perceived differently to BP, and how CBP ownership alter consumers’ perceptions of CBP/BP and thereafter CBP purchase intention, contribute to the literature in

A Counterfeit products are those bearing a trademark that is identical to, or indistinguishable from, a trademark registered to another party and infringe the rights of the holder of the trademark (e.g. Eisend and Schuchert-Güler, 2006; Chaudhry and Walsh, 1996; Kapferer, 1995). Although counterfeiting is not a new phenomenon, nevertheless, we have only seen it widespread in the last two or three decades (Eisend and Schuchert-Güler, 2006). It was estimated that the value of counterfeits in the global market grew by 1,100 per cent between 1984 and 1994 (Carty, 1994). Recent figures estimated that counterfeits accounted for seven per cent of world trade (US$512 billion) in 2004 (Balfour, 2005).

B Despite the fact that consumers are aware of the ethical issues in relation to purchase of counterfeit products (Nill and Schultz, 1996), past research has revealed that approximately one-third of consumers would knowingly purchase counterfeit goods (e.g. Phau et al., 2001; Tom et al., 1998). Since demand is always the key driver of a market, a number of researchers have argued that consumer demand for counterfeits is one of the leading causes of the existence and upsurge in growth of the counterfeiting phenomenon (e.g. Gentry et al., 2001; Ang et al., 2001). Thus, it is in the interest of academic researchers and marketers to understand consumers and counterfeits. However, with the exception of Bian and Moutinho (2009), little research has been done to explore why consumers knowingly purchase counterfeits taking underlying brand aspects into account, regardless of the fact that the decision to buy a counterfeit product not only represents a product choice decision, but more importantly represents a brand decision (Eisend and Schuchert-Güler, 2006). A systematic investigation of how a counterfeit branded product (CBP) not only as a product but also as a brand, might be perceived differently to its matched genuine branded product (BP), how these perception differences might influence consumer purchase behaviour of CBP, and how CBP ownership might influence consumers’evaluations of CBP/BP and subsequent cognitive behaviour remains elusive.

determine more readily what influences consumers’ buying behaviour, provide marketers with a more detailed picture as to how their brand is perceived by consumers in comparison with competing brands (Puth et al., 1999), thereafter enabling marketers to draft better positioning strategies (Puth et al., 1999; Schiffman and Kanuk, 1991). With the increasing sales of counterfeits worldwide today, a more comprehensive understanding of the perceived underlying differences between CBP and its counterpart the BP, influences of CBP ownership on CBP and BP evaluation, and impact of CBP ownership on the determinants of counterfeit purchase will contribute to the literature and may assist marketers and policy makers to develop more effective campaigns and positioning strategies against counterfeits.

D Previous research has proposed a number of forms of deception; for example, deceptive and non-deceptive counterfeiting (Grossman and Shapiro, 1988), and blur counterfeiting (Bian and Moutinho, 2007). This research investigates the counterfeiting phenomenon in the context of non-deceptive counterfeiting. Here, non-deceptive counterfeiting refers to the practice of consumers knowingly purchasing counterfeits (Grossman and Shapiro, 1988). The choice of the non-deceptive counterfeiting context is important, because under these circumstances it is possible to investigate consumers’ true perceptions of CBP and BP. 2Moreover, only under these circumstances will consumers’ perceptions of CBP reflect their demand for these products, and thereafter influence their cognitive processes.

recognised that it is perception that provides the grounds for purchasing decisions (Friedmann and Zimmer, 1988; Borgers and Timmermans, 1987).

I Researchers have attempted to profile the consumers who buy counterfeits. Previous research findings suggest that demographic characteristics do not have a consistent relationship with the purchasing or the intention to purchase counterfeit brands. Bloch et al. (1993) reported that age and household income were not effective criteria for distinguishing between counterfeit accomplices and consumers who would choose genuine brand clothing. These findings were contradictory to the findings of a number of other studies. Tom et al. (1998) claimed that counterfeit-prone consumers were younger and earned less than consumers who preferred genuine products in all stages of purchase behaviour (pre-purchase, purchase, and post- purchase). Phau et al. (2001) and Prendergast et al. (2002) suggested that low spenders on counterfeit branded clothing

monthly income, lower education level, and no children, while high spenders on counterfeit branded clothing were in the 25-34 age bracket with white-collar jobs, a higher income, higher education level, and children. Other studies offered inconclusive results. Wee et al. (1995) found that although educational level and

that in comparison with subjects in Las Vegas, subjects in Hong Kong are more likely to purchase counterfeit goods.

Consumers’ views about CBP

value for less cost than BP but consider that this is an acceptable compromise (Gentry et al., 2001).

Research questions

RQ3. Does CBP ownership alter consumers’ perceptions of CBP?

RQ4. Will consumers’ perceptions of CBP influence their CBP purchase intention?

Q Taking into consideration the reality that not every consumer has experience of counterfeits (Anti Counterfeiting Group Survey Report, 2004), a stimulus-based approach was adopted rather than a memory-based method. The CBP samples provided by the Trading Standards of Glasgow, pictures of original Rolex watches and catalogue-type descriptions were presented to respondents for examination before they started filling out the research questionnaire. This method ensured that the respondents were all familiar with the

R CBP active ownership was measured using a yes/no item: “have you ever knowingly purchased counterfeit branded products?” All other constructs were measured using five- point Likert scales (1 ¼ strongly disagree, 5 ¼ strongly agree). For purchase intention, the Spears and Singh (2004) scale was adopted for this research due to its tested reliability and validity. The five-item scale included “I have the intention of buying these watches”, “I intend to buy these watches”, “I have high purchase interest in these watches”, “I will buy these watches”, and “I would probably buy these watches”.

S Given that there were few well-established measures of the brand image concept, the scale used to measure consumers’ perceptions of original and counterfeit Rolex watches was devised and tested by the first author using four focus groups (ranging from 5 to 8 respondents in each group). The focus group is considered an appropriate method because it can be used to access the everyday language of research subjects (Bloor et al., 2001; Fern, 2001) and it is useful in those fields where survey planning is most difficult because relatively little is known (Vaughn et al., 1996). Content analysis was utilised to analyse the data, with 31 items of brand image being extracted to construct the survey research instrument.

ASSIGNMENT 02 [50] My due date for this assignment is: …………………………………………………………………………………

Submission of Assignments
The course assignments are to be submitted via the eLearning mode, a mode that enables you as a student to fully engage with the content and has limitless access to instructors and relevant course material. All assessments will be conducted via the eLearning platform known as Moodle.

This part of the assignment assesses your understanding of aspects related to research writing. Read the Research Writing unit before attempting the questions. Note that the questions are based on the same article used in Assignment 01.

paragraph L. Write letters a-e and the words/phrases in bold in the same sequence they appear in the paragraph and your answer next to each word/phrase.

Questions

the correct reference entry for the first entry of the reference list?

c)Ang et al. (2001, p. 221) claim that “piracy can raise or lower the price of original works.”

Title of Journal Article in Italics and Title case, Volume number in italics(issue number), page range. URL of Journal homepage
c)Surname, Initials. (Year, Month Date). Title of article in sentence case: Subtitle of article in sentence case. Newspaper Title in Italics and Title Case, p. X or pp. x-x.

		[30 Marks]

The requirements and rubric:
Use the following rubric, which will be used to allocate marks, to ensure that your assignment meets all the requirements.