ESTABLISHING FAVORABLE COUNTRY IMAGE FOR EMERGING COUNTRIES IN EXPORT MARKETS: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Globalization has led to products from every country competing for a share in the international market. Companies utilize every possible tool available to them to increase their products' market share. While highly developed countries generally have good acceptance of their products. This is due to a favorable image Developed economies enjoy in international markets. However Asian countries are competing amongst each other to gain export market share and build a favorable image of themselves among international customers. One of the factors which determine good share in the market and acceptance is the products' country of origin and the image they command in these export markets. Sometimes a country suffers because of an unfavorable image, facing many hurdles in achieving product acceptance. Possible reasons for a country to be viewed unfavorably include producing low-quality and counterfeit goods. To understand the reasons for low product acceptance, and potential strategies which companies can adopt to make progress on this front, and formulate wellconceived propositions which can be further tested for correctness scientifically, a study was conducted by reviewing the available literature, followed by an empirical study with 40 experts from the industry. Based on this data, a conceptual framework was devised to identify the possible factors that impact a country's image. A framework was formalized based on survey feedback on how an Emerging economy with ambitions for Export market success can proceed to create a favorable image of themselves & increase the market acceptance of products exported from their home country. Further research can focus on empirical validation of the proposed framework on various product-specific segments.