THE IMPACT OF NUMERIC SUB-BRANDING ON SINGAPOREAN CHINESE CONSUMERS: A CONJOINT ANALYSIS DONALD TAN This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration of the University of Western Australia’s Graduate School of Management 1 Student ID #10254738 THE IMPACT OF NUMERIC SUB-BRANDING ON SINGAPOREAN CHINESE CONSUMERS: A CONJOINT ANALYSIS TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... 6 ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................... 7 CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................ 9 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 9 SOME BACKGROUND ................................................................................... 9 GLOBALISATION OR LOCALISATION........................................................ 10 THE ASIAN MARKET.................................................................................... 15 BRANDING IN ASIA...................................................................................... 16 NUMBERS AND BRANDS............................................................................ 19 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRESENT STUDY....................................... 24 THE PRESENT STUDY’S OBJECTIVES ..................................................... 25 CHAPTER 2 ...................................................................................................... 28 A LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 28 GLOBALISATION.......................................................................................... 28 Globalisation drivers .................................................................................. 30 BRANDING.................................................................................................... 34 CHINESE NUMEROLOGY & SUPERSTITION ............................................ 44 PERCEIVED VALUE AND PERCEIVED RISK............................................. 47 THE CHINESE MARKET .............................................................................. 50 Chinese Beliefs .......................................................................................... 52 TABLE 2.1: The Interpretation of some Numbers by Chinese Dialect Groups*...................................................................................................... 53 THE SINGAPORE CHINESE CONSUMER.................................................. 56 Singapore's Population .............................................................................. 56 FIGURE 2.1: Singapore’s Population ....................................................... 57 TABLE 2.2: Total population by residential status..................................... 58 Singapore Chinese Ethnic Groups ............................................................ 58 FIGURE 2.2: Chinese population by dialect group.................................... 59 TABLE 2.3: Country of birth of the main Chinese dialect groups.............. 59 Languages Spoken.................................................................................... 61 TABLE 2.4: Language most frequently spoken at home (Chinese residents) ................................................................................................... 61 FIGURE 2.3: Languages most frequently spoken at home (resident population) ................................................................................................. 62 TABLE 2.5: Language spoken at home - main Chinese dialect groups.... 62 Literacy....................................................................................................... 63 TABLE 2.6: Literate resident population aged 15 years & over ................ 63 TABLE 2.7: Literacy in languages by ethnic group - Literate residents .... 64 Education ................................................................................................... 64 TABLE 2.8: Highest educational qualification attained.............................. 65 Religion ...................................................................................................... 65 TABLE 2.9: Religion - Resident population aged 15 years and over ........ 65 2 Student ID #10254738 TABLE 2.10: Chinese population aged 15 years and over by religion...... 66 THE RESEARCH HYPOTHESES................................................................. 67 The Basic Hypotheses............................................................................... 68 The Secondary Hypotheses ...................................................................... 68 SUMMARY .................................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 3 ...................................................................................................... 73 RESEARCH METHOD USED .......................................................................... 73 CONJOINT ANALYSIS.................................................................................. 73 THE RESEARCH APPROACH ..................................................................... 82 Scale Development.................................................................................... 82 Question Development and Design........................................................... 83 The Questionnaire ..................................................................................... 85 Pre-testing.................................................................................................. 85 Ethical Considerations ............................................................................... 86 Points for Consideration............................................................................. 87 Convenience .............................................................................................. 88 Data Consolidation..................................................................................... 89 Cost............................................................................................................ 89 TABLE 3.1: A comparison Between an Internet and a Paper Survey...... 90 THE ONLINE WEB SURVEY........................................................................ 91 FIGURE 3.1: The Online Survey Flow Diagram....................................... 91 Areas of concerns - Access........................................................................... 91 Monitors ..................................................................................................... 92 Modems ..................................................................................................... 93 Software..................................................................................................... 93 Areas of concern - The Survey...................................................................... 93 Ease of completing the survey................................................................... 93 Format of the survey.................................................................................. 94 Ease of understanding the questions ........................................................ 94 Minimising invalid responses ..................................................................... 95 Mass Reach ............................................................................................... 95 Website Development ................................................................................... 96 The Cover Letter (Page 1) ......................................................................... 97 Providing the relevant information ............................................................. 98 The Questionnaire (Page 2) ...................................................................... 98 Thank You Notes (Page 3) ........................................................................ 99 Identifying the Sample................................................................................. 100 Collecting the Data ...................................................................................... 101 The Challenges Faced............................................................................. 101 Follow-up Actions..................................................................................... 104 Collating the Responses.......................................................................... 104 Analysing the Data ...................................................................................... 105 SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 106 CHAPTER 4 .................................................................................................... 107 THE RESULTS OBTAINED............................................................................ 107 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 107 THE RESULTS............................................................................................ 108 THE BACKGROUND VARIABLES.......................................................... 108 FIGURE 4.1: Respondents’ Age Profile .................................................. 108 3 Student ID #10254738 FIGURE 4.2: Respondents’ Dialect Groups ............................................ 109